


Killer Love

by dragonchallenge



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Eventual Romance, F/M, Horror, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Long-Term Relationship(s), Past Abuse, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 05:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 62
Words: 789,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12474484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonchallenge/pseuds/dragonchallenge
Summary: Rain had never had an easy life. Her home life quickly spiraled out of control and she learned to expect the unexpected. What she never expected was for the dead to rise and have to go on the run with a group of people who she never thought she could ever get along with, or even come to love. But when she finds someone more similar to her than she likes, her life gets even harder.





	1. Outbreak

"Fucking fantastic," I grunted as my foot twisted, caught up in the roots that were littering the only path of this god forsaken forest that wasn't covered with poison ivy.

This whole thing was ridiculous. And I was a moron for trying to go through the woods. I didn't even think that poison ivy grew in Georgia, nevertheless this close to metropolitan Atlanta. But, evidently, I was wrong about the whole thing. Apparently there were a number of things that I was wrong about. I'd been moving on a fast track since the outbreak had begun about three weeks ago.

I'd been sitting in my apartment trying to finish up my twenty page report on the construction and durability of the Ancient Wonders of the World when the announcement had popped onto the television - rudely interrupting the riveting episode of Jerry Springer I'd had on previously. I was a college kid in a cheap ass apartment that really only got the network stations. There was no way that I was paying more money for channels that I would barely get the time to watch.

It didn't matter. Soon I'd be out in my own place. Once I actually made more than a few bucks working at a run-down gun store dealing with clients that would sooner shoot me or jump my bones than actually deal with a woman that knew more about guns than they did. Once I was graduated I'd have an actual adult job where I would be able to pay for anything that I needed. No more midnight pizza runs because I couldn't afford my weekly groceries.

My thoughts of my money troubles were put on hold when a loud siren blasted from the television set. I jumped slightly, nearly knocking my laptop onto to the floor, causing damage that I certainly couldn't pay for. Glancing up at the screen, I saw that the White House logo had appeared. Just when I thought I would see the President making some statement, I was thoroughly surprised; it was the Secretary of Defense. I'd never seen him make a statement before.

With no inclination of what the problem was within fifteen seconds, I went back to my essay. The conversation on the screen was getting far too wordy for my liking. I would have turned it off, but I didn't want to have to hear my neighbors getting a little closer. I was cleaning up the grammar in my conclusion about ten minutes later when I heard the words that would forever change my life, despite not knowing it at the time.

"There are rumors that corpses have been reported as coming back to life and attacking the living. Very little is known at this point. All we can currently say is that you should lock yourselves in your home or find shelter, avoid windows and doors, and avoid all those who have been scratched or bitten. The military is sending out deployments to rectify the situation. Please remain indoors until further notice."

Snorting louder than necessary I turned away from the television and clicked it off. Silence it was. "World could use some cleansing," I muttered under my breath.

Despite my reluctance at believing the situation I felt that it was still better safe than sorry so I rose from my spot on the couch and threw the deadbolts on the door and the windows. They hadn't come with the apartment when I'd first gotten it, but I was more than a little paranoid about people sneaking into my home. I lived in a sketchy part of town and I had had my fair share of encounters with things that went bump in the night. Far too many for someone my age.

No less then ten minutes later my final essay for my college career was completed. I minimized my Microsoft Word document on my computer and went to pull up the Internet when I noticed something strange; the University page on the Internet wasn't coming up. The page wouldn't load and, after trying a few different websites, nothing on my computer was. The screen went blank after I tried to access my bank account and I growled darkly. Dismissing it to a low battery, I ran to get my charger. It still didn't work. The lights on the front panel wouldn't come on.

Shaking my head at myself, I knew that I would have to go to the library to get my damn essay turned in. But it was twenty minutes away and I only had ten minutes until the required submission time. That was what I got for waiting until the last minute. The worst part was that if I was late it meant that I would fail the class. And I was not paying another four hundred dollars to retake it.

The only other option I had besides taking the zero was to call my professor and pray that he was feeling sympathetic. Sucking it up, I pulled out my phone and I checked to see that there was no service. All I got were no bars. Of course there wasn't. Why would I think that anything was going to go right for me today? Trying to connect with my WiFi calling I was greeted with the same answer. There was none. The next thought that ran through my mind was that maybe the cell phone towers were out. It happened every now and again, maybe that would explain the sudden power outage.

No lights in the apartment were on seeing that it was still daytime. I tried the lamp nearest the table that I was working on, but it wasn't working either. Neither were the lights in the kitchen, living room, or bedroom. Complete power outage maybe? But how would that explain the WiFi? The answer; it didn't. They weren't connected, so how were they both out? Either it was a hell of a coincidence or there was something terribly wrong. Maybe I would be excused on the late essay.

But that wouldn't work, my professor was old and by the books. He would never allow a late paper, no matter what the reason. I slowly walked away from my couch and headed over to the control panel that was inlaid in the wall. No matter what switch I checked, nothing worked. Fear began to build in the pit of my stomach. I dashed into the kitchen and began to check my appliances. The refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave; nothing was working. With the heat of the Georgia sun flowing into my living room I could tell that even the air conditioning wasn't working. What the hell was going on?

Running back into the living room, and quite nearly busting my ass as I jumped over the coffee table, I saw that there were multicolored bars on the television screen - a surefire sign that there were no signals going out anywhere; there were no channels that were broadcasting, not even the audio.

In a last ditch effort, I ran to my kitchen counter and pulled out the old fashioned radio that I had gotten at a garage sale in case of an emergency. That didn't work either. There was no music or reports. Nothing on the AM or FM channels were coming through. The only thing that I could hear was an emergency broadcast that was very difficult to interpret.

My hands were shaking as I realized that for once in my life, I had no plan. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I always had a plan for anything that would be thrown at me. A hurricane? All good. Earthquake? Got it. But this time I had nothing. I wasn't even sure what was going on. All I knew was that I wasn't prepared for the dead to come back and eat the living.

Maybe this was a damned dream. But I was in control of my dreams. Right now I wasn't sure what to do. It wasn't really like I had any friends that I could run to, I wasn't really much of a people person; I tended to scare them off with my ever-so-charming personality. Family was even worse. I hadn't spoken to my family in years. I had no idea if the remaining members of my family were even dead or alive. And I really didn't care. They had never done anything for me so why should I do anything for them?

Trying to focus on something else, like my paper deadline that was rapidly approaching, I decided to see if everyone else was having the same problem. There was one person on my floor that I was even mildly comfortable asking for help. So I got up and left the apartment, taking my keys with me. I headed across the hall and gave a gentle knock on the door. It swung open almost immediately.

I was met face to face with my neighbor of the past four years, Carly. "Rain," she greeted, looking very shocked. Not that I was surprised. We rarely spoke, other than to exchange niceties on passing each other in the hall.

"Hi, Carly."

"What's up?" she asked, inviting me in.

"I know that we don't know each other that well, but -"

"Don't be ridiculous! We've been neighbors for four years. I'm happy to see you here. I knew that, at some point or another, you'd swing by," she chirped.

Happy as ever. "Listen, my computer is dead and I have my final paper due in about eight minutes. I was wondering if I could try using yours?" I asked.

"Sure! Come on it."

Carly swung open the door and I allowed me fully inside. I'd never been in her apartment before. It was a little bit nicer than mine, and hers had more things in it. I smiled awkwardly and walked over towards her computer. Carly logged it in for me and I plugged in my flash drive. But, just like mine, her Internet wasn't working. Carly was leaning over me and watching me work. She huffed and grabbed the computer from me, trying a few different things. Nothing worked.

"That's odd," Carly said. "I just tried it not long ago and it was working fine."

"Mine, too. Whatever. I'll just call Professor Woods and explain that I couldn't submit it. I've got proof that I tried. Thanks anyways, Carly."

"Sure thing." I turned to leave, but Carly called back to me before I could. "Listen, Rain, we're having a graduation party next week, and I'd love it if you'd come by. I know that you don't always like to hang out with us. Actually, you never hang out with us. But this is the time in life when we're supposed to have friends and enjoy ourselves. Swing by, even for five minutes. Having friends isn't a crime, you know? You need good people in your life."

"Uh, thanks. I'll think about it."

Giving me a quick wave, Carly ushered me out of her apartment and I traipsed back along the hallway to my own apartment. I dropped onto my couch and leaned back, staring up at the ceiling fan, imagining that it was spinning round and round. In reality, I wasn't going to think about coming to the party. My intentions were to graduate, get a good-paying job somewhere, and be left in peace for the rest of my life. Maybe meet some nice, boring, guy and have a normal, apple-pie life.

A loud crash sounded from outside of my window and I was jolted out of my thoughts. My heart was beating out of my chest as I ran to the window to see the most gruesome sight I'd ever laid eyes on. How the hell had this all happened in the few days that I'd been trapped in here with my research? This had to be a dream. There was no way that any of this was real.

Down on the streets a floor below me were people, or, at least, I thought that they were people, that looked like they'd crawled out of a horror movie. They were attacking civilians that were running for their lives. The things that crawled the streets looked almost like normal people. They were covered in dirt and blood with skin chunks falling off of their decaying bodies. Their eyes were a bright yellow and their teeth were black with some type of gunk. They walked with a strange limp, but they were fast enough to corner people.

I'd already seem ten or fifteen people get attacked. Just as I looked down to where I could get a better look at the monsters I saw a small girl, no older than ten, screaming at the door for someone to let her in. My fingers twitched at the buzzer on the side of my window for a moment. Just as I was about to buzz her in, one of the infected popped up on the side of the girl. To my horror, the dead woman bit into the girls shoulder, tearing out a huge chunk of flesh. I swore to myself that I would never forget that girls scream.

It was nothing like screams in horror movies sounded. I watched as a mix of blood, bone, and muscle mass was ripped away from the girl's neck and throat. I tore my gaze away from the window and covered my mouth to keep from screaming. Or maybe vomiting. Would she live or would she die? She'd probably bleed out if no one could get help down to her. Would she become one of them? What had happened to her parents? Was there a chance that they had been bitten before her?

Bracing myself to look out the window again, I turned back to the and forced the bile in my throat back down. On the streets below me were hundreds of the monsters that were eating civilians who were sprawled all over the ground. Some of the monsters were chasing down screaming and crying families who were attempting to flee. I jumped back when I saw the monsters banging on the doors of my building, trying to get in. The gates were strong, but if they were able to tear open the rib-cages of human beings, I knew that the fences would only last so long.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath.

This was not good. I turned and dashed away from the window, bounding over my old couch and heading to my kitchen. My foot caught over the edge of my couch and I stumbled slightly, just managing to catch myself. I deserved it for trying to look cool. Despite being strong and in-shape, I was never the most coordinated person in the world.

Ignoring my slip-up, I ran into the kitchen and quickly began riffling through my cabinets, shoving the perishable food to the side. I grabbed a few water bottles, a canteen from an old camping trip, a bottle of iodine I'd always had for boil water alerts, canned foods, and a few Slim Jim's (for what reason I wasn't sure, I didn't even like them) and threw it in my industrial-strength Army pack that I used for school. I tossed my books to the side and snorted. Calculus III and College Physics. I wouldn't miss those.

Deciding that I had enough supplies to keep me for now, I sprinted back into my room I threw off my sweats, much to my displeasure. Very rarely did I bother putting on actual clothes other than to go to work or on an occasional date, which were always a waste of time.

Tossing all of my clothes to the side, I grabbed some of my hunting clothes and laid them out. I pulled on my pair of tight hiking shorts, an industrial strength belt, hiking boots with sharp spikes on the toes and heels, and a dark green tank top with a black hat. I pulled my long, straight, blonde hair into a ponytail and pulled it through my hat. Without thinking, I threw a few extra clothes into my pack, some for winter, just in case, and dashed back out of my room, tossing the pack onto my counter.

My mind was racing as I tried to think of what else I would need for my sudden departure. Slamming to a sudden halt, I realized the rampage from outdoors was now outside my apartment. Right outside of my door, not even ten feet from where I was standing I could hear the moans and hisses of the undead, and the screams of their victims. They were in the damn hallway. How the hell did they get up here?

As bile rose in my throat again, I was sure that I was going to vomit. The occasional bang would sound on my door and each time I would jump, fearful that they were about to break in. I assumed that they could either smell me inside the apartment or they had finished in the hallway and were looking for their next meal. Either way, there was no way I was moving from my apartment for a while. Not unless I was forced. I would just have to be ready when the time came to evacuate.

With nothing better to occupy my time until I could leave, I ran over to the second bedroom. I smiled at the one thing I could thank my father for; my endless supply of weapons. He'd always had a strange fascination with weapons, one that he shared with me. Perhaps he had known the end of the world would come one day. Despite the fact that I knew I would want to wait a while before venturing into the hallway, I still wanted to be prepared for a last minute departure if need be. I had to be careful. I was not going to die any time soon.

I picked up two pocket knives of mine, one that I had stolen off a bully from in high school and one that was designed like a motorcycle; a present from my father before everything had gone south and he'd changed. Rummaging lower in the drawers I found my grandfather's bayonet, one that he used in World War II. I'd taken it when he had died more because I'd always had an attachment to the old thing and the stories it held. It would keep me farther away from the undead than the pocket knives would.

Rummaging in the spare closet I took out a few of my guns and extra magazines. I grabbed the Beretta 92, HK, and Springfield; all well-loved guns. I also made sure that I had plenty of extra ammo for them, just in case this wasn't temporary. It certainly wouldn't surprise me. I'd just thought that something like this would come long after I died. From old age. Not from being torn apart by corpses.

Finally I turned to the back wall where my prized possession hung - my old hand-carved bow. The bow was about fifty years old and made of solid oak with delicate flowers carved into the upper and lower limb. I'd gotten it when I was on a family vacation in Africa by a man of the village that we were visiting. He had told me that it was a strong weapon for a strong girl. I smiled when I grabbed it off the wall, along with the sheath of arrows. I decided to bring a few extra arrow cases with me, as well as a small set of throwing knives. Thankfully I knew how to use everything.

What could I say? A single girl living in the city had to know how to protect themselves. Plus I had always liked sharp and pointy things. Guilty as charged.

Moving out of the room with my weapons strapped to me by their sheaths, I retreated to the living room once more. I probably looked a little silly as I pulled them off of myself, realizing that my sudden panic had gotten me to get up off of my ass but I still couldn't go anywhere. I placed the weapons on the table in front of me. At least I was well-prepared.

It sounded like the carnage had come to an end outside, but I refused to move from my apartment. Even if I made it out to my car, there was a good chance the roads would be blocked. I could be stuck if an attack came. There was still the occasional growl from the other side of my wooden door. There was nothing that I could do. I didn't care about my schoolwork and there was no way that I could watch television. So I picked up a book and read until I passed out from the sheer exhaustion of the day.

The next week and a half followed similarly. I hid in my apartment by day watching the streets; every day the undead were spreading out more and more. I assumed that they had already gotten through all of the fresh meat out there. They said that the military would be coming to save everyone but there hadn't been a sign of them. It made my stomach churn with unease. There was no way that they were coming. Not after so long. Not to a shitty little neighborhood like the one that I lived in.

It didn't matter. I knew that this was going to be something that I handled on my own. The days were rough enough, being able to see them. The nights were even worse when I couldn't see them. The noise was even worse. I would read by candlelight and eat as little as possible to ration the small amount of food I had. It was a horribly boring system but it was keeping me alive.

On the twelfth day after the first attacks, when I finally stopped seeing the large amounts of undead that I normally saw littering the streets, I made the decision that terrified me. I decided to attempt to make a break for the woods. Over the last few days, in the rare times that a blurry message over the radio, I'd heard reports occasionally that apparently Atlanta was a safe zone. They were caging in the streets and setting up shelters for anyone that needed a place to stay.

It was more than anything that was being done here. There were other safe zones in the United States, but Atlanta was the closest one to me. Just a few hours drive going around the speed limit. So that was my pathetically empty grand plan; drive to the woods and keep to the woods before making my way on foot to Atlanta. Where I would hopefully make myself a new home.

It would be a long trip. Probably two weeks or so. Maybe longer if I went slow. I attempted to unbolt my door as quietly as I could. It made a soft squeak and I grimaced before pushing it open the rest of the way and stepping into the deserted hallway. The smell was the first thing that hit me; it was horrible. It smelled like rotting flesh, which I guess would probably make sense.

Eyes watering, I turned the corner and held back the cry that threatened to escape my throat. Down the entire hallway were the rotting corpses of the neighbors that I had grown to tolerate over the past four years. Though I may not have liked all of them, no one deserved to die that way. Truthfully I hadn't liked any of them. But that didn't mean that I was happy to see them torn to pieces and knowing that your life was going to end. It wasn't a quick death and it sure as hell didn't seem painless.

Not by the way that everyone had been screaming. I made my way queasily down the hallway and made it to right in front of the stairwell when I felt my heart drop. It was certainly the most unnerving sight I'd ever seen. Carly was lying on the floor with her skin peeled off of her torso. Her guts, mostly half-eaten, were laying on the ground next to her. Though Carly had been way too bubbly for a sane person she had only been twenty-two, my age. It was unfair for her to go that way when she had so much of her life ahead of her. Hell, she'd even been engaged. And she had always been the only person to speak to me.

As I stepped over Carly's body saying a quick prayer, a terrible one at that considering that I hadn't been a religious person, I carefully pushed open the door. Luckily I made it down the stairs, out the lobby, and into my car without encountering any of the undead. Some were wobbling down the streets, but as I walked silently down the street, none were alerted to my position. I hit the engine to start my old Ford truck and the car quickly roared to life. Peeling out of my apartment complex, I was quickly down the road and gone from my old town.

Although there were plenty of things I knew I would miss about the old world - air conditioning in particular - speed limits would never be one of them. I had never been one for the rules and the speed limit was always one of my least favorites. Boy if I could count how many times I'd gotten out of a speeding ticket by batting my eyelashes, crying, and pulling down my shirt. Not that my girlish cries to police officers really mattered any more.

Roaring down the road at almost one hundred miles per hour, I only encountered a few undead. With the speed I was traveling, they were no problem. Most were close to the woods. Very few were lingering in the road. For the day I drove, and then, about thirty miles outside of Atlanta, I pulled off to the side of the road, unloaded my things, and said goodbye to my beloved car.

Gathering my supplies, I headed into the woods where I quickly pulled out the map of Georgia that I'd snatched in a gas station on one of my stops. I figured that it would take me about two weeks to get to Atlanta if I kept a reasonable pace with a few breaks a day to rest, eat, and sleep.

As I moved on that day, I encountered none of the undead. By the end of the day I was more bored than I could ever remember being. I had gone camping plenty of times by myself, but I always had things with me to entertain myself. Music or something like that, hell I would talk to myself. But now I had to be careful making too much noise. It was clear that they were attracted to noise. I would just have to get over it.

With a sigh I decided to settle into a tree that had a decent looking branch for sleeping. I easily hauled myself up into the tree, a habit I'd had since I was a kid, and tied myself and my supplies in. It wasn't comfortable, and I had sticks where they shouldn't be, but it was better than becoming a meal for one of the undead. After a few hours of silently griping to myself about how the apocalypse couldn't have waited until after I'd earned my damn degree, I'd tired myself into a well deserved sleep.

The next morning I woke with a start after a nasty dream about the undead and nearly slipped out of the tree. After roughly yanking myself out of the rope binding me to the tree, I found out why I had been startled. Below me were five of the undead clawing to get to me. The noises must have sunk into my dream. I took a few seconds to thank whatever god was out there that the undead couldn't reach me. Almost dead just because I had tried to get a good night's sleep.

After recovering from my near heart attack, I jumped up and grabbed my bow to take down the undead. Pulling an arrow out of my sheath, I nocked it and pulled back the arrow. I aimed for the first undead's head and took my time to steady my breathing. With a long breath I released and grinned as the undead fell with a thud to the ground. Using the well paid off archery lessons I'd had as a kid, I easily took down the other four at the base of the tree before packing up my gear and deciding to move on.

Bracing my knees for the impact, I jumped out of the tree; seeing as it was a short fall I knew that I would make a safe landing. Grunting as my heavily booted foot hit the ground, I smirked to myself, turned and began the walk toward Atlanta. However, before I'd even taken two steps, I heard a low grunting noise from directly behind me. I turned as fast as I could and shrieked when I realized it was one of the undead; a middle aged man by the looks of it.

Heart racing, I panicked and leaped backwards, grabbing for the small pocket knife that I had in a sheath. After scrambling to flick the knife open, cutting myself on the branches around me, I began to lash out at the approaching figure without aiming. After a few blind hits, I finally managed to hit it directly in the gut, spilling the black organs onto the ground. I gagged at the horrible stench, and in my moment of weakness I forgot my stance.

The undead man took the opportunity to throw its entire weight onto me knocking me onto the ground of the woods. Its guts fell onto me and I had to fight back my scream. I yelled at the disgusting scene and began to thrash my knife at the undead and to my surprise nothing was stopping it no matter where I stabbed. The heart, lungs, spine, side, stomach, or neck - nothing did anything to it. With its jaws almost around my neck, I let out one last long scream and drove my knife into the top of its head.

The struggles on his end stopped and he slumped forward on me. Out of breath and terrified I made the only obvious conclusion; to kill them once and for all you had to destroy the brain. It made sense. They clearly weren't using much else. Shaking and pulling myself up, all of my previous cocky attitude gone, I vomited up the small dinner I'd had the night before. At least I'd made it this long before I'd finally emptied out the contents of my pathetic dinner of canned corn.

I got up to my feet and wiped the rest of my vomit off of myself. It hadn't exactly been something that I was expecting. Staring down at my bloody torso, I shook my head and quickly peeled off the green tank top I was wearing in exchange for a blue one, throwing the green one into the trees. Shakily, I grabbed my things and began off in the direction of Atlanta once more.

The next two weeks went by in a similar fashion. Every day I would sleep in a tree and pray that I woke up the next morning. I would check the area for the undead, eat a small meal, and get walking for Atlanta. Though now I was much more cautious; even the slower and smaller undead I took seriously. I quickly learned that they were sensitive to noise and smell. The only way to kill them was the brain; just the way that I'd figured after my first fight with them. Body shots would slow them down, but not enough. If they were in a pack, you had to make only head shots. Misses were dangerous.

So was the boring, depressing, and gruesome story of how we got here, to me complaining about the roots in the path. I was so irritable because I could see the rooftops of Atlanta now and I knew that my safety was so close. I couldn't help but smile and think to myself that it was so close to being over. I would get to the city where someone would ask me if I was alright or if I wanted a bath. I would be able to make real friends. I would finish up my degree once this thing was taken care of and I would get a good job. I would have the life that I deserved.

Pushing the branches apart, I finally looked over Highway 81 and saw what looked to be a deserted and ruined version of Atlanta. It was supposed to be a safe zone. From the looks of it, Atlanta was deserted and had been for a few weeks. When I took a closer look at the city I noticed something strange. It looked as though the city had been burned. The rooftops were charred and the windows looked to have been blown out on most of the buildings. The ones that were still standing, that is.

They had bombed the city. Who the hell had bombed the city? Certainly not the undead. They couldn't function more than basic actions. After a few moments it hit me; Atlanta must have been bombed. And it wasn't on accident. A bomb was the only thing that would make the city look that way. The undead must have somehow gotten into the city and to prevent the disease from spreading, they'd bombed the city, ignoring the innocent lives they would lose in the process. How could they do that?

"What now?" I mumbled softly to myself. I had no one, no place, and no purpose.

I sat staring at Atlanta for what must have been hours. For a while I started to think that a bullet might be a welcome sight. After turning the loaded gun over in my hand a few times I thought back to the many times in school when people said that I would never amount to anything. When my father had told me that I would never make it on the day that I had left home. Oh yeah, I'll show you, I thought as I slipped the gun back into my holster, ashamed that I had ever thought about killing myself.

That was not something that I was ever going to do. I was better than that. No, I'm not dead for a reason. There had to be a reason that I was still here. With my new-found confidence, I stood up and faced Atlanta. I'd find food, shelter, and in the morning I'd start a hunt for somewhere to live, a place to make a new life. A place where I could find better people than I had had in my old one.

It was everything that I deserved and it was everything that I knew that I was going to get. My life wasn't going to end yet. There were still so many things that I had to do. And with that last thought, I shouldered my pack and headed toward the ruined city, without knowing at all what awaited me there.


	2. Atlanta

Walking through the woods quickly, I took out a few stray undead with my bow, picking up all of the arrows once I was sure that the undead were really dead. As I made my way into Atlanta through the eight lane highway I had to awkwardly maneuver past the cars. There must have been one hell of a traffic jam getting out of this place. Some had the undead inside of them, banging against the windows, and others had permanently dead people inside of them.

Considering the slow pace that I was going at I knew that it would take me a while to get downtown. And it did. Each time I saw one of the undead I would drop to the ground and make my way underneath a car until I saw them walk past me. They were even slower than I was. Finally the cars began to thin out as I made my way through the outskirts of the city.

The gravel crunched like leaves after a cold fall as I made my way slowly and carefully into Atlanta. I noted that although there weren't many straggling undead, they were in huge packs scattered throughout the city. It looked just like it had in my town. They were all grouped together to track food down. It would make it easier to take down their dinner when they found it.

But, as far as I was concerned, there weren't any other people around. I hadn't seen anyone since I had left my apartment back in south Georgia. And that was fine by me. I didn't want to see anyone until I was safe and sound in some place that others had already secured. The only people that I'd seen so far were the undead. And I wasn't looking to make friends with them.

I snuck through the streets almost silently, making sure that their next meal wasn't going to be me. As I passed what appeared to be the main street of a business district, very near the office of one of the job offers that I'd had lined up, I stopped dead in my tracks at a group of about two hundred of the undead. They were standing right where I had been intending on heading. I was pretty sure that there were a few grocery stores down that way.

They were slowly limping towards my hiding spot behind a large brick building that had once been a tax collector's office and I began to back away. I nearly tripped when I walked right over the body of someone who had clearly recently fallen victim to one of the undead. As my breath hitched in my throat from fear I silently stumbled over the body of the dead man, holding back the scream of surprise.

I retreated down the street and into a dark alley that seemed to have been a recent feeding ground. There were limbs strewn all over the place and bodies were torn to pieces. I began to quake slightly in fear, but forced myself to stay strong. I couldn't freak out because there were dead people back here. There were dead people everywhere. I sighed at the fact that, in the past, I would have been afraid of a homeless man or a mugger catching me in a dark alley by myself.

These days I would do anything to be caught by someone like that. At least I could scream and a cop would come to my rescue. Now, if I was cornered by one of the undead and I screamed, only more would come to attack me. I was more afraid of one of the undead stumbling upon me with my back turned then anything else. At least I could use weapons on the undead.

Without any way to go but back, I turned around and headed to the more commercial part of downtown Atlanta. I wasn't sure if it would be any safer, but it had to be better than just standing there, waiting to be attacked. The good thing about Atlanta was that all of the streets were connected together and each one had alternate ways to enter and exit. Perhaps they were waiting for something like this to happen.

Walking out of the alley and stepping carefully into the daylight I noticed a huge indoor market. I knew that they were all over Atlanta, but I was surprised that one was this far into the business district. I smiled to myself, very nearly whooping at my find. I'd made sure to bring plenty of supplies with me for the journey to Atlanta, but I was slowly starving myself to keep the rest of my dwindling supplies. At the rate that I was going, my food would be gone within the next two or three days.

That wasn't something that I could afford. Carefully moving towards the doors of the building, I nocked my bow with an arrow and aimed it in front of me. In such a heavily populated area, it was best to keep to silent weapons as the undead gravitated toward noise. Scent, too, but I couldn't think of anything to do about that.

Taking one last deep breath, I dashed for the building and ripped open the door. Once I was at the threshold I let out a breath and prayed that none of the undead were lurking inside. The door slammed shut behind me and I cringed. I made sure that it was blocked to keep any of the undead from making an unwanted entrance. The undead were stronger than they looked. I needed a block on the doors.

Once I was sure that the doors were barred, I turned back to the store and looked around. At first glance it seemed that no one was inside of the market. That was until I heard the unforgiving sound of the undead. Fear bubbled in my stomach and I whirled around to what appeared to have been an overweight cashier at the market stumbling toward me. Taking my time to nock the arrow and aim directly between the eyes, since it was so slow, I let the arrow go when it stood about four feet away.

It dropped to the ground and I watched as the skull crushed in on itself, the growls ceasing. It was gone, but the smell left much to be desired. I let out a few deep breaths, continuing to tell myself that I was fine. It had only been one of the undead and he was gone now. I could search the rest of the place now. As I unglued myself from my spot near the door, I slowly made my way through the front of the store.

Taking my time to search the rest of the mini-mart, I discovered three other of the undead, all who seemed to have been civilians who were shopping when the world went to shit. Unsurprising as there really hadn't been much of a warning. Relaxing now that the store had been cleared out, I had only one thing on my mind. What was it that I wanted to 'buy'? It was the first time in a long time that I had been in a store without worrying about how much money I could spend.

Judging by the security and heavy doors in the place, I assumed that if I barricaded the doors the undead wouldn't be able to get in here and I would be able to rest for a while. It would give me a good time to rest up from the long days of hiking in the brutal Georgia summer sun these past few weeks, and replenish my supplies. Then, when and if I was ever ready, I would leave.

I smirked as I made my way through the aisles, happily grabbing whatever it was I felt the need to. After three weeks of nearly starving myself, my newfound appetite was ferocious with plenty of food to go around. I ended up garbling down two apples - browning and slightly smashed, but no real complaints. There was a stale lukewarm personal pizza, three flat sodas, a brownie (also pretty stale, might I add) and some pistachios. Not to mention the stack of Slim Jim's that I now had in the bottom of my Army pack. Maybe I was a little more sentimental than I thought I was.

The dinner was absolutely disgusting, but it was better than starving. Maybe sometime soon I would make a quick trip into the woods to get myself some fresh meat. I could find a place to make a fire in here. Seated in the middle of the store, stomach slightly bloated, I decided to get up and see if I could find anything fun. Humming an old country song, I made my way to the back of the store to see a monstrous shelf of liquor. I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd let out a girlish shriek.

Now don't get me wrong. I liked to drink, again a trait from my father, but I wasn't a drunk. At least I liked to think that I wasn't a drunk. I drank plenty growing up but I had always known how to control myself and keep my liquor down. Not to say that there were some nights that I spent hovering over the toilet and other nights that I couldn't even remember. But hey, that's college, right?

To my ultimate pleasure, I found my favorite, Tennessee Bourbon Whiskey. I let out a small whoop before cracking the cap off and tossing it to the side. I wouldn't need it. Tipping the bottle back I took a long swig and smiled to myself. It was so much better than the lake water I had been drinking. I smiled contentedly as the fiery liquid burned down my throat and cleared out my sinuses.

With my new-old friend in hand, I made my way to the front of the store where I went on a quick run to gather more supplies. On my quick swoop of the place I found another two tank tops, a few pairs of socks, some extra hair ties, another pair of shorts, and a bottle of aspirin. Making my way back over to my makeshift dining table I cleaned up the mess that I had made, taking small swigs of the bottle the entire time. I tossed the trash behind one of the cash registers and shoved my new items into my pack.

Just as I made it to the back of the store where I had laid out blankets and some pillows to sleep, I heard a small nudge of the door up front. Groaning, I stood and made my way over to take care of the undead that were now trying to get in. I had figured that they would eventually smell me, I just thought that it would take them longer. Standing behind the rack that protected me from the front door I reached for my bow. Just as I swung it over my shoulder, I heard the door slide open.

My stomach sank to the floor and I tried to clear my fuzzy vision to fight off the intrusive undead. Damn it. I shouldn't have drank. Just as I made my way to the front, I heard a set of more defined footsteps, unlike the dragging footsteps of the undead. Heart leaping into my throat, I began to wonder if these were living people. There was no way. I hadn't seen anyone when I was out in the streets and I hadn't seen any cars that looked like people had been in them recently. However, if they drove in by car and I was absorbed in my drink I may not have been able to hear them.

"Oh shit," I managed to mutter, before it was too late.

I dashed back behind a small display a few rows back from the front door and ducked just in time for the new people to walk in through the doors. My thoughts were racing in my mind as I tried to think about what to do. I couldn't leave and I couldn't run. They were blocking the doors. My thoughts were finally silenced when I heard an unmistakable rough southern accent.

"Check the back," one man said.

My thoughts were muddled as I tried to reason with myself through my drunken stupor. You wanted someone to come so you could have a life, someone or something worth living for. Why run? Why are you so afraid of them? I knew that I should go and see them. But then again, what if they were bad people? Suddenly, even in the slight haze of the alcohol, I knew it was time to leave the two men in the store without making introductions. I was too nervous to find out if they were good or not.

Running along the back wall as quietly as I could with my gear in tow, I attempted to sneak around the men. If I was quiet and fast enough I could get out of here without them knowing that anyone else was here. None of us would get hurt. We would all get out of here and the two men would be none the wiser. My feet gently scraped against the floor and I cringed, hoping that they hadn't heard it. I stopped and hid behind the row, waiting a few breaths to make sure that they hadn't heard me.

Once I was sure that no one had, I turned to head towards the front doors again. Almost shrieking as I turned the corner, I saw a young looking Asian man in a red hat. He hadn't seen me yet, but I couldn't help it. I let out a small pip of fear. I knew that I had alerted the man to my presence and they weren't just going to let me go.

The Asian man turned to look at me and that was the last thing I saw before I ran in a dead sprint out of the aisle. I heard the indistinct shout of the man and knew that I had to hurry out of the building. I had no idea where the other man had gone, the one I'd heard earlier with the thick southern accent, and I didn't really care.

Without a second thought, I bounded over a display in the middle of the store only to hear footsteps at the end of that aisle. It was the southern man that I'd heard earlier. Slipping in my alcohol induced haze, I wheeled around without thinking and sprinted down another aisle. It was the long way around the store but I knew that the southern man was in the aisle right in front of me.

Just when I thought I was in the clear - I could see the door right in front of me - I felt a powerful set of arms lock around me. In my fight or flight mode, I quickly slammed my head back into my assailants head and the man released his grip on me, groaning at - what I assumed - was a good deal of pain.

It wasn't just him. That had hurt me like hell, but at least I was free. I stumbled up, ecstatic to be out of the man's grip. My excitement was short lived when I felt a heavy object come down on the back of my head. From the concussion of the impact, I fell forward. My vision, which was already blurry from drinking, blurred even more as I saw the figures of two men approaching me, one rubbing his forehead.

Right before I passed out, as I do have the best way of saying things, I muttered, "God damn you hit hard," and I was out in the abyss of unconsciousness.

Daryl's P.O.V.

The guy that had been hiding in the store was passed out on the ground in front of us. He was barely ten feet away from me. A few trickles of blood were seeping onto the white-tiled ground, leaking out from near his temple. Glenn had hit him way harder than I'd originally thought.

"What the hell did you do that for short-round?" I yelled, angry that the Chinese kid had fucked up and hit the guy with a damn metal baseball bat.

I didn't need some guy's blood on my hands. This was only supposed to be a simple supply run. I didn't even think someone was in here. "I thought he was gonna kill you!" Glenn shouted back.

He was clearly afraid of what he had done to the man, who seemed to have only been fighting out of fear. But he wasn't dead. The guy was still breathing. I could see his back moving slightly. Leaning down and turning the guy over, wanting to see what damage the stupid kid had done to the him, I flipped him over. The man's baseball cap fell off and with it came a long stream of blonde hair. Turning the person fully over, I saw a feminine face along with some feminine 'features' I hadn't seen before.

"Shit. You knocked out a girl with that damn thing! You coulda killed her!" I snapped.

The last thing that I wanted was some girl dead because of us. Glenn's face turned a pure white and I knew that he was afraid he had seriously hurt her. She was still breathing, only bleeding slightly from where she had been hit over the head. She would be fine, but probably in a lot of pain.

"I didn't know it was a girl, I was just trying to help you out! I thought she was hurting you!"

"Yeah, right," I puffed out. She hadn't hurt me, just surprised me. I'd never been headbutted before. "So what do we do with her now?"

We couldn't just leave her here. A walker would get her. Or another person. "Bring her back to camp?" Glenn finally suggested.

My face heated up at the thought of having to take her back with us just because Glenn had screwed up. It was bad enough with the nearly thirty people that we had already. She would just be one more person that Merle and I would have to hunt for. One more stupid person to not appreciate what we did.

"What?" I growled at him.

The fear rose in his eyes, but as quickly as it had appeared, he pushed it back down. "Look, Daryl, I almost killed the poor girl. She was just looking for food, or water, or supplies. Just like us. We can't just leave her here like this as walker bait," Glenn argued.

Hunting would be harder now, but it wasn't going to be long before Merle and I took off. "Whatever, you can explain it to them assholes," I muttered back to him. "Go get the food."

As Glenn ran off to get what we had gotten before the fiasco, tail tucked between his legs, I looked at the girl. She was pretty and not too old, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two. She had long blonde hair, brown eyes from what I'd seen before Glenn had hit her, an athletic but feminine build, and she was definitely short. Probably just a little bit over five feet. Merle would definitely like her, there wasn't a doubt about that.

The other thing I had noticed was a tattoo on her shoulder; of what, I couldn't tell, and a simple piercing in her belly button where the shirt had ridden up during the struggle. Across her stomach was the bottom of another tattoo that looked like a giant bird. What the hell was that? Rolling my eyes, I leaned down and I picked the girl up under her legs and shoulders.

She wasn't that heavy, so it was easy enough to hold her and grab my crossbow. She shifted slowly in my arms, letting out a soft sigh, and I groaned, knowing that someone was going to have to take care of her. It sure as hell wasn't going to be me. I turned and looked over at Glenn, who was gathering the few things that we'd found.

"Let's go. Get the car ready," I ordered.

The girl once more shifted at the sound of my voice. With that, we made our way out of the market and to the campsite we had set up in the quarry. Pray help the girl that Merle never saw her. Lord knew what he'd say or do to the her. Probably much worse than he'd said to any of the other women at the camp. Either way, a baseball bat over the back of the head would be nothing compared to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I warn you guys, the beginning of this story is not fantastic, seeing as it was the first story that I ever wrote. Give it a chance! It gets better with time. I promise!


	3. Meet and Greets

The wold was dark as I pried my eyes open. "Mother of god, was a damn metal bat really necessary?" I mumbled irritably as I began to climb my way back into consciousness.

My dark and blurry vision finally returned and I blinked away the hazy fuzz in my eyes. Where the hell was I? I wasn't in my apartment. Had this all been a dream? Was I in some random strangers bed? A stranger that wasn't here. Or had everything really happened? Was I in the supermarket? No. Those people had hit me with a bat. It really had happened. And they had taken me. Where the hell was I? The fear was sinking into my stomach and I shot up immediately.

Obviously too soon, as I bent over and nearly hurled from the dizziness that was surrounding me. I should have known that the sudden movement would be stupid, but I hadn't been able to help it. I was panicking. These people had attacked me and then taken me hostage. They should have left me there with the doors barred back the way that I'd had them. That would have been alright. But now I was their... prisoner?

Absolutely not. Once the world fully came back into focus I stood up, much slower this time, and took in my surroundings. From the looks of it I was on a bed in the back sleeping area of an RV and a small one at that. The bed would be able to hold two people, but not comfortably. Besides the bed there was a small kitchen and dining area, the queen sized bed in the back of the RV where I was currently residing, and the driving area in the front.

The entire place was next to nothing. It was a little intimidating being here, with absolutely no idea how I had gotten here, or where we were. All I knew was that this was probably something like an old Winnebago. My father had once had one and it had always been my favorite thing, up until I'd left.

Walking into the small living area, I glanced around near the windows. I attempted to look out of them to see where I was without giving away the fact that I was awake to anyone who may have been moving around outside of the RV. The slower I walked the less likely I was to shake the RV. These people seemed friendly enough for not killing me but I didn't want to take a chance with someone I didn't know.

As I glanced out of the window I realized that the only thing I could see was trees. The woods were too dense for an RV like this. I could have still been near the city but it was too far away from buildings. So I was most likely in a quarry somewhere. As far as I knew there were some around Atlanta. Hopefully those two assholes hadn't moved me that far away from the city.

Once I was out of here I was going to head back to that market and see what else I could pick up. As much as I liked having the whole bed to myself, I had no idea what the people who owned this were like. Hell, one of them hit me on the head with a damn baseball bat. And that was why I knew that it was time for me to go. If I was quiet and quick I would be able to get out of here without anyone having to get in a fight.

To my utter surprise, all of my stuff was laid out on the dining room table just a few feet from me. Alright, so maybe dangerous but not the brightest? Didn't matter to me. As quickly as I could, without rocking the RV, I pulled all of my gear onto myself. My head was throbbing slightly as I moved around and more than once I nearly fell over. Once I had everything on me, I headed to the door that would lead me to god knows who, or what.

As I peered out the small window on top of the door I saw that no one was out in the green area in front of the RV, however, there were plenty of tents, tables, and fire pits set up all around the area. It was like these people had a whole little community out here. It was cute but weren't they worried that the undead would catch them? They had no security and no walls. How were they so confident out here?

The whole set up looked like the end of the world wasn't going on right now. It looked like a bunch of friends all together having a nice camping vacation. It must not just be the two men I realized. With all those supplies there had to be near twenty people here. Maybe they were friendly if there were families?

There did seem to be families around. There were some toys and books lying around but I wasn't willing to stick around to see if they were friendly. As far as I was concerned I needed to get the hell out of here. Maybe if we'd met by an exchanging of words it might work, but they'd attacked me for no reason. Well, I did headbutt that one man but he would have caught me if I hadn't.

So I took out the bayonet I'd received from my grandfather and stepped out of the RV onto the grass. Looking back at the RV I realized that it was indeed a Winnebago. My father had owned one for a few years when I was younger. Shaking myself out of the painful old memories, I turned to the woods preparing to head off, maybe to Jacksonville or something. I was pretty sure that was another one of the safe-zones. However just before I broke into the tree line I heard a low shout across the green.

"She's out. Get her before she gets away!"

"Shit!" I shrieked, no longer concerned about being quiet.

The only thing that I needed right now was to get away without being caught this time. My feet slipped on the slightly-damp grass for a moment before tearing off as fast as I could, hoping to break the woods where I knew I could lose my pursuers. I knew for a fact I was faster than most of them, I was always one of the fastest people I knew. My confidence was soaring high until the man who had hit me with the baseball bat from earlier managed to cut me off.

He stood with his arms out in front of himself and I slipped as I stopped short. Raising the knife, preparing myself for a fight with the man, I saw the fear rise in his eyes as he began to stammer. I tried to jump at him, not really wanting to hurt him, only wanting to scare him away. The last thing that I wanted was to kill him, but I would if I had to.

"W-W-Wait! Please, I'm so sorry for hitting you with the bat, I was just scared and I thought you were a guy with your hair tied up, not that you look like a guy!" he babbled. I nearly laughed. He was so awkward that it was almost cute. Maybe he wasn't that bad. But I still wasn't willing to risk it. "Please, just put the knife down, we don't want to hurt you, we brought you back here so you wouldn't be walker bait. Look, I'm Glenn. What's your name?"

A million questions went zooming through my head. This scrawny little thing got the best of me? He was probably my age. I wouldn't have thought that. He was even smaller than me. And clearly he wasn't exactly comfortable, or else he would have been standing like some of the other people around me were. Back far away and cowering behind taller men. I wondered how he had gotten so fast. Maybe he was a runner.

It took me a moment to realize that they were calling the undead, walkers. I definitely liked that name better. That was much better than my name for them. I would have to start using it. It had a much better flow to it. Undead made me sound like a scientist. Wait a minute, he asked me a question... Oh, my name!

Just as I was about to respond, I realized that I had dropped the knife to my side and the fear had left Glenn's eyes. There was now a large crowd around us looking like they were expecting something. Most of them were children with their parents but there were a few strong-looking men. My face turned red as I gradually hid the knife behind my back. And a second later I remembered the original question about my name.

A soft blush covered my face as I shook my hair out of my eyes. "Uh... It's Rain," I awkwardly answered Glenn and the rest of the crowd.

Glenn gave me a small smile and I slipped the knife into its holster. "Nice to meet you, Rain. Sort of," Glenn said, making the corner of my lips quirk upwards.

If these people hadn't hurt me yet I was sure that they wouldn't ever. "You, too," I mumbled.

The crowd of people began to close in on me slightly and I felt my heart rate quicken. If these people decided they weren't a fan of me, which no one seemed to be, I would have nowhere to run. Maybe I should have kept my knife where I could grab it.

"Cool name," a little boy with brown hair said.

He was standing off to the side of the crowd. He had sweet blue eyes and a small smile. He seemed like he probably wasn't older than ten or eleven. Poor kid, hadn't even had a chance to really be a kid. His mother stood in front of him, giving me a concerned stare. Probably thinking that I was going to kill her son.

"Thanks," I awkwardly muttered back to him.

I'd never exactly been the best with kids. Anyone that knew me knew that I tried to stay as far away from children as possible. I'd never even planned to have kids of my own. And I didn't want to make his mother get territorial. A small clap from behind me sounded and I turned back to Glenn.

"Well! Excuse us for being so rude!" Glenn exclaimed loudly. I grimaced at him. He had no idea how easily he could draw walkers in like that. "Let me introduce you to everyone. That's Shane in the police uniform."

I looked over to see a man in his early thirties with dark brown hair and a powerful stance. He was good looking, probably someone that I would have been attracted to in the old world. He gave me a short nod and I nodded back to him. His eyes roamed over my body for a moment and I snorted. Not in his dreams.

"Rain, was it?" Shane asked.

"That's me. Sorry for the commotion," I muttered.

"Not a problem. If we get a choice between you and the walkers, I'll gladly take you," he said, his eyes dropping to the low-cut droop in my shirt.

"Get to know everyone. We've been waiting to find out who you are. Get settled in and let me know if there's anything that I can do for you," Shane said, his eyes flashing.

Oh, I definitely will. "Okay," I said, trying to give him as sweet of a smile as possible.

Nothing would ever happen between us, I was sure of that, but it was nice to imagine that I might get laid again at some point. "Those two over there are Lori and Carl," Glenn motioned to the mother and son duo from earlier.

The two of them were now walking away from us. Now that the main commotion had died down everyone was moving on to do their chores. Glenn had explained their system to me as we walked around. Apparently everyone had chores to do so that the people stayed busy and could live reasonably well. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, hunting, preparing food, making runs, and keeping watch. It made sense, got everything done with and no one felt useless.

Glenn introduced me to plenty of other people, but most of the names slipped away from me. There were some that I remembered. T-Dog was a larger black man who had come in with Glenn. I hadn't met him but Glenn had pointed him out to me. Morales was a middle aged Spanish man with his wife and two children. They hadn't said anything to me, but they had given me a small wave, going back to their chores.

Jim and Jacqui had come together to the group. They had both smiled and briefly welcomed me. There was also Amy and Andrea, two sisters. Andrea was about eight years older than me and Amy was a few years younger than me. Or maybe the same age. I couldn't quite tell. There was Carol and her daughter, Sophia, along with Ed. He was Carol's husband and Sophia's father, but I got a terrible vibe from him. I noticed that Sophia and Carol didn't linger with us for long, despite looking like they wanted to.

He had shown me a few other people, too, but the others were the only ones that I remembered. Most of them weren't exactly memorable. "Anyways, the owner of the Winnebago you stayed in is Dale, that's him up top," Glenn said.

Glenn motioned upwards and I followed his direction. I looked up on the top of the roof of the Winnebago and there stood an older, friendly looking man. He had white hair and a fishing hat with a floral shirt hanging off of him. He seemed like the sweet fatherly type. I waved my hello to him, already able to tell that we would be good friends.

"Well, hello there! You certainly caused quite the commotion. How are you feeling? That was a nasty wound there that I had to bandage up," Dale responded, giving Glenn a pointed glare at the end of his polite welcome.

I giggled slightly and yelled up, "I'm fine, thanks."

Dale was grinning at me and I smiled back. He was certainly the friendliest person that I'd met beside Glenn. I'd just noticed that my head had a wrap on it where I was hit. It must have been bleeding when I got back. I appreciated that Dale, a man that hadn't even known me before today, had helped me out.

"Let me know if that head starts to bother you and I'll take a look at it," Dale called down.

"Thank you."

"And come by and chat if you'd like. I always like to meet our new members."

There weren't many people that I wanted to openly speak to, but Dale seemed nice enough to me. "I'll take you up on that soon," I said, waving at Dale.

"I'm usually somewhere near this old thing," Dale said.

"Nice to meet you!" I called as Glenn led me away from the RV.

Dale grinned at me and gave me a short wave before turning back to the woods, a rifle in hand. "Is he a lookout?" I asked.

"Yeah. We don't have the best eye-lines in the camp so we have to have someone up in the air and looking around at all times. Dale's got experience with a rifle," Glenn explained.

"Smart."

Walking through the rest of the camp, which was as I suspected in a quarry outside Atlanta, Glenn told me about everyone else in the camp. It turned out that Andrea and Amy had come in with Dale. They had met up with Dale on Highway 81 into Atlanta. Carol and Ed Peletier with their young daughter Sophia were from Georgia. As I had suspected, Ed was an abusive husband. Apparently everyone in camp had seen it at least once but no one had said anything yet. It made my jaws grind together to the point where I was sure that I was going to break my tooth.

There were a number of other people that had all just kind of come along. Apparently Shane had rescued Lori and Carl from their home and brought them with him. She'd had a husband - Shane's coworker - who had been shot in the line of duty and died early on. T-Dog and Glenn had met up on Highway 81 and come in together. I learned that Jim had lost his entire family at the start of this whole thing and Jacqui had been caught in all of this after work. That was when she had met Jim.

After finally making it through our entire tour of the living, cooking, and washing areas I turned to Glenn. He seemed so proud of this place and I smiled. It was nice to see that there were still little things that people could be proud of, even something as simple as a camp. But there was still one person that I hadn't seen yet.

"Who was the other man with you, the one that I head butted?" I asked.

Glenn shifted uncomfortably for a few seconds and I realized that whoever I had headbutted must not have been well-liked. "Daryl." No wonder he'd had a southern accent. He was clearly from the deep south. "He wasn't very happy that we brought you back here. He thought you were trying to attack us," Glenn said.

"I kind of proved his point," I said, making Glenn laugh.

"He wanted to leave you. That's his and his brother's tent way out there, they tend to stay away as much as possible," he told me.

Following where he was pointing, I looked out to see that there were two smaller tents that were set far back from the rest of the main tents. It was obvious that they liked the main camp about as much as the main camp liked them. There was a small shadow moving in one of them and I tried to squint to see the figure.

"We would tell them to buzz off, they're not exactly very nice, but they do supply fresh meat so we tolerate them," Glenn said.

I understood them not being friendly, but we were all still people. We had to work together. "If they're helping, it doesn't matter how friendly they are," I said.

"Just wait until you meet them," Glenn pointed out.

I supposed that was a fair point. "Well, I want to tell him I'm sorry for the head-butt. I was just defending myself. What were their names again?" I asked, making sure that I wouldn't sound like a fool when I walked up to them.

They didn't seem to be the type to tolerate stupidity. "Daryl, Daryl and Merle Dixon. The quieter one is the one you're looking for, just ignore the other one," Glenn explained.

The other one sounded like the men that I used to work with. "Uh, thanks, Glenn. You gonna wait over here?" I asked when I noticed that he hadn't made a move to follow me.

"I think so," he said, making me roll my eyes.

They must have been some pretty horrible people. With that I turned around and made my way to the small, secluded part of camp. It was strange being all the way out here. They must have really not liked everyone else. I heard people moving around behind the large tent but, not wanting to intrude on their makeshift home, I merely stood there for a moment.

"Hello?" I called out. Wow, real intelligent Rain.

A branch snapped behind me and I turned back with my hand on my knife. I was definitely paranoid. "Well, well, well, what pretty little thang do we have here?" a rough voice asked.

Immediately I knew that it wasn't Daryl. The voice wasn't right. A man that looked to be in his early fifties stepped into view. He had peppery hair and a sleazy smile. He was in decent shape for a guy his age and was soaked in sweat. Although we all were. I rolled my eyes as I instantly realized what type of man he was.

"You must be Merle," I more stated than asked in a bored tone, figuring from the slight warning Glenn had given me.

"That's me, darlin'," Merle greeted. "New face." His eyes scanned up and down my body. I cleared my throat loudly and irritably. "What can I do for you?"

"Uh - I just wanted to apologize to your brother. Is he back there? Can I see him?" I asked, trying to look around Merle's tall figure.

Merle snorted out a laugh before shaking his head at me, his arms folded over his chest. "What the hell would you wanna talk to Darlina for?" he asked, smirking at me.

I rolled my eyes at him. What a typical thing for a big brother to say. "Is he here?" I repeated.

Merle stared at me for a moment before letting out a bark of laughter, surprising me slightly. "Oh, I get it. You were the wild little thang that gave my brother that nasty shiner. Weren't you sugar?" he asked.

I merely rolled my eyes at Merle's obvious attempt to flirt with me, I'd met plenty of guys like him before, especially when I briefly worked as a bartender last year. I knew how to deal with them. He wasn't gonna scare me off just like that. All I wanted was to get to apologize to Daryl and get it off of my chest.

"Look I just wanna talk to Daryl. It is Daryl, right?"

Merle opened his mouth to say something to me but before he got a chance I heard another shout from back behind the tents. "Merle! What the hell are you doin'?" a loud voice called.

It came from behind the tent. I immediately recognized the voice and knew that it was the same Daryl I had headbutted. The first time that I saw Daryl, I saw no similarities at all between the two brothers. However as I looked more I noticed the same body structure and eye shape. But other than that there really were no similarities at all between the two.

While Merle had dark brown eyes, Daryl had a pretty light blue, and while Merle was balding, Daryl had a head of short dirty blonde hair. It also appeared that there was a good age difference between the two. Daryl looked like he was in his late thirties, probably a little older than Shane. And dare I say, he was very attractive in the dirty redneck way with strong muscular arms and a crossbow strapped to his back.

Suddenly I felt naked without my weapons as his gaze scrutinized me. I felt extremely vulnerable, seeing as I was wearing a pair or beige shorts and a black tank top with my hair tied up. I wished that I had my sweats on. My stomach churned with nerves for a moment. I hated apologizing. I was never any good at it.

"Daryl right?" I asked. When he didn't answer me, I continued to speak. "Look, I just wanted to say that I was sorry for the market incident, I didn't mean to-"

"Look, princess, I don't care what the hell you have to say, I still say we should left your sorry ass there for attacking us. Now get out of our side of the camp!" he yelled back, interrupting me and never giving me a chance to respond.

No one had ever said anything like that to me before. No one outside of family and a few men that hadn't liked the way that I'd spoken to them. But no one that I didn't know had ever spoken to me. I stood there, shell-shocked for a moment at Daryl's abrupt and rude word choice. Suddenly I felt a surge of anger rise in me.

"Look, asshole! I just came up here to apologize for head-butting you the other day! You scared me and it was the first thing I thought to do! So sorry for defending myself you egotistical prick!" I shouted.

Daryl was stunned into silence, just the way that I had been a few moments beforehand. Maybe I should have been a redhead. I had a damned short temper. Or maybe I should have been a little calmer. He was probably still in pain, but so was I. And I'd managed to forgive Glenn pretty quickly. Daryl's face fell into a sneer as I heard a small snicker come from Merle's direction.

I whirled on my heels to head back to the main part of camp when I heard the call of the older Dixon brother, "Aye, girly, what's your name?"

Whipping around with what I'm sure was a bright red face, I gritted out, "Rain."

I saw the confused look on Daryl's face and fought the urge to sigh. It was the usual look I got when I told people my name. Sure having an odd name was cool, but it did get old after a while. Everyone always asked me stupid questions about it. Turning on an about-face I noticed that the urge to say something stupid was bubbling up in Merle's throat so I saved everyone the time.

"Yes, like the weather." God, I hated having to say that.

With a short bark of laughter Merle shouted back, "Feel free to come around any time Sugar Tits!"

I rolled my eyes at the fact that my chest and face were heating up in anger as I stomped away from their camp toward the main camp where Glenn was still waiting for me. "I think I'll pass," I said, sneering at Daryl.

"Good," I heard him mutter.

We hadn't exactly been quiet, so it wasn't surprising that Glenn was watching me walk up to him with a smirk. "So, I take it that went well?" he asked with a smug face.

I resisted the urge to slap him as I stormed past him, digging my heels into the soft earth as I went. "Oh shut up," I grumbled.

Despite how irritated I was with Daryl I still managed to laugh slightly at the goofy look Glenn had on his face. He would be a good friend to me, that much I could already tell. But there was one person that definitely wouldn't. And that didn't bother me. I had never been very good with making friends. But enemies... I was always good at making those.

Okay, Daryl Dixon, if you wanna play it like an asshole, I can play it like a bitch right back.

Let's play.


	4. Return to Atlanta

It was a few hours later that I was walking around the camp, trying to get used to the little area. It was cute and seemed to be set up rather well. I was spinning a throwing knife - probably not the best idea, considering everyone that was watching me closely - when I noticed a large crowd gathering around the Winnebago. There were a number of people standing there that I hadn't seen before. It seemed like their group had about thirty people in it.

Glenn was walking up and pushing his way through the crowd to try and get into the front row. I stared for a moment before dashing up to join him. A few nameless members that had seen during my stunt earlier took steps back from me, making me roll my eyes. It wasn't like I was that scary. I was a five foot tall blonde girl.

Glenn turned as I caught up to him and smiled at me. "What's everyone gathered around for, Glenn?" I asked the young Asian.

It looked like almost all of the members of camp were gathered around the main fire pit that the RV was parked in front of. Even the Dixon brothers were there; the younger briefly glaring at me before turning his angry gaze on the ground. The older gave me a playful wink. I merely scoffed to myself.

"We're having a meeting about potentially going to Atlanta again to make a run for some supplies. That's what we were doing, Daryl and I, when we found you," Glenn said.

"You didn't find enough of what you needed?" I asked.

"We would have. We were getting supplies that we were running out of. When I accidentally injured you, you became the priority so we had to cut our trip short and bring you back here. Believe it or not, you used up a lot of our medical supplies. This time we'll probably send out more people."

A wave of guilt rushed over me. They really had gone through a lot of trouble when they could have just left me there. I could only imagine how they felt right now. Especially with a stranger strolling around the camp where their families were. And it didn't make it any better that I had been flashing around a knife earlier, trying to kill one of the men that was clearly important here. I tucked my throwing knife into my pocket.

Maybe I could actually understand why Daryl had been angry with me. The whole thing probably meant that he would have to be going back into Atlanta. I supposed that if I was in his place, I would have been pretty angry with me, too. But that didn't change the fact that the things that he said to me were horrible.

"Oh... I'm sorry that it was me who cut your trip short," I answered, feeling terrible that I had caused so much trouble in the small camp that seemed to already be having problems keeping supplies properly stocked.

"Don't worry about it, Rain. It was my fault that I hit you and hurt you, so it was only fair that we brought you back and helped you," Glenn said.

"Well I really do appreciate that. You didn't have to do it for me," I muttered.

"We're all people. Gotta help each other these days, right?" Glenn asked.

"I suppose."

It amazed me that they would use their medical supplies on someone they hadn't even known. I never would have done that for someone that I didn't know. Hell, I could have killed them when I woke up. Just as I was deep in thought, Shane stepped forward and began to speak about the upcoming journey.

"Alright, as you know, we had to cut the last trip short because of certain circumstances," Shane announced.

I immediately felt another wave of fresh guilt and dropped my gaze. But it wasn't more than a moment later when I looked back up and saw that Shane was looking over and giving me a reassuring smile that brought my spirits back up. His eyes still trailed over the dip in my shirt and I rolled my eyes. Too bad he hadn't gotten to me about two months ago.

"It doesn't matter. We're going to go back out, this time farther into Atlanta. And this time we'll have more people and more firepower." I could see how Shane had been a police officer before, he had that authoritarian vibe to him. "Are there any volunteers?" he asked, probably well-aware that no one would be quick to volunteer.

No one wanted to go out there and risk their life because some stupid chick that had they didn't know that had used most of their medical supplies. Not that I could blame them. I wouldn't want to volunteer either. After a few minutes of awkward silence I decided to be brave.

"I'll go," I said quickly, before I could change my mind.

All eyes shot over to me and I saw a surprised look cross over Shane's face. "No, you're new here, we shouldn't make you -" Shane started before I cut him off.

"No, Shane, I'm the reason that your people didn't get to retrieve all of their supplies. It's only fair that I go. One less person of yours to risk their life. After all, you had two risk their lives for me."

"You're sure?" Shane asked.

"Yes."

Shane sighed and ran his hands through his hair before asking, "What weapons can you handle?"

I smirked and explained that I would be proficient in almost anything he gave me but I was best with knives and guns. A proud smirk fell over his face. Shane had probably met plenty of girls who would cry at the sight of a gun. It seemed to be most of the girls at the camp. Shane seemed happy enough with my skills and turned to the rest of the group waiting for more volunteers.

The air was awkward as we all waited for someone else to volunteer. "I'll go back," Glenn said. He stepped forward past a tall black man whose name I was pretty sure was T-Dog. "I know the streets better than anyone else, count me in."

Glenn came and stood by me. A second later, T-Dog pushed by volunteered himself as well. "Count me in," he said.

"Thanks T." Shane patted the man on the back as he walked past and came to a halt next to me.

The man gave me a small smile and held out his hand for me to shake. I took it and smirked when it completely engulfed my hand. "Hey, I'm T-Dog," he greeted.

I smiled up at T-Dog, and replied, "Hey T, I'm Rain."

He seemed to appreciate the nickname and I was glad. The last thing that I needed was making enemies this early on. A lot of people already seemed cautious of me.

T-Dog merely smiled and said, "Cool name, I like it."

"Thanks. I'm not the only one with a cool name," I pointed out.

"T-Dog, short for Theodore Douglas," he explained.

"I like T-Dog better."

"Me, too. Made a hell of an entrance in here," T-Dog told me with a laugh.

We both laughed and I nodded, watching as more people stepped forward. After the three of us had volunteered to go, Jacqui - who apparently knew all the underground systems - and Morales stepped forward. A moment later Andrea did as well. Amy chose to stay. I assumed that the only reason that Andrea was going was because she wanted to be 'one of the guys'. Or at least that's the vibe I got from her. I'd fought my entire life to make sure that I wasn't one of them.

"That's good. Get ready to leave!" Shane shouted.

I turned on my heel to head off and get some of my weapons to bring with me. Just as I thought we were ready to head to the cars and leave, I heard a familiar, cocky, southern accent. "Hey now, y'all gonna need some muscle. I think Ole' Merle might go just to show y'all how it's done out there!" he cheered happily.

It wasn't just me. Everyone sighed at the thought of being stuck with Merle. On the positive side it would be useful to have one more person that knew how to defend themselves and others. If nothing else, it seemed that it was only one of the Dixon boys coming with us. I was glad that Daryl seemed to have decided to stay at the campsite. I wasn't sure if I could deal with both.

"Alright, that settles it," Shane said. I turned to look at him and rolled my eyes as Merle tried to waggle his eyebrows at me. "The seven of you will go. Everyone else will stay and help here at camp. Everyone get your stuff and be ready to head out in five."

"You need anything before we go?" Glenn asked.

"No. I've got everything with me," I said.

"Alright. We'll be back in a few minutes. Let us know if you need anything."

"Will do."

With nothing more to do, I decided to go sit by the truck. Everyone else headed towards their tents to get their things. I was up on the tailgate swinging my boots back and forth. I'd only been at the truck for about a minute, staring down at the ground, when I saw a pair of worn work boots. My jaws tightened and I was about to give Merle's sexist ass a piece of my mind, snapping my head up to shout at him, when I was surprised to see that it was actually Daryl.

My jaw fell open as I stared at him dumbly. The only thing I could think to say was, "Uh..." Oh yes, very intelligent, Rain.

"Why'd you volunteer to go out there?" Daryl asked, wearing a stern face.

Because I'd used all of their supplies after I'd been hit with a damned baseball bat? "Um... It was my fault your last trip got cut short so I figured why not make up for it and go on this trip?" I asked more than told him.

Daryl merely huffed at me. "We - Uh - We don't have any more tents for you to stay in when y'all get back," Daryl said.

"That's okay. I'll figure something out."

"Don't worry about it. If you want, I'm goin' hunting soon. I'll probably be gone for a few days, I usually am on hunting trips. You can use mine while I'm gone," Daryl said.

"Wow, thanks, Daryl. I'll - uh - take you up on that," I said happily.

He nodded at me, face still like a statue, displaying no emotion. "I'll make sure to tell Merle to leave you alone if you want. And if he gets outta hand, one foot to the nuts always helps," he said.

Despite wanting to shove my foot towards his nuts for what he'd said to me earlier, I couldn't help but to smile and laugh a bit at the thought of Merle rolling around on the ground with his hands over his manhood. Even Daryl cracked a tiny bit of a smile at the quasi-joke.

"That's easy enough. I'm grateful about the whole tent thing, I really am, but, why? I mean, why offer me your tent?" I asked.

I appreciated the offer, but he hated me. I couldn't understand why he was offering me his tent. "I still don't really like you, but if we gotta live around each other, I figured be civil," he said.

I smirked and nodded. So we were still on each other's shit list. "Works for me," I said.

"Plus the ground's pretty hard and sucks to sleep on, so for a few days it'll be fine if you wanna stay. Maybe try to find a tent while you're out."

"I'll do that."

"Just keep your damn hands outta my shit while you're in there," he snapped.

Men like Daryl couldn't be nice for too long. But I'd figured out why he had offered me his tent. "Shane asked you about the tent, right?" I asked.

Daryl glared at me and I smirked wider, knowing that I was right. "Still didn't have to," he snapped.

"I know. And I appreciate that. Anything you want while we're out on the run?" I asked, figuring that I should be civil too.

"Nah," Daryl quickly replied.

We stood in silence for a moment before I looked over at him. "Watch yourself out there. World's gone pretty crazy," I said.

I was unsure about why I'd said it - I didn't like Daryl - but we were all humans, and that meant that we were on the same side. "As long as no psycho chicks are running around, headbutting people, I think I'll be fine," Daryl said.

My face turned upwards into a smile and I laughed, nodding at him. He stalked off without another word and grabbed Merle, who had been marching over, and talked to him quietly in the corner. Something in the back of my mind told me that the day would come that Daryl would come to like me. There was a small possibility of being friends. In the meantime, maybe if I could find some arrows or cleaning fluids or a sharpening stone to get for him.

I went back to swinging my feet against the truck but it wasn't long before another figure walked up to me. "What are you all smiley for?" T-Dog asked, coming to lean against the truck with me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking over at him.

"You've got a smile on your face. Is it something to do with whatever you just said to Daryl? Because usually he storms away in a huff or yelling, he looked just fine there," T-Dog said.

Shrugging my shoulders, I began to pick at the tip of my knife that hung off of my hip. "Oh, he offered me his tent while he was on a hunting trip," I told him flippantly.

"What?" T-Dog coughed loudly.

I turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "He just offered me his tent for a few days until I could find something else," I said confusedly.

He looked extremely shocked and I couldn't think for the life of me why. "He's never done anything like that for anyone," T-Dog said.

"Well he really didn't do that much," I muttered awkwardly.

"Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart," T-Dog teased, nudging me slightly. "He must like the way you stood up first, even though you really didn't owe us anything."

I couldn't help the small blush that rose to my face. No one liked me. No one had liked me or respected anything that I had done in years. The last friends that I'd had were when I was fourteen, and I'd only had one. I wasn't cut out for friends. And even if I was, Daryl Dixon of all people would not be the first.

"Oh, well, it was - uh - sweet of him to do, I guess. Shane asked him to do it though," I muttered.

The older man smirked and hummed at me. "Sure thing, sweetheart," T-Dog replied.

Laughing under my breath, I shoved T playfully and the two of us laughed heartily. We talked for a few minutes about what our old lives had been like, but it didn't last long. Not long after we struck up our conversation, everyone else had shown up and we were off. I took a seat next to Morales and smiled awkwardly at him.

"Rain, right?" Morales asked.

"Last time I checked," I said.

He smiled at me and quickly shook my hand. "Thanks for volunteering," he said.

"My fault your in this mess, right? Well, Glenn's for hitting me," I said loudly, drawing a bashful smile from Glenn, "but I wanted to try and make things right."

"You're really good with that thing?" Morales asked, pointing down to my bow.

"It's like an extension of my arm. I'm not very sentimental, but it's the one thing that I could never part with," I admitted.

Morales glanced down at it. "It's beautiful," he said. "Maybe you'll get to show us how good you are with it."

"Let's pray that I don't."

Morales started up the truck as everyone else piled in and I looked back to see Daryl disappearing into the woods for his hunt. Silently I wished him, and ourselves, luck. I wasn't a Dixon fan, but I knew how dangerous this world was and I knew how much people had to protect themselves. We had to make sure that we could recreate the world. The walkers were not taking over this planet. I leaned back with my bow resting over my knees, drumming my fingertips on the wood.

The truck ambled down the road and I looked out the window, ignoring the conversations that were going on around me. I did not want to hear about the creation of the road system of Atlanta, growing up in some third-world country, working as a pizza delivery boy, or anything about how wonderful Merle Dixon was.

We were all getting restless but thankfully it didn't last long. We weren't that far from downtown Atlanta anyways. In about five minutes we were at the edge of Atlanta. Not wanting the engine to roar and draw attention to us, we pulled the truck off on the edge of the road about half a mile away from downtown Atlanta. The seven of us hopped out, watching for walkers. We all grabbed our gear and made our way into the city as quietly as possible.

We were a big group and I despised how quiet we were being. Even though I knew that we had to keep quiet. It just felt a little strange being with so many people and hearing no one talking. My arrow was already nocked and ready to fire at any given moment. I was leading the group, since I was the one with the silent weapon.

"Hey, y'all, I hate to jinx it, but where are all the walkers?" Morales asked.

It was an odd question but he was right. The cities were the most populated with walkers, yet we didn't see any of them. There were no groups of walkers that I could see anywhere. Was there something else happening? There was a chance that something or someone might have been drawing them off.

It didn't matter, as long as they weren't near us. Moving around the streets of Atlanta for a few minutes, we still had yet to see or hear any walkers. Thankfully our group was nearly silent, only the scuffs of boots against gravel making any noise. Even Merle was being silent, which surprised me more than anything else. I was reasonably certain that he didn't know how to be quiet. But that was all until a gunshot sounded dangerously close to where we were standing.

Merle's arm was pressed up against mine and I felt us both tense at the sudden gunshot. Andrea and Jacqui both let out ear-piercing shrieks at the sudden noise. We all stopped suddenly and turned back to stare in horror at the two girls. I had come close to screaming, but I had somehow managed to keep quiet. My heart was pounding in my chest as I realized that the two women had alerted the walkers to our position.

There was no other noise in the city. The walkers would all be attracted to this. Not to say that Jacqui and Andrea were the only ones that had been startled by the gunshot, every one of us had jumped, even Merle. But that didn't mean that I was happy about what had happened. The walkers would be here at any moment. Morales grabbed my arm and shook me from my stupor. We had to leave. I nodded weakly, walking away with the rest of our group.

We had to leave before the walkers cut us off. We nervously ran out onto the main street, looking for a building we could hole ourselves in until the walkers pass. As we turned the corner we all came to a sudden halt. To our horror, the street was filled with walkers who had noticed our presence, and they were now weakly limping after us. There would be no way for us to outrun this pack. There must have been well over two hundred.

"Back, go back!" Morales shouted at the top of his lungs.

There was no use in being quiet anymore. Not needing any more persuasion we all took off down the road. Each time we passed a store one of us would pull at the doors and pray that they would open. But they were all locked. I couldn't believe that people had thought to lock their damn stores while the world was ending.

We tried six stores before one of the doors finally opened. We practically barreled into the store that had two sets of glass doors and a bar cage that the walkers would have to get through to make it into the shop. We slammed the door shut and re-locked it while Morales and T-Dog closed the gates. The rest of us cleared the store to check that it was empty which, thankfully, it was.

My breathing was heavy as I walked over to the center of the store. Merle and I had gone through the store together to check and make sure that there were no walkers. I walked back up to the front with the others to talk about what we were going to do now. We all grouped together near the middle of the store, watching as walkers gathered near the gates.

"So what now?" Andrea asked.

The walkers had already surrounded the door and it was clear that there was no way we were getting out anytime soon. At least, not from that door. There might be a door in the back of the store, but we would have to be careful. I wasn't planning on dying this early in the apocalypse. We would get out, but maybe not through the front. Not unless we could distract them.

"Check the roof maybe?" I finally suggested, earning odd looks from the group. "Look, we could maybe see if this roof connects to another one or if nothing else, who the hell fired that shot."

My teeth were grinding together. This would have never happened had Jacqui and Andrea not screamed. "That's not a bad idea actually," Jacqui piped up.

"Let's check it out," Morales said.

Everyone else agreed that it was the best thing for us to do. We all went to the staircase and headed up towards the roof. My legs were burning slightly from the strain of all of the steps, but it looked like everyone else was having a hard time, too. We were all in decent shape, but stairs had never been easy. The building was well over ten stories and my legs were shaking when we finally reached the roof. I ran over to the edge of the building and looked over.

It didn't take long for us to spot the problem, considering that walkers were crowding all around the newfound problem. It was a man on horseback that was clearly being cornered by the walkers. There was no chance of him getting away either, as he was closed in on the other side by a tank. There was no way for him to get away.

"Should we go help him?" Jacqui asked.

"Why?" Merle immediately snapped. I turned my gaze over to him. "All that asshole did was get us stuck here, let him get bit. He's gonna be walker chow in a minute anyways."

"But -" Jacqui started.

"Merle's right," I spoke over her. Merle, and everyone else, gave me a shocked look. "Shut up," I snapped quickly at Merle. "We're in enough trouble as is. Every man for himself, right? If he makes it out, that's one thing, if not, doesn't matter. He's not with us."

The group was silent for a while. "She's right. We'll help if we can, but we're not extending an arm for this guy," Morales finally said.

There was no way that the man was getting out of the thick of the walkers. There were too many and despite how many guns he had, the walkers were too fast. Despite feeling a little guilty about the whole thing - I wasn't cruel after all - I watched as the man was pulled down by the walkers and the horse quickly became a feast. I gagged at the sight of the horse but continued to watch. Jacqui laid an arm on my shoulder and I smiled at her.

I always had liked horses. The man had disappeared under the group of walkers but shots were still ringing in the air. Somehow he was still alive. Just then I heard the metallic bang of a door come from the underside of the tank. That was when I remembered that tanks were designed with an emergency hatch on the bottom. He had holed himself inside the tank.

"Holy shit..." I muttered. Glenn turned to look over at me and I walked into the center of our group. "Listen everyone! Tanks have a small hole that people could climb in and out of on their undersides in case of emergencies. That man's still alive! He's holed up inside the tank probably trying to wait the feast out."

"You're sure?" Glenn asked.

"Positive. I was a construction major in college. I remember talking about it," I said confidently.

They all began muttering among themselves before Glenn grabbed the radio and walked over to the ledge of the roof. "Here, maybe I can get him on the radio, lemme try," he said.

"Try the lower frequencies," I suggested.

"You know your shit," Morales said.

I smiled at him and nodded. "Not many friends in the old world, so I settled for books," I said.

"Well, you got friends now," he said.

We both smiled and I nodded at him. "I think I got him!" Glenn called back to us. "Hey, you. Dumb ass. Yeah, you in the tank. You cozy in there? Hey, are you alive in there?"

Everyone laughed softly. The radio was silent for a few moments before, "Hello? Hello?"

It was the man in the tank. He actually was still alive. "There you are. You had me wondering," Glenn said.

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?" the man asked.

"Yeah, I can see you. You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news."

"There's good news?"

"No," Glenn said, making me smile.

"Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you I'm a little concerned in here," the man in the tank admitted.

"Oh, man. You should see it from over here. You'd be having a major freak-out," Glenn said.

I walked over to him and whacked him on the shoulder. He cringed and looked back at me. As angry as I was with the man in the tank, I didn't want him freaked out or killed by the walkers. "Got any advice for me?" the man asked.

"Yeah, I'd say make a run for it," Glenn suggested.

Was that really such a good idea? "That's it? Make a run for it?"

"My way's not as dumb as it sounds. You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. With me so far?"

"So far."

"Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. Got ammo?"

"In that duffel bag I dropped out there, and guns. Can I get to it?"

The bag was underneath the feeding frenzy. There was no way that he was getting it back. "Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option. What do you have on you?" Glenn asked.

"Hang on." The radio went silent for a minute before clicking again. "Yeah. Yeah. I've got a Beretta with one clip, fifteen rounds."

"Make 'em count. Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards. Be there," Glenn said.

He got up to move when the radio hissed again. "Hey, what's your name?" the man asked.

"Have you been listening? You're running out of time."

"Right."

We all looked over at Glenn, who nodded back at us. "I'll be back," he said, before heading downstairs.

Once the door was closed, I looked back to see what was happening with the man in the tank. The top of the tank clanked open and the man jumped out of it. He was holding a metal shard in his hand and moved towards the walker on top of it, slicing its face open. It fell to the ground as the man turned and jumped off of the right side of the tank, sprinting for the alley. I kept count of the bullets that he was letting off. He had killed eight before he finally ran out of sight.

At this point what happened with the man was no longer my problem. As far as I was concerned, I'd done my part. I had figured out how to help the man. So I walked away from the ground and took a seat on the edge of the roof. Instead of trying to put my two cents in where it didn't belong, considering that I was still new to their group, I decided to take a nap and tune out whatever argument they were having about the man. Hey, maybe I'll get a tan.

It wasn't long before someone was shaking my shoulder. "Come on! We're seeing what happened with the man down there," Morales said.

"Okay," I muttered.

He gave me a hand and I got up to my feet. Merle was on the roof, too, but he was looking over the edge. He didn't seem to care about the man. The two of us sprinted down the stairs and back into the store. Glenn and the man were coming in at the same time. I watched curiously as Andrea stormed up to the man and pointed her gun in his face. I rolled my eyes at her. The gun had the stupid safety on.

"You son of a bitch. We ought to kill you," Andrea snarled.

"Just chill out, Andrea. Back off," Morales told her.

She was really driving me nuts. "Relax. He didn't know," I said.

"Come on, ease up," Jacqui said.

Andrea turned back to us irritably. "Relax? Ease up? You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of this stupid asshole," she said, looking back to the man.

"Andrea, I said back the hell off," Morales snarled. Andrea still didn't move. "Well, pull the trigger."

She continued to glare at the man, but was unable to pull the trigger. Not that it surprised me. She finally put the gun down and looked at him. "We're dead… All of us… Because of you," she told the man.

"We're not dead. We'll figure a way out of this mess," I said.

"I don't understand," the man said.

"Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral," Morales said.

Once more I rolled my eyes. They were being such children about the whole thing. It was an accident. "Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds," T-Dog said.

"You just rang the dinner bell," Andrea said.

"Get the picture now?" Morales asked.

Stepping forward, I shoved everyone away from the new addition. "Stop being such asses about the whole thing," I growled, earning a nasty look from Andrea. "He was panicking and trying to get away from the walkers. Anyone would have done the same thing. He didn't know that we were here."

It looked like Andrea was about to say something back to me - which wouldn't have gone over very well - but she never got the chance. We all turned to see the walkers growling and trying to get into the store with us. It wouldn't take them very long to get in here. One of the walkers was holding a rock and attempting to smash through the double set of doors. Maybe the walkers were a little bit smarter than I liked to give them credit for.

"Oh, god," Andrea groaned. "What the hell were you doing out there anyway?"

"Trying to flag the helicopter," the man said.

Was there a helicopter out there? "Helicopter? Man, that's crap. Ain't no damn helicopter," T-Dog said.

"You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things. It happens," Jacqui said, somewhat reassuringly.

"I saw it," the man said determinedly.

"Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B. Can you contact the others?" Morales asked, pointing to the radio.

"Others? The refugee center?" the man asked hopefully.

He must not have been around much towards the beginning of the outbreak. Jacqui scoffed at him. "Yeah, the refugee center. They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us," she said.

The others walked off to see if they could get in contact with the main camp. The new man was still standing awkwardly in the middle of the store. I walked over to him. "I'm new here, too. I don't like these guys that much, but they're people too. It's just a small quarry not far from here where we're all camped out," I admitted.

The man nodded, looking a little crestfallen. "Oh. Well, in the meantime, I'm Rick," he said, extending his hand for me to shake.

"Rain," I greeted, earning a strange look. "No, I'm not a flower power baby. My parents just had to have a different name for me."

"It's cool," Rick said.

"Thanks."

In the meantime, T-Dog was still trying to get in contact with the main camp. But no one was making any progress. We had no signal, probably because the building was covered in walkers. "Got no signal. Maybe the roof," T-Dog suggested.

Just as we were about to leave, I heard rapid gunfire up on the roof. "What the hell is that?" I asked.

"Oh no. Is that Dixon?" Andrea asked.

Was Merle doing something? "What is that maniac doing?" Morales asked.

"Come on, let's go," Glenn said.

It didn't take anything more than that. Our small group sprinted towards the staircase and ran upwards. My legs were sore from the run about halfway through, but I didn't stop. To my surprise, Rick ran with us. As we burst through the doors and onto the rooftop, I saw that Merle was hovering over the edge of the roof, shooting at several walkers down on the street.

"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?" T-Dog shouted.

Merle merely laughed and continued shooting. "Oh, jeez," Andrea moaned.

"Hey! Relax and back off, Merle," I shouted at him.

We didn't need to make things any worse than they already were. "Hey! Y'all be more polite to a man with a gun! Huh? Ah! Only common sense," Merle said, turning back and showing us the gun.

My stomach turned slightly. That was nerve-wracking, the thought that Merle might kill us. "Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" T-Dog shouted.

But Merle didn't care. He continued to laugh. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill," T-Dog growled.

Obviously there was bad blood between Merle and T-Dog. "Hey! Bad enough I've got this taco-bender on my ass all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day," Merle said to T-Dog.

"That'll be the day? You got something you want to tell me?"

"Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it," Morales said..

"No."

I didn't really want the conversation to stop. I was a little curious as to what this was all about. "All right? It ain't worth it. Now Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble," Morales said, trying to calm everyone down.

"You want to know the day?" Merle asked.

"Yeah," T-Dog said snappily.

"I'll tell you the day, Mr. "Yo." It's the day I take orders from a nigger," Merle said, shocking me.

Merle wasn't the nicest person in the world, and I had figured that he might be a little racist, but I hadn't thought that he would say something like that. "Mother…" T-Dog trailed off.

Just like that, T-Dog and Merle launched themselves into a fight. T-Dog threw out a punch that Merle barely missed as he took the rifle and jammed the butt into T-Dog's face. T-Dog was thrown backwards, but not quite off of his feet, as everyone jumped forward to stop the fight before it could get worse.

"Hey, come on, Merle. That's enough."

"Come on. Dixon!"

"Whoa, cut it out, man!"

"Stop it! Dixon, get off him! Dixon, you're gonna hurt him."

"Merle, cut it out!"

Merle punched Rick in the face, throwing him back over one of the pipes, as he turned and kicked T-Dog in the stomach. He stumbled backwards as Merle hit him again. He fell onto one of the pipes and smashed his head, this time leaving a little trail of blood on the pipe. And that was when I knew that it had gone far enough. Merle was kicking T-Dog in the stomach before leaning over him and punching him straight in the nose. Morales tried to step in and help, but it only resulted in a punch to the gut.

Then Merle pulled out a pistol, aiming it in T-Dog's face. "No, no, no, please. Please," Andrea begged.

Our group became very still, waiting to see what Merle would do. "Knock it off! Grow the hell up," I shouted.

Merle turned back to me for a moment before spitting on T-Dog. "Yeah! All right! We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh?" Merle said as he stood back up. "Talk about who's in charge. I vote me. Anybody else? Huh?" Everyone walked over and grabbed T-Dog, pulling him away from Merle. "Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands, huh? All in favor? Huh? Come on. Let's see 'em."

Morales was the first to raise his hand. "Oh, come on," Andrea groaned.

For once, I agreed with her. "All in favor? Yeah. That's good." Everyone raised their hand, Jacqui flicking him off, but I remained where I was. "Not you, darlin'?" Merle asked.

I folded my arms over my chest. "I'm not much for democracy," I snapped.

"Now that means I'm the boss, right? Yeah. Anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?" Merle asked.

"Yeah," Rick said.

He came up from behind Merle, smashing him over the head with the rifle. Merle was thrown backwards from the sudden impact. Rick stepped over Merle and easily grabbed his hand, handcuffing one, and using the other piece to chain Merle to the piece of pipe that he had fallen near.

It took Merle a moment to come to. "Who the hell are you, man?" Merle groaned.

Rick leaned over Merle almost threateningly. "Officer friendly. Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart," Rick said.

He was wearing a cop uniform, and I could definitely see how he had been one. "Screw you, man," Merle snarled.

"I can see you make a habit of missing the point," Rick said.

"Yeah? Well, screw you twice."

"Ought to be polite to a man with a gun," Rick said, throwing back Merle's words from earlier in his face. Rick cocked his gun, pointing it at Merle. "Only common sense."

"You wouldn't. You're a cop," Merle said.

He was right about that. "All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose." My heart went out for Rick. I hoped that he managed to find his wife and son. "I'll give you a moment to think about that. Got some on your nose there."

"What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" Merle asked, laughing loudly.

"Looks like it," Rick said.

He got up and started going through Merle's things, which didn't sit well with the other man. "Hey! What are you doing? Man, that was my stuff! Hey! If I get loose, you'd better pray… Yeah, you hear me, you pig? You hear me?" Merle hollered.

"Yeah, your voice carries," Rick said carelessly.

"Do you hear me, you filthy pig?"

"You're not Atlanta P.D. Where you from?" Morales asked Rick.

Rick merely motioned flippantly backwards. "Up the road a ways," he said.

He must have been from one of the smaller precincts. "Well, officer friendly from up the road a ways, welcome to the big city," Morales said, motioning around us.

Hours went by where we all chatted back and forth, waiting to see if everything would eventually clear out with the walkers downstairs. Unfortunately, they never did. They knew that fresh meat was in here and that meant that they would wait us out. It became very boring very quickly. We were just sitting and fiddling with the radio, hoping to get a signal, and talking to each other. The sun was high in the sky and baking us when Andrea finally spoke, shattering the silence.

"My God, it's like Times Square down there," she said.

She was right. The crowd of walkers was more than anything that I'd seen before. "How's that signal?" Morales asked T-Dog, who was fiddling with it.

"Like Dixon's brain… Weak."

"Keep trying."

"Why? There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing," Andrea moaned.

I looked over at her and narrowed my eyes. "Got some people outside the city is all. There's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream," Morales said, having not heard my explanation to Rick earlier.

"Then she's right. We're on our own. It's up to us to find a way out," Rick said.

Rick walked away from our group and I watched as the others began to walk over towards Glenn and T-Dog, both of whom were now messing with the radio. All I heard was a bunch of static. As the men were attempting to find a radio signal and the women were chatting softly with each other, I looked over the street.

"Damn, it's flooded with those things," I muttered.

"Ain't that right, sugar tits?" Merle asked. I glanced over at him and narrowed my eyes. "Hey, honey bunch, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies? Gonna die anyway."

He gave me a sleazy smile and I rolled my eyes. I was never going to sleep with him. Not on my life. "Go fuck yourself," I bit out.

"Would if I could, doll," Merle purred.

The others were crowded around each other, chatting about our useless attempts to get out of here. "The streets ain't safe. Now there's an understatement," Morales said, running his hands through his hair.

"What about under the streets? The sewers?" Rick asked.

"Oh, man. Hey, Glenn, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?" Morales asked.

Glenn walked over to the ledge and looked down towards the ground for a while. He turned back to us after a few minutes. "No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are," Glenn said.

"Maybe not," Jacqui said, surprising me slightly. "Old building like this built in the twenties… Big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding down in the subbasements."

Everyone was surprised at her comment. "How do you know that?" Glenn asked.

"It's my job… was," Jacqui said, looking very sad. "I worked in the city zoning office."

With that, we headed downstairs to see if we could figure things out through the sewers. Maybe we could make it outside of the city and towards the less crowded areas. We would be able to get back to the truck and make it back to the camp. Of course, this whole thing was a waste of time. We hadn't even gotten any of the supplies that we came for. We walked into the basement, leaving Merle and T-Dog up on the roof.

"This is it? Are you sure?" Morales asked.

Glenn nodded at them. "I really scoped this place out the other times I was here. It's the only thing in the building that goes down. But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?" Glenn asked. When he turned back, he realized that we were all staring at him expectantly. "Oh. Great."

"We'll be right behind you," Andrea said.

"No, you won't. Not you," Glenn said.

Andrea's face fell. "Why not me? Think I can't?" she snarled.

She didn't realize that it was because he wanted to go by himself, not because he didn't think that she was capable. "Get over yourself," I hissed at Andrea.

She turned a heated glare on me, but Glenn spoke before she could. "I wasn't…"

"Speak your mind," Rick prodded.

"Look, until now I always came here by myself… In and out, grab a few things… No problem. The first time I bring a group… Everything goes to hell. No offense. If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine… But only if we do it my way. It's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed. I'll take one person… Not you either. You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors, covering our ass. And you've got the only other gun, so you should go with him," Glenn said to Rick. "You be my wingman. Jacqui and Rain stay here. Something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry."

"Okay," Jacqui said.

I nodded my consent. "Okay, everybody knows their jobs," Rick said.

Everyone was chatting back and forth as Glenn and Morales disappeared down the manhole. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to make it out, but I was definitely hoping that we would. Andrea and Rick were talking to each other about guns as I sat in the corner, twirling an arrow. T-Dog was still up on the roof with Merle, and I could only assume that that was going well.

"Not too many people that use those kinds of weapons," Jacqui said, sitting next to me.

"Daryl does. I noticed he uses a crossbow," I pointed out.

"That's only two of you out of the entire camp. It's impressive. How'd you learn?" she asked.

"Got me out of the house," I muttered.

That was clearly the end of the conversation. I didn't want to say anything after that. We had talked too much about my home life for me, and even that was barely anything. Jacqui looked like she might have said something else to me, but she never got the chance. There was a loud shattering of glass and I jumped up. We all ran over to see that the walkers had broken through the glass and were now pressed up against the cage. It wouldn't be long before they broke through that, too.

As Rick and I stood with our weapons pointed, Glenn and Morales popped up behind us. "What did you find down there?" Rick asked.

"Not a way out," Morales said.

"We need to find a way… and soon," Andrea said, motioning to the walkers.

Knowing that it wasn't safe to stay downstairs, we all decided to head up to the roof once more. We quickly told T-Dog and Merle about what had happened downstairs, and neither looked thrilled. Not that I could blame them. We were trapped and running out of time.

"That construction site, those trucks… They always keep keys on hand," Rick said, breaking the silence.

We all glanced over to see that there was a construction site, but it was covered in walkers. We would have a hard time getting there. "You'll never make it past the walkers," Morales pointed out.

"You got me out of that tank," Rick said to Glenn.

"Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted," Glenn argued.

"Can we distract them again?" Rick asked.

"Right. Listen to him. He's onto something. A diversion, like on 'Hogan's Heroes'," Merle said.

"God. Give it a rest," Jacqui groaned.

Everyone else ignored Merle. "They're drawn by sound, right?" Rick asked.

"Right, like dogs. They hear a sound, they come," Glenn said.

"What else?" Rick asked.

"Aside from if they hear you? They see you, smell you and if they catch you, they eat you," Morales said.

"They can tell us by smell?" Rick asked.

"Can't you?" Glenn asked.

"They smell dead, we don't. It's pretty distinct," Andrea said.

And that was the beginning of the worst plan that I had ever heard in my entire life. We headed downstairs and into the loading bay of the store. We had come up with the idea to kill a few walkers and smear their guts all over Glenn and Rick, who would be wearing coats to keep the mess off of their skin. We would have to do it for them. They would walk through the hoard walkers - hopefully masked by the scent - and get to the construction site to get the truck. It wasn't a great plan, but it was the only one we had.

Rick was handing out everything that we needed for them. "If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold," Glenn said.

"He's right. Just stop, okay? Take some time to think this through," Morales said.

"How much time? They already got through one set of doors, that glass won't hold forever," Rick said.

He was right. There was only one more set of glass doors and the cage before the walkers were in the store. I watched as Morales and Rick ran outside the back door, quickly killing two walkers, before dragging them back into the store and sealing the doors again. Rick grabbed a fire axe and put on a trench coat, giving the spare to Glenn. He was about to lean down and start hacking, but he stopped at the last moment. He leaned down and pulled out a wallet.

"Wayne Dunlap. Georgia license. Born in 1979. He had $28 in his pocket when he died… And a picture of a pretty girl. 'With love, from Rachel.' He used to be like us… Worrying about bills or the rent or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne," Rick said, handing the card to Glenn.

It was a little sad, having to do this to someone, but it was the only way that we were going to survive. "One more thing… He was an organ donor," Glenn said.

Despite the tense air, I laughed. I was the only one that did. We had a brief moment of silence for Wayne, and then Rick went at it. He raised the axe high into the air before bringing it down on the walker's stomach. I groaned at the sight but otherwise remained calm. It was the smell that was the worst. Everyone else turned away and started to gag.

"Madre de dios!" Morales cried.

"Oh," Andrea groaned.

"Dios!"

"Oh, god," Glenn moaned.

"Keep chopping," Rick said, handing the axe off to Morales.

"I am so gonna hurl," Glenn said.

"Later," Rick said.

Morales hacked away at the bodies until they were mush. Now came the really disgusting part. "Everybody got gloves?" Rick asked. Everyone nodded. "Don't get any on your skin or in your eyes."

I'd done some gross things in my life before, but nothing was worse than spreading the guts of a dead man onto two other men. "Oh God! Oh jeez. Oh, this is bad. This is really bad," Glenn groaned as we continued to spread the guts.

"Think about something else… Puppies and kittens. Dead puppies and kittens," Rick said.

Glenn turned over and vomited everywhere. I groaned at the sight. It only made things even worse. "That is just evil. What is wrong with you?" Andrea asked.

"Next time let the cracker beat his ass," Jacqui said.

"I'm sorry, yo," Rick told Glenn.

"You suck," Glenn responded, making me smile.

"Do we smell like them?" Rick asked.

They smelled like they hadn't showered in a year. "Oh yeah. Glenn. Just in case," Andrea said, handing her gun over to Glenn.

"If we make it back, be ready," Rick said.

If they made it back, we would have to be out of here within seconds. We wouldn't have time to dawdle. "What about Merle Dixon?" T-Dog asked, surprising me slightly.

Rick tossed the handcuff key to T-Dog. "Give me the axe. We need… we need more guts," Rick said hesitantly.

Rick started to chop again, making me feel a little bit sick. Maybe this was a little grosser than I thought that it was. Finally we finished putting all of the guts on Rick and Glenn. We all walked with them to the back of the door, allowing them to leave and head out. I wished them a quick good luck before heading up to the roof with the others, making sure that we could see them and watch what was happening.

I was more than a little surprised to see that the plan was working. Rick and Glenn were in the middle of the herd that hadn't noticed them yet. But, as always happened, things turned bad quickly. Rain began to sprinkle down on us and them. "Oh man. It's just a cloudburst. We get 'em all the time. It'll pass real quick," Morales said, watching them through the binoculars. He turned back to me quickly. "Can you head downstairs and make sure that no walkers get through?"

"Sure," I said.

In all honesty, I wanted to stay up and see what was happening, but I didn't argue. So I merely headed downstairs and walked towards the doors, where the walkers were being drawn away. I could just barely see Rick and Glenn through them. To my horror, the rain was starting to wash off the guts. They were no longer being unnoticed. The walkers were getting slightly more aggressive, bumping into Glenn and Rick, trying to figure out if they were alive or not.

It only took about a minute for the smell of the guts to be washed away. It was obvious enough that the walkers knew that they were alive. One of the walkers gave a loud growl and started to charge at them. Rick was quick enough to duck of the way and crush its skull with the axe.

"Run!" I heard Rick shout.

There was no use in being quiet. Rick and Glenn took off down the street with Rick killing another six walkers with the axe. Glenn managed to kill two with the crowbar. The two of them threw their weapons over the fence and climbed over it before the walkers were able to get them. That was when I lost sight of them. I could hear gunshots going off in the distance, and I hoped that it was because they had managed to find the truck.

As much as I wanted to do something, I knew that I couldn't. The only thing that we could do was wait and and see what would happen. So I slumped against the floor and closed my eyes. If something happened, I would hear it. But it turned out that I didn't hear anything. It didn't feel like it had been very long when Rick shook my shoulder. My eyes sprang open as Rick leaned down and grabbed my hand, yanking me off of the floor. I wanted to shove him back but I didn't. Instead, I let him drag me with him.

They must have succeeded. "C'mon, we've got the truck loaded. Glenn is drawing them off, we gotta go now!" he shouted.

Without bothering to ask what happened, I raced with Rick into the truck. The two of us launched ourselves into the back of the truck and I rolled forward, barely escaping the jaws of one of the walkers. Jacqui managed to get me to stop rolling as I sprawled out on the floor of the truck. We both laughed as everyone was thrown backwards when Morales slammed on the gas to get us the hell out of Atlanta.

The moment that I'd recovered, I got up and leaned over on my knees. My heart was pounding as I watched the walkers surround the truck. I couldn't believe that our terribly laid out plan had actually worked. And not a moment too soon. As we passed the front of the store that we had been in I saw that the walkers had broken through the glass doors and were now working on the cage.

I was lucky that they'd pulled me out of there in time. I could have been killed. Actually, Rick was the only one that had pulled me out of the building. We drove in silence for a while and I leaned against the back of the truck. Rick was right next to me and I could hear his rapid breathing. After driving for a few blocks, when we were at the border of Atlanta, I heard the sound of a car alarm.

"What the -"

I was cut off before I could finish my sentence by a piercing scream, much louder than the car alarm. "Woo-hoo!"

Leaning forwards to see what was happening, I saw Glenn go racing by in a red Challenger that he must have stolen. The car alarm for it must have been the distraction. I smiled to myself at the obvious joy Glenn had from his few minute drive in the gorgeous car. At least one of us was having fun. It was a nice car. I didn't blame him. I'd been saving up for a Charger myself.

Glancing around the truck I realized that we seemed to be missing a very looming presence. Unless he had been in the Challenger with Glenn. "Hey you guys, where's Merle?" I asked.

Everyone else was here. All eyes went to the floor of the truck but it was T-Dog that finally spoke. "I dropped the damn key down the drain. I couldn't cut him free so I just left, like a coward. Bolted the door though. No geeks are getting out there to him," T-Dog responded, hanging his head.

We had left Merle out there chained up like a dog. "Oh shit," I muttered.

As much of an ass as Merle was, I didn't want to leave him to die up there. Plus there was now the issue of what to do with Daryl. Anyone would be upset about that happening to a sibling. I would have been if I had ever been closer to my sister. But we all knew that Daryl had anger issues. No one would be able to guess how it would pan out when we told him what happened. Needless to say, the rest of the car ride was dead silent.

The buildings from Atlanta fell into the background as we crossed into the woods. Just as we pulled into the camp our small group of survivors surrounded us. We all jumped out of the truck to be reunited with loved ones. Andrea flew straight towards Amy and Jacqui walked off towards Jim. Morales went to hunt down his family and T-Dog headed with Glenn over to Dale. The reunions were all so happy and I felt my heart twinge. I wanted that. But I would never have it. That wasn't who I was.

Not having anyone myself, I turned back to Rick and smiled. "Coming Officer Friendly?" I teased.

I'd heard Merle say it to Rick when we were on the rooftop. Rick smiled and jumped down from the truck. He stood with an awkward grin for a moment before his face fell. I turned and noticed the shocked looks on Lori, Carl, and Shane's faces. Perhaps they weren't expecting any newcomers. I hadn't been either. I was about to make introductions when Carl bounded forward.

"Dad!" Carl screeched, barreling into Rick's arms.

Dad? That was a little shocking. I vaguely remembered the story I'd been told by Glenn about Lori losing her husband and Shane coming to save her and Carl from their home. Glenn had told me that Lori's husband had been shot in the line of duty and been in a coma. But everyone had thought that he was dead. Somehow he must have managed to survive whatever had happened to him. One day I would have to find out that whole story.

It was rather sweet that Shane had risked his life to get them to safety when they thought that the man of their house was no longer around. The family of three were hugging and laughing, however, Rick broke apart the reunion to say hello to his best friend and old work partner.

Rick walked over to Shane and wrapped the other man in a tight hug. "Thanks for keeping them safe," he said.

Shane smiled at Rick, but something in his smile seemed off. Like he was almost disappointed. I wondered if maybe Shane wasn't as happy to see Rick as he let on. After all, I had seen some intimate gazes exchanged between Lori and Shane. Was Shane jealous of Rick? It definitely could have been the truth.

For a while afterward, everyone mulled around the campsite and I stared awkwardly into the distance. I had thought about going to talk with Rick but he was currently busy catching up with Lori and Carl. And I really didn't want to interrupt their happy time together. Shane was a possibility, but he too was speaking with Rick. So I made a few laps around the campsite before being motioned over to the Winnebago by Dale.

He was fixing up the Winnebago and I stared at it with a small smile. This thing was really on its last legs. Apparently there was something wrong with the radiator hose. That was what Glenn had told me. I looked into the RV hood and saw that there wasn't really even a hose anymore, it was almost all duct tape.

"Jesus, Dale, I think it's about time you gave this bad boy up for his retirement." I smiled up at Dale who gave me a grateful smile in return.

"Soon Rain, but as of now we really do need this old man to transport the stuff around. Especially if we need to pack up and move fast," Dale said.

Smiling at Dale I nodded my agreement and leaned over to radiator hose. "You need some help?" I asked.

"I would love that," Dale said.

He seemed to think that I would need help with his instruction about the RV, but I already knew everything that he was talking about. It was something that was very obviously surprising to him. We worked together for a while and I told Dale all about my time at school and what I was doing before the outbreak.

"Where did you learn all about cars, Rain?" Dale asked, after a brief silence.

Shrugging my shoulders at him I leaned against the edge of the RV and tugged on the shirt that I was wearing. There was sweat and some blood running down the front. "I don't know," I said softly.

"Dad teach you?" Dale asked.

"No. I mean, I didn't learn it from my Dad. He hardly spoke to me once my sister was born," I admitted.

"You have a sister?" Dale asked, clearly surprised.

Nodding at him, I dropped my head towards the ground. "Yeah. She's thirteen years younger than me. I don't remember even speaking to her. I left home before she could speak," I told Dale.

He nodded back at me and began to wrap up the radiator hose once more. "You left home at thirteen?" Dale asked.

"Fourteen."

"I see. Bad childhood?" Dale prodded gently.

"Very bad," I muttered.

"I'm terribly sorry to hear that. I never had any children of my own but I always did like them. My late wife, Irma, she couldn't have children. I would have loved to have them. Especially one like you. Smart and sharp as a tack," Dale said.

His comment made me smile. "And I would have loved to have a father like you," I admitted.

It would have been wonderful to grow up in a house where I could have parents that had really loved me. But it was too late. At least Dale was around now. We worked in silence for a moment longer until a thought came to the forefront of my mind. I wanted to keep it in, but I couldn't hold my tongue any longer.

"What happened to Irma? If you don't mind me asking," I said abashedly.

How rude could I get? Asking some man I barely knew about what had happened to his late wife. "She developed an aggressive and highly resistant form of cancer. She didn't want the treatment. She wanted to live out the rest of her life in peace. It killed me. I hated that she didn't want to try and live. But she had accepted her death. I had to too. I know that she would be proud to see me right now," Dale said.

I smiled weakly at him. "I'm so sorry to hear about her. She sounds like a wonderful woman," I said softly.

"She was. And I think she would have liked you," Dale said, winking at me.

Despite knowing that it was meant to make me feel better, I frowned. "I somehow doubt that. No one likes me," I said softly.

Dale merely gave me a sly grin and shook his head at me. "Is that so? I like you," Dale told me and I grinned.

"I like you, too," I said.

"Glenn likes you. Shane seems to like you. I think Carl likes you. T-Dog likes you. It seems that you've made friends with our new Sheriff. And, if I didn't know any better, I'd think that Daryl Dixon even likes you," Dale counted off.

There were a number of people in the group that seemed to like me. Perhaps Andrea was the one exemption from that. But it was the comment about Daryl that threw me off. Had I been drinking something it would be all over the ground. Daryl hated me. He had made that plenty clear every time we spoke.

"Are you kidding? He hates me. He screamed at me the first time that we spoke and the second time he only offered me Merle's tent because Shane told him to. Daryl doesn't like anyone. And if he did it certainly wouldn't be me. Not after the headbutt," I said.

Dale laughed and shook his head. "Still. He would have denied Shane that request had it been anyone else. Perhaps it's just because you're new here. Or maybe it could be something else," Dale teased.

I snorted at Dale and shook my head. "You're off your rocker," I shot back.

"Well I have had plenty of people tell me that I was a crack-pot old fool."

"You are."

We both laughed softly and turned away back towards the radiator hose. While we worked, Dale told me stories about his wife and their life before the outbreak. It was quite something to hear about a couple who had loved each other that much. They had apparently been ready to take a road trip together in the Winnebago, but Irma had died before they'd ever gotten the chance. It killed me to hear that he had lost her before he'd even gotten the chance to do something that they'd always wanted to do.

Before long, I heard Shane asking Ed to put out the fire. I'd noticed that people had to be extremely careful what they said around Ed. Even Carol had to be careful. And I hated that I hadn't once seen Sophia speak to her father. In fact, I hadn't heard her speak at all. If I hadn't known any better I wouldn't even think that Sophia was his daughter. I had a feeling that she hid from him during the day. It made my heart hurt for the young girl.

The thought of what Ed did to his family made my blood boil. They were such nice people. I wanted to say something, but I knew if I confronted Carol she would deny it, and there was the chance that I could possibly get her in a load of trouble with Ed. Snapping me out of my thoughts, Dale asked the one question that no one had so far dared ask.

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind."

I hadn't even realized that the majority of the group had gathered around to talk about what was to be done about Merle. I'd almost forgotten about leaving him. Everyone sighed, knowing that it would not be an easy conversation to have. Especially not with Daryl, who wasn't a very rash thinker. There really wasn't a good way to say it with Daryl. I thought the best way would be to do it like a band aid. Tell him and let him process it on his own and then ask questions.

The group was silent until Rick stepped forward. "I'll tell him," Rick said.

He was a Sheriff. He was used to stepping in and making himself the bad guy. He clearly wasn't the only one that thought that he should be the one to tell Daryl. "I dropped the key," T-Dog attempted.

Rick shook his head. "It's on me. I cuffed him. That makes it mine."

This really wasn't a bright thing to argue about. "Guys, it's not a competition," Glenn attempted to mediate.

No matter what, it wouldn't work. Daryl would be pissed. We were all silent before Rick spoke once more. "I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy," Rick argued.

My teeth ground together as I shook my head at them. I hated this. Couldn't we have just hit Merle with a pipe, or I don't know, a bat and dragged him back to camp? It worked pretty well last time. With no real solution, the discussion was over fast and we all retreated back to our work. I had gone back with Dale to work on stripping the Challenger, much to Glenn's disappointment. We were about halfway through when an ear piercing shriek rang out through camp.

All heads popped up at the sudden sound but no one made a move to head towards it. "Near the woods, go!" I shouted.

I darted off immediately and Shane was quick to follow me. Besides Lori and Carol with the kids - seeing as they were the people that had screamed - I was the first one to the scene, with my gun in hand. Shane was behind me in just a matter of seconds. It turned out to not be that big of a deal. It turned out that it was just a walker gnawing on a very recently dead deer. Two arrows were sticking out of the side of the deer carcass and that could only mean one thing.

The rest of the group walked up to us as I continued to stare at the deer and walker. I was shocked that it hadn't been paying us any attention yet. Maybe it was because it already had a willing meal. While everyone was arguing about how the walker had come up this far, I was focused on the tall figure coming out of the shadows of the woods.

It wasn't long before everyone else saw him, too. "Son of a bitch," Daryl snapped, earning the attention of the group. "That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"

He was kicking the deer in the side, enunciating each word with a kick. "Calm down, son. That's not helping," Dale attempted, always trying to be the bringer of peace.

Daryl did not appreciate the unsolicited advice. "What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'?" Daryl snapped before turning back to the rest of the group. "I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"

He was obviously hopeful. It surprised me that he had calmed down much quicker than I would have given him credit for. He wasn't his brother. "I would not risk that," Dale replied.

Unfortunately I felt the same way. Obviously we would all rather be safe than sorry. Although with my stomach growling the way it was, I was about ready to eat anything. I had just now realized that I hadn't eaten anything since I'd been at the market the other day. Thankfully that had been a huge, albeit disgusting, meal and the alcohol had subdued the hunger until now.

"That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel. About a dozen or so," Daryl sighed.

True to his word, there was a belt of squirrels attached to his waist. "That'll have to do," Dale sighed.

They would be able to last us for at least tonight. "Oh God," Andrea groaned at the sight of the walker.

Our conversation was enough to draw the walkers attention to us. It was starting to hobble towards our small group and I grabbed the hilt of my knife, ready to get the walker if need be. Andrea stumbled back a step. I almost snorted at her. She wanted to be a tough chick, she had to learn to kill the walkers.

Daryl seemed as irritated with them as I was. "Come on, people. What the hell? It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?" Daryl snarled. He pulled up his crossbow before shooting the walker down. It fell to the grass and I watched as Daryl stepped over it and headed towards the main area of camp. "Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."

And here came the fireworks. It was days like these that made me wish there were still cameras and video recorders. What I wouldn't give to be able to record what was about to happen. I had always enjoyed watching how people reacted to bad news. And it might be kind of funny to watch Shane or Ed get their asses handed to them.

Daryl was still headed towards the tent when Shane ran to cut off the hunter. "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you," Shane called out.

Daryl slowed down and whirled around to Shane. He looked less than thrilled to be having to speak with anyone who wasn't his brother. "About what?" he snapped.

"About Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta," Shane explained softly.

Everyone went silent as we all watched to see what was going to happen. "He dead?" Daryl asked, worry evident in his eyes.

For a moment I actually felt bad for the younger Dixon. "We're not sure," Shane responded, looking at Daryl with one of the guiltiest looks I'd ever seen.

Almost everyone had that look. I knew that I did, too. The sad look was replaced with a sudden flash of fury. I had figured that he wouldn't be thrilled with that answer. "He either is or he ain't!" Daryl shouted.

Before Shane got the chance to say something else, Rick stepped forward through the thick of the crowd. "No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," Rick said.

"Who are you?" Daryl sneered at Rick, seeming to finally notice the new addition to the group.

The nasty attitude didn't put off our Sheriff. "Rick Grimes," Rick answered calmly.

"Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?" Daryl sneered with a false sound of sincerity.

Rick took in a deep breath before walking towards Daryl slightly, looking him in the eye. "Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there," Rick said calmly.

It was at that moment that I saw the gears turning in Daryl's head, that moment that I saw the pieces fall into place, and that moment when I knew something bad was coming. It was also in that moment that I saw Daryl's hand slip down to the hilt of his knife that I knew shit was about to hit the fan.


	5. Rescue

Daryl paced back and forth for a moment, obviously steaming in his own fury. I almost felt badly for him. He definitely wasn't the nicest person in the world, but he was a human being, and he currently had a missing sibling, at the fault of someone that he didn't even like. Although his hand still hadn't left his knife, something that made me slightly nervous. My hand was down at my own knife, even though I was praying that I wouldn't have to use it.

"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?" Daryl yelled.

It couldn't have helped considering that Merle was the only person to have been abandoned. The only good thing was that we might have been able to go back and get him. Daryl hadn't stopped pacing, but he was huffing angrily. I couldn't blame him. If I was closer to my sister growing up and that had been her on the roof, I would have been pissed.

"Yeah," Rick answered simply, with nothing else to say.

In that moment, Rick at least had the decency to look ashamed of what they had done. Either way, it wasn't my fault. I hadn't known what was going on and I'd told them to calm down. With almost no warning, Daryl threw his belt of squirrels straight at Rick, who barely managed to duck away from them. Had the situation been less serious, I would have laughed. Daryl was about to lunge at Rick when Shane came at him from the side, knocking him to the ground. The men began to walk forwards to try and stop the fight as the women backed off.

To my surprise, Daryl unsheathed his knife, ready to come back at Rick. "Watch the knife!" T-Dog warned.

He dashed after Rick faster than anyone had been expected and I took a step forward. "Daryl no, stop!" I shouted in an attempt to stop the fight. I didn't want to get too close and in the path of the knife.

Daryl lunged at Rick with the knife, coming dangerously close to hitting him. My hands tensed as they hovered over the hilt of my throwing knife. If I wasn't so afraid that I would hit one of the men, I might have thrown it. Rick managed to catch Daryl's arm a few times, but Daryl kept coming. Just as Rick was about to be cut by Daryl's knife, Rick managed to loop his arm underneath his own and shove him back to Shane, who caught the Dixon brother around the throat and wrestled him to the ground.

The men were about the same weight but Shane was a cop. He was used to wrestling people that were like Daryl. It didn't take him more than ten seconds to get Daryl into a subdued position. the only thing that Daryl could do was use his legs, which he did, to kick Rick in the stomach, shoving him backwards.

"Okay. Okay," Rick muttered, realizing that he was best off standing away from the fight.

Shane's arms were around Daryl's throat and I cringed. I knew how much it hurt to be choked like that. "You'd best let me go!" Daryl yelled.

Like that was going to happen. "Nah, I think it's better if I don't," Shane said.

He was now wrestling Daryl to the ground. "Choke hold's illegal," Daryl gasped, running out of air.

His hands were trying to pry Shane's arms off of him but he didn't have enough strength in him to get Shane off of him. Daryl gave a sudden lurch but Shane was still hanging on with a tight grip. As Rick walked over to them, I realized that they had definitely worked together. It was easy to see the teamwork between the two men.

"You can file a complaint," Shane muttered, struggling to keep Daryl from jumping up again. For someone that wasn't trained in fighting, Daryl was doing good at fighting back against Shane. "Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

I had to give Daryl credit for not giving up. "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" Rick asked, leaning down in front of Daryl, who didn't answer. "Do you think we can manage that?"

Some of the group members were gasping and murmuring, but I merely shook my head. "Hmm?" Shane asked, his grip still tight on Daryl.

"Mmm, yeah," Daryl mumbled.

I assumed that he couldn't say anything else as his face was turning red. Rick and Shane exchanged a quick look and Rick gave a curt nod. Shane yanked Daryl off to the side before releasing his grip on him. Daryl fell back against the ground, still breathing heavily, trying to suck air back into his lungs.

Rick leaned over Daryl once more. "What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others," Rick calmly explained.

He was glaring at the group and I noticed that his gaze narrowed as T-Dog took a step forward. He, like Merle, did not seem fond of anyone of color. Although Daryl wasn't as vocal about it. That was something that I appreciated. As much as I didn't like anyone, really, I wasn't fond of listening to people get insulted.

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it," T-Dog stepped in, admitting what he had done.

A shot of anger flashed through Daryl's eyes. "You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl snapped, leaning on all fours.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain," T-Dog said.

His eyes were lowered in shame but it didn't seem like Daryl cared in the slightest. His brother was still chained to a roof. Guilt wasn't going to set him free. Daryl scoffed loudly. The group was silent for a while as Daryl managed to get back to his feet, following Rick's movements. Daryl merely threw down some grass and dirt that was in his hands.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't," he snapped.

This time T-Dog looked a little more confident when he spoke. "Well, maybe this will." Daryl stopped walking and turned back to them. "Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock," T-Dog attempted.

"It's gotta count for something," Rick put in, standing behind Daryl.

The curiosity faded from Daryl's face quickly as his eyes dropped to the ground. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that he was crying. A sudden pang of guilt shot through me. Sure, Daryl Dixon was not the nicest man in the world, but that was his family, and we'd taken him away. If Daryl had been crying, he recovered quickly.

"Hell with all y'all!" he shouted, throwing his hands in irritation. "Just tell me where he is so I can go get him."

Lori quickly stepped in. I assumed that it was because Daryl was clearly scaring Carl, Sophia, and Morales's kids. "He'll show you. Isn't that right?" she asked.

Rick and Lori exchanged a look. There was something in their gaze that was almost tense, considering that they'd been separated for two months and had just found their way back to each other. Something had to be happening between them. I wanted to know if she'd overstepped her boundaries. It seemed that she hadn't as Rick nodded his affirmative.

"I'm going back," Rick answered.

He seemed to feel that he had a duty to retrieve Merle, as though the entire situation had been his fault. Well, maybe it was a little bit his fault. But Merle himself and T-Dog were a little at fault, too. I supposed that, in the end, we were all at fault. We should have made sure that everyone was coming back with us. Without saying another word, Lori vanished into the trailer with Carl. Rick made his own move to walk off.

"So that's it, huh? You're just gonna walk off? Just to hell with everybody else?" Shane asked, obviously irritated with the entire situation.

I couldn't blame him. I thought this whole thing was getting old, too. They just needed to go get Merle and get it over with. Everyone would be happier once we could get Merle back and get on with our lives. Until Merle started to speak again, that is. Rick turned to Shane with a slightly upset gaze.

"I'm not saying to hell with anybody. Not you, Shane. Lori least of all," Rick said, motioning back at Lori.

"Tell her that," Shane mumbled, not that it made a difference. Everyone still heard him.

"She knows," Rick answered.

"Well, look, I don't, okay, Rick? So could you just throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane asked.

He had a good point, but Merle was a human being, too. No one deserved to die like that. Merle would get himself killed in time. I was sure of that. But we didn't need to rush it. He could die on his own time. Daryl took a step forward and I kept my hand on my knife. Just in case he hadn't learned from the first time.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully," Daryl butted in.

Shane turned back to him with the roll of his eyes. "No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant."

Daryl was clearly about to say something, but he never got the chance. "Merle Dixon. The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst," Glenn put in.

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being," Rick argued back.

It definitely made me feel a little bit bad for Rick. This world would quickly turn into the kind of world where we couldn't afford to be nice and kind to each other. But, for now, we would have to pretend that we still had some humanity in us. All I knew was that Rick must have had this in his nature, to always be the diplomat. Of course. He was still in Sheriff mode.

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan? Oh, come on," Shane snapped.

I knew that he was irritated with all of this. And he knew how dangerous this job was for only two people. Even with six or seven people, the job would be tough. Shane had a good point. It would likely take more than two people to get this job done. Rick ignored Shane and instead turned back to Glenn.

"You know the way. You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along, I know she would too," Rick said, motioning to Lori before turning back to Glenn.

Poor Glenn. This would be the third time in two days that he would have to go into Atlanta. This was much more than he had bargained for. I saw the color leave Glenn's face, but I knew that he would end up agreeing. That was just who Glenn was. Once more a scoff came from Shane's direction and I turned to listen to him.

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?" Shane huffed, clearly not happy with the way things were panning out.

"Four," T-Dog piped in.

Now it was Daryl's turn to make a snide comment. "My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl growled, not happy that the man who dropped the key to his brother's freedom down the drain was now coming along for the ride.

For the first time since I'd met him, I saw a flash of anger shoot through T-Dog's eyes. "You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" he snapped at Daryl.

Daryl did not back down. "Why you?" he asked.

T-Dog scoffed and walked away from Daryl. "You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language," T-Dog bit out.

Attempting to diffuse the situation, Rick walked forward and pushed T-Dog back into the line. I noticed that he kept a good distance from Daryl. "That's four," Rick thought aloud.

I could have sworn that Shane growled. "It's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp," Shane attempted to argue.

It was a good argument but I knew that Rick wouldn't budge. He was right about the walkers moving towards the woods. We would have to be extremely careful in the coming weeks, but, for now, we had nowhere better to go. In the meantime, we would have to get Merle back. Rick had to. He had left a man back there to die of thirst. Rick was not the type of man that could do that. He wouldn't be able to live with himself.

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns," Rick answered.

"Right, the guns," Glenn piped in.

I thought that they'd lost them. "Wait. What guns?" Shane asked, now clearly interested.

If there were guns back in Atlanta, Shane might agree to the rescue mission. "Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up," Rick explained.

We could definitely use that. The entire group looked impressed. With the exception of most of the women and the children, who clearly didn't understand what we were talking about. "Ammo?" Shane asked.

"Seven hundred rounds, assorted," Rick answered, hoping this would be the selling point.

My jaw nearly dropped. Jesus Christ. If we were lucky that would be able to last us until the world could get itself righted out once more. That was an insane amount of ammo, something that we desperately needed. We would have it until the world went back to normal. It couldn't be that long. They promised that they were going to help us. Rick's wife stepped forward and I watched them carefully. Something odd was going on there.

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori asked, clearly devastated that Rick had just gotten back and was now leaving again.

Coming up to stand with his mother, Carl latched onto Rick. "Dad, I don't want you to go," Carl cried.

As much as I thought the rescue was a good idea, it broke my heart that Carl had just gotten his father back and now he was leaving again with Carl not knowing if he would come back or not. This was a tough situation for everyone, but I almost forgot about the kids. Carl had already dealt with his father's death once. Was it fair to maybe make him do it again?

"To hell with the guns," Lori snapped, angry with the entire situation, "Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in. Tell me, make me understand."

That wasn't very polite. I snarled at her under my breath and turned on my heels, joining most of the crowd that were walking away from the commotion. No one wanted to talk anymore, we just wanted to solve this. There was something about Lori that set me on edge. I could tell that she was trying to be the best mother that she could be, but she was going about it in the wrong way. She was attacking her husband, who was trying to make things right.

Sighing, I turned away from the group and headed towards the truck, where Daryl was currently fuming. I wasn't sure what had made me come over to speak to him, but I wanted to say something. He was muttering to himself and sitting on the hood of the truck. He wasn't paying any attention as I walked up slowly, not wanting to startle him. He looked to be on the verge of exploding at someone. And, to be fair, that probably should have been my first warning to avoid him.

"Hey, Daryl?" I asked. He stiffened but didn't look up at me. "Stupid question but, uh, are you okay?"

Not the best start to a conversation, but it was better than nothing. I was met with a red faced Daryl as he whipped around to face me. I took a step back, knowing that I had overstepped my boundaries. "Get the hell away from me! Stupid bitch!" Daryl yelled in my face.

Stunned into silence, I stood there for a moment, a stupefied look on my face. My surprise quickly turned to anger when I realized what exactly he had just said to me. "What the fuck, Daryl? I just came out here to see if you were okay. Something no one else bothered to do might I add! Maybe if you took your head outta your ass for one minute you would see that some people around here actually care about you! Not everyone here is out to get you, asshole!" I shouted, very immaturely.

A few people around were staring at us but I ignored them. Instead of immediately retaliating like I had expected Daryl to he sat there for a moment, stunned, just like I had been. Maybe he had been expecting me to back down, but I wouldn't. He deserved to hear what I thought about him.

"Whatever, girl, just get the hell away from me," Daryl said, softer than when he had yelled at me.

My fists were balled up as I stared at Daryl. "You know, now I know why everyone is so uncomfortable around you and your brother. You guys are both stupid, ignorant, pieces of shit!" I yelled.

I had been about to wheel around and march away from the truck, but Daryl's voice called me back. "What do you even care that he got left?" Daryl asked.

"Because I've got a sister out there somewhere. I don't know her, she doesn't know me. I would have liked to have a relationship with her, but it didn't work out that way. I guess I'm just trying to make up for it," I muttered.

"You couldn't have helped?" Daryl snarled.

"I was downstairs, watching out for walkers. Didn't realize that Merle wasn't with us until we were already on the way."

"Awful big help you were."

My jaws ground together. "You are such a bastard," I sneered, turning to walk away. But something stopped me in my tracks, and I turned back. "For what it's worth, I do hope that you find him."

Something flashed in Daryl's eyes, but he said nothing. It looked like he might have been searching for the right words, but I didn't want to wait for him to find them. So I scoffed and walked off. Maybe it wasn't my most mature argument, but still, he didn't have to be such a dick about everything. I was just trying to be nice. As I marched toward Rick, determined to show Daryl that I wasn't useless, I heard him yell from the truck.

"Come on, let's go!" Daryl shouted.

My teeth ground together as I walked away from the truck. He was such an ass. I was just trying to be nice, trying to make things right after what had happened with Merle. It took a few more honks from an impatient Daryl to get the group into motion. They quickly gathered their things and got ready to head back to Atlanta. T-Dog and Glenn were already in the truck with Daryl. Rick was on his way over, and a sudden thought hit me.

I sprinted over towards him, just barely cutting him off. "Hey, Rick!" I called out.

He turned back to me and nodded. "Hey, Rain," he greeted.

He looked extremely flustered. I assumed that his conversation with Shane and Lori had not been a pleasant one. "Would you mind if I came to Atlanta with you guys? I'd like to come help to get Merle back," I pleaded.

Rick seemed to mull over his thoughts for a few second. "You want to go?" Rick asked confusedly.

"I guess it's the guilt. We went back out there in the first place because Daryl and Glenn came across me a few days ago. We got into a little fight and I was knocked out in the grocery store. They had to take me back to get medical attention and I used up most of their supplies. It cut their run short. That's why we were even out there in the first place. I should help."

I knew from the look in his eyes that he was going to say no. "I understand wanting to go back," Rick said.

"So let me go," I pleaded.

"Look, I've seen that you can handle yourself better than almost anyone else here. That's exactly why I want you to stay here. Besides Morales and Shane, we really don't have anyone staying that's proficient with weapons. I really need you to stay here and watch over everyone in camp. That'll be more helpful. Can you do that?" Rick asked.

As much as I didn't want to stay, I knew that what Rick was asking was fair. His wife and son were still here. He needed to know that people could protect them, just in case a few more walkers found their way inside our small campsite. Hopefully nothing would happen. I sighed and gave Rick a small smile.

"Sure thing," I confirmed.

Rick smiled and patted me on the shoulder. "Thank you, Rain," he said, before turning away and hopping into the truck.

The truck engine roared to life and I watched as they drove down the road, disappearing from sight a moment later. They would be back soon enough. I just wished that I was with them. Something made me a little nervous about watching them leave. Maybe I was worried for Glenn. He'd become a good friend recently. I frowned slightly and turned around only to come face to face with... Amy? I was pretty sure that was her name.

She was smiling at me and I gave her a weak one back. She was extremely friendly and I couldn't help but to feel a little strange with her bright smile focused on me. Even my childhood best friend had never smiled at me like that. No one - not even the men that I'd brought back to my apartment - had ever looked at me like that. And I'd never spoken a word to Amy.

"Uh, hey. Amy, right?" I asked awkwardly.

"Yeah!" Amy chirped, smiling at me. She even looked the tiniest bit like me. "Listen, Rain, the women were just going to do some laundry and we were wondering if you might wanna come and join us?"

"Uh..." I trailed off.

"I know. Typical women's work, right?" Amy asked.

It made me smile softly. "I don't even remember the last time that I did laundry like this. I always just jammed it in the machine and walked away," I said.

Amy laughed at me. "Not much for typical women's work?" she asked.

"Nope. Terrible cook, I don't do laundry, I don't do anything that 'normal' women do," I said.

"I can tell," Amy said.

My eyebrows wrinkled together. "Why's that?" I asked.

"Because you're the only girl here that's ever dared to speak to Daryl Dixon," Amy said.

We stared at each other before bursting out into laughter. It was the first time in a long time that I'd actually laughed with someone else. "I guess that makes you all smarter than me," I pointed out.

"You don't strike me as the stupid type," Amy said as we started to walk.

"I'm not."

"Come help with the laundry. It'll be more exciting than sitting here all day waiting for them to come back," Amy said, motioning to where the truck had disappeared.

As much as I hated doing anything like cooking or cleaning, the typical women work, I decided that I would have to work and pull my weight around here. Plus Amy had been nice to speak with so far. Maybe it was time that I tried for friends. Unfortunately that meant helping with laundry. I guessed that I would have to.

"Yeah, sure. I mean, what the hell? Why not?" I tried to convince myself.

"Awesome!" Amy chirped, leading me down towards the river. "Come on, we're setting up right down there by the water."

"Okay."

The other women were doing the laundry by the river that was well below the campsite. "You said that you weren't stupid. Spend a lot of time studying growing up?" Amy asked.

My jaws tightened slightly. "I guess. Didn't really have any friends. Didn't like spending time with my family. Didn't leave me with much else to do. Parents told me that I would be a failure, I was determined not to be," I said, speaking in clipped sentences, hoping that Amy would get the hint that I didn't want to talk about it.

"I'm sorry," Amy muttered.

"It's fine. You didn't know."

"If it makes any difference, you don't look like a failure to me," Amy said.

My head slowly turned to look at her. "I wasn't. Valedictorian of my high school, Dean's List every semester of college, full ride scholarship to multiple schools, and acceptance to the Holy Trinity," I muttered.

Amy had been smiling until my last comment. "What's the Holy Trinity?" she asked.

"It's another term, more colloquial, for the Big Three."

"Colloquial? Big word," Amy teased. We both laughed. "I still don't know what that is."

"They started with the three schools that dominated college football but it's become the term to refer to the most prominent Ivy League schools. Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. These days it more refers to the academic standards."

"Did you go to one of them?"

"No. I didn't think that I was good enough. I just went to a state university."

She was silent for a long while and I wondered if I had overstepped my bounds by making myself sound snotty. "Wow. And I was proud of just graduating high school with honors," Amy finally said.

We both laughed loudly as I threw my arm over Amy's shoulder. Maybe she wasn't half-bad. Amy and I walked over to the other women doing the laundry, speaking softly about what we had done in the old world. She told me about her hatred of working in retail and I told her about my hatred of the gun store that I worked at. She had apparently graduated with a business degree from her smaller community college, and I'd made it a point to tell her that there was nothing wrong with that.

As we walked up to the other women, they all greeted me. "Hello, Rain," Lori said sweetly.

"Hey, Lori. Where's Carl?" I asked, not spotting him.

"With Sophia and the other kids at the main camp. The boys can keep them safe," Carol said. "I don't think I've formally introduced myself. I'm Carol."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Rain."

"So that's where you went," Andrea said to Amy, otherwise ignoring me.

I knew that she was still irritable from the store incident. "You don't go many places without that, do you?" Jacqui asked, pointing to my bow, which was laying at my feet.

"No. It's one of the few things that I have left from my parents, before they... changed," I muttered.

The conversation dropped off after that. No one wanted to be the person to ask me about my horrible home life. I placed my foot over the upper limb of my bow and went to washing. There were other women in the camp but they were nowhere to be found. I assumed that they were the ones that were caring for the kids. We each picked up a small pile of the clothes and went to washing. I was thankful that I only had shirts. I wasn't fond of the idea of washing dirty underwear of people I barely knew.

Not even half a minute into washing, the questions started flying. "Where are you from?" Lori asked.

"Well," I awkwardly started, "I'm from south Florida but I've lived in south Georgia for most of my life."

"Did you like it there? In Florida?" Lori asked.

"Yes. I always intended to move back."

"How old are you?" Carol asked.

"I'm twenty-two and I just finished college. Well, I would've but the damn apocalypse couldn't have waited a few days," I said, earning scattered laughter.

To my surprise, even Andrea laughed. "Did you live on your own before this?" Jacqui asked.

"I did live on my own, a little apartment, not much to it, but it was mine."

"You don't sound very fond of it," Jacqui pointed out.

And, in all fairness, she was right. "No. I wasn't. It was cool that I was able to afford it, but it wasn't really the nicest of places. I was ready to move on," I said.

"What did you do?" Andrea asked.

"I was studying construction. I worked in a local gun store for a few years but my hours were limited. And I hated it. Too many macho-men coming in," I groaned.

That time everyone laughed. Even Andrea looked a little amused. "That bad, huh?" she asked.

"We're talking a gun store out in the sticks. No guy wanted to take advice from a chick that looked like she should have been the fucking Sugar Plum Fairy," I groaned.

Once more, everyone laughed. It was the most laughs that I'd gotten out of people that didn't want to sleep with me in a long time. "Ballet dancer?" Carol asked, smiling softly.

"For a while, when I was younger. I was pretty good. Played the Sugar Plum Fairy for a few years. But I developed curves a little earlier in life. I was only twelve when I started getting them. For a normal girl, they would have been awesome. But not in ballet. So my Russian ballet instructor told me that I would have to get on a diet and lose the weight or I would lose the role."

"That's horrible," Lori said, frowning.

"Pointe shoes are the ones that have the box in the front so that the dancers can stay on pointe. It's not very heavy, but it was the first thing that I could think to throw at her," I continued.

At that, everyone burst out into laughter. Even I smiled at the memory. "You have a figure that most women would kill for," Jacqui said, motioning to me.

I laughed softly and shook my head. I knew that I did, I just wasn't the stick figure that ballet girls normally were. "My father laughed so hard, even though we couldn't get our money back," I said.

"What was your family like?" Lori asked.

My stomach turned at the thought or having to talk to them about my family. I didn't even like to think about them. And I'd already talked about them too much for one day. "I don't really like to go there. For the past few years we haven't had a very good relationship," I explained as simply as possible.

It was Lori that smiled at me first. "That's okay, sweetie. That's quite an impressive resume you have there," Lori said.

"Thank you."

"Despite your sub-par ballet efforts, you're quite skilled with a bow. You sure are something, quite a catch for any man," Lori continued, smiling at me.

I couldn't help but to blush and smile back. "Thanks. But not any time soon," I told Lori.

And it was the truth. I was not the kind of person that was destined to have a relationship with someone. Not long-term anyways. Maybe that was the upside of the apocalypse. No societal pressure to get married or have a family. Lori laughed, along with the others, and I almost swore that she mumbled a name. I couldn't hear it though. With the awkward introductions out of the way the conversation settled into something much easier.

We talked about nearly everything that I could think to talk about. It was amazing how much I had to say after mostly keeping to myself for the past nine years. I told them about where I'd gone to school and what my course work had been like, since they didn't seem to understand what my degree program was really designed for. I told them about my pathetic love life and the types of guys that I usually dated. I got more than a warning from Carol and Lori to stay away from those types of men. Not that I didn't know that. I'd always known to stay away from them. That was what had attracted me to them.

Everyone seemed more than happy to discuss everything from their old lives. Even I was happy to talk about them. We'd been washing for a few hours and we were now all talking about what we missed most from before. I couldn't tell whether I was happy to reminisce about the old world or if I was depressed by the thoughts of things we might never get back.

"I do miss my Maytag," Lori commented. I didn't blame her, it took a lot less time than hand washing everything.

"I miss my Benz, my Sat Nav," Carol said quickly.

It was the most confident that I'd heard her. "I miss my coffeemaker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey," Jacqui said, smiling at the memories.

I couldn't help but feel my mouth water at the thought of fresh coffee. God I missed coffee. "Oh, don't say that. It just makes me sad to think about," I groaned.

We all sighed at the thought of warm coffee rather than lake water. "My computer. And texting," Amy answered.

Everyone laughed slightly at her answer. She sounded like a teenager. Our small group went silent once more as I wrung out a shirt, accidentally splashing some dirty water on myself. "What do you miss, Rain?" Lori asked, drawing my attention away from the collared shirt.

I thought about it for a while. "Probably my music. If it had paid more I would've been a music major in college," I finally answered.

"Really?" Lori asked.

"Yeah. I was accepted to Julliard," I muttered.

"What for?" Andrea asked.

"Vocals."

"Sing for us," Amy prodded.

I laughed loudly. "That's something that you'll have to get me really drunk for. There's a reason that I didn't go to a performing arts school. I love singing. Not in front of people," I said.

"We'll work on it," Amy teased.

"Or books. I always did like to read. I planned to have a house with a library in it when I had the money to pay for it," I said.

"What the hell with the books? I hated reading. And every book that we had to read in high school? I hated King of the Flies," Amy groaned.

I laughed at her. "I always thought that books were so much better than the real world. You could pretend that you were so far away from anything on this world. And the book that you're talking about? Lord of the Flies. William Golding, 1954," I told Amy.

She smiled abashedly and I laughed once more. "At least someone paid attention in English," Andrea scolded her little sister.

We all laughed at the sight of the two sisters. Even I did. Maybe Andrea wasn't as bad as I'd immediately pegged her for. Maybe I just needed to warm up to them a little bit. The other women that were sitting around smiled at the younger girl before going back to work. Andrea laughed loudly and patted her put-out sister on the back.

"I miss my vibrator," Andrea chimed in.

Immediately all of the women were giggling at Andrea's confession. "Oh my God!" Amy nudged her older sister in fake disgust.

The laughter was soft as the laundry was momentarily forgotten. "Me too," Carol quietly added.

And that was when we couldn't take it anymore. The six of us exploded with laughter. Quite some time passed that we were all leaning on each other, trying to suck air back into our lungs. That was definitely one of the funniest things that I'd heard in a long time. Our laughter was cut off though when a deep voice cut through the air.

"What's so funny?" Ed, Carol's husband, called as he walked up.

I hadn't actually heard him speak before. I'd only heard him snap at someone or yell. He still seemed nasty. He was holding a cigarette in his hands. I noticed Carol stiffen at his appearance. But even Ed coming in and ruining our fun wasn't going to keep us from having a good time. This was the first girl time I'd had since I was about fourteen.

"Just swapping war stories, Ed," Andrea smiled.

"Yeah," Amy agreed, coming to her sister's aid.

The air suddenly tensed as Lori leaned next to Carol. It seemed that Ed didn't like it as he scowled at his wife. My jaws ground together in aggravation. "Problem, Ed?" Lori asked.

Ed looked over at Lori with a scowl that said that he wanted nothing to do with anyone in this camp other than his wife. It killed me to see Carol staring at the ground, not wanting to upset her husband. She was terrified of him, and he knew it. That was what he was using against her.

"Nothin' that concerns you. And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club," Ed snapped.

He was just like the men that I'd dealt with when I worked at the bar and at the gun store. "Ed, tell you what," Andrea said, getting to her feet and walking over to him. "You don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here." She playfully tossed it at Ed, who threw it angrily back at her. "Oh!" Andrea called in surprise.

"Ain't my job, missy," Ed snapped.

Everyone got to their feet. "Andrea, don't," Amy attempted to mediate, standing behind Andrea.

"What is your job, Ed? Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?" Andrea asked with a nasty bite to her words.

Ed seemed about as thrilled with Andrea as she was with him. Carol was looking guiltily at the ground. "Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch," Ed growled. My jaws clenched once more. I could guarantee that she was a hell of a lot smarter than he was. "Tell you what - Come on. Let's go!" Ed called to Carol, who moved to walk over to Ed.

I knew what was going to happen to Carol if she went and I couldn't watch that happen. So I took a step in front of her and pushed her back slightly. "I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed," Andrea spat out.

The man spelled bad news. Bad people that had no right being with anyone - especially someone as sweet as Carol. "You and Sophia can stay with me. Or I'll talk to Dale about getting you guys a place in the RV. There's room there," I told her.

Ed certainly did not appreciate my comment. "And I say it's none of your business," Ed snapped, before stepping towards Carol, who was pushing past me. "Come on now. You heard me."

She made a move to head over to her husband when I grabbed her arm once more. Andrea was standing with me, grabbing onto her other arm. "Carol," I whispered, pleading that she would stay. I was afraid what would happen if she went with Ed.

"Andrea, Rain, please. It doesn't matter," Carol said softly.

"Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze, all right?" Ed snapped. I wasn't sure whether he was talking to Andrea or myself. "Now you come on now or you gonna regret it later," Ed told Carol.

I was not going to tolerate him saying something like that to her. I'd dealt with men like him for my entire life. I was not going to sit and watch the same thing happen to Carol that had once happen to me. "How dare you, fucking hick!" I hissed at Ed.

His head snapped over to me but his attention wasn't on me for long. "So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed?" Jacqui asked. I was almost impressed with her. That took major balls to say. "Yeah, we've seen them."

"Stay out of this," Ed snapped at her. "Now come on! You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on."

He grabbed onto Carol's arm and yanked her forward. That was where I hit my breaking point. No man would dare lay a hand on a woman while I was around. "Get off of her," I warned Ed lowly.

Carol began to walk forward when I caught her wrist once more. "No, no," I pleaded.

"Carol, you don't have -" Andrea started, both of us trying to talk over Carol's murmuring.

Ed had clearly reached his breaking point as we all followed, desperate to keep Carol away from Ed. "You don't tell me what! I tell you what!" Ed shouted, looking back at us. "You think you can -"

Ed cut himself off by slapping Carol across the face. That was all that it took. "You fucker!" I shrieked, launching myself at Ed.

How dare he lay a hand on her? How dare he think that he could hit her while we all watched on? No one deserved to be hit by someone else. Especially not when that person had vowed to protect them. Not when that person had fathered a child. A child that was absolutely terrified of him. Everyone jumped after Ed, but I was the one that got the upper hand first. The other women were screaming for me to come back to them, but I was seeing red.

I was seeing my father. Ed was thrown backwards onto the ground, obviously from surprise at just how hard I hit. And it was damn hard. I'd made sure of that. Kneeling over Ed, I easily landed the first few hits on him, leaving what I knew would be some nasty scars and bruises. I wished that I had a ring or something to make the hits even worse.

However, before I could really get to him, Ed swung all of his weight into a hard hit on the left side of my face. The hit immediately blurred my vision and disoriented me. Ed was a big guy. I fell to the ground, unable to stand any longer. Not even a second later Ed fell onto me hitting me in the chest and face. Unfortunately for me, I was fighting a losing battle. There was no way I could get Ed off me. He was way too heavy.

In my haze I heard the other girls shouting, "Get off her! Come here! Come here! Get off her! Get off her! Get off her!"

All of the voices were blending together. I jammed my foot into Ed's crotch, and it made him hesitate in pain, but it wasn't enough. Just as I was about to black out, I felt a huge pressure come off of me. I gasped in for air, but it hurt to breathe. Through half lidded eyes I saw Shane grab Ed from off of me and toss him to the dirt next to me.

It felt like I was underwater. I could barely hear a thing that anyone was saying. "Ed?" Carol called, seemingly worried about her husband.

What about me? "It's okay," Andrea consoled Carol.

Lori was on her knees next to me. "It's okay, Rain. We'll get help," she said.

"No! It's okay. No!" Carol began to shriek, attempting to stop Shane.

Shane was currently leaning over Ed, punching him over and over again, directly in the face. Through my lidded eyes I could see that Shane had gotten Ed to the point where he wouldn't be able to move anytime soon. His face was bloodied and already swollen. Hopefully he looked worse than I did.

"Shane, stop!" Andrea shouted.

"Just stop!" Amy called.

No, damn it. Let him keep going. "Stop it! Stop!" Carol called again.

Shane stopped hitting Ed long enough to lean over and hiss into Ed's ear. "You put your hands on your wife, your little girl or anybody else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?" Shane growled, shaking Ed.

"Yes," Ed barely managed to get out.

Shane hit Ed once more and Ed gurgled up a tiny bit of blood. "I'll beat you to death, Ed," Shane growled before throwing him down and stalking off.

Once Ed was down on the ground, Carol went running over to her husband. The other women stood and stared in shock. "Ed! Oh God! No. God! Ed, I'm sorry. Oh my God. Ed, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Ed. Ed, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Ed," Carol cried, sitting over her unconscious husband.

Not that he could hear her. He was extremely out of it. Just as I felt like I could hang in no longer Shane came over me and picked me up underneath my knees and shoulders. I groaned at the sudden pain. Moving me might have been even worse than leaving me there. All I wanted was to be left in peace. And kill Ed.

"Hang in there, Rain. We'll get you up to the main camp and get you some medical help. Just hang in there for a few more minutes," Shane told me softly.

He grabbed my head and turned it into his chest. I nodded my thanks at him, unable to say anything more. He grabbed a handkerchief from the laundry and pressed it underneath my mouth, where I assumed that blood was coming from. Shane was speaking to me, probably trying to keep me awake, but it was useless. A mere second later, the world went black around me and I remembered no more.


	6. Graves and Attacks

I groaned in as I rolled over and a searing pain shot up my side and another through my head. What the hell had happened to me? And why did I keep waking up like this? At least I was in a bed. I supposed that was always a good thing. It didn't seem like I got much of a chance to sleep these days. And the only things that seemed to put me to sleep these days were injuries to my head.

But what the hell had happened to me? It took me a minute but all of my memories eventually came flooding back to me. Ed coming and yelling at Carol, me yelling at him and hitting him, him beating me, Shane beating him, and Shane carrying me off somewhere. Maybe one of these days I would learn to stop getting in fights with people that were over twice my size.

Looking around I realized that I must have been back in the Winnebago. Really? This was the second time in two days that I'd woken up in the Winnebago after being injured. I guess I was going to get used to being in here. It seemed that I was getting more and more prone to getting injured these days. I moaned slightly as I sat up only to see Dale come over to the edge of the bed. He must have been messing around up in the living area.

He grinned at me before taking a seat at the edge of the bed. "How're you doing sweetheart? That was quite a long list of injuries you had when Shane brought you to me. I'm surprised that Ed didn't do more of a job to you. Feeling okay? I'm sure that you're pretty sore," Dale said.

My head was spinning and I was barely able to keep it upright. Ed had done more damage than I had thought that he did. "I feel like I got hit by a God damn semi-truck," I told Dale with a loud moan.

Dale laughed heartily before handing me a tray with what looked like mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese on it. "Sorry, dear. You should be feeling better in a few days. Here you go, I don't know when the last time you ate was but I know it wasn't while you were with us. You must be starving," he told me.

He was certainly right about that. It had been nearly two days since I'd eaten and I was starving. I wasn't used to going through days without eating. "I am, thanks," I said before practically inhaling the food.

Dale watched me with a smile and continuously grabbed my wrappers and containers once I was finished with them. As the food disappeared from my plate Dale grabbed it and placed it in the sink before turning back to me. "Hey, you should be proud of yourself. You did quite the number on Ed. Well, you started it, and then Shane nearly killed him," Dale said.

While he looked proud that I had stood up to Ed he did not look impressed that Shane had nearly killed Carol's husband. That's right. Shane had seen the whole thing and had nearly beaten Ed to death. Good. The ass deserved it. "You know," Dale started, snapping me out of my thoughts. "We might need to put you in bubble wrap at the rate you've been injuring yourself," Dale teased.

He certainly wasn't wrong about that. I was never one to be very good with balance. Although I had been lucky enough to never break a bone. "Haha, very funny," I mumbled. It actually was pretty funny. "But it might not be actually a bad idea."

Dale smiled before nodding at me to stand. "Here, take a seat. Let's get those bandages looked at." I nodded at him and sat in the chair that was at the dining table.

Dale pulled off the wrap that was over my head and cleaned up the wound. More than once I hissed at the pain that shot over my temples. Damn Ed. If a walker didn't eventually get to him I was going to. No one hit me like that and got away with it. No matter that I had started it. Dale re-wrapped my head wrap with clean gauze and turned to the one that was on my left arm. I had no idea why I had that one. Judging by the missing skin there I assumed that I had fallen on something like a rock.

Dale tied off the wrap before patting me on the leg. I grinned at him and grabbed my shoes off of the floor, tying up the laces once more. "There we go. All done. You can go take a look at yourself. I need to get back on watch," Dale told me.

"Okay, thanks Dale," I replied, smiling at the old man. Dale smiled back at me and walked out of the RV. A moment later I felt the RV shaking as he made his way up the ladder on the back.

Frowning at what I could only imagine I looked like I decided I should take a look at the damage Ed did. Eventually I would have to see it anyways. Walking over to the large mirror in the vanity area I saw the extent of the damage. It was nastier than anything else I had ever received. There were bruises all along my collarbone- those I had been able to see when I woke up- and I had two dark, black eyes. My eyes widened with surprise when I saw how awful they looked. They looked shallow and like they had sunken into the back of my skull. Oh well, I would just have to wait them out. Besides those, I had a few lighter bruises on my cheeks and a busted lip.

Ed had certainly made sure that I wasn't going to look presentable for any dates any time soon. Not that I was intending on going on a date soon. Or ever. I wasn't the dating type. "God damn it. If Shane didn't I'll fucking kill him. Carol can get over it," I muttered to myself.

Just then I heard a commotion going on outside. Of course. It didn't seem that we could make it too long without another crisis. Limping out of the Winnebago pathetically I saw that it was most of the remaining group (Rick and the others were evidently still in Atlanta) surrounding Jim up on a hill a bit from camp. I could just barely make out what they were saying as I made my way over to them.

I was approaching slowly as Shane came to stand next to Jim. "Hey, Jim. Jim, why don't you hold up, all right? Just give me a second here, please," Shane attempted to get Jim to stop... digging graves? What the hell was Jim doing? My leg was killing me as I came to stand next to Amy. She wrapped her arm around my waist to help keep me upright.

She sent me a concerned glance at my face but I waved her off. It was nothing that I couldn't handle. "What do you want?" Jim snapped at Shane.

He was clearly not in the correct state of mind. The sun was high in the sky. Perhaps he had some type of sun poisoning. "We're all just a little concerned, that's all. Dale says you've been out here for hours," Shane told Ed, trying to keep calm.

"So?" Jim snapped once more.

To his credit Shane was doing a great job keeping calm as he talked to Jim, who was still digging. "So why are you digging? Are you heading to China, Jim?" Shane attempted a joke.

Jim still didn't bother looking up. "What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone," Jim argued. It was a fair point but it didn't change the fact that Jim was clearly scaring most of the people at camp.

"Yeah, except maybe yourself," Shane tried to argue. "It's one hundred degrees out today. You can't keep this up," Shane tried to reason with Jim.

The skinnier man merely laughed. "Sure I can. Watch me."

Shane looked like he wasn't sure what to say as he stood and ran his fingers through his hair. "Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will. You're scaring people. You're scaring my son and Carol's daughter," Lori butted in, attempting to get to the point.

Jim stopped digging long enough to look up and stare at Lori. "They got nothing to be scared of. I mean, what the hell, people? I'm out here by myself. Why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?" Jim snapped at all of us.

A few people took steps backwards but I walked closer to Jim. Just in case. Amy followed, making sure that I wasn't about to collapse. "We think that you need to take a break, okay? Why don't you go and get yourself in the shade? Some food maybe," Shane suggested. "I'll tell you what maybe in a little bit I'll come out here and help you myself." Jim still didn't answer. "Jim, just tell me what it's about. Why don't you just go ahead and give me that shovel?" Shane suggestion.

A hint of irritation had seeped into Shane's voice. "Or what?" Jim growled, looking suddenly very defensive.

"There is no or what. I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please. I don't want to have to take it from you," Shane reasoned.

Once more Jim looked up and he had a stern look on his face. "And if I don't, then what? Then you're gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't you?" Jim asked. The air became tense extremely quickly. "Y'all seen his face, huh? What's left of it. See, now that's what happens when someone crosses you," Jim said. I could tell now that Jim had struck a chord and Shane's patience with him was wearing thin.

His jaw had tightened and he looked pissed. "That was different, Jim. You weren't there. Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife," Shane attempted to stay diplomatic.

Jim shrugged. I knew that he wasn't the type to not care though. This was something else talking. "That is their marriage. You are not judge and jury. Who voted you king boss, huh?" Jim rhetorically asked.

"Jim, I'm not here to argue with you, all right? Just give me the shovel, okay?" Shane asked, reaching out to take the shovel from Jim.

The other man took a step back and tightened his grip on the shovel. "No no no," Jim responded, now looking very unstable.

It was clear that Shane was getting nervous now too. "Just give me the- Jim!" Shane shouted as Jim attempted to hit Shane with the shovel and run off. Shane was faster though. Very much in the same way he had caught Daryl earlier, Shane caught Jim in his arms and pulled him to the ground. "Okay, shh shh," Shane shushed Jim in attempt to calm him down.

Jim was not having it though. "You got no right!"

"Stop. Shh," Shane soothed as he tightened his grip on Jim.

"You got no right!" Jim repeated.

"Jim, just stop it. Hey hey hey hey," Shane tried as Jim began to wrestle faster. He was determined to get away from Shane but it wasn't working.

"Don't!" Jim hollered.

Shane struggled to keep his grip on Jim. I could tell that it was slipping. "Jim. Jim, nobody's gonna hurt you. You hear me? Shh. Jim, nobody is gonna hurt you, okay?" Shane tried to help.

Suddenly Jim's anger turned into hysterical sobs. "That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and my two boys." Oh God. That didn't bode well for Jim. "I said it one hundred times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of 'em. Just pulled 'em right out of my hands. You know, the only reason I got away was 'cause the dead were too busy eating my family," Jim explained to everyone as Shane released his grip on Jim.

Jim was no longer struggling but he was on the ground with tears streaming down his face. He was not doing well. Everyone had shock plainly written across their face and with the shock no one could find themselves able to do anything. "Someone go get him some water!" I shouted. That seemed to snap everyone back into it as Dale went behind the RV and grabbed a bottle of water.

Dale was fast in getting the water back out to me. I grabbed it and thanked him softly before walking over to where Jim was now leaning up against the RV. "Jim, take some water?" I asked him.

The last thing that I wanted to do was set him off again. "All right. Yeah? All right," Jim responded panting.

Shane walked over with another bottle of water and Jim stared at it happily. "Here you go, bud," Shane said, handing Jim the water.

"Pour some on my head?" Jim asked.

"Yeah," Shane responded. He uncapped the bottle and turned the water over. I watched as water began to pool over Jim's head. He looked much better with some water in his system and cooled down. I was probably right. He had been suffering from sun poisoning.

Once the water ran out Shane looked Jim over. "Cooling you down, huh?" He asked.

"Yeah," Jim responded gratefully. "How long you gonna keep me like this?" Jim asked. He was tied down by the RV in the shade. Shane had tied him up just to keep him and everyone else safe until we knew that Jim was once more stable. He seemed to already be on the path.

Shane sighed as he stared at Jim. "Until I don't think that you're a danger to yourself or others," he responded.

I watched as Lori walked over with Carl in tow. The woman looked a little put off and Carl seemed scared as he slightly hid behind his mother. "Sorry if I scared your boy and your little girl," Jim turned to look at the mother and son duo.

For the first time since we had been down doing laundry I saw that Lori was smiling. "You had sunstroke. Nobody's blaming you," Lori smiled at him.

Jim nodded at her before turning to Carl. He tensed up slightly but managed to remain calm. Probably because so many of us were around. "You're not scared now, are you?" Jim asked Carl.

"No, sir." Carl responded politely. I almost smile. His mother and father had taught him well.

Jim smiled at Carl. I could tell that he had been a father judging by the way that he was looking at Carl. "Your mama's right. Sun just cooked my head is all."

Carl nodded but didn't say anything back to Jim. Instead Shane took a step forward and leaned back to Jim once more. "Jim, do you know why you were digging? Can you say?" Shane asked.

Jim sighed and stared at the ground for a moment. "I had a reason. Don't remember. Something I dreamt last night. Your dad was in it," Jim responded, looking at Carl. "You were too. You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest. You worried about your dad?" Jim asked Carl, seeing the worried look on the young boys face.

"They're not back yet." Carl answered. It wasn't a straight answer but I could tell that he was worried about his father. Not that I blamed him. They had been gone for a long while.

Jim smiled and shook his head. "We don't need to talk about that. Your dad's a police officer, son. He helps people. Probably just came across some folks needing help, that's all. That man, he is tough as nails. I don't know him well but I could see it in him. Am I right?" Jim asked Carl.

A small smile crossed the young boy's face. "Oh yeah."

Jim smiled and nodded. I knew that Jim was telling the truth too. Rick was tough. He just still had the mindset of a man that had always run by the law. "There ain't nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you and your mom, I promise you that," Jim said to Carl.

"All right," Carl awkwardly responded to Jim.

"Stay with Carol, all right? You keep your boy close," He muttered to Carl and Lori. A moment later he turned to Lori and leaned in as close as he could, considering he was still tied to the tree. "You don't ever let him out of your sight," Jim whispered to Lori.

Concerned for the man's health I walked over to Jim. "Hey Jim?" I asked.

Jim looked up at me with a somewhat confused face. I could see why. The two of us had never spoken to each other before. "Rain isn't it?" he responded. It had surprised me. I didn't think Jim knew my name.

I somehow still managed to smile at him. "Yeah, I just wanted to check if you were okay. And to say I'm sorry about your family. I haven't lost anyone to these things yet, but I've come close to losing my own skin to them a few times," I tried to explain, hoping that I wasn't botching the conversation.

It had been a long time since I'd tried making new friends. "Thanks Rain," Jim told me and I nodded. "I'm doing alright, I guess I just needed to sit down and get some water in me," he explained.

"Makes sense to me," I said smiling. We sat together in silence for a moment before I piped up once more. I wanted Jim to feel included since he had been here longer than I had. "I think we're having a fish fry later. Would you care to join us? Might be good for you."

Apparently Andrea and Amy knew how to fish because their father had once taught them. I had overheard Dale saying that they'd caught a good amount for us to cook up later. "I think I'll take you up on that," Jim answered me, a small smile on his face.

We sat together until Jim was finally untied by Shane. Jim told me about his wife and two sons and I smiled. They seemed like they had been a lovely couple. Once I was sure that he was alright I said goodbye to Jim and with nothing else to do I sat down by the fire pit and began sharpening my arrows and knives. I wished that at least Glenn was here so that I would have someone to talk to. Oh well.

A few hours later, after the sun had gone down, we were all eating the fish that Andrea and Amy had indeed caught. It was all wonderful considering I hadn't eaten a real meal in so long. Jim was there as well since he'd calmed down from his earlier episode. The fire was burning around us and I smiled. This felt like for the first time in a long time I had friends. Although the back of my mind was still burdened by the thought of where Rick and the rest of the men were.

The sun had long since set and I found myself stretched out on a log to myself. It was clear that the nameless members of this group were the ones that stayed far away from us. The only people around us right now were the ones whose names I knew. Andrea, Amy, Dale, Shane, Jim, Jacqui, Carol, Sophia, Carl, Lori, and Morales were around. There was also Morales's family whose names I had learned were Miranda, his wife, and Louis and Eliza, their son and daughter.

The members who still hadn't made themselves known to us were hanging around but not close to us. They got their fish and left. I found myself in between Amy and Dale. "Pass the fish, please," Amy asked after a brief silence.

We had been talking for a while but the conversation had dulled a few minutes ago. It seemed that most people were enjoying the silence. The calmness of it all. I knew that it wouldn't last. This world wasn't like the old one. There were no slow moments. It seemed like right now it was always go go go. My thoughts were interrupted by Dale gently pushing my boots away from the fire so he could grill another piece of fish.

Once it had browned enough so that it was safe to eat he took it off of the grill and placed it on a plate. "Here you go," Dale told her. It turned out that Amy was actually twenty-four. I would have never guessed that she was older than me. Andrea was thirty-six, making a large age gap between her and her sister. It was like Merle and Daryl and myself and my sister. "Man o' man, that's good. I miss this," Dale responded grinning.

We all agreed before going back to our meals. I had already taken two pieces of fish and I wanted more but I chose to not continue eating. I was going to let the kids and elder people continue eating. I could live off of two decent sized pieces. "I've got to ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy," Shane said looking at Dale.

All eyes looked up to see what it was that Shane was talking about. Dale looked over to the dark-haired man as well. He was wearing a small smile but there was a hint of concern in the back of his eyes. "What?" Dale asked looking curious.

Shane pointed down to Dale's wrist. I looked at it curiously. What was wrong with Dale's wrist? Had he done something to it? "That watch," Shane said.

Oh. Well now I felt like a moron. Of course he meant the watch and not his wrist. Come on, Rain! You made it through two years or calculus, integrated algebra-based physics, and plenty of engineering and construction courses. How could I be so stupid to wonder if Shane meant that something was wrong with Dale's wrist?

Dale's voice brought me back into reality. It broke me out of my thoughts about my old college life. I was actually reasonably pleased that I was no longer dealing with construction. Maybe it had been the wrong thing. But how was this right? "What's wrong with my watch?" Dale asked.

Shane smiled and leaned in a little closer to the fire. It was the only way that we could see each other considering that there were no lights. "I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass," Shane said.

"I've wondered this myself," Morales chimed in.

Being here for only a day or so I had missed seeing Dale winding the watch. But I had noticed that he did wear a watch. A cheap one too. It was probably something that came from working with his hands most of the time. "I'm missing the point," Dale told them.

Morales laughed and shook his head at the older man. "Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while. But there's you every day winding that stupid watch," Morales told him. He was right about the world hitting a speed bump.

"Time it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least," he told everyone. I nodded and smiled. He was right about that. "Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here." I laughed as Andrea merely shook her head. "I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.'" What the hell was Dale talking about?

The group was silent as we all stared at Dale. I was glad that at least no one else understood what Dale was talking about. "You are so weird," Amy muttered. Thank you, Amy.

Everyone laughed at Amy's sudden outburst. Once the laughter had calmed down Dale spoke once more. "It's not me. It's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing." Well I never had liked Faulkner. I couldn't help but laugh at the look on Dale's face.

We all chuckled softly as people went back to their food. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Amy stood and turned away from the fire pit. "Where are you going?" Andrea asked Amy as she turned to face the Winnebago.

Amy glared at her older sister and blushed. "I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here." We all laughed at Amy. Despite the fact that she was twenty-four years old she really was such a teenager. It was always amusing to hear her talk about things. I was munching on what remained of my fish when a minute later we saw her pop out of the Winnebago. That was fast. "We're out of toilet paper?" She called.

Dale looked like he was about to answer her but before he got the chance everything stopped. And just like that, the world came crashing down around us.. Without a warning a walker jumped out from behind the door and tore into Amy's shoulder and neck. Everyone at the campfire screamed or jumped up, prepared for a fight. I quickly slung off my bow from my shoulders and nocked an arrow before aiming it at the walker that was above Amy's head. I let the arrow go and the walker immediately dropped. With that Andrea bounded away from the fire and to her sister who now lay dying in the grass.

My heart gave a small twinge at the sight of Amy lying on the ground. I really had liked her but there was no chance that she could come back from the injury. Her neck was mostly torn out and her skin was already turning blue. She looked like she was going to die at any moment. With no family I had to protect I merely stood in front of Andrea, who didn't seem very capable of defending herself at the moment.

The minutes ticked by and I was firing arrow after arrow. However I didn't feel like I was making a dent at all as the walkers continued to pour out from the woods. How the hell had they all gotten up here in a pack like this? We weren't loud enough to draw them in. Turning to stab a walker that had gotten to close for comfort I jabbed my knife through it's skull and tore it back out. I stumbled for a moment but caught myself before I stepped on Amy.

Another walker headed towards a man that I'd never seen before and I raised an arrow before firing it. The walker dropped heavily. I looked for another clear shot before hearing a familiar shout from the distance. "Rain, duck!" Not even hesitating I dropped to the ground and saw a walker fall only a few inches behind me. I hadn't even seen it coming. The fucker must have snuck up on me while I was taking care of the other one.

I looked and saw that there was an arrow sticking out of it's forehead which meant there was only one person who could have killed it. Daryl. At least he didn't hate me so much that he was willing to let me die at the hands of a walker. Another walker came darting up behind me and I threw a knife at it before it could get to Andrea. Damn her. It would have killed her if I hadn't been there.

Turning around I saw that Daryl was only a few feet from me. I panted a small, "Thanks," and he merely nodded before turning and firing at another walker. It was a few feet from Carl who had been running to his mother.

"Mom!" I heard Carl call out loudly.

A walker was teetering close to him and I fired an arrow at it. My first shot missed but when I fired again it went down. And not a moment too soon. "Carl!" Lori shouted from somewhere far off.

Carl had just caught up to his mother and I watched as she tore him away from the main commotion. "Lori, get him down! Oh my God," I heard Shane shouting. It didn't matter that we had known that we were in the middle of an apocalypse, this place had seemed so peaceful. And now there was nothing but death and destruction around us. The worst part was that there was no way to stop it.

People were running left and right and more than once I saw someone fall at the hands of a walker. It didn't seem like it mattered how many arrows or bullets I fired. People were still falling and people were still dying. "Shane, what do we do? Shane?" I heard Lori calling out in the distance.

"Follow me!" I heard Shane shout as I turned and shot an arrow into the skull of an arrow that had gotten dangerously close to Carol and Sophia. They were running towards Shane's voice. I watched Lori stop long enough to wait for Carol and Sophia to catch up to her.

Shouts came from behind me and I realized that it was Andrea. She was begging for help. "No! No! Oh God! Oh my God! Help me. Oh God, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do," I could hear Andrea wailing over the body of Amy who looked to be fading fast. She would be dead in minutes. I felt bad but I knew that I had to protect the living members of the camp. Besides, as far as I knew there was now nothing we could do for Amy.

"Come on. Come on, stay close. Carol! Stay close! Come on, y'all! Work your way up here! Shane! Get to the RV! Go! - Shane! Shane! Stay with me. Stay behind me. Morales, work up here! Get behind me! Let's go! Stay with me. Come on, make your way to the Winnebago!" I heard Rick shouting a ways away from me. I hadn't even noticed the rest of the rescue group return. It seemed like Rick was trying to direct as many people as he could out of harm's way.

The fighters were the only ones that remained in the thick of things. Shane, Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Morales all stood protecting the weaker members. Daryl and myself stood back to back in the lower section of camp. We were each firing at walkers that were still down here. "Baby! Carl! Baby!" Lori was shouting next to me.

Why the hell was she back down here? The walkers must have turned around to head to the top of the quarry when they realized all the fresh meat was headed there. "Dad!" Carl yelled.

"Carl!" I heard Rick call back out to his son.

Shooting the remainder of my arrows was easy. One by one the walkers fell and the group was revealed to us. Shane and Rick finished firing their last few bullets and finally, after what seemed like hours, the last of the walkers fell. However the air was far from relieved. We had lost close to half of our survivors from the looks of it. This was not good. Daryl came up to a stop besides me as the remaining survivors looked on the carnage that had once been our happy little camp.

I could count at least thirteen that had died in the attack. I was sure that there were more though. "Amy. I don't know what to do, Amy. Oh, Amy. Oh no no. Amy! Amy! Amy!" Andrea's sobs to her dying sister were now the only sounds that rung out throughout the entire camp besides the heavy breathing of those who had been fighting and running.

Jim moved forward and I turned to look at him. "I remember my dream now, why I dug the holes."


	7. Moving On

The night had been one of the worst that I'd experienced in a long time. No one was really sure what to do. We wanted to take care of the bodies but it was too dark. The sun wasn't up and it wasn't coming up for a few hours. There was a chance that we could have built more fires but we didn't have the energy or supplies to do that right now. So instead we all leaned back on the ground and waited out the darker hours of the night.

No one said or did anything for a long while. Everyone knew that this was a time to be respected. We had just lost friends and loved ones. Andrea still hadn't moved from her spot with Amy. The pair sat together near the Winnebago. I sat near the fireplace, sharing a log with Dale. Glenn was across the fire from us and he was trying to keep it going. Rick and Shane were trying to silently devise a plan on what to do with the dead. No one wanted to say it, but we all knew that we were going to have to destroy the bodies. We couldn't leave them here.

Sophia, Eliza, Louis, and Carl were hanging out with Carol and Jacqui. The two women were taking care of the kids. Daryl was wandering the campsite. I hadn't seen him in a while. I assumed that he was trying to take a count of the dead. Jim was with T-Dog, the two men gathering any blunt weapons that they could find. Daryl returned my arrows to me about an hour after the attack and I thanked him. It was the only thing I'd said to him since thanking him for saving me from the walker during the attack.

As the sun began to rise the strongest of the workers went to identifying and counting the bodies. We had ended up losing fifteen people in the attack. It was over half of our group. Most of the losses had been the nameless ones that I'd never bothered speaking to. I hated thinking that I didn't even care about them. The only ones that we'd lost that I'd known were Amy, who it hurt to lose, and Ed, who I was glad to see gone.

Apparently Ed had been attacked inside of his tent while he was recovering from Shane's assault on him. He had been the first victim of the walkers. Carol had been told about his death with the rest of us and she was currently crying softly to herself. She would move on in time, once she realized that she was better off without him. It was odd seeing that Sophia didn't look the slightest bit fazed by her father's death. She just seemed freaked out by the attack. I didn't blame her. We all were.

As the group members began to pass in front of me, I did a head count to myself to see where everyone stood. I was curious about what had happened with everyone else, to see how they were reacting to the attack. It took me a while but I finally realized that we were still missing one person. The one person that a huge part of our fighters had left to go rescue. Merle. He wasn't here.

My heart gave a soft twinge. I didn't like Merle, but I did feel for Daryl. He was mourning a sibling right now, just the way that Andrea was. Maybe it was why I hadn't seen him in a while. Once this whole thing had calmed down I made a note to myself to make sure to go offer my condolences to Daryl. Whether he screamed at me or not, I wanted him to hear that I really was sorry.

A few hours had passed and we were all beginning to walk around. Carol was nowhere to be found, as were most of the people that were still mourning their losses. Daryl was currently off taking care of the people that we hadn't ensured would not turn. It wasn't just Daryl. T-Dog, Glenn, Rick, Shane, Morales, and myself were all taking care of the bodies as well. It wasn't very many of us for an absolutely horrible job.

Cleaning up the bodies was a messy job, but I knew that we had to do it. We were burning the walkers that had invaded our camp and burying those that we knew. Burning them all would have been easier, but it felt a little cruel to dispose of their bodies like that. Walking past all of the walkers I had taken down, I pulled out the few arrows that were still remaining. Some were mine and others were Daryl's. I placed them all in my sheath, intending on giving Daryl back his arrows once the job was done.

The man in question now had a pick axe that he was using to drive into the walkers' skulls. Just to be sure that they were gone and not coming back. I glanced up from my work and wiped the sweat off my brow. Even with my hair tied back, my shirt rolled up, and wearing the smallest pair of shorts that I owned, this was hard work and the Georgian sun was brutal. I sighed and glanced around, noticing that everyone else was dripping with sweat too.

Shane was standing near me, working on another body, and I realized that his eyes were running over my legs. They briefly stopped on my chest and I snorted. Boys were all exactly the same. I rolled my eyes and looked away from him. Looking to my left, I saw that Andrea still hadn't moved from the spot that she had been in since Amy was attacked. Amy was already long dead and it made me nervous, seeing how close Andrea was to her.

I was walking away from a middle aged man's body when I stopped by most of our group. They were all lingering together, looking at Amy and Andrea. Lori seemed to be making her attempt at getting Andrea to give up Amy. I humphed and wished Lori luck on getting Amy away from Andrea. If I was her sister I wouldn't let anyone take her either. Just leave them be. Andrea would be able to handle it when it comes time to take care of Amy.

Lori leaned down next to Andrea and took in a deep breath as I watched on. "Andrea. I'm so sorry that she's gone. You got to let us take her. We all cared about her and I promise we'll be as gentle as we can," Lori tried.

It was obvious that everyone had been hoping for a different response, but there was no way that she was going to leave. Andrea wouldn't abandon Amy until the time came that she had no other choice. Andrea ignored Lori and, after a few seconds of silence, Lori chose to move on. It didn't surprise me in the slightest. Lori made her way back over to us and I moved to stand a little closer to Glenn. He looked like he might be sick at any moment.

"She still won't move?" Dale asked as Lori joined us again.

In a few minutes the rest of the group had walked up to us. Rick, Lori, Shane, Dale, Glenn, Daryl, and myself were all crowded around. "She won't even talk to us. She's been there all night," Lori responded.

I hadn't seen Andrea move once since Amy had been attacked. She was no longer crying but she was still leaning over Amy's body and holding her deceased sister's hand. "What do we do? Can't just leave Amy like that," Shane said.

It was clear that no one wanted to go and say anything to her. No one knew what to say. "We need to deal with it same as the others. I'll tell her how it is," Rick answered, walking over to Andrea and Amy.

"It won't work," I muttered.

"No. But we have to try something," Dale said.

"Andrea," Rick started weakly.

Before he got the chance to continue, Andrea pulled out her gun and cocked it, aiming it at Rick. "I know how the safety works," Andrea said, not even bothering to look at Rick. It was the first time she'd spoken in hours. Her voice was weak from sobbing.

Rick had frozen the moment that he'd seen Andrea hold up the gun in his face. "Alright. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Rick replied, moving away from Andrea with his hands up.

It was just as I'd expected. Andrea wasn't going to let anyone take Amy until she was good and ready. She waited a moment before letting the gun fall back to her side and running her hand back through Amy's bloody hair. My heart went out for her. Amy had been very sweet. The group was silent as we all watched Andrea and Amy out of the corner of our eyes.

"Y'all can't be serious," Daryl snapped. I turned to look at him and raised my eyebrow. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his attitude. Couldn't Andrea just mourn in peace? "Andrea's right there. She can manage," I hissed at the others.

Everyone was staring at Daryl as they processed his words. "What do you suggest?" Dale asked the hunter.

Daryl shrugged. "Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance," Daryl answered.

To be fair, I could take a clean shot at Amy from this distance, too. She wasn't that far away and I had relatively good aim. I was sure that Shane and Rick could as well. Plenty of people here could make the shot. But that didn't mean that we should. For a moment, I thought that some of them were considering it and I ground my teeth together.

"For God's sake people, leave her alone!" I snapped. Daryl's head turned towards me and he glared. "Let her mourn like I know all the rest of you would have wanted if it were your loved one. Andrea will know what to do when the time comes."

My words were partly for Amy, too. She had been a real person just hours ago. To kill her like that would have been cruel. She was Andrea's family, and it was her choice what to do with her sister. Just because I wasn't necessarily an Andrea fan didn't mean that I wanted to cut short the time she got to mourn her sister.

"Rain is right. We leave her be," Rick said.

"Just keep an eye on them," Shane put in.

Daryl took a few moments to scowl at me before turning and looking over at Jim. "Wake up, Jimbo. We've got some work to do," Daryl snapped at Jim, jamming a shovel into Jim's arms before rolling his eyes and scoffing at me.

He walked past briskly and I rolled my eyes. "Thanks," Jim answered Daryl's shadow irritably. He seemed pretty out of it.

Honestly, the only thing that I wanted was to take a step back from everything. The air was a little too thick for me right now. So I took a few steps away from the people that remained. I could hear Glenn and Daryl arguing off in the distance, but right now I was more focused on Andrea. I walked up to her, unarmed, and made sure to stay back a few feet.

"Andrea?" I called out softly. The blonde didn't look, but she did stiffen. "Look, I don't want to take Amy away from you, I just wanted to pay my respects to her."

I slowly approached Amy and almost gagged at the wound on her shoulder and the pasty white color of her skin. She looked every bit as dead as she was. It made me sick to my stomach, to think that she really was dead. Closing my eyes, I said a quick prayer and opened them again once I was finished. I noticed a small mermaid charm that hung from Amy's neck. I was almost positive I'd never seen her wear that before. It was the only thing on her that didn't have blood coating it.

"That's very pretty, Andrea. Amy would have loved it."

Although Andrea didn't look up, I did hear her mumble, "Thank you."

Rising to my feet, I prepared to continue helping with the dead when I heard a shout from Jacqui. "A walker got him! A walker bit Jim," she was shouting.

No. Without waiting to see if everyone else would move, I turned and sprinted over to where Jim and Jacqui were standing. The rest of the group was standing back as I ran up to him and Jacqui backed off. I was the first one to his side, but I was unsure of what to do. The rest of the group caught up with me a moment later. Everyone was panting at the sudden panic. We'd thought that our losses were done with, but evidently they weren't. Not yet.

"Show it to us. Show it to us," Daryl growled, walking over to Jim.

It was easy to see that Jim was now panicking. He was insisting that he was fine, but everyone began talking over each other, desperate to see the mark. Jim merely backed off and picked up a shovel to defend himself with. They were all shouting to grab him, while keeping away from the shovel, and T-Dog acted first. He grabbed Jim's arms, locking them behind his back, as Daryl ran forward and yanked up the shirt, revealing a perfect bite mark.

He kept his shirt up for a moment to show us how very real the bite was. My heart dropped when I saw it and heard Jim continue to repeat, "I'm fine."

T-Dog and Daryl released Jim, stumbling back away from him as Jim continued to insist that he was okay. Everyone was standing back and staring at him. It wasn't long after that when Jacqui sat Jim down near the RV and motioned for us to leave. We all moved away from Jim and the RV to discuss what was to be done now. We didn't have a damned clue as to what was to be done. Jim was just like the rest of us. He was still human and he was our friend.

It broke my heart to know that there was nothing to be done. Jim was going to die and he was going to turn as a walker. Daryl, Carol, T-Dog, Jacqui, Rick, Morales, Shane, Dale, Glenn, Rick, Lori, and I were standing around, discussing what we should do. It was a known fact that we would have to do something, but no one wanted to be the one to have to kill an innocent man.

"I say we put a pick-axe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it," Daryl grunted.

I glared at him for his cruel insensitivity to the entire situation but he ignored me. Some were shocked while others mirrored mine. "Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked, sharing my sentiment.

The hunter merely scoffed. "Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it," Daryl snapped.

My head turned to him in slight surprise. He wasn't looking at me. He was still glaring at Shane. I genuinely believed that Daryl was telling the truth. He didn't care about his own life once he knew that it was sure to end. At least he wasn't a hypocrite. He had that much going for him.

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right," Dale agreed.

My head shot over to him so fast that I was sure I'd given myself whiplash. Daryl mirrored my movements. It wasn't just us. All heads snapped over to Dale. No one had ever thought that he would suggest something like that. I was one of the people that hadn't thought that he would suggest something like that.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog," Rick put in, looking ashamed at the older man.

Dale looked horrified that people were automatically assuming that he meant to kill Jim and Amy in cold blood. "I'm not suggesting -" Dale said before being cut off by Shane.

"He's sick. A sick man."

"We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick asked.

Daryl stepped in first. "The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers - or them to be," he added.

It was killing me that there was nothing to be done for Jim. We had already lost Amy. The last thing that I wanted was to let Jim die, too. "What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure," Rick put in.

Someone had a cure? Someone was actually working on a cure? They must have known about the virus longer than they'd made it sound like. I hadn't even thought that someone would be thinking of a cure. I had just suspected that rescues were in the works. Of course I should have figured that someone would be working to actually end this thing for good.

"I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell," Shane muttered.

"What if the CDC is still up and running?" Rick asked.

People had really been hearing that much about the virus? I must have been really into that stupid paper. A waste of my last few good days. I supposed that if there was a chance that someone was still running the world it, would be the CDC. I mean they were the Center for Disease Control. It had to be them that were still working. Maybe they'd found a cure but, without the mass media, they weren't able to distribute it.

"Man, that is a stretch right there," Shane argued.

It was a stretch but it might be our best chance. It might be our only chance. "Why?" Rick asked his best friend. "If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter. Protection."

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the Army base. Fort Benning," Shane mentioned.

We would have to choose one or the other. They were in two different directions and we only had enough gas to get us to one of the locations. "That's one hundred miles in the opposite direction," Lori argued.

"That is right," Shane admitted. "But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there."

There would be protection there, but the only chance for a cure would be at the CDC. I wasn't sure which one was the safer bet. "The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that. The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance," Rick said.

For the sake of Jim I hoped that we would choose to go to the CDC. "You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" Daryl shouted.

He made me jump at the sudden volume increase and I screamed as he jumped after Jim, pick-axe in hand. There was no way that I was going to let Daryl kill Jim in cold blood. I dashed after Daryl first with everyone else breaking into a chase after him to stop him from putting his pick axe in Jim's head.

"No!" I shouted, launching myself onto Daryl, knocking him over and landing on top of him.

In all honesty, it wasn't my brightest idea. The wind was knocked out of the both of us. Rick came running over to the both of us and pointed his revolver at Daryl's head. The revolver was in front of my face and I watched awkwardly as Daryl glared up at Rick. I would have moved, but it kind of seemed like the wrong time.

"We don't kill the living," Rick told Daryl, accentuating every word.

Shane stood protectively in front of Jim. Daryl scoffed loudly. I was mildly surprised that he seemed to be having no problem speaking or moving with me on top of him. "That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head," Daryl spat.

That's actually not a bad point. "We may disagree on some things, not on this. You put it down. Go on," Shane ordered Daryl, referring to his disagreement with Rick on where to go next.

It took a moment, but Daryl finally grunted and threw down the pick axe before turning to look up at me. I looked away quickly and realized awkwardly that I was still sitting on top of Daryl. My face heated up as I jumped off of him, allowing him to pull himself off the ground and storm off in a huff. I watched him go for a moment before letting out a deep breath. The group was all stunned from what had just happened.

Rick walked over to Jim and wrapped his arms around the dying man's shoulders. "Come with me," Rick muttered as he dragged him along.

Jim was clearly nervous. I could see him shaking from here. "Where are you taking me?" Jim asked.

"Somewhere safe," Rick muttered before shoving Jim into the RV.

The rest of the group slowly dispersed and I watched as people went back to their duties. Most were working on disposing of the few remaining bodies but some were sitting and mourning. Mulling around camp for a moment, I realized that I had no idea what to do now. I supposed that I should go and do something useful. Maybe I could do something with the other bodies.

As I walked, I saw that Daryl still taking care of the bodies. It was hard for me to remember that he was still mourning. He was just mourning in his own way. I kept forgetting that Daryl had lost his brother. Just like Andrea, he was hurting right now. I made a note in the back of my head to tell Daryl that I was sorry for what had happened to Merle. Whether or not he wanted to hear it, I was going to tell him.

The man in question was leaning over a body, about to put the pick axe in its head. Curiously I looked over to see who it was and sighed. It was Ed. I hated to sound heartless, but I couldn't bring myself to feel any sympathy for the man. He deserved what he had gotten. I hoped that it hurt when he went. Payback for how badly my cheeks, eyes, mouth, and nose hurt.

I was very surprised when, not even a second later, Carol came up to Daryl and insisted that she be the one to put the pick axe through his skull. Tears were streaming down her face as she took one swing, then two, then more swings. And more and more and more. It wasn't long before his head was a bloody mess. It was to the point where it seemed like she would never stop hitting him. I guessed that she was taking out her anger on him after all these years.

At least she was starting to heal. Deciding that it was an episode I shouldn't watch, I turned to walk away from the main camp. I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do, but I knew that I had to leave for a few minutes. I couldn't stand the somber attitude here. I stalked off into the woods and began a small hunt. Just in case, I stayed close to our camp. We had already been attacked once and lost far too many people. If another attack happened, we couldn't suffer any more losses.

Walking around in the woods, I debated on whether or not I would want to leave with them. Despite these people's faults they were a good bunch. Even the Dixon brothers. Or, I supposed I should say brother. I supposed that I could go with them. But that would mean I'd have to share my supplies, possibly be slowed down or killed while trying to protect people, and I'd never have time to myself. But if I went out on my own I may not ever be able to speak to another human again, get killed in an attack, and I may not be able to gather enough supplies on my own.

The choice was a hard one, but I had a feeling I would stay. For some reason, a part of me was attached to these people. I wanted to stay and to be able to protect them. Maybe they were beginning to feel like the family I'd lost so long ago. Maybe they could be the family that I had always wanted.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I focused on my hunt. I pretended that I was back in the old world, out on the target ranges for practice. I'd never liked killing innocent animals. I checked my haul just over an hour later. I had caught dinner for all of us. Four squirrels, a rabbit, and a duck. It wasn't going to be much to feed those of us that remained, but it was better than nothing. Hopefully they wouldn't be too hungry.

Returning to camp, I walked over to the fire pit and took a seat. I tossed off my belt of animals and picked up the first squirrel. Daryl picked took another one off of the belt and sat across the fire from me. The sun was beginning to sink and I could just barely see the outline of his face.

"Thanks," I muttered as he got to work.

He nodded at me as I reached back and tossed him the rest of his arrows. "Thanks," he muttered back.

There wasn't really anything more for either one of us to say. We weren't the chattiest duo. We both skinned the animals without speaking to each other. It wasn't just that. Neither one of us had looked at the other since sitting down. We were just working in silence, each one of us trying to move past what had happened a few hours earlier.

Once I'd cleaned all of the animals and skinned them, I tossed the meat into the pot that I knew we would eat from later. Shane was stepping up towards the group and I knew that they had made a decision to move on. Daryl and I both stood and headed over towards the RV to hear the decision on whether we would leave or not.

Shane ran his hands through his hair. It must have been a habit of stress. I didn't blame him. This world was stressful. "I've been, uh, I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"

Everyone nodded and walked off, still not speaking to each other. It seemed like a mostly silent agreement that we would all be leaving together in the morning. No one really had anything better to do. We hadn't said where we were going, but it did sound like we were heading towards the CDC considering Shane had talked about how much he trusted Rick's opinion. Either way, I was glad. We would be safer wherever we were going. And maybe we'd get some answers.

A few hours later we were all sitting together and eating our dinner of the animals that I'd caught in the woods earlier. There was barely any food for each person, but it was better than nothing. It wasn't long before everyone had gone off to bed. People had inhaled their little bits of food before leaving. There was very little conversation around the fire, so there was no reason to stay after we ate. The air was thick and heavy. No one wanted to stay and try to force out a conversation.

I was one of the last people to leave, so when I got up I wandered around the empty campsite. Daryl had offered me to use his tent, but he hadn't taken as long on that hunting trip as I'd thought he would. And Merle's seemed wrong to use after what had happened in Atlanta. So, with no place to sleep, I got up and planned on unpacking my small blanket on the roof of the Winnebago. It was the only place that I could think to go.

It wouldn't be very comfortable, but at least I would be able to watch the stars. It was something that I had always liked doing. Maybe someone would be up on watch. At least I wouldn't be completely alone. And it wasn't raining. That was an added bonus. I made it about halfway to the Winnebago when I heard a familiar voice call out to me.

"Where ya planning on sleeping tonight?"

To my surprise, it had been Daryl that had spoken to me. I hadn't been expecting it. I thought he hated me. He hadn't said a word to me today, other than to thank me for returning his arrows. After I'd gotten over my initial shock of hearing him speak to me, I motioned back to the RV.

"On top of the Winnebago. Maybe I'll keep whoever is on watch company," I said with a shrug.

Daryl shifted awkwardly before motioning back to where his and Merle's tents were still set up. "Look, I don't mind if you wanna use Merle's tent tonight. I had offered you mine but that didn't really work out. So if ya want, the tent don't have anyone in it," he said.

I wanted to say something to Daryl about Merle, but I couldn't find the words to say anything. So I nodded at him with small smile. "Um, sure, I'd really like that, Daryl. Thanks," I said happily.

Even after everything that had happened over the past few days, we were managing to get along. He hummed at me before turning and walking back to his area. I had to follow quickly or else I would've lost him. It was pitch black and I could barely see his strong form ahead of me. Racing to keep up, I didn't notice a root that was slightly out of the ground and I very ungracefully tripped over it. Luckily for me, Daryl paid no attention. We arrived at his campsite quickly and I stopped behind him.

Daryl motioned to the tent on the far left. "The one on the left's Merle's. I'm gonna pack up his shit. As soon as I'm done, you can have it," he said.

Without waiting for me to say anything to him Daryl went into the tent. "Thanks," I called after him.

"Sure," he said.

Before he could disappear, I reached for him. "Hang on." As stupid as it was, I couldn't help the sudden urge that came over me.

The moment that I'd said it, I hesitated. "What?" Daryl asked.

I knew that I had to say something. "I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about Merle. I wasn't close to my sister, but I know that if I was, it would hurt like hell to lose her," I told him awkwardly.

I wasn't one for apologizing or offering my condolences. "He ain't dead," Daryl said.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I know that he's still out there somewhere. Asshole sawed off his own hand to get free, cauterized it, and took down two walkers. Nothing can kill Merle but Merle," Daryl explained.

We were silent for a little while as I thought about his words. "Damn, that's brutal," I said.

Daryl chuckled softly and nodded. At least, I thought that he'd nodded. I couldn't believe that Merle had sawed off his own hand. He must have been desperate. But still, cauterizing the wound? Maybe Merle wasn't as stupid as I had originally thought he was. So far it seemed that he was doing okay on his own. Especially after everything that had happened. Daryl was cleaning out Merle's tent as I thought about everything that had happened with Merle.

"Why'd you say you were sorry?" Daryl asked, coming out of Merle's tent and snapping me out of my thoughts.

My breath caught in my throat as I sighed deeply. "He's still a human being and no one deserved what he got. It was unfair of us to leave him there. Had I been up on the roof when we were leaving I might've tried to help but I was already in the truck. I didn't notice that Merle wasn't with us until we were almost back to camp," I explained. It seemed like he might have nodded. "Anyways, he's your brother and I know what it's like not to have a family, so I guess I just feel bad that you don't have yours."

I really hadn't meant to say something like that. It had been an accident. It had just slipped out. Daryl had seemed to mull over what I said before giving me a scrutinizing gaze. I wished that I hadn't accidentally let that come out. I didn't want to talk about my family even more than I already had.

"What happened with your family?" Daryl finally asked.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to say anything to me. I had thought that he would blow it off. "It's a long story, and we need our rest. Maybe another night," I quietly responded.

Seemingly understanding that I didn't want to talk, Daryl moved out of the way of the tent and I crawled in. "Go to bed. Got a long day tomorrow," Daryl said.

Before zipping up the tent, I peeked out out and gave Daryl a small, "Goodnight."

I laid down on the small blanket that Daryl had left for me. It was the only thing that was still in the tent. I appreciated that he'd given me one, considering that I hadn't taken one from my apartment. I laid my head down under my folded up jacket - which I'd been using as a pillow - and yawned. It was probably early, but I was still exhausted. It had been a long day. For a while I didn't hear anything, but right before I drifted off I could have sworn I heard a voice drift from the other tent.

"You, too."

My sleep was restless, but thankfully the night went fast. I kept having dreams of the attack on the campsite, so I was grateful when the sun finally peeked over the tops of the trees. All I wanted was to get on my way, somewhere that we would be able to walk around without worrying about being attacked.

Daryl came outside of his tent at sunrise and poked his head into mine. "Come on, girl. Time to wake up," Daryl called.

"Alright. Thanks," I groaned.

Without getting much sleep, I was pretty exhausted. I stood and started to get ready for the day, hearing him walk off. I changed into a pair of dark blue jean shorts and a white tank top before lacing up my boots and strolling out of the tent. Very few people were up yet, so I took a brief walk in the woods to our burial site. I said a quick goodbye to our fallen friends, knowing that we would never be back here, before sighing and making my way out of the woods once more.

As I made my way back into camp, I saw that everyone was gathered around the fire pit. They were all standing together, looking very grateful to be moving on. Andrea was the only person that had no emotion on her face. Shane was standing in the center of the circle explaining what was happening and I made my way over to stand next to Glenn.

"Everybody listen up," Shane called. It didn't make much of a difference. No one had been talking. "Those of you with CB's, we're gonna be on channel forty. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a CB or can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"

The group was silent until Morales stepped in and spoke up. "We're, uh... We're we're not going," Morales announced.

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people," his wife said.

It was the first time that I'd heard her speak. My eyebrows rose in surprise. Morales seemed to have been so good with our entire group. But, if they had family there, I couldn't say that I blamed them. His wife looked guilty and their children were standing back, each crying softly. I looked away from the kids quickly and watched as Shane walked up to Morales.

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane attempted to have the Spanish man stay.

"We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family," Morales told them.

Damn it. We were just going to lose another valuable person. He was a fighter and his wife was good for taking care of the chores and children. They were valuable resources. Although, it would be good to have four less mouths to feed and three less women and children to watch out for. I wanted to say that they were good people, but I really hadn't known them that well. Although Morales was nice enough.

"You sure?" Rick asked.

He seemed extremely unconvinced. We all were. Risking going off without a group to protect you was dangerous. After a pregnant pause, Morales nodded and his daughter let out a little sob. I had noticed before that she was close with Sophia. It must have been hard for the two girls.

"We talked about it. We're sure," Morales answered.

"Alright. Shane?" Rick asked, leaning down.

"Yeah," Shane responded.

Rick and Shane walked over to Morales and I watched as they handed him a revolver. "The box is half full," Shane said, handing Morales a box of bullets. Daryl scoffed off to the side.

"Thank you all for everything," Morales's wife said as Lori wrapped her in a hug.

"Good luck, man," Shane told Morales.

He held out his hand and grabbed it to shake Morales's. I didn't say anything but I did give Morales a small smile which he returned. Everyone else exchanged smiles and hugs with the family. I noticed that Daryl and Andrea were the only people - besides myself - that didn't say anything back to them.

"Appreciate it," Morales finally answered Rick.

"Channel 40 if you change your minds," Rick said.

Morales nodded at him. "Yeah. I know," Morales said.

We all watched as the Spanish family returned to their things to finish up packing their car. Unfortunately, we were losing that extra car to them. It was something that we definitely could have used. We watched them work at packing up for a moment before Shane caught our attention once more.

"What makes you think our odds are any better?" he asked Rick, who frowned. "Let's move out everyone!"

With that, everyone moved to their respective cars and I went searching for an empty one. I needed a place to go, considering that I didn't have a car with me. It seemed that no matter where I went every car was already crowded. The RV was completely filled. The only place there for me would be on the roof. There was a small SUV as well but most of it was full with supplies. There was also a Jeep but T-Dog and Glenn were currently making use of it.

All of the cars were full but one. There was a little bit of room in Shane's car, if he could manage to move some things around, but I didn't want to be a burden. There was only one place that would have been easy for me to ride in. Daryl's. He was loading a motorcycle in the bed of his truck, but the cab was empty. There must not be anyone riding with him. He was going to be my only chance to get a ride.

"Hey Daryl!" I called out. He didn't turn back but he did hum at me. "Mind if I hitch a ride?"

He still didn't look up but I knew he had heard me. He mumbled something, probably obscene, under his breath. He didn't seem all too happy about my asking, but he nodded his head anyways. I jogged to the other side of his truck and threw open the door. I tossed in all of my stuff and then jumped in myself, making a cozy spot to settle in, in the corner of the truck. A few moments later Daryl jumped behind the wheel and revved the engine.

Before we left, I saw him look at me briefly, his eyes widening to almost twice their size. "Damn, princess, what the hell happened to you?" Daryl asked.

He looked like he was somewhere in between shocked and pissed at the sight of my face and neck. "Ed," I answered between gritted teeth.

The only time Daryl had seen me close up and full frontal in the past day was last night, but it had been too dark to see anything other than our silhouettes. He must not have noticed them this morning either. I noticed Daryl's jaws grind together, almost surprising me. Did he really care that Ed had beaten me half to hell?

"What happened?" he asked.

"We were down at the quarry while y'all were gone. The women were doing laundry. We were just laughing and chatting when Ed came up, telling us that we needed to be focused on our work. Andrea and I told him to leave us be, but he didn't. He demanded that Carol come with her and we tried to stop her. He got frustrated when we were trying to keep them apart so he reeled back and slapped her in the face. I couldn't take it. I hit him. And he hit me back," I muttered.

"Someone pull him off of you?"

"Shane did."

"Asshole got what he deserved," Daryl growled.

Even though Daryl wasn't the nicest person in the world, he wasn't the type to tolerate abuse towards women. I didn't say anything back but I nodded in agreement. We began to rumble down the road as the last in the caravan and I sat with my feet up against the dashboard. I was trying to keep my gaze off of Daryl and out the window. I didn't need to get into a fight right now. The ride had been in comfortable silence so far but I felt the need to start talking come up.

"You said you wanted to know about my family, right?" I asked.

Why did you say anything? Daryl looked surprised at my abruptness, but nodded anyways. "Yeah," he said softly.

I took in a deep breath; I'd never told anyone the full story so to tell someone I barely knew was a big deal. "I guess I actually had a good childhood growing up. My mom was as sweet as any mother could be and my dad was the kind of dad every daughter wished that they had. Everything was great, even through my early teenage years, and then when I was just barely thirteen years old my younger sister was born. I was thrilled at first, I mean a new kid to have in the house! I could get away with more things now too.

"Everyone was happy and my parents were more in love than I'd ever seen. It was sweet. But, anyways, fast forward about nine months and my mom has my sister. Still, everything is good but my parents started paying a lot less attention to me. Still, not that bad. I had kind of expected that with a new baby in the house.

"Anyways, a few months went by and my parents had almost completely stopped talking to me. That seriously hurt." Daryl's face fell and his hands tightened on the wheel. "So one day my mom went out to the grocery store... And she never came back. She'd gotten in a car crash and died at the scene. The last thing I told my mother was that I hated her. We had gotten into some stupid fight before she left. Needless to say I was devastated. So was my dad.

"So instead of crying and trying to move on like I did, he took his anger out on me." Daryl's face looked almost pained. My childhood left much to be desired. "He would hit me and scream at me until I was in tears, always saying that my mother's death had been my fault. Saying that my awful attitude had driven her to drive recklessly that day and get in the crash. Trust me, for years I believed him. Sometimes I still do."

It took me a moment to realize that he was shaking his head, silently telling me that it wasn't my fault. "So months more go by and the beatings were at an all time high. My dad would now give them to me when he was drunk. He was drunk most of the time. He really always was after my mom died. And it was those times - when he was so drunk that he could barely stand - when he didn't know how to stop. At that point he was nearly sending me to the hospital with his beatings. He sent me to the hospital a few times.

"Then I couldn't take it anymore. So I packed up my things, got emancipated, and left. I put myself through school with two jobs and hard work. But, anyways, with all the stress on me with school and bills and whatnot these past few years, I haven't had any time to make friends. I guess I could say you guys are my first friends since I was fourteen," I said pathetically.

Daryl was silent for a few minutes, probably processing my story, when he finally spoke up. "Welcome to the shitty childhood club," Daryl said lowly.

We both laughed at his comment. As pathetic as it was, it made me smile. "So you had a bad childhood, too?" I asked after a beat of silence.

Daryl glanced over at me and shook his head. "Gonna need to get me drunk for that conversation," he said.

I gave a bitter smile and glanced down at my lap. He must have had just as bad, if not worse, of a childhood than I did. I would have believed that, considering his personality. We sat in silence for a while and I started humming softly under my breath. Daryl glanced over at me and I blushed, knowing that it was probably annoying him.

"Sorry. I'll stop," I said softly.

"It's okay," Daryl said. "What song was that?"

"It's a lullaby that I heard... a few years after leaving home. When I first lived on my own I would sing it to calm myself down whenever I would get anxiety. The anxiety is long gone, but I still like the song. I start humming it sometimes."

"What's it called?"

"Mordred's Lullaby."

"Can't sing something like 'Hush Little Baby'?"

We both laughed at that comment. "I'm impressed that you know that," I teased.

"What's it about?" Daryl asked.

"This song is supposedly sung by Morgana, half sister to King Arthur. Her hatred for Arthur derives from the previous generation, where Arthur’s father killed Morgana’s father. Arthur, later, while married to Guinevere, was attracted to the wife of King Lot, and deceived her into believing that he was her husband, later to find out that she was actually Morgana. She became pregnant with Mordred, and resented him for a long time, because of the fact that he’s a result of incest between half-siblings. Mordred hated his father for his sin of adultery and incest, and wanted to seize the throne," I explained.

Daryl was silent for a long time. When he finally looked over at me, he was looking at me like I'd grown a third head. "Aren't lullabies supposed to be for kids?" he asked. For whatever reason, his comment struck me as very funny. I threw my head back and laughed loudly. When I'd finally calmed down, Daryl spoke again. "Sing it."

His comment surprised me as a small blush fell over my face. "Ask nicely," I said.

"C'mon, girl. Sing it," he goaded. For whatever reason, I complied.

"Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep  
And carry you down into sleep  
Child, the darkness will rise from the deep  
And carry you down into sleep

"Guileless son, I'll shape your belief  
And you'll always know that your father's a thief  
And you won't understand the cause of your grief  
But you'll always follow the voices beneath

"Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty, loyalty  
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty only to me

Guileless son, your spirit will hate her  
The flower who married my brother the traitor  
And you will expose his puppeteer behavior  
For you are the proof of how he betrayed her loyalty

Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty  
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty only to me

Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep  
And carry you down into sleep  
Child, the darkness will rise from the deep  
And carry you down into sleep  
Guileless son, each day you grow older  
Each moment I'm watching my vengeance unfold  
For the child of my body, the flesh of my soul  
Will die in returning the birthright he stole

Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty, loyalty  
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty only to me

Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep  
And carry you down into sleep  
Child, the darkness will rise from the deep  
And carry you down into sleep."

Once I had finished the song. I looked over at Daryl, who was staring ahead. "You're disturbed," Daryl said.

His comment made me smile. "It's not a very nice lullaby, but I didn't have a very nice life," I muttered.

"It's pretty. I see why you like it," he said.

Once more, my face flooded with color. There were very few people that I ever sang for, and I'd known them for years. I couldn't believe that I'd sang for Daryl after only knowing him for days. "What were you doing? When all of this went down?" I asked, wanting to change the topic.

"I was in a bar with Merle," Daryl said.

"Of course."

Daryl turned an irritated gaze on me. He looked like he was about to slap me. "Alright, smart ass, what were you doing?" he asked.

"Writing a research paper," I said quickly.

Daryl snorted under his breath. "Nerd," he quipped.

My jaw dropped as I reached over and shoved him. "It was so I could graduate on time!" I barked loudly. "My last assignment before graduation. It was due the day of the outbreak. Never even got to turn it in."

"What was it about?" Daryl asked.

My head turned over to him. Did he really want to hear about that? Probably not. I'd barely wanted to write about it. "You don't really want to hear about that," I said softly.

Daryl shook his head. "No. But I get the feeling that you won't shut up even if I don't ask," he said.

The corners of my lips turned upwards. "It was on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World," I finally answered.

Daryl glanced over at me. "What?" he asked.

"Don't tell me you've never heard of the Seven Wonders?" I asked.

He had to have heard of the Ancient Wonders. Everyone had heard of them. "Didn't exactly pay attention in history class, princess," Daryl said, halfway teasingly.

"They're the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Great Pyramid in Giza. Egypt," I clarified, in case he didn't know.

Daryl's head snapped over towards me. "I'm not that clueless," he snapped.

We both smiled. I'd figured that he knew, but I wanted to make sure. "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus, the Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. The Great Pyramid is the only Wonder that's still standing today," I explained.

He looked extremely confused. "What were you doing? In school?" Daryl asked.

"Construction."

That seemed to surprise Daryl. He'd probably thought that I was a business or women's studies major. "What school did you go to?" Daryl asked.

"I commuted into the University of North Florida," I said. It had been about a forty-five minute drive either way, which was why most of my classes were online. "Did you ever go to school?"

"Take a guess."

In a way, I'd already known that he hadn't gone to school. "I'll say no. Never found the reason to go?" I asked.

Daryl shook his head. "Not really. Nothing that I've really ever wanted to do," he explained.

In a way, we were almost in the same boat when it came to what we'd wanted to do with our lives. "I get that. No real purpose in life. Just kind of floating by, doing whatever comes in your way, until something happens. Just so happens that the end of the world was what happened," I muttered, gazing out the window.

"Must've been so tough in your old life. Pretty blonde girl," Daryl said, scowling slightly.

My head snapped over to him. Just because I looked put-together didn't mean that I actually was. "Never judge a book by its cover, Dixon," I said lowly.

"It'd do you well to take your own advice," Daryl responded.

And he was right. As much as I didn't want to admit it. I had judged him just because of the way that he'd looked, and he'd done the same with me. "I guess we both judged each other a little too early on. I'm not... just a pretty face. I'm not," I said determinedly.

Daryl nodded. "I know," he said.

"And I think that there's more to you than meets the eye," I admitted.

Even just in this little car ride, I'd realized that I was wrong about Daryl. "So I'm not a stupid, ignorant, piece of shit?" Daryl asked, almost teasingly.

Blushing at my very obviously childish remarks from before, I glanced over at him. "I'm sorry about that. I was angry that you spoke to me the way that you did when I was trying to make amends. Didn't give me a right to say what I did. It's been a while since I was around people," I muttered under my breath.

"I always only had Merle to talk to," Daryl said.

"So that explains the charming personality?" I asked teasingly.

Daryl glanced over at me with something akin to a smile. "Coulda gone with Shane. He had room. But yet you're here," he said.

Another damn good point. Why had I come with him? "Says something about both of us, I guess. By the way, did you call me pretty earlier?" I asked, nudging him gently.

Daryl snorted and shook his head. "Get over yourself," he snapped.

"You can say it. I won't laugh. In fact, I'll be flattered," I teased.

Once more, Daryl looked over at me. But I noticed something that made me smile at him. He had a tiny smile on his face. It was the first one that I'd seen, and it looked nice on him. Daryl's face turned downwards as he looked at me, the smile once more leaving his features.

"What?" he finally asked.

"You look nice with a smile. You should do it more often," I said softly.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that... But Daryl didn't seem offended. Maybe a little awkward, but not annoyed. "I think I've smiled more in this one care ride than I have in the past year," he admitted.

"Me, too. Daryl Dixon, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," I said brightly.

The reference went straight over Daryl's head. "What?" he asked sharply.

"Come on! Casablanca?" I asked. Daryl shook his head. "Humphrey Bogart? Ingrid Bergman? The 1942 classic romance? Almost always listed as one of the best films ever made?"

Daryl snorted and looked over at me. Luckily, without the traffic, we didn't have to be that careful with driving anymore. "You watch those crappy old movies?" he asked.

They were not crappy. They were good, as ashamed as I was to admit it. "They're classics! Just like classic books. Frankenstein, Dracula, Lord of the Flies, The Picture of Dorian Grey, and Don Quixote. Just some of my favorites," I said.

"I see why you had no friends," Daryl said.

"You uncultured swine," I snapped. Daryl grabbed a piece of trash in the center console and tossed it at me. I laughed and threw it to the floor. "If the world ever goes back to normal, we are having a movie marathon."

"I'll fall asleep," Daryl said quickly.

"I'll draw a dick on your face," I said just as quickly. Making me smile softly, Daryl laughed loudly and looked over at me. "Don't think I won't. I'm still a twelve-year-old at heart."

"Trust me, I believe that."

Though it wasn't very helpful, I couldn't help but to laugh and smile. Even Daryl wore a tiny smile. His smile made him look much better, just as I'd thought. I was about to make a smart-ass remark when I heard the horn honk from the Winnebago. The entire caravan stopped at the horn. Daryl turned off the engine and we both jumped out of the truck, heading over to the group.

"What's goin' on?" Daryl asked me as we walked up to the group.

I sighed and shook my head. "Judging by the smoke coming from the hood I'd say the radiator hose finally gave out," I guessed, the two of us coming to stand around the rest of the group.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van," Dale was telling Rick.

"Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked. I nearly laughed. It was all that is was.

Unfortunately the Winnebago was about to be useless. We didn't have room for everyone else in the other cars. "That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape," Dale said.

Everyone seemed extremely put out by the news. "I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky," Shane pointed out.

He was right. There was a stone building not far from us. They could go scout out supplies while we checked over the radiator hose and tried to fix it up. "Y'all, Jim It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore," Jacqui yelled from the RV.

It was getting worse by the second. "Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort?" Shane asked as he walked back by us. "I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back."

We might as well do something while we were stuck here. "Yeah," Rick confirmed.

"I'll come along too and I'll back you up," T-Dog said, coming up to stand beside Shane.

If they were going to go, they needed to go now. We couldn't hang around here all day if we wanted to get to the CDC before Jim got to the point of no return. "Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back," Shane called as they left.

We all went over to Jim in the RV to check up on him. He was laying in the bed and looking absolutely terrible. Whatever this disease or virus was, it took a hell of a toll on the body. I could tell just by looking at Jim. He was sweating heavily and looked like he might die at any moment.

"My bones are like glass. Every little bump. God, this ride is killing me. Leave me here. I'm done. Just leave me. I want to be with my family," Jim pleaded.

We shook our heads as Rick and I leaned down next to him. We wanted to make sure that he knew what he was asking for. "They're all dead. I don't think you know what you're asking. The fever. You've been delirious more often than not," Rick tried to reason with Jim.

"I know. Don't you think I know? I'm clear now. In five minutes I may not be." Rick still didn't look convinced that leaving Jim here was for the best. "Rick, I know what I'm asking. I want this. Leave me here. Now that's on me. Okay? My decision. Not your failure."

My heart gave a small twinge as Rick nodded and stood. I brushed back Jim's hair, softly letting him know that we would be right back. Even though it was his life, I didn't want him to have to hear us discussing what was to be done with him. We walked back over to the rest of our group and came to stand next to them.

"It's what he says he wants," Rick told them. I could hear the defeat in his voice. No matter what, he was going to take whatever happened to Jim as being his fault.

"And he's lucid?" Dale asked.

Rick nodded. "He seems to be. I would say yes," he said.

We all shifted on our feet, trying to figure out what to do. "Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer," Dale said, finally explaining what he had meant back at the quarry.

As they had returned from their trip, I watched as Shane and T-Dog stepped into the conversation. "We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that," Shane said.

"It's not your call, either one of you," Lori chimed in, speaking for the first time during the day. She was right.

It turned out that Shane and T-Dog hadn't been gone for very long. They had managed to find a little bit of gas and some spare parts to help with the radiator hose. I'd helped Dale manage to rebuild most of the radiator hose. It didn't look that fantastic, and it probably wouldn't last very long, but it would hopefully be enough to get us to the CDC, so that we would be able to figure things out from there. We just had to get back on the road.

Unfortunately, by the time that they got back, Jim had gotten to the point that of where we wouldn't be able to do much more for him. And that was why we went back into the Winnebago and told Jim that we were going to let him go. He requested that we let him stay out in the open. He wanted to die around nature. It was something that we could respect.

Shane and Rick were carrying him to the wood line. "Yeah. That's it," Jim moaned as we dropped him under a tree near the Winnebago. "Hey, another damn tree."

I smiled and brushed the hair back off of his face. He was definitely getting the fever. "Hey, Jim, I mean, you know it doesn't need to be this," Shane offered.

The skinny man shook his head. "No. It's good. The breeze feels nice," Jim answered.

It took Shane a moment before nodding. I knew that he was trying not to force Jim to come the rest of the way to the CDC with us. "Okay. All right," he conceded.

Jacqui, who I had noticed was the closest to Jim in the camp, walked over to him and smiled. She seemed like a mother coddling a child. "Just close your eyes, sweetie. Don't fight," Jacqui attempted to soothe Jim.

She gave him a kiss on the cheek, fighting back tears, as Rick bent down in front of Jim. "Jim, do you want this?" Rick asked, holding out a small handgun for Jim to defend himself with.

"No," Jim immediately answered. "You'll need it. I'm okay. I'm okay."

The Sheriff nodded and tucked the gun back into his pants. I smiled and let Rick pass me by to head back to the RV. Dale walked up to Jim a moment later. "Thanks for fighting for us," Dale said happily.

I knew that he was trying to make Jim feel as comfortable as he could in his final moments. As everyone said their final goodbyes to Jim, I stepped forward ready to say mine. I would be the last person to say goodbye. I hadn't known him that well, but I wanted to say something.

"Hey, Jim. I guess I just wanted to say that it was nice knowing you even though we didn't know each other long. Say hello to your family for me," I said, giving him a small smile.

I hated having to leave him here, but it was what Jim wanted. We couldn't deny him that. "Thank you, Rain," Jim said.

On the bright side, he looked pretty terrible, which meant that he would be dead within the hour. At least he wouldn't have to suffer that much longer. Without anything more to say, I gave Jim a quick peck on the cheek and made my way back to Daryl's truck as everyone else began loading back in their cars.

Daryl already had the engine running as he motioned for me to get in the truck. "We're leaving already?" I asked.

The answer was kind of obvious but I was glad that Daryl didn't snap at me for my stupidity. "Yeah, I guess they found what they needed to fix up the RV," Daryl said.

It must have happened while I was waiting to say goodbye to Jim. So I nodded and took my spot back at the corner of the truck, kicking my feet up on the dash once more. I thought that Daryl might have told me to put my feet down, but he didn't. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw the corner of Daryl's mouth briefly twitch upwards.

"Great. Let's go, I guess," I said.

Once more, Daryl revved the engine and started off towards the CDC. It took us a little over an hour to get to the there because of a few stops we'd had to make. Mostly bathroom breaks for the kids, where one of us would have to stay with them and make sure that they were okay, being by themselves.

Our ride was mostly silent - as we were still dealing with Jim's death - but Daryl and I did exchange the occasional nod at each other. I was glad that we weren't completely ignoring each other. It would have felt a little too awkward. Our small glances at each other was a system, checking to make sure that we were both still okay.

Nearly two hours after we'd left, I saw the top of the CDC in the distance. It was one of the few buildings that looked mostly untouched, despite the death and destruction all around it. We had barely even made it to the entrance of the CDC and I could already smell death everywhere. It was awful. I was glad I had my leather jacket on so that I could pull up the hood to keep myself from gagging.

There were bodies everywhere and many were military. Sandbags were also placed everywhere and a tank sat in the distance. This place had been protected but it still seemed to have fallen. It looked like there was no one and nothing left around here. This was not a good sign. This wasn't good at all. There was nothing here.

"It feels like this place is deserted," I whispered to Daryl.

Even though we were in the car, it felt strange to talk at a normal level. Daryl parked the car and turned over the engine so that it stopped. "C'mon, let's go see," he whispered back.

He opened his door and motioned for me to open mine. I did so, cringing when the door squeaked softly. We both hopped out of the truck and headed to stand together. Within seconds the entire group were out of their cars and ready to see if this entire trip had been a waste of time. I wasn't sure that I wanted to know but I knew that we needed to. We all needed to see what we had come all of this way for.

"Alright, everybody. Keep moving. Go on. Stay quiet. Let's go. Okay, keep moving. Stay together. Keep moving. Come on," Shane said, directing everyone up to the doors of the CDC.

He was speaking so softly that it was almost impossible to hear him. It didn't seem like any animated walkers were around, but this was still near Atlanta. We had to be quiet and be careful. As we made it up to the front of the entrance of the CDC, I realized that the smell was getting worse. There was also a quiet alarm that I could hear.

"Oh God," I groaned, gagging at all the walkers that I was stepping around.

Part of me was afraid that one of them would reanimate and grab at my ankles. "Keep it together," Daryl muttered next to me.

But I could tell he wasn't incredibly happy with this either. His hand was on my lower back as he pushed me towards the front of the building, making sure that I wasn't going to stop. We had finally made it to the front door where everyone was rattling them in an attempt to get them to open. Daryl had still yet to take his hand from behind my back.

"Nothing?" Shane asked before pounding on the doors along with Rick.

"There's nobody here," T-Dog announced.

But there were shutters. What was the point of closing them if no one was inside? "Then why are these shutters down?" Rick and I asked at the same time.

We were all staring at the doors before I heard a call I'd been praying not to hear. "Walkers!" Daryl yelled.

That was enough to snap me out of my daze of watching the doors. I turned to see a huge group of walkers coming right towards us. I immediately pulled out my Beretta and began shooting the ones that were the closest to us. They would be on us in a few minutes and there weren't enough of us to fight them off.

While the others were moving away from the doors, I stayed put to protect Rick, who was entranced with the camera. "Baby, come on," Lori told Carl.

"You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl yelled at Rick.

"He made a call," Shane defended Rick, both he and Daryl headed towards the Sheriff.

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl shouted.

Oh, come on. Could you guys maybe stop arguing and help me fight these things off? It was a little tiring taking on all of the walkers by myself. It was unnerving seeing all of the walkers coming closer and closer to me. No one was bothering to help me and I ground my teeth together. Daryl had only fired one arrow before shouting at Rick.

"Just shut up. You hear? Shut up. Shut up!" Shane snapped at Daryl, shoving him backwards, before turning to face Rick. "Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we gonna go?" Carol asked, sounding on the verge of tears.

No one answered her. Shane was still trying to reason with Rick. "Do you hear me? No blame," Shane said.

The panic had settled into the entire group. We needed to get out of here and we needed to get out of here soon. I was going to run out of bullets before long. "She's right. We can't be here, this close to the city after dark," Lori said, panicked.

"Fort Benning, Rick. Still an option," Shane tried.

It didn't work at all. Rick's gaze was still on the camera. "On what? No food, no fuel. That's one hundred miles," Lori said.

"One hundred and twenty-five. I checked the map," Glenn said uselessly.

"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now," Lori snapped.

Rick was trying to calm everyone down as the kids started to cry. "We'll think of something," Rick said.

"Come on, let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's go. Please," Shane said, turning around and called to the rest of the group. "All right, everybody back to the cars. Let's go. Move."

People began to turn around and move back to the cars, but Rick stayed planted where he was. "The camera. It moved," Rick said, calling back to us.

"You imagined it," Dale said.

"It moved. It moved," Rick said, thoroughly convinced now. He was now walking up to the doors.

Shane merely shook his head and walked up to Rick. "Rick, it's dead, man. It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down," Shane said, trying to pull Rick away.

As the two were arguing over the, camera I turned to the walkers and began to take them down one by one. I had replaced my magazine twice already without making a dent. There had to be nearly twenty walkers heading towards us, probably more. And more would come with all of the noise that we were making. There was no way that we were getting out of this with the limited manpower that we had right now.

"Shit," I muttered.

I could hear Rick pounding on the doors and shouting behind me. "Please, we're desperate. Please help us. We have women, children. No food, hardly any gas left. If you don't let us in, you're killing us! Please! Please help us. You're killing us! You're killing us! You're killing us!" Rick shouted at the doors.

We were going to die here. We couldn't fight through the walkers and no one was in the CDC. Daryl was right. This was the wrong call. "We have to go!" Daryl shouted, running up and pulling on my hand.

He was tugging roughly, desperately trying to get me away from the doors. But just as I was about to follow him I heard an electronic hiss. Turning back, I saw that the doors that led to the CDC had opened. Blinding white light made it nearly impossible to see inside. With no other option but to go inside, I ran into the building, shouting for everyone to move behind me. It seemed after I said that everyone came running in. It was either that or a useless fight with walkers.

We were all standing nervously, waiting for whoever it was that had let us in. Just as we all got situated, Daryl pressed up against me. He still made me want to rip his head off from time to time but, at the moment, I knew that I was more afraid than I had ever been before. So I pressed myself back against him. A moment later the doors slammed shut behind us and we were surrounded with darkness.

 

A/N: Another edited chapter down. Let me know what you think! Until next time -A


	8. The CDC

The group began to close in on each other. We had no idea what was awaiting us in the shadows of the building. We had no clue who had let us in. Hopefully it wasn't anyone too dangerous. They had at least been good enough to let us in. But that had been after a while of us begging and pleading for them to let us in. Daryl was still standing up against me and I made sure that everyone else was standing around close.

Despite being close together, it was tough to pick everyone out. For a moment we had fanned out, coming into the open room with our weapons drawn, but now we were coming to stand together. For as many times as I'd seen pictures of the CDC, I had never actually been inside of one before.

Sophia was behind her mother and both women were cowering towards the back of the crowd. Rick sent Lori and Carl to go stand with them as he moved with Shane up towards Daryl and me to protect ourselves. T-Dog and Glenn were standing up towards the front too, the former looking suspicious and the latter looking nervous. Jacqui was being pushed back by T-Dog and Andrea was near the center of the group. Dale was standing near her, clearly trying to protect her.

My eyes were still adjusting from the blast of light earlier. Right now, my vision was spotty. It was one of the most important senses to a hunter. It took nearly a full minute for me to be able to see again. After our eyes had adjusted to the darkness I noticed that people were beginning to panic. The last thing that we needed to do was panic while we were all enclosed in a foreign space with a potential threat.

Thankfully Rick was on it. "Daryl, Rain, you cover the back," Rick called out to us. "Watch those doors. Watch for walkers." We nodded and I felt Daryl push me behind him slightly as we covered the women and children. "Hello?"

No one answered, but the doors that we had just come in through were sealed. They must have been strong. I couldn't even hear the walkers out there. Just as we finished the door check, realizing that nothing was getting in through those doors that didn't belong here, a man in his early forties appeared. The man cocked the shotgun and I tensed slightly. He looked very uncomfortable holding it. I assumed that it was more for show than anything else. He looked over our group and seemed to relax the tiniest bit when he realized that it was mostly women and children and men with their families.

We relaxed realizing that it was only one man. After a pregnant pause the man finally spoke up. "Anybody infected?" he asked.

He clearly hadn't spoken for weeks. "One of our group was. He didn't make it," Rick explained, referring to Jim.

I could hear Jacqui give a tiny sniffle in front of me. She had clearly been the closest person to him. The man nodded and I noticed that he raised his shotgun at us. My grip on my bow tightened as I realized that the man would shoot us if he thought that we were any danger to him.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" he asked us, a little bite to his words.

I could tell that he was the kind of person whose bark was bigger than their bite. "A chance," Rick answered honestly. It was the truth. We needed somewhere to rest up and eat. And we needed some damn answers as to what was going on.

The man was slowly approaching us. "That's asking an awful lot these days," the scientist said.

He was right about that. "I know," Rick replied.

We all fell into an awkward silence for a few moments. It was clear that the scientist was trying to figure out what to do with us. He was looking over each one of us, his eyes mostly lingering on the kids. After a moment he finally nodded and I felt a smile cross over my face. Whatever he wanted, we would do it.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission," the man said.

Although it wasn't an unreasonable request, I felt the color drain from my face. Needles and I weren't exactly friends. I had barely been able to make it through getting my tattoos. And I'd wanted those. An air of happiness flooded through the group as we all realized that, at least for tonight, we had somewhere to go.

"We can do that," Rick told the scientist with a little nod.

Daryl noticed my sudden demeanor change. "You okay?" Daryl asked quietly.

"I'm fine, just not a huge fan of needles," I muttered back.

Daryl nodded at my admission and nudged me away from the doors that would lead us back outside. The scientist dropped his weapon and walked towards us. "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed," he said.

We all nodded as Rick motioned for the strongest of us to head out towards our cars and get everything that we needed. T-Dog, Shane, Rick, Glenn, Daryl, and I were the ones to run back. The rest of the women and children were all staying with the scientist, with Dale keeping an eye on them, just in case.

While the other men went to the two cars and RV to get all of the things for everyone who remained inside, Daryl and I ran into the truck to grab our things. He didn't have much other than a small pack. I grabbed my own bag and another that had been Merle's. I wasn't sure if we really needed it, but I was going to take it anyways. Once we had our things Daryl waited for me so we could run back towards the building. I took down two walkers before being shoved back into CDC entrance hall by Daryl.

Once Glenn had made his way back into the building the scientist motioned us forward and called out. "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here," he ordered.

Whoever was controlling everything did as told and we walked into the large elevator. At least there was still one other person here. The doors to the elevator closed behind us once everyone had filed in. It was an extremely small area and we were all pressed up against each other. Glenn had a hand around the back of my shoulders t keep from touching anyone else and Daryl was pressed up on my side.

"Rick Grimes," Rick interrupted the silence to finally make some sort of introduction.

The scientist nodded and turned towards Rick to shake his hand. "Dr. Edwin Jenner," the man introduced himself.

So that was the man's name. I couldn't help but to laugh slightly as all eyes turned towards me. Probably wondering what the hell I was laughing about now. I couldn't blame them. Nothing was really that funny and the timing was wrong. A blush flooded my face and I smiled abashedly at Jenner. I should probably admit what I had just been laughing at.

"Uh... Sorry. It's just - the man that invented the vaccine for smallpox. His name was Dr. Edward Jenner. Just a funny coincidence I suppose," I muttered awkwardly.

Jenner smiled at me and nodded as the rest of my group looked at me like I had grown a third head. Of course, it wasn't really common knowledge. I just seemed to know a bunch of useless facts. I always had. Without a family or friends to pay attention to, I'd become very fond of books.

"Smart girl. I always liked a girl that was smarter than her man," Jenner said. I laughed under my breath and noticed that most of the group laughed too. Daryl seemed to be slightly irritated. "My parents were doctors as well. No relation to Edward Jenner. Just a coincidence. My parents thought that Edwin would be a good name. They studied vaccinations as well."

I nodded at him and turned my gaze back to the floor, feeling a little awkward at the conversation. "Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked.

He was motioning to the rifle that Jenner was still carrying. Jenner was holding it almost like a parent that was coddling a small child. I couldn't help but to giggle slightly. Dr. Jenner turned to me and, for a moment, I sobered up. When he gave me a smile smile I smiled back. After my second little outburst Jenner turned back to Daryl.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough. Except you," Jenner said as his eyes trained on Carl. I smiled softly at the pair. "I'll have to keep my eye on you."

Carl smiled shyly at Jenner. He would grow into himself. He just needed some time. The group went silent once more as the elevator doors opened and we were led into a hallway. "Are we underground?" Carol asked.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner replied.

We were definitely underground. The main levels of the CDC were usually at least a story below ground. "A little," Carol answered.

I could tell that she met a lot by her wavering voice. Jenner smiled at her. "Try not to think about it," he advised.

Unfortunately there wasn't much else that we could do about it. She nodded and I watched as Jenner opened a set of double doors. We were dispersed into a huge room that was lined with computers. It was circular and each row of computers were set on a slightly lower platform as it got closer to the center of the room. On the last platform there was only one computer. It looked like the research center of the CDC.

"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." Everyone hesitated as the lights came up in the room. "Welcome to Zone 5."

For such a huge place, there didn't seem to be anyone around. I had thought that this would be the hub of life here. "Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?" Rick asked.

A somber air fell over the room. "I'm it. It's just me here," Jenner answered, confirming my thoughts.

The hope in Andrea's eyes dimmed. I couldn't blame her. No one wanted to hear that there was only one doctor left. "What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori asked.

She was right. There had been someone that Jenner was speaking to. "Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them welcome," Jenner called out.

Just then an automated voice came over the speakers saying, "Hello, guests. Welcome."

My heart sank into my stomach. Jenner really was the last person here. Vi was some type of automated intelligence system. Jenner was the only person left. He was the only one that could give us any answers. He knew that he had killed our dreams the moment that he had revealed that he was the only person left in what remained of the CDC.

"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry," Jenner said, looking genuinely sorry.

With that, Jenner walked off, calling for the first person to get their blood test done. As expected, Rick went first. I could hear him chatting softly with Jenner as they did the blood test. They took a little longer than necessary. Probably deciding whether or not they could trust the other. Once Rick was done Shane went. I could tell that he was rehashing everything that had been said with Rick. They went faster. The kids followed and I appreciated that Jenner was trying to make them comfortable. Lori and Carol went after their children. Glenn, T-Dog, and Dale went afterwards. They each went fast, not bothering to speak with Jenner.

Daryl had just finished his blood test, not doing anything other than glaring at Jenner, before getting up and walking back over to stand next to me. Jacqui was currently getting her blood test done and Andrea was in line after her. I was going to end up going last. I wouldn't have gone at all if Jenner hadn't been insisting that everyone have one done. My legs were shaking as I watched the blood drain from Jacqui's arm.

"Don't look if it makes you nervous," Daryl said.

Knowing that he was right, I turned away from Jenner. Daryl's arm was over my back and I was grateful for it. There was something comforting, having him just standing with me, even when he could have been anywhere else. He had already done his blood test. He didn't need to hang around. The more that I thought about the blood test, the worse that I felt. I was sure that my legs were going to give out at any point. He was definitely supporting most of my weight.

"Makes you wonder how I ever got a tattoo, right?" I teased pathetically.

I noticed that Daryl looked over at me and I grinned at him. My face was reflecting in his eyes and I could see that I looked terrible. My face was covered in sweat and my eyes were sunken into my skull. Although that might have been from the bruises that Ed had left.

"I saw the big bird on your stomach after the market," Daryl said.

Laughing softly, I shook my head at him. "I do not have Big Bird on my stomach," I said indignantly. Daryl snorted and I nudged him gently. "It's a Pheonix."

"A big bird," Daryl repeated.

I laughed and kicked him gently in the shins. "It's more than just a big bird," I huffed playfully.

He gave the tiniest bit of a smirk and I watched as Jacqui finished up her blood test. "What's a Pheonix?" Daryl finally asked.

My head snapped over to look at him in surprise. I hadn't thought that Daryl would care in the slightest. But it meant a little bit to me that he did. Very few people had bothered to ask me what it was. They just thought that it was pretty. And it was pretty. I'd gotten my tattoo artist strictly because I'd thought that it was so pretty.

"A Pheonix is a bird from mythology. Plenty of different cultures have a version. The most common is the English version. It's a large bird with red and yellow feathers. Its tears have healing powers. It grows steadily throughout the years and when it's time comes to die it bursts into flames. A baby Pheonix is then reborn from the ashes," I told Daryl.

"Rise from the ashes reborn," Daryl said and I nodded. "Can I see it? Only saw the bottom feathers at the market."

"I'll show you as much as I can."

Daryl raised his brows and I smirked. I'd gotten it when I'd been on a bit of a daring streak. He looked slightly bashful and I smirked. I was glad that I'd embarrassed him, just as I'd wanted to. I pulled up my shirt and showed him what was visible. The head and neck wrapped around the side of my chest and towards the top of my chest, while the bottom feathers expanded just below the waistband of my pants.

"It's just one of many," I said, readjusting my clothes.

"How many do you have?" he asked.

Smiling softly, I ran my hands through my hair. "A bunch. My parents hated tattoos so I made sure to get a bunch once I had the money," I said, grinning at the memory.

Even Daryl let out a tiny smile. "What do you have?" he asked.

"I have the Phoenix on my stomach and chest, an arrow on my hip," I briefly pulled down my waistband to show him, "a dream catcher on my ankle," I raised my foot to let him see, "and a quote on my shoulder."

That one I didn't let him see. Mostly because I didn't want to show what was around it. "What's the quote?" Daryl asked.

Giving him a teasing smile, I stepped into him. "That's a surprise," I said jokingly.

Daryl shook his head, laughing softly. "That is a lot," he said.

"Do you have any?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah."

I waited a moment to see if he would say anything else, but he didn't. I wanted to know what the tattoos were. "Gonna tell me what they are?" I asked, shoving into him.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders and motioned towards Jenner's table. "I'll tell you once you man up and get the damn blood test," he said.

"Asshole," I said, shoving him.

Daryl laughed and motioned to my stomach. "I like the Pheonix. It's cool," he said.

"Thanks. Maybe one day I'll let you see the whole thing," I told him with a small smile.

My face went bright red as I realized what it was that I had just insinuated. The tattoo went all the way up and around my chest. I would have to be completely shirtless. I really hadn't meant it like that. I let out a few awkward bleating noises as Daryl dropped his head to the ground. Damn me. I needed to keep my fat mouth shut.

"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever," Andrea told Jenner.

She was doing her blood test and was clearly unhappy about it. I looked over to them, grateful for the change in topic. Jenner looked up at her as he pulled the needle out. "I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough. All done," he said as he released her arm.

As she stood up she began to lose her balance and fall. Thankfully she was caught by Jacqui. The group went silent as all eyes turned towards Andrea. "Are you okay?" Jenner asked.

There was a hint of concern in his eyes. "She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have," Jacqui answered.

She was right. I was starving. My stomach was rumbling with hunger and I began to shake slightly when I realized that Jenner must have had food for us. I would take anything at this point. Jacqui escorted Andrea away from the table and I realized that everyone else had already gone. I was the only one left to go. Maybe if I went and hid I would be able to get out of it. The last thing that I wanted was to get my blood drawn in the damn apocalypse. We had better things to be doing.

"Alright, last one up," Jenner called out. Nowhere to run now.

My legs were shaking and a bead of sweat rolled down the side of my face. "Come on, girl. Gotta get this done," Daryl said.

"Wanna do it for me?" I asked playfully.

"I already manned up. Go," he said.

A small smile fell over my face as I nodded at him. Daryl put his hand on my shoulder and began to push me forward. It was only then that I realized that I had been swaying a little bit. I was rarely okay around needles. Not unless it was attached to a tattoo parlor. Daryl grabbed my arm and led me over to the table where Jenner was seated, preparing a needle for my blood test. Daryl pushed me into the chair, keeping me planted there with his hands on my shoulders.

Jenner knew that I was petrified. "Just close your eyes and it'll be done before you know it," he told me.

"I'll hold you to that," I muttered.

As Jenner moved forward with the needle, I closed my eyes. Daryl's hands were still tight on my shoulders. I jumped when the needle hit my skin and bit down on my tongue to keep from shouting. Daryl squeezed his hands on my shoulder hard to keep me from jumping even more. I'd take a fight with a walker over this. After what felt like hours I finally felt Jenner remove the needle and I opened my eyes, breathing a sigh of relief that it was over.

"All done," Jenner told me, smiling.

I nodded my thanks to him and got up quickly. I was just about done being anywhere near the medical area. The women who had finished their blood tests were already over at a large table in the room next to the medical until. We were apparently having a large dinner tonight to celebrate the fact that we had made it through another day. Some of the men were walking back and forth, still trying to put all of our things away.

With Daryl at my side, we headed into the dining room. It was nice to see that the dinner table was already full with every member of our group. Everyone was already set up and ready to eat. It was nice to smell the food. I was slowly starving to death. All of the plates were already laid out and the group members were currently being served. Carol and Lori were walking around, serving everyone, with Jacqui setting out the glasses and plates.

Wine glasses were set out in front of everyone and candles were laid out at intermittent places on the table. It made me smile. As I walked over to the table, Daryl grabbed me by the wrist and planted me in the chair next to him with Dale on my other side. I assumed that he didn't want to deal with anyone else. I was glad to see that I hadn't made him too uncomfortable around me. I smiled as the food was being passed around the table and took a huge helping from Lori as she passed a plate to me.

Chatter was being exchanged around the table as we all ate and drank. It was the happiest that I had seen anyone since the whole thing had started. More than once I looked over at Daryl and the two of us would laugh. It was the affect of the copious amounts of alcohol we were both drinking. We were drinking far more than anyone else at the table was. Dale was moving much slower with the liquor and grinning down at me.

"May want to slow down a little bit," Dale warned.

"Come on, Dale. That's no fun! Gotta have some fun before we have to go back out there," I said.

Dale laughed as I grabbed my bottle once more. "Hopefully we'll get to stay here for a while," Dale said.

"I'd like that, but we'll see how this place works out."

Daryl was currently drinking his bottle too. We both raised our bottles to clink them together. It was the friendliest that I had seen him. If he was like this whenever he drank, I would need to take him up on his offer to get him drunk. For more than one reason. I seriously hope that's the liquor talking.

For a while the chatter at the table only stuck to a few different people. Everyone was mostly talking to their families and friends. After a while the table went silent. Everyone was stuffing their faces with the food. Not that Jenner seemed to mind. He was standing a little away from us and smiling. It had probably been a while since he'd had some company. There were chicken breasts and mashed potatoes put out as well as some corn and carrots. Part of me was even hoping that there would be cake.

But I knew that wasn't coming. I would just have to happy with whatever we had. Because it was much more than we had had over the past few weeks. It was better than everything out of a can that we'd been having. The only sounds that could be heard were the clinking of utensils until Dale piped up, looking over at Carl.

"You know, in Italy children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France," he told Lori and Rick.

Rick seemed to be all for it, like I had anticipated, but Lori seemed less than thrilled. "Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then," Lori replied, ever the responsible mother.

I snorted and shook my head. Carl looked a tiny bit disappointed at his mothers words. "What about a little sip?" I offered.

Everyone chattered on with me, seemingly disappointed by Lori. We all wanted to see what Carl thought of the wine. "What's it gonna hurt? Come on," Rick prodded his wife.

I was all for letting the kid try the wine. Rick was grinning at her and the rest of us were too. We all wanted to see Carl try just a sip of the wine. Kids usually didn't like wine. I hadn't even liked wine until I in my junior year at college, and I still preferred any type of hard liquor over the bitter taste of wine.

"Come on Lori," I added in, giving the mother a small wink.

She was sitting across from me and gave me a playfully pointed glare. Lori finally sighed and nodded while Dale handed him a small cup. It was red wine and I smirked. Carl was not going to like red wine. I hadn't either when I was a kid. I'd always liked white when I was younger. And blush, but we had rarely had that in the house.

"There you are, young lad," Dale said.

We all watched carefully as he handed Carl the cup. Carl looked very awkward as he reached over. The boy took the glass and raised it to his nose, taking a small sniff. We were all smiling at the sight of him. I laughed softly as everyone around the table watched with baited breath over what Carl would say about the wine. After taking a small sip, at first Carl kept a straight face. It was a small sip, just as I had been expecting.

Everything was silent until he shouted, "Yuck! That tastes nasty."

Everyone around the table laughed as Lori breathed out a very audible sigh of relief. Even though kids weren't really my thing, I did think that Carl was pretty cute. Especially about the wine. Lori was leaning over Carl and patting him on the back. Color was finally coming back into her face at the news that her son didn't like the taste of alcohol.

"That's my boy. That's my boy. Good boy," Lori sighed heavily.

From around Rick, I saw that Shane was grinning at the little boy and patting him on the back. "Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud," Shane told Carl. 

The conversations dulled once more as everyone went back to finishing off their meals. My own food was already gone so I leaned back in my chair and went to drinking. As much as I would have loved to keep eating, I really didn't have anymore room for food. Hopefully I would be able to have a big meal tomorrow morning. That would be wonderful. It had been a long time since I'd actually had a real breakfast.

That was when I remembered something. "You never told me about your tattoos," I told Daryl.

"What?"

"You said that if I manned up and did the blood test, which I did, that you would tell me about your tattoos," I clarified.

"Just incentive," Daryl said, giving me a small smirk.

My jaw dropped. He wasn't really going to do that... "You jerk! Show them to me!" I barked.

Probably inebriated from how much he'd been drinking, Daryl leaned into me, automatically making color rise in my cheeks. "Maybe I'll show them to you one day," he said, repeating my words from earlier.

My face was burning. "They're on your back, I guess?" I asked, trying to change the topic.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Once more I laughed. He needed to be drunk more often. He was much friendlier when he was. Of course, so was I. "I would like to know," I snapped.

It looked like he was about to say something else, but he stopped when Glenn went to reach for the soda. Daryl moved forward and cut him off. "Not you, Glenn," Daryl warned.

"What?" Glenn asked, not understanding what Daryl was getting at.

Daryl motioned at the bottle of bourbon that had just barely been drank out of. "Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get," Daryl prodded at Glenn.

Everyone laughed as Glenn turned slightly red from embarrassment. But still he took the bottle of bourbon that I handed to him. Daryl and I had found a few bottles of the drink and kept them for ourselves while the others opted for the wine. As grateful as I was for any type of liquor, I would always take bourbon over wine. Although Shane and T-Dog had each taken a glass of the harder liquor. Glenn tipped back the bourbon and I laughed at the repulsed look on his face. It was certainly an acquired taste.

"You get used to it," I teased Glenn.

"How?" he asked.

"When you can't feel your tongue anymore," I deadpanned.

The group went silent for a moment and I wondered if I'd said too much. But just as quickly as everyone fell silent, they started laughing again. With each funny comment that someone made, the laughter got louder and more raucous. Mostly considering that we were slowly drinking more and more.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly," Rick said suddenly, cut into our dinner.

Jenner was still at the end of the table and he looked more than a little uncomfortable at the sudden attention. "He is more than just our host," Lori said brightly.

"Hear hear!"

"Here's to you, doc."

"You're our hero!" I cheered.

I hoisted my bottle in the air to Jenner. "Booyah!" Daryl shouted, raising his bottle in the same fashion I had.

For whatever reason, the way that he said it had made me smile and go into a fit of hysterics. We really needed to pick up a few bottles of liquor to keep him happy during the days. He had leaned forward to cheer Jenner and the entire group laughed as they raised their glasses as well. That was when I lost it. I laughed so hard that I almost fell out of my chair. I definitely would have, had Dale not caught me just in time.

He smiled at me the way that a father would smile at his daughter. "Watch it, tipsy girl," he teased.

Dale smiled at me helping me sit back upright in the chair. "I got it! But thank you," I told Dale.

He smiled at me and was about to say something when Shane spoke over him. "So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane asked Jenner.

All eyes shot over to the scientist. No one was quite sure what to say. The happy air of the dinner had quickly died the moment that Shane had spoken. There were no more jokes about the liquor that everyone was drinking or the way that we were acting, even when the world was crumbling all around us.

"All the - the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?" Shane continued when Jenner didn't respond.

Jenner looked like he was about to respond, but before he could, Rick cut in. "We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now," he said.

I nodded along with Rick but Shane stood and motioned for everyone to stop chattering. "Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right?" he asked. Rick remained silent. "This was your move. Supposed to find all the answers. Instead we - we found him. Found one man. Why?"

The table went silent. No one seemed to know what to say. I wasn't sure that I wanted to keep talking about this. I had a feeling that nothing good had happened here. Jenner was the only one that could answer this one, but it probably wasn't a nice one. The doctor looked down at his plate for a minute and sighed before taking a deep breath and speaking.

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted," Jenner said.

Everyone just left with the world turning into shit? They weren't even willing to help? I almost couldn't believe it. "Every last one?" I asked, just to be sure I'd understood.

Jenner shook his head at me. "No. Many couldn't face walking out the door. They opted out," he said.

"Opted out?" I asked, praying that he didn't mean what I thought that he meant.

"There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time," Jenner clarified.

It was exactly what I'd thought. The remnants of a smile that some people still had on their faces fled with Jenner's words. "You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea finally asked.

It looked like Jenner didn't want to talk about. "I just kept working. Hoping to do some good," Jenner said.

At least he was a good enough person. He had stayed when everyone else had fled. That made him pretty good in my books. There was also the fact that he'd let us in when he could have let us die. The table was silent as everyone processed the information. There was no one left. We had no answers. The celebratory mood that had surrounded us was gone. It was replaced with a very thick somber air.

"Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man," Glenn said.

Everyone laughed at Glenn's drunken stupor and suddenly the jovial mood had returned. It wasn't something that I had been expecting, but I was glad that Glenn had said it. It seemed that Jenner appreciated it too. As we all went back to talking with each other, Jenner stood and motioned for everyone to be quiet. We all fell silent quickly.

"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies. If you shower, go easy on the hot water," Jenner instructed.

Did I just hear shower? Damn I wanted a shower more than anything else. "Hot water?" Glenn asked to no one in particular.

"That's what the man said," T-Dog responded, smiling.

"Are there razors?" I asked quickly.

"Everything you'll need is in storage," Jenner said, laughing at me.

That was all that I needed to hear. It was needless to say that after that everyone tore out of the dining room, looking for the rooms that we could sleep in and the showers. I myself had been slightly slower because of the full stomach and alcohol. But I was still running as fast as I could. I wanted to wash off, shave, and clean out my hair. I had a stupid grin on my face, wandering down the hall looking for a room that I could stay in.

Most of the doors were open as families and friends were settling in. T-Dog and Glenn were sharing the first room and I smiled at the boys, knocking into the corner of the door frame as I walked out. Glenn laughed so loudly that he fell off of the top bunk. I was glad I didn't have to go to the bathroom. I definitely would have made my own bathroom in the hallway.

Carol and Sophia were in the next room down and they were about to go to the game room. I decided not to ask them as they were still somewhat mourning the loss of their parents. In the room after that were the Grimes's. Lori and Carl also seemed to be getting ready to go to the game room. Shane was in the room across the hall and Jacqui and Andrea were in the one after that.

I probably could have asked to stay with Shane, and I definitely thought about it, but I knew that I would rather see if I could find somewhere else. I knew what would happen if I stayed in there and I no longer had anything protecting me from an unwanted family member. Not unless they were hiding condoms somewhere in the CDC. I finally came across a room that I had believed to be empty at the end of the hall and barged in. I was past ready to hop in the shower. But as soon as I threw open the door I saw that Daryl was standing right in front of me.

So it appeared that no one had any spots. That was the last of the rooms that we had here. And I was sure that Daryl didn't want me in there. I wouldn't ask him if I could stay there. Maybe I would ask Shane about his place. Daryl looked shocked to see me. He was holding his clothes in his hand as I awkwardly backed into the wall.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I thought this room was empty!" I slurred. Maybe I'd drank a little bit more than I thought as I nearly tripped over my own two feet, walking back towards the door. "I guess I'll take the rec room couch. Everywhere else is full."

He seemed to have finally gotten over the fact that I was in his room. "Huh?" he asked dumbly.

He looked ready to catch me at any given moment. It was probably a good thing. I was about to fall over. "The - The other rooms are full. I'll just sleep in the rec room," I said.

"Nah, Rain. Don't do that. It's fine. You can take the bed. I'll take the couch," Daryl said, motioning from the couch to the bed.

I stared at the couch for a moment before shaking my head. It looked extremely stiff and uncomfortable. I assumed that the one in the rec room wouldn't be any better. If one of us would be uncomfortable, it should be me. He was the person that had gotten here first. I was not going to take the couch after I had drunkenly barged in on him.

"What? No! You were here first! The bed is yours," I said.

Daryl shook his head at me and walked to throw his things over to the couch. I felt terrible for accidentally taking the bed from him. "Girl, just take the damn bed. I'm going to the shower," Daryl snapped.

Shifting awkwardly, I nodded at him. "Oh, well, uh - okay. I guess I'll use it when you're done," I called to Daryl.

He looked back at me and nodded before walking out of the room with a fresh set of clothes in hand. The moment that the door had closed, I walked over to the bed and dropped my things on the bed. I rummaged through my things before pulling out some fresh clothes to change into. It would be the first time in weeks that I could actually wear pajamas.

There was a small dresser in the far corner of the room and I walked over to see if there was anything that I could use. Even though I did have some clean clothes, I didn't have that many hygiene products. I'd already burned through most of them and I hadn't wanted to ask anyone else. It didn't look like this place was meant for long term living, but there was enough stuff to last someone for a few days.

There was a comb that I ran through my hair, along with a toothbrush and toothpaste. I was going to bring them into the shower with me. There was also some shampoo and conditioner that I would be able to use to wash out the repulsive grease that had built up. There was also a bar of soap and a razor, just as Jenner had promised. Thankfully I was going to be able to get myself completely clean. I was sick of feeling like some kind of swamp monster. I collected my loot and waited patiently on the bed for Daryl to return so I knew it was safe to go to the showers.

Everyone was taking turns to ensure that we all had some privacy that we hadn't had in a few weeks. I had already interrupted Daryl as he was trying to go to sleep. I was not going to interrupt his shower. Especially not when we had both both been drinking. I could use some human companionship, but not right now. And not with Daryl. We had managed to get along over the past day or so, but that was because we'd been forced to work together. We still weren't friends. Not even close. Right?

That was something that I could think about later. Not right now. I really hadn't drank enough for the thoughts about what was underneath his clothes to be running through my head. I took a long gulp of the bourbon to try and wipe out the thoughts. When I had nearly drained half of the bottle, Daryl walked back in. He laughed and shook his head as I took the bottle away from my lips, the burn still lingering on them.

"Slow down there, girl. You got something to prove?" he asked me with a teasing grin.

"Don't you start something that you can't finish. I could drink you under the table, Dixon. I promise you that," I told him drunkenly.

"You so sure about that?" he asked.

As I stood to walk over to Daryl, I tripped slightly. Thankfully Daryl caught me and helped me lean up against a wall. "I sure am," I said, my vision going slightly loopy.

Daryl laughed and shook his head at me. "I might take you up on that challenge one day," he said.

Daryl's words were slurring slightly too. Not nearly as bad as mine though. "Just know, you'll lose," I quipped.

I was fighting to stand up when Daryl finally remembered what he'd wanted to say. "Your turn, no one's in there," Daryl said.

"Thanks, I'll be back in a bit," I told him.

Daryl nodded at me and watched as I grabbed my things and brushed past him to get to the showers. My walk was not without its problems. I more stumbled than walked into the showers. And I had knocked into Daryl far harder than I meant to. He laughed as I was just barely able to close the door behind myself. My depth perception was definitely off.

Once I had actually managed to get into the shower I quickly stripped off my dirty clothes and threw them onto the floor. I had pushed everything onto the floor away from me as I turned and stepped into the shower stall. Turning the dial upwards I watched as the water came on. It was the nicest sight that I'd seen in a long time. The stream of fresh water hitting my body was probably one of the best things that I'd ever felt.

Singing quietly to myself - actually it was probably much louder than I thought that it was - I washed my hair out twice. Just once wasn't really enough. It took me a while to get it back to the normal blonde that I'd always loved. There was a reason that I had never dyed my hair. It was the one thing that I had always loved about myself. It was also one of the very few things that I could thank my mother for. I had gotten her hair.

While I was in the shower I also did a thorough scrubbing of my body to get off all of the dirt and blood. I had to make sure that I got any evidence of what had happened off of me. I didn't want any reminder of my recent life in the woods to be around. Once I was sure that I was clean, I made sure to shave. I really had missed the feeling of being hairless. There were certain areas that were getting to be a bit... overwhelming.

Humming to myself as I turned off the water, I wrapped the soft towel around myself. I spent about ten minutes drying off and towel drying my hair. It would have been nice to have a hairdryer here but Jenner had asked for everyone to keep away from things that drew power. So I would have to deal with air drying it.

More than once I slipped on the wet floor as I walked around. A few times I had actually fallen. I smiled as I slipped on my fresh pair of clothes. They weren't really clothes. Instead it was my over sized Christmas t-shirt that read I do naughty nicely from Victoria's Secret. The one sale that I'd actually fallen for... I blushed when I realized that I would have to sleep next to Daryl in this but I quickly shrugged it off. We were both drunk. We probably won't even remember it.

At least that was what I hoped. I finally stepped out of the showers barefoot and headed into the hallway. The blast of cold air felt nice. I debated on going to the rec room for a bit, but figured that it wouldn't be a wise choice. The kids were in there and their mothers would probably have an aneurysm if I wore this around their 'impressionable' children. Instead, I laughed and took another swig of the bourbon bottle I'd brought to the shower with me. It was nearly drained.

Strutting back down the hallway, stumbling slightly, I ran into an also slightly intoxicated T-Dog. We were both probably far drunker than I liked to think. But T-Dog was a bigger guy and that meant that he was able to process the alcohol much better than I was, very luckily for him.

"I like the new outfit Rain, it suits you," he slurred out.

"Really? I think it'd look super nice on you," I told him.

We both stopped and laughed together, each of us leaning on the other for support as we fell back against the wall, nearly falling onto the tiled floor. T-Dog was still drinking out of a wine bottle that was also nearly empty. He wouldn't have the same type of hangover that I would.

"So how about you go back in your room and show Daryl the rest of that tattoo?" T-Dog teased.

I hadn't thought that anyone else had heard me say that. I definitely wasn't drunk enough to let those thoughts sink in. "That is so not what I meant!" I laughed.

I really had just meant that I would one day show him the entire thing. I just didn't want to show him in front of anyone else. It would look weird. "Sure thing," T-Dog said teasingly.

"Wait a minute. We aren't like, sleeping together, or anything. Just sleeping in the same room. You know?" I asked drunkenly.

T-Dog laughed and shook his head at me. "Yeah, we'll see about that in the morning. Have a nice night, Rain. Try not to be too loud. Walls are thin," he teased.

"Stop!" I shouted.

Laughing loudly at his insinuation, I shook my head and made a move to leave the hallway. Now I wanted to lay down and go to bed. I was too drunk to fight T-Dog on his comment. I'd plead my case with him in the morning. Tripping over myself, I threw back a quick goodnight. T-Dog laughed and a moment later I heard the door to his room slam shut.

Making my way down the rest of the hallway, I threw open the door to my room only to see that Daryl was lingering on the couch. He was sharpening his arrows with a bottle of liquor on the floor next to him. It looked like it was a new one, and the new bottle was almost empty. That was impressive. He looked up and stared at me with a small laugh.

What the hell was he laughing about? I hadn't even said anything to make myself look like an idiot yet. It only took me a moment to remember what I was wearing. Not good. Not in front of Daryl. I felt my face heat up as I stared at the hunter. Instead of turning around and looking away from me, Daryl cracked up.

"Cute jammies, Rain," Daryl teased.

I laughed softly back at him. "Well Dixon, no pants are the best pants indeed!"

Giggling softly, I gave a small twirl before nearly landing on my ass, which would have been very embarrassing. "Watch it," Daryl warned.

Daryl laughed and led me over to the bed as I stumbled along. "I miss dancing," I said softly.

"We'll dance later," Daryl said.

"Gonna take me out dancing?" I asked teasingly.

"Sure."

"Can you dance?" I asked.

"No. Can you?" Daryl asked, sounding almost sober.

For a moment, I sobered up. "Actually, yes, I can. Pretty well, too," I admitted.

Daryl walked me over to the bed, where I immediately collapsed. "Why don't you show me when you've had a little less to drink?" he offered.

"Will you dance with me?" I asked, the drunkenness returning.

"You can teach me," he said, laughing under his breath.

Had I not been so intoxicated, I might have noticed the color briefly rise to Daryl's face. I already knew that he wouldn't remember this in the morning. He might actually, but I wouldn't. I stood up once more but Daryl pushed me onto the bed. He clearly didn't want me to be awake and speaking anymore.

"Come on you, lets get you to bed. You're gonna hate the morning," he said.

He was so right, but I didn't want to admit it. "I'm really not tired yet though, Daryl!" I whined.

He sighed and pushed me down onto the mattress. "Too bad," he said.

His hands were still on my shoulders, keeping me down against the mattress. I complained for a few seconds before giving in. A wave of tiredness hit me. Now I had no fight left. I conceded and flopped back into the bed weakly. Daryl rolled his eyes and moved to walk away from me.

"Hey, Daryl?" I asked, before he could get back to the couch.

"What?" he called back.

"Even though most of them out there are afraid of you or think you're a stick in the mud, I think you're pretty damn cool," I said.

We exchanged a brief look as Daryl gave me a blank look. I gave him a cheesy smile before dropping back into the bed. Daryl sat there, not knowing what to say for a few moments. There was something akin to a shadow of a smile on his face. When he finally did think of a response I was already deep in a drunken slumber.

Daryl's P.O.V.

I stared at Rain for a few minutes after she had fallen asleep. The girl must have drank more than I 'd originally thought if she was out that fast. Of course her bottle was almost empty. She wasn't that big of a person, so drinking that much was a hell of a lot for her. I was shocked that she'd made it as long as she had. Maybe there was a chance that she could drink me under the table... Nah. Merle had taught me better than that.

There was no way that she could. Although she had surprised me a number of times before. I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh slightly at the sight of her. She was the one woman that I had ever thought was funny drunk, rather than annoying. Maybe it was because I thought that she was funny sober, too. She wasn't like any other woman that I had met before.

She was sporting an oversized and raunchy t-shirt to sleep in. I couldn't believe that she had thought to grab that when the world was ending. It almost made me curious to know what kind of person she was before the outbreak had happened. She was hanging half out of the bed with the blankets pulled in a mess around her. She looked as drunk as she was. I figured that I should probably help the girl back into bed, so I walked over to her.

Relatively easily, I moved over to her and lifted her legs back into the bed while pulling her body down so that her head was on the pillow. As I did so, I realized that the shirt had come up to reveal a very... small... pair of underwear. In all honesty, I should have been expecting that. She didn't seem to be the conservative type. Blushing, I quickly threw the blankets over her and darted back to my spot on the couch. Pretending that I hadn't seen what I had, I continued sharpening my arrows.

My head was spinning from the alcohol and I tried to block it out. It worked pretty well for a long time. Not even an hour later there was an annoying rattling coming from the bed and I scowled at it. It was Rain. She was shaking so hard from the cold - as she only had a thin blanket over her - that the entire bed frame was rattling. Knowing that there was no way I'd be able to get to sleep with that noise, I pulled off the majority of my blankets and placed them over Rain.

Anything to get her to stop shaking like that. Slowly her shivering stopped and a small smile rested on her lips. She was clearly much better now. I couldn't help but to chuckle slightly as I laid back down on the couch. There was something funny about the content look on her face as she buried herself in the blankets. I smirked at the sight of her.

The smirk fell off of my face a moment later. Pull yourself together! You're turning into a pussy around this girl. That wasn't the kind of person that I was. She was sweet and had a good personality about her, but I would never be that guy. She didn't seem to be that girl either. But her content face as she wrapped the blanket around her thigh made me smirk once more. You need to pull yourself together and stop acting like a little girl!

With those thoughts on my mind, I wiped the smile off of my face, turned off the lights, and settled into my spot on the couch. At least I'd get a real night's sleep for the first time in over two months. I was sick of sleeping on the ground. The only time I ever did it before was during hunting trips, but those usually didn't last more than a week. As I laid down my head spun and I nearly rolled off of the couch. Maybe that second bottle had been a mistake. Oh, yeah, this hangover would suck in the morning.


	9. Escape

Alright. What jackass put me on a Tilt-a-Whirl? It felt like the entire world was spinning as I tried to pry my eyes open. There were some dried tears in my eyes and I wiped them away. Crust was built up in my tear ducts and I moved to wipe my eyes clean. My head was throbbing in every little nook and cranny. My throat was dried out and the contents in my stomach seemed like they might come up at any moment.

Oh yeah. I was regretting drinking now. "Damn it," I groaned while sitting up in bed. I'd only barely made it upright before the wave of nausea and the splitting headache hit me. I bent over the edge of the bed and fought back the urge to upchuck. "Hello hangover, I certainly haven't missed you," I grumbled. Once the nausea had fled my system slightly I reluctantly pulled myself out of the bed.

Just as I stood up though I remembered what I was wearing. Oh God. How mortifying was that? People had seen me last night! And that Daryl was in the room too. He must have seen me. I could only pray that I hadn't said anything too stupid last night. I didn't remember it well. I glanced over at the couch and smiled. Daryl had sprawled out and he was still sleeping soundly. It was the latest that I'd ever seen him sleep. Deciding that it would be best to wake him up before I went to breakfast I went over to him and nudged his shoulder.

His hands shot up and I took a step back to avoid getting smacked. I merely smacked his shoulder in response and Daryl opened his eyes just slightly. The blue in them were a faded gray almost. He looked about as wonderful as I did. Daryl grumbled and squinted up at me and immediately rolled his eyes. "What the hell do you want girl?" Daryl snarled at me.

I guess that it was better than being called Princess of Sugar Tits or anything else that Merle had called me. I merely attempted a smile. It probably looked more like a grimace. "C'mon Daryl it's time for breakfast. We need to get up." He rolled over and I thought that he was ignoring me. Just as I made to attempt to push him off the couch he began to move. I watched as he hoisted himself off of the couch. "Well?" he asked as he stared at me.

"What?" I answered, genuinely curious. I couldn't tell what he was trying to ask me.

Daryl rolled his eyes again at me and pointed towards the door. "You woke me up because you wanted to go get breakfast so lets go," he snapped. Oh yeah, it had been me to wake him up. I turned to walk out the door before Daryl reached out and stopped me. His hand hit me rougher on the stomach than I had been expecting and I nearly hurled. "Sorry," Daryl muttered quickly. "I don't know if ya wanna wear that around everyone else but if not ya might wanna change first," Daryl told me.

My head turned down to look at my outfit and blushed like crazy when I realized what I had been wearing. I could have sworn it covered less now than it had last night. Almost all of my thighs were showing and I was dangerously close to showing something else. The dip in the shirt was pretty low too. I could only pray that last night I hadn't made any sudden moves and given Daryl more of a show than I had intended to.

He was doing a good job keeping his eyes on my face and nowhere else. "Uh yeah," I mumbled awkwardly. This was not the way that I had intended on starting my day. I tried to tug my shirt down over my thighs but it only made the dip at the chest lower. Damn me for not wearing a bra. "I guess I'll uh, meet you downstairs for breakfast," I mumbled while grabbing my clothes for the day.

Before Daryl could say anything else to me I turned and made a mad dash for the bathroom to get changed. I could have sworn that I heard Daryl laugh as I ran into the hall. Thankfully no one was out there. I sprinted into the bathroom before walking in and slamming the door behind me. It was empty. I assumed that most people were already dressed and ready for the day.

Without bothering to look in the mirror I hastily pulling myself out of my sleep-shirt. I pulled my underwear on quickly and tossed my shirt back into my bag. I replaced it with a pair of cargo shorts and a tight black t-shirt. Before I left the bathroom I pulled on my boots and stood up. I made my way back into the bedroom where I tossed my bag back onto the bed. Daryl was nowhere to be found so I began to sing to myself softly as I brushed through my hair and flipped it to cover up some of my bruises leftover from Ed. They were fading fast but you could still see that they were there.

Turning out of the room I headed out into the hallway and followed the noise that was coming from the same dining room we had been in last night. I made my way back towards the dining room and was immediately faced with the smell of eggs, bacon, and coffee. For a moment it made me sick but the longer I smelled it the better I felt. This is what Heaven is like. I nodded my greeting to Jenner before walking up to T-Dog. He was making the eggs and seemed to be having a grand time doing it.

He turned to look at me and smiled. His face was a little tired from the night before but he looked better than I did. "Morning," T-Dog chirped. "How's the hangover treating you?" He teased.

I groaned loudly and a few people back at the table laughed. Daryl currently had his head down on the table but a bottle was near him. I laughed softly. "Just give me ten cups of coffee and I'll be good," I told T-Dog.

T-Dog laughed and began to make a plate for me. Carol came up behind me and handed me a mug. She already looked ten times better without Ed in her life. It made me smile. "Well there's one down," she said. I gave Carol a quick thanks and blew some of the heat away. After a moment T-Dog handed me the plate of eggs.

"They're powdered but I do 'em good," he explained.

I had always thought that powdered eggs weren't too bad but they looked even better since T-Dog had made them. Probably because cheese was in them. "I believe you, They look great," I replied with a smile.

T-Dog grinned at me and before I could go take a seat T grabbed my arm and pulled me back into the kitchen. I let out a low groan as I hit the counter. A few heads turned towards us but awkward grins from T and I made them turn away once more. "So did you show Daryl the rest of that tattoo?" T-Dog teased.

My jaw dropped as I remembered the conversation that had taken place between the two of us the night before. I still couldn't believe that I had said that. I was such a damned moron. And I hadn't even been drunk when I'd said it the firs time! "If you value your life you will never repeat that," I warned T.

He laughed under his breath and held his hands up in surrender. "Don't worry sweetheart I won't say a thing. Not my business. Although please do let me know when he does see the whole thing." T-Dog laughed at the blush that filled my face and I flung a few bits of eggs at him. T-Dog laughed as I walked over to the table and took a seat in between Daryl and Dale like I had last night.

I chatted softly with Dale for a few minutes until the Grimes parents arrived, making them the last to come out. Actually, as I took a look around the table I realized that Shane wasn't here yet either. "Are you hungover?" Carl asked as his father took a seat next to him. "Mom said you'd be," Carl told his dad and I snorted.

Rick glanced over at me before smiling down at his son. "Mom is right. Mom has that annoying habit," Rick replied. At least he had a good sense of humor.

Lori began to pick at her husband when I leaned into Carl. "In your dad's defense almost everyone is. Some of us are just better at hiding it than others," I told Carl. I gave him a quick wink before turning back to my food. I didn't miss the smile that both Rick and Lori were sending me.

When I gave a quick glance up I saw that Carl was smiling at me. A moment later he nudged his dad. Hey, maybe I was getting better at this whole kids thing. Just as I was getting up for another helping I saw Glenn walking out of the sleeping area. He looked absolutely miserable.

As I walked up to T-Dog and Glenn I smiled at the pair. "Hey there buddy. Looking good," I prodded at Glenn. He merely glared at me but he couldn't hold it. He let out a small chuckle a second later and rammed his shoulder into mine.

T-Dog handed Glenn a plate of eggs. "Eggs. Powdered, but I do 'em good. I bet you can't tell. Protein helps the hangover," T-Dog explained, handing Glenn the plate. The scientific part of me wanted to cut in and tell them that there actually was no cure for a hangover. The only thing that helped was time. Glenn would just have to wait it out like the rest of us. However I decided to let him have a little hope and just eat the eggs.

Once T had finished eating the eggs we all headed back over to the table where mostly everyone had gathered. Shane was still nowhere to be found. I took my spot back next to Daryl and stole his cup of coffee. He hadn't been drinking it. He sent me a small glare which I responded to with a wink. For a moment I thought that he might steal the coffee back but after a moment he let me have it.

The corners of his lips were turned up and I smirked into the mug. He would start liking me. Eventually they all liked me. Or at least that's what I thought in my mind. "Where'd all this stuff come from?" I asked, suddenly curious how we'd gotten all this food.

No one probably knew though. Jenner had vanished a few minutes ago. I figured that he'd found something else he needed to do. "Jenner. He thought we could use it," Rick answered me.

Just as Rick said that I watched Jenner come back into the room. He no longer had any food with him. He smiled at us and nodded as we all thanked him softly. "Thank you," I told Jenner with a small smile. He merely nodded at me in response.

Everyone that still had food continued eating and I looked over to see that Glenn now had his head in his arms. He looked miserable. "Don't ever ever ever let me drink again," Glenn moaned from the end of table. He clearly was not used to hangovers. I laughed and nudged him gently.

He looked up for just long enough to groan at me. I wondered if this was his first hangover. He was in his early twenties. Perhaps he had never drank to this extent until now. "Don't worry buddy, you get used to it real fast." That earned laughs from everyone at the table.

The laughter died quickly as Shane walked into the room. That completed our small group. "The hell happened to you? Your neck?" Rick asked Shane as Shane took a seat near his best friend. I followed Rick's line of sight and realized that he had three long marks down his neck. Damn. Were those nail marks?

Shane moved his hand over the scratches on his neck. They were something awful. Perhaps there was a chance that he had been so drunk that he had scratched himself. But that didn't make sense. He didn't have long enough nails. "I must have done it in my sleep," Shane finally answered.

Everyone was looking at Shane with concern. Save Daryl. He looked like he was suspicious. "Never seen you do that before," Rick answered, looking worried for his friend.

Shane nodded and stared down at the table. I could tell that he wasn't comfortable with everyone staring at him like that. "Me neither. Not like me at all," Shane replied with his gaze set towards Lori.

Lori? Was there a chance that she had done something? Those marks were definitely from someone with nails around Lori's length. "No way, he would've had to have longer nails to do that," I whispered to Daryl. He nodded and motioned to Lori. "That's what I was thinking too," I mumbled. "Maybe he got a little out of line after drinking too much last night? We all saw them together at the quarry," I mumbled.

Daryl nodded at me and as my grip slacked around the coffee mug he stole it back. I narrowed my eyes but sighed. Fair enough. It was his. "Ain't our business," Daryl told me under his breath.

He was right about that but it didn't mean that I wanted to admit that. As Jenner moved over to the main table the group chorused their hellos and good mornings. Jenner merely nodded and sat at the end of the table. "Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" Dale started.

"But you will anyway," Jenner interrupted.

Andrea, however cut in saying, "We didn't come here for the eggs." She wasn't wrong although I had a feeling that she had said something a little too fast. We weren't really friendly with Jenner and he wasn't friendly with us. We were just grateful to him. I thought that she might have struck a nerve but he merely smiled at us.

"Come with me," Jenner told us. Everyone jumped up from their spots on the table and families began to fall in line together. Rick and Shane still stood near the front. Daryl walked next to me. We walked together and I realized that Jenner was leading us back towards Zone 5. He walked over to the center console and hit the button to turn on the computer. "Give me playback of TS-19," Jenner spoke.

TS-19? What the hell was that? Normally I was good with science but I had no clue what he meant right now. "Playback of TS-19," Vi answered.

The screen began to warm up as Jenner spoke once more. "Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few," Jenner told us. I didn't doubt him. They kept the information under lock and key.

The screen finally warmed up and I looked at the picture. Well, video. It was a video of someone's brain. I could just barely see the figure on the screen moving. They were still alive. All of the electrodes in the brain were blinking and shooting across the screen. "Is that a brain?" Andrea asked.

Part of me wanted to slap her. Of course it was a brain. "An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end," he said softly. He had known this person. I knew that he had. "Take us in for EIV."

"Enhanced internal view," Vi answered.

The computer zoomed in on the brain and I watched as the lights began to brighten. They were synapses. We all had them. But we could never see them. This was extremely far enhanced. "What are those lights?" Andrea asked.

Jenner looked away from the screen and over towards her. "It's a person's life- experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you- The thing that makes you unique. And human," Jenner answered her.

The group was silent and I knew that everyone was trying to process the information. Of course. None of them were exactly the types to enjoy science. "You don't make sense ever?" Daryl snapped. I laughed lightly and decided to explain. Jenner wasn't making things simple enough.

"They're synapses." Daryl looked over at me with a cocked head. "Electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages, Daryl," I answered. I turned to see that it wasn't just me that was staring in curiosity. Everyone in the group, including Jenner, were staring at me like I had grown a third arm. "Sorry," I mumbled with a faint blush. "I'm kind of a science nerd."

Daryl snorted and I turned an irritated glare on him. "It's okay," Jenner answered me with a smile before he turned back to the rest of the group. "But yes, they are synapses. They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death," Jenner further explained.

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?," Lori asked.

Jenner nodded. "Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil." That meant that this person was already gone. Jenner had truly been alone before we had all gotten here.

"This person died?" Andrea asked. Of course, you idiot. If it was a playback of a vigil that was the only thing that made sense. "Who?" Andrea continued.

I had thought that Jenner would ignore her but he didn't. "Test Subject 19." At least I knew what the T-S stood for. "Someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process." Damn. Someone had actually volunteered for them to watch them die a slow and painful death. "Vi, scan forward to the first event."

"Scanning to first event," Vi answered.

We all watched as a black substance began to make its way through the brain through the brain stem. It was darkening all of the synapses and after long almost nothing was lit up. The person was dying. "What is that?" Lori asked.

It was the virus. But what was it? "It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be, gone," Jenner explained to us softly.

The group was silent for a moment as we all thought about what this thing was. "Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked. I was surprised to hear her say something. I didn't think that I'd ever heard Sophia speak except to call her mother or say something to Carl.

"Yes," Carol simply answered.

Jenner seemed to be lost in his own world as we all thought about this disease. "She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister," Jacqui told Jenner, referring to Andrea losing Amy.

He turned at Jacqui's words and walked over to stand in front of Andrea. She looked up at him with a hint of curiosity on her face. "I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is," he told her. She nodded before he turned back to the screen. "Scan to the second event," Jenner told the computer.

"Scanning to second event," Vi responded.

The screen remained still as the time ticked by. "The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute... seven seconds," Jenner told us, looking very nostalgic.

He definitely knew whoever that was that was up on the screen. "So it restarts the brain?" I asked Jenner.

He turned to look at me and shook his head. Well there went my chance at ever being a scientist. "No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving," he told me.

It made sense. It could get them up to perform basic functions but not enough to do anything like a normal human would do. They only acted on animal instinct. And since the brain was the only thing that came back it made sense that a brain shot was the only thing that would take one down. "But they're not alive?" Lori asked.

"You tell me. It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark. Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part. That doesn't come back. The 'you' part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct," Jenner explained to us.

The skull that was on the screen suddenly went completely dark as a huge flash of white flashed through the image. "God," I heard Carol gasp as the screen went back to normal. There was a huge hole torn through the side of the patent's brain. A bullet. The test subject had come back and he had shot them.

"What was that?" Lori asked.

Come on. How can these people really be so unintelligent? Think a little people! "He shot his patient in the head. Didn't you?" Andrea asked Jenner.

At least someone had somewhat of a clue what was going on. "Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations," Jenner instructed to computer.

"Powering down main screen and workstations," Vi responded.

The lights and computers in the room turned off and the machine whirring made the room fall into an eerie silence. What the hell were we going to do about this? They really didn't know what this thing was. "You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked Jenner.

The doctor merely shrugged and shook his head. That was our answer. He didn't know. "It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal," Jenner responded.

"Or the wrath of god?" Jacqui put in.

He turned to her and shrugged. "There is that," Jenner responded.

There was no way that there couldn't be anything to do. They had to be working on something. "Somebody must know something. Somebody, somewhere. There are others, right? Other facilities?" Lori asked. She sounded as desperate as I felt.

But unfortunately Jenner was just as clueless as we were. "There may be some. People like me," he told us. He didn't sound like he could care less.

Perhaps he had already lost any hope that the world had a chance to go back to the way that it had been. "But you don't know? How can you not know?" Andrea asked. There was a bite to her words.

He merely shrugged. "Everything went down. Communications, directives- all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month," Jenner explained to her.

There was nothing. We really were completely alone in the show right now. "So it's not just here," I sighed. There was nowhere safe, nowhere to go.

"There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Jacqui asked. Jenner nodded his head and I let out a little breath. "Jesus," she whispered softly. Everyone was still reeling from Jenner's words. Not even a scientist knew what was going to happen to get us back to our old world.

The group was silent for a few minutes before Daryl finally moved forward. "Man, I'm gonna get shit faced drunk again," Daryl groaned, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes.

I leaned onto my side and blushed as I accidentally rubbed my hip rubbed against Daryl's slightly. "I think I'll join you again," I mumbled to Daryl.

He turned to me before handing me a full cup of coffee. It would not be my third cup. At least I now only had seven to go. I thanked Daryl and downed it quickly. "Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but that clock... It's counting down. What happens at zero?" Dale asked. I looked up on the wall and saw that there was, in fact a clock counting down to zero.

And it was getting close. There was just over forty-five minutes left until whatever it was that was going to happen, happened. "The basement generators, they run out of fuel," Jenner informed us.

Well that didn't have a good foreboding. "And then?" Dale asked.

"Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Jenner asked.

Wait to be over-dramatic to the point where the computer has to explain what a stupid timer was counting down to. "When the power runs out facility-wide decontamination will occur," Vi explained.

That sounded even worse than the first thing that Jenner had said about the basement generators running out of fuel. "Decontamination... What does that mean?" Shane asked. Jenner merely shook his head and walked off effectively leaving us standing there, each one of us more confused than the last.

It seemed that no one had a clue as to what we should do. People were still milling around and the kids came to stand closer to their mothers. The silence in the area was overbearing. "So what should we do?" I asked the group, finally breaking the silence that had settled over us.

The group shifted on their feet for a moment before Rick stepped forward. He must have been a wonderful Sheriff. He always seemed to be the one to step up to the plate first. "C'mon, maybe see if we can find something down by the generators," Rick answered, moving us towards the doors.

It was Shane, Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, Daryl, and myself that all ran down to the basement. Of course we'd gotten lost a few times along the way. Everyone else had stayed behind to make sure that they could keep the kids safe. I didn't have the slightest clue as to what Jenner was doing at the moment. Once he'd disappeared we hadn't seen him again. So now we were walking through the creepy basement. It reminded me of a torture chamber. I was glad that Glenn was walking close to my side.

We had made it a little way into the basement when Shane spoke up. "I don't like the way Jenner clammed up. The way he just wandered off like that," he said as we began to weave our way through the barrels and electric wires that were sticking out from all over the place.

What the hell was going on down here? It looked like some type of science fiction movie. And a bad one. "What's wrong with him? Seriously, man. Is he nuts, medicated, what?" T-Dog asked. I snorted to myself and tripped slightly as T nudged me down a path to my right. "In there," T called back to the others that were behind us.

"Check that way. Shane," Rick called out from behind us.

The halls went silent for a moment before I finally heard the call back. "It's empty," Shane responded. There wasn't anything that was hinting towards what was going on.

Just then the lights went off and I fell back a few steps as the area was plunged into darkness. I ran into something behind me but before I could scream I was straightened back up once more. "Emergency lighting on," we heard Vi call over the intercom. A red light flooded into the room and I realized that it was Daryl that had caught me.

I thanked him and steadied myself once more. Glenn, Rick, and Shane came darting into the room that we were standing in. "What the hell is this? Hey, you guys kill the lights?" Glenn called to us from the other side of the hall.

"Nah, it just went out," Daryl responded once he was sure that I wasn't about to fall.

It was Rick that made his way to stand next to us afterwards. "Anything?" Rick asked.

Nothing that was actually going to tell us what it was that we needed to know. "Yeah, a lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count," Glenn responded.

"It can't be down to just that one," Shane said. I saw what he meant. There was only one drum that still had any oil in it. Was the building running off of the fuel in the drums? That meant that we were about to run out of any electricity. But that wasn't so bad. Was it?

My head was spinning and I realized that it wasn't from the alcohol last night. It was because I'd finally put the knowledge I'd learned in school to good use. It was then that I'd remembered what we had briefly learned about the construction of the CDC buildings in my classes. It had been during the commercial construction classes. I'd almost missed that day. I was glad that I had decided to go that day.

If what was happening was what I thought was happening I knew that we were fucked. And I had to let them know that too. "Uh, you guys," I called out. Everyone turned back to look at me. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but when I was in school we had to learn about the CDC and how it was built. I think it's shutting itself down and if that's what I think is happening we're about to be in a shit ton of trouble. So maybe we should head back up, see if it's going on upstairs too?" I suggested.

Worried looks were on everyone's faces and for a minute I felt bad for even saying anything. But they needed to know what was happening. We were all going to die if I said nothing. After a moment Rick nodded to me and we all made our way back up towards Zone 5. We were headed towards our rooms but we were too late. It seemed like just as we made it back, so did everyone else.

They looked just about as concerned as we were. "Why is the air off? And the lights in our room?" Carol asked, popping out of her room. So it was happening up here too.

We motioned for them to follow us into Zone 5. As we arrived back int the main research center of the CDC I saw that Jenner was there. He was looking at Test Subject 19 on a computer. "What's going on? Why is everything turned off?" Rick asked Jenner as we moved towards the center of the room.

Jenner didn't even bother to look up from the computer. "Energy use is being prioritized."

He looked like he couldn't care less about what was happening. Whoever it was that Test Subject 19 had been they were clearly extremely important to Jenner. "Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked.

Jenner still didn't bother looking up from the computer. "It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down," Jenner responded. He finally stood and moved away from us.

I could tell that everyone was getting impatient with Dr. Jenner but Shane was the only one to do anything about it. "Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Shane snapped. Jenner merely ignored him and continued to walk. "Hey man, I'm talking to you," Shane yelled, following Jenner.

"What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?" Daryl asked.

Daryl must have followed after Merle in his ideas about the world. He really had no clue just how advanced some mechanics were. "You'd be surprised," Jenner mumbled as he walked past Daryl and stole the bottle of bourbon from his hands. When the hell had he gotten that?

This time it was Rick that tried to speak with Jenner. "Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked, approaching the man.

Finally Jenner turned back to speak to Rick. "The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule." I looked up and saw that we were just under the twenty-five minute mark. Not good. We were running out of time. "It was the French," Jenner added.

"What?" Andrea and I asked at the same time.

What the hell was he talking about the French for? "They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

Could there be a chance that someone in France was still working? Was there a chance that this world could still return to normal? "What happened?" Andrea asked.

Jenner gave a small shrug. "The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel," Jenner said. Or maybe it was the whole thing about the world ending.

I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut though. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!" Rick yelled, obviously now afraid of what was coming. He was right to say that.

Daryl grabbed my wrist to drag me back to get our things and I did an about-face. We were heading towards the walkway back to storage when a set of huge metal doors came slamming down in front of us. "What's that? What's that? Doc, what's going on here? Everybody, y'all heard Rick. Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go! Let's go. Come on! No!" Everyone shouted, trying to get out of the area.

I turned to see that Jenner was moving his hand off of a huge red button. "What the hell?!" I screamed at Jenner.

He had just turned the lock to lock us in here. He was not going to be the reason that I died. I was not going to die in the God damn CDC. "Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!" Glenn yelled.

Jenner turned to hit a small button on the bottom of the computer. "We've hit the thirty minute window. I am recording," Jenner muttered to the computer. Recording our deaths!

"Carl," Lori called out in concern for her son.

"Mom!" the little boy yelled, running to meet his mother. Lori wrapped her arms around Carl as the group all turned to stare at Jenner with accusatory glances.

Once more the room went silent as we all tried to think about what we should do. "You son of a bitch," Shane growled darkly as he approached Jenner.

"Shane!" Rick yelled before turning to chase after his friend.

"You let us out of here!" I could hear Jacqui yell in the distance. Tears appeared to be forming in the back of her eyes. I understood. I didn't want to die.

I watched as Shane began to stomp towards Jenner once more. "Hey, Jenner, open that door now," Shane growled. Yelling at him was not going to make any difference.

Jenner shrugged and shook his shoulders at at us. He had given up on life. He was ready to die. I was not. This was not my last day on Earth. "There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed," he told us.

The least thing that he could do was open this door. It would get us somewhere. More than down here. "Well, open the damn things," Shane yelled.

Jenner turned back and shook his head at us. "That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that," he told us. Damn it. He couldn't even open the doors to get us out of here. How were we going to get out of here? "It's better this way," Jenner mumbled to us.

"What is?" Shane asked. Jenner gave no help as to what was going on. "What happens in twenty-eight minutes?" Jenner still didn't answer. "What happens in twenty-eight minutes?" Shane yelled at Jenner.

This time Jenner did respond. "Come on!" He shouted far louder than I had been expecting. Everyone jumped as silence filled the room. "You know what this place is? We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever! " Jenner shouted. That shut up Shane. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack, for example- H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out," Jenner said.

He was much quieter as he said that. His voice was slightly scratchy from the yelling that he had just done. It made me slightly nervous. "H.I.T.s?" Rick asked. I hoped that wasn't what I thought that it was.

"Vi, define," Jenner called out.

"H.I.T.s- high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear."

Not good. Seriously not good. This was exactly what this place was going through. We were going to die if we didn't get out of here. "The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between five thousand and six thousand degrees and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired. It sets the air on fire. No pain. An end to sorrow, grief regret. Everything," Jenner said.

He was standing in front of Andrea and I saw that he was trying to appeal to her. He wanted her to die. He wanted us all to admit to die. "Open the damn door! Out of my way!" Daryl yelled as ran over to the metal door with an axe in hand. T-Dog and Glenn went with him.

I was sure that at any moment Daryl was going to turn around and either take off Glenn or T-Dog's head. He wasn't really paying attention. "Daryl!" I yelled.

He wasn't paying any attention to me. I rolled my eyes and looked back over to where Rick was walking over to Jenner. "You should've left well enough alone, it would've been so much easier," Jenner sighed.

"Easier for who?" I snapped.

I was not intending to die today. I was not going to die. "All of you," Jenner told me before turning back to Rick. "You know what's out there. A short, brutal life and an agonizing death," Jenner told us before turning and walking over towards Andrea. "Your- your sister- what was her name?" Jenner asked as he leaned in front of her.

"Amy," Andrea whispered.

"Amy," Jenner muttered mostly to himself before turning back to where Rick was standing. "You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and son?" Jenner asked Rick.

Of course not. But we didn't want to be trapped to die either. "I don't want this," Rick said as he motioned around us.

The banging of the aces against the doors ceased and I turned back to see that the men had stopped hitting the door. "Can't make a dent," Daryl he as he leaned over and panted. The damn door didn't even have s scratch.

Jenner turned back to stare at the door with a bored expression on his face. "Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher," he told us. Well that was helpful.

It seemed that Daryl appreciated the unsolicited piece of information about as much as I did. "Well, your head ain't!" Daryl yelled before turning on his heels to run towards Jenner with the axe raised in air.

"Daryl! Daryl!" I shouted before stepping in front of him and shoving him back. Daryl lowered the axe to ensure that he wouldn't hit me but still tried to get past me to Jenner. "Just back up! Back up! You do want this," I said to him, placing my hand on his chest and trying to push him away from Jenner and back towards the main group.

He huffed at me but he did back off. I turned to look back at Jenner. "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead," Jenner told Rick.

What? How could Rick have said that? We were going to live. We had to. "What? You really said that? After all your big talk?" Lori asked her husband a look of utter betrayal on his face.

The look on Rick's face told me that he had intended to never had that little tidbit of information get back to Lori. He had probably said that when he was drunk. Some people were happy drunks and others were sad. "I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick asked her.

"There is no hope, there never was," Jenner interrupted the conversation while still looking at the ground.

He had given up. But that didn't mean that we all had to give up. "There's always hope," I told Jenner. He looked up at me but shook his head before looking away from me.

"Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, But somebody somewhere-" Jenner started.

"What part of 'Everything is gone' do you not understand?" Andrea snapped at me. I wanted to walk over to her and tear her a new one but Jenner spoke before I could.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it," Jenner told us. Oh no. Andrea was in mourning and a moron. There was still something out there. There had to be. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

No. That was wrong. Our extinction event was going to be something like an asteroid crashing into the Earth or if the sun explodes. Not the dead coming back to life. "This isn't right. You can't just keep us here," Carol begged.

Jenner turned around to look at the older woman. "One tiny moment- A millisecond. No pain," Jenner said, looking at Carol hopefully. It didn't matter if there was pain or not. I was not going to die. Not today.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this," she responded, looking on the verge of tears.

Sophia and Carl were not going to die in terror, each clutching onto their mother's legs. "Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner asked. Right after he asked that though Shane went after Jenner with his shotgun.

"Shane, no!" Rick yelled. He was going to run over and stop his friend from blowing off Jenner's head.

Despite his best efforts Shane was still stomping past Rick. "Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way!" He shouted before running over to Jenner and pushing his shotgun in Jenner's face. Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off," Shane threatened.

Rick quickly made his way over to Shane and Jenner and leaned into Shane's ear, practically begging him to put the gun down. "Do you hear me? Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this," Rick pleaded with his friend.

He needed to get Shane to put down the gun. The only way that we were getting out of here was through Jenner. "Shane, you listen to him," Lori called out.

"It's too late," Jenner said. I could tell that he didn't care whether or not Shane killed him.

It seemed that Rick was sharing my thoughts. "He dies, we all- we all die!" Rick pleaded. Shane still didn't answer. "Shane! Shane! Are you done now? Are you done?" Rick asked, shaking his best friend.

Finally Shane put down the gun before turning and glaring. "Yeah, I guess we all are," Shane snapped at Rick.

Shane brushed past Rick before stepping into the main area once more with a scowl. I could tell that he was pissed. Of course. He thought that we were going to die in here in just a few minutes. The counter was nearly out. "I think you're lying," Rick said to Jenner.

The scientist had a small amount of curiosity spark in his eyes. "What?" He asked.

"You're lying. About no hope," Rick said. Jenner just looked down at the table that he was sitting at. "If that were true you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?" Rick asked.

It was a good question. Everyone else was gone. Why had he stayed? "It doesn't matter," Jenner sighed.

That wasn't the truth. Everything people did always mattered. Nothing was for no reason. "It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?" Lori asked.

He finally looked up to us and stood from his spot where he pointed to the screen. "Not because I wanted to. I made a promise. To her," he motioned to the screen where Test Subject 19 was still displayed. "My wife," Jenner answered softly.

Oh God. He'd had to watch his wife die and reanimate. No wonder he was as lost as he was. "Test Subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" He made a valid point. "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me," he moaned.

Maybe. But she was gone. He wasn't. "Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's- that's all we want. A choice, a chance. Let us keep trying as long as we can," Rick begged.

Jenner merely stared at him for a moment before turning around and heading back to the computer station. "I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those," Jenner answered Rick. However, with a sigh he turned to the computer and keyed in a command. A moment later the doors to Zone 5 opened.

We all stood for a moment before everyone kicked it into gear. "Come on! Let's go! Come on, let's go! Come on! Move it! Move it! Come on, let's go!" Everyone around me was shouting as we all bolted towards the door.

"We're gonna get out of here, Sophia," Carol soothed her daughter, who was on the verge of tears.

I stopped long enough to see a last exchange between Rick and Jenner. "There's your chance. Take it," Jenner said to us.

"I'm grateful," Rick said to Jenner.

Jenner stared up at Rick and shook his head. "The day will come when you won't be," Jenner mumbled. Maybe that day would come. But that day was not going to come any day soon.

"Let's go! Hey, we've got four minutes left! Come on! Let's go," I yelled to the rest of the group that hadn't moved yet. After a moment I allowed Daryl to pull me by the arm out of the room that we were standing in. I had wanted to stay to see that everyone had gotten out safely but Daryl seemed determined to pull us out of the building.

Just before we got out of earshot of the rest of the group though I heard to short exchange between Jacqui and T-Dog. "Let's go," T-Dog said, trying to pull Jacqui out.

She pulled away from T-Dog and shoved him back gently. "No no, I'm staying. I'm staying, sweetie," Jacqui said to him with a smile.

Oh no. She really wanted to stay. I couldn't believe her. Or maybe I could. She didn't want this brutal life and horrifying death. "But that's insane!" T yelled at her.

While he was completely panicked Jacqui seemed calmer than I'd ever seen her. "No, it's completely sane. For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy. There's no time to argue and no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out," Jacqui said, pushing T away from her.

He still didn't seem to want to go but I was not losing him too. "T! Come on," I shouted pulling him from his trance. I gave Jacqui a small smile before turning to the spot where Andrea and Dale were sitting. "Come on! Let's go! Let's go!" I yelled to the pair.

Andrea was still seated on the stair. "I'm staying too," she said.

Fine. But I was not staying here any longer. And neither was Dale. He would be back with Irma one day but today was not that day. "Andrea, no," Dale tried to plead with her.

She turned to Dale and snarled. "Just go! Go!" She shouted.

Of course. She didn't want Dale's blood on her hands. "Andrea, This isn't what Amy would want for you," Dale continued to try to reason with her.

It didn't affect Andrea the way that I had thought that she did. Andrea merely turned to Dale with an even stare. "She's dead, and you need to leave," she ordered.

I wanted to yell for Dale to follow us but I never got the chance. Just like that I was pulled from the room by Daryl and brought into the chaos ensuing in the main room. Everyone was trying to get the doors open that Jenner had sealed last night. But he'd told us that they were locked and he couldn't open them.

We were trapped unless we could figure out something to do to get us out of here. "Get them doors open! Come on! It doesn't work! Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Try it! Try it! Try it now! Come on! Come on!" Everyone was shouting and attempting to throw anything they could find at the windows.

The windows were not going to break no matter what we threw at it or how many times we shot. "Time's almost up," Rick shouted to everyone.

"Daryl, look out! Dog, get down! Get down!" Shane was yelling as he attempted to smash the window with a chair. The chair simply rebounded off of it and clattered back on the floor.

"The glass won't break?" Lori asked.

There was no way that anything we had was going to break the glass. It was too strong. "The glass is blast proof! There's not much that's gonna be able to shatter it!" I shouted over the noise in the rest of the room.

Carol stepped forward and I grabbed Sophia from wandering after her mother. "Rick, I have something that might help," Carol stated, pulling out a nail file from her bag.

A nail file? What the hell were we going to do with a nail file? "Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it," Shane said, sharing my thoughts about Carol's apparent plan.

Carol ignored Shane. "Your first morning at camp when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket," Carol stated. I watched as she pulled out a grenade from her bag. Damn... Good job, Carol. We were going to get out of here. Rick happily took it and and pushed her lightly away.

I released Sophia and shoved her back towards her mother. "Look out! Get down! Get down! Shit! Okay," Rick shouted before pulling the pin and running. The grenade landed by the glass windows and I stared at it for a moment. Daryl flipped over a table and pulled me down behind it. He made sure to put himself in front of me and lay his body over mine. It was a moment later that I heard the huge blast and the shattering of the windows. Ears ringing and slightly shaken, I was pulled to my feet by Daryl who dragged me out of the window.

We were leading the rest of the group out back towards the cars. The noise had attracted many walkers so as we left we were forced to take down the walkers that were blocking our paths to the cars. Thankfully most were still scattered around and easy for us to run through. I jammed my knife in the head of a walker directly in front of me and I saw Daryl do the same to my right. With us clearing the rest of the path I took off to the truck and launched myself into it. A moment later Daryl jumped in on the drivers side. Thankfully before we'd left the women had run to get our things while we took care of the walkers. I saw that Carol and Sophia were carrying Daryl's things and Lori was carrying mine.

Ducking down slightly I counted down to the blast in my head while watching the CDC. It would be the last time that I would see it. Just as I hit the minute mark I saw two figures emerging from the glass. "Wait wait wait. They're coming. They got out, Dale and Andrea," I pointed out to Daryl.

Jacqui and Jenner were still nowhere to be found. "Come on. Dale, get down! Down! Get back! Everybody down! Down! Get down! Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Get in, get in, get in. Get in!" I could hear everyone shouting from the other cars as they all jammed themselves into their spots. Dale and Andrea just barely had time to launch themselves into the RV.

Just like that, I reached 5 seconds in my head and it appeared that Daryl had come to the same conclusion. "Get down!" Daryl shouted suddenly before pushing me onto the floorboards and covering me with his own body. Only a second later I felt the insane heat wave of the explosion and I heard the deafening explosion coming from the building. If the ringing had been bad in my ears before it was horrible now.

The heat was still horrible when Daryl began to move. After about a minute Daryl pulled himself off of me and helped to get me out of my place in the floorboards. I was panting heavily as I pushed my hair out of my face. "You okay?" He asked me.

At first I wasn't able to say anything I merely nodded and looked out the window to see Andrea and Dale lean out to close to the door to the Winnebago. I was glad to see that they were unharmed. "I guess it's time to go, huh?" I asked Daryl. He nodded and revved the engine. Our small caravan began to leave the CDC's lot when I turned to Daryl and asked, "So where do we go now?"

He had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. He would never admit it but that had rattled him as much as it had the rest of us. "I have no idea," Daryl responded after a moment.

With that I looked back at the burning remains of the CDC and said goodbye to the only real chance we had. We had nowhere to go now with no food and no gas. There was nothing that we could use to get us anywhere. We were going to die out here if we couldn't figure anything out soon enough. My hands were shaking as I wrung them together in my lap. Where the hell were we gonna go now?


	10. Highway 81

Everyone in the cars were exhausted. The last day or so had been exhausting. All I wanted to do was sleep for a year. Maybe if I woke up I would be back in my apartment and this would all be a dream. We'd been driving through the night and all day to try to put as much distance between us and the CDC as we could. The only problem was that we had no idea where we should go. Fort Benning was too far to be a viable option and Atlanta was too dangerous. It left us with literally nowhere to go.

We had briefly thought about trying for Birmingham to see if we could catch up with Morales and his family but we had decided that it wasn't worth it. Birmingham was a big city and we didn't have a clue where Morales had been heading. Plus it was even further than Fort Benning was. It made no sense for us to try for it.

The only place that we had thought to go had been an idea from Rick and Daryl. When they had gone to save Merle and get the guns they had met another group that called themselves the Vatos. They had been a bunch of Spanish men taking care of the elderly in a run-down retirement home since the staff had abandoned them. It had apparently been a misunderstanding when Glenn had been taken by the men with the guns. Daryl had evidently retaliated by shooting one of the boys in the ass with an arrow.

I must have laughed for nearly an hour when Daryl had told me the story. It was probably the first time that we had sat and had a full conversation without one of us getting irritated with the other. But once we'd arrived at the Vatos's camp our jovial conversation had died. Everyone inside was dead. The elderly and those who had been protecting them. It was a horrid sight. And it didn't take us long to realize that it hadn't been walkers. It was humans. The only thing that had occurred to me was that someone had killed them for the medicine. From what Daryl had told me they'd had quite a bit of it.

Once we'd gathered up the bodies of the Vatos and the elderly we'd gone to burying them. It had been the men that had helped me. Lori and Carol along with the kids had made the grave look presentable. It had driven me nuts that Andrea had sat the entire time and done nothing. Part of me had wanted to rip her a new one but a few subtle warnings from Daryl had told me that it was the wrong time to start anything.

After our funeral for the Vatos we'd hopped back on the road and been driving since. It had been almost a full day since we'd left the CDC and I still hadn't slept. Daryl had told me that I could but I felt weird leaving him by himself. More than once I'd offered to drive but Daryl kept saying no. I assumed that this was his truck and he didn't want anyone touching it. Well, too bad. I was nosy and bored. Without asking if I could I opened up his glove box and began to rifle through his stuff.

He didn't have much that I wasn't expecting. The proof of insurance and vehicle registration was the first thing that I pulled out. There was an owner's manual too and some other boring looking papers. Right as I was going to give up I caught sight of a CD. Pulling it out I couldn't help but laugh at it. It was a George Strait album. My favorite one actually. "George Strait huh?" I asked Daryl. He looked away from the road for a moment to scowl at the scattered papers. I gave a bashful smile. "Good choice," I added.

Daryl looked slightly surprised. "You like him?" He asked me.

Of course I liked him! What kind of freak didn't like George Strait? He was a classic. Sort of. "Hell yeah I do!" I said as I opened the CD case and popped it out.

Daryl gave a small grin as he looked back at the road. "And hey," Daryl said, catching my attention. "Just because I don't hate you don't mean ya can go pawing through my shit," Daryl said. I laughed and smiled. At least we'd moved past our hatred phase.

But I was still going to ignore him. I liked George Strait and I liked toying with Daryl's nerves. "Can I play it?" I asked him. Daryl nodded so I pushed it into the player. Of course I would have done it even if he'd said no. The CD began to play and I listened closely. An odd scratchy sound came on and I smiled at the first song that played.

I'm not gonna lay around and whine and moan 'cause somebody done done me wrong  
Don't think for a minute that I am gonna sit around and sing some old sad song  
I believe it's half full not a… half empty glass  
Every day I wake up… knowing it could be my last  
I ain't here for a long time… I'm here for a good time  
So bring on the sunshine to hell with the red wine  
Pour me some moonshine  
When I am gone put it in stone he left nothing behind I ain't here for a long time… I'm here for a good time  
Folks are always dreaming about what they like to do  
But I like to do… just what I like I'll take the chance… dance the dance  
It might be wrong but then again it might be right  
There's no way of knowing… what tomorrow brings  
Life's too short to waste it I say bring on anything  
I ain't here for a long time… I'm here for a good time  
So bring on the sunshine to hell with the red wine  
Pour me some moonshine  
When I am gone put it in stone he left nothing behind  
I ain't here for a long time… I'm here for a good time  
I ain't here for a long time I'm here for a good time

The song dropped off and I smiled as Shame On Me replaced the other song. "'Here For A Good Time huh?'" I asked Daryl. He stared at me for a moment clearly not understand what I was getting at with it. "I didn't peg you for that type," I teased while poking him in the shoulder.

He shook his head at me and I laughed softly. Bit by bit we were becoming something akin to friends. He would be only the second or third friend I'd ever had. "Very funny," he grunted. "You uh- have a nice voice."

A soft blush filled my face as I looked away from Daryl and let my hair fall in my face. "Oh thanks," I said softly. Judging by the way that Daryl was staring intently out the window I figured that he was blushing too. Right as I looked out the window I almost wished that I hadn't. There was a huge traffic jam and it looked to me like the only way through was walking. And we could not leave the cars. "Really?" I moaned. "You've got to be kidding me," I grumbled.

Daryl slowed slightly until he stopped behind the rest of the cars. We waited a moment before hopping out of the car when we saw that everyone else was doing the same. We quickly made our way to where the rest of the group was gathering together. "See a way through?" Dale asked.

There was no way through and we could all see that. Not unless we were going to walk. "Uh, maybe we should just go back. There's an interstate bypass-" Glenn started but he was quickly cut off by Rick.

"We can't spare the fuel." He was right. Daryl's truck had less of an eighth of a tank left. The RV was running on fumes. The other two cars were below half a tank last time I checked. Probably lower.

"I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water," Dale started mumbling as he walked back towards the Winnebago that seemed to be nearing the end of its life.

Shane did not seem to appreciate Dale's mumbling. "Problem, Dale?" Shane snapped.

It was the first time that I'd seen Dale turn back with something akin to a challenging stare. "Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-" Dale said as he looked over the hood of the RV. "Okay, that was dumb," Dale said with a sigh. I had now realized what the problem was. The radiator hose had stopped working... again.

The damn thing was always broken. We were never going to fix it. We actually needed a new one. "If you can't find a radiator hose here there's a whole bunch of stuff we can find," Rick suggested and motioned around to the other cars. There were hundreds near us.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start," T-Dog offered.

"Maybe some water," Carol added.

"Or food," I grumbled. All were viable options. We needed food and water crucially and gas too. We weren't getting anywhere without any gas. We were going to be stuck in this traffic jam forever. Maybe we could get some clothes and weapons while we were here too.

T-Dog had already started to make his way off with Daryl following him. They were headed towards the back of the jam. Probably to get gas. "This is a graveyard. I don't know how I feel about this," Lori said. She looked very guilty. I get it girl but it ain't like these people are using them anymore.

And she needed to hear that. I knew that Carol and Dale wouldn't move until Lori agreed. "Sorry Lori, but we need the supplies and these people clearly aren't using them," I piped up while giving the woman an apologetic smile.

The group was silent for a moment and I watched as a few more people began to disperse. "Come on, y'all. Just look around. Gather what you can," Rick said as we all went off looking for useful supplies.

Lori and Carol stayed close to the front of the group. They clearly were not very happy as they went digging through a box of clothes in an opened car trunk. Dale went to searching for a radiator hose with Glenn. It seemed like they were trying to yank one out of another car now. Rick and Shane seemed to be looking for bullets in the cars closest to the woods. Daryl was out of sight but T-Dog was still in sight. He was pretty far back though. Andrea walked back into the RV and I growled under my breath. Sophia and Carl were both messing around in cars close to the RV and the order of their mothers.

Turning and walking to the back of the car pile up; just a bit past where Daryl and T-Dog were searching, I looked into a dark green mini-van. The van seemed empty but just to be safe I pulled out my knife. The last thing that I needed was a surprise. Throwing open the van door I held up my knife but nothing was in the car. There were some blood splatters and I tried to block out the thoughts of what had happened to the family that had been trying to escape in here.

Pushing those thoughts out of my mind I jumped in and pulled the emergency hatch for the trunk release. It popped open and I walked over to the back of the car. The trunk opened and I smiled as I saw a large bunch of clothes. Most of them wouldn't fit the kids but they might fit some smaller people like Lori and Carol. I'd say myself but they were a little ugly. Sorry. I was still a young woman. We all liked to show off. Even in the apocalypse. There were some others clothes that might fit Glenn.

I picked out a handful and threw them into an empty box in the back of the van. Thankfully there was also a handgun. It was a Colt by the looks of it and I threw into the box. There was a carton of cigarettes, which I was sure Daryl would appreciate, and a few bottles of water. Smiling at the lot I'd found I tossed the box on the ground and prepared to head back to the group. However when I looked up there was a walker a few feet in front of me.

Gasping, I jumped back and almost lost my footing. I had just barely been able to keep myself upright. Once I had steadied myself I moved forward and grabbed the walker by the shoulders. Before it could get its hands to my face I drove my knife through its skull. Sighing as the walker fell I prepared to move up to the rest of the group. But that was not in the cards. When I looked up I saw a huge herd of walkers headed straight for us. Oh shit, there had to be at least a few hundred of them.

With no clue of what else to do I jumped behind the van. Damn it this was a terrible hiding place. They would see me when they got up here. Praying that the rest of the group was safe I dropped down and shimmied under the van. I scrunched up and held my breath as I heard the moans getting closer. A part of me wanted to scream when I saw the first few sets of feet drag by but I held my cool and closed my eyes. It made it easier.

After what seemed like hours I could no longer hear the groaning of the walkers. Giving it another minute I finally carefully climbed out from underneath the car. The walkers were well in front of me and I made my way quietly to the front of the group just trailing behind the hoard of walkers. I couldn't see the rest of the group so I hoped that they were hiding. Although I almost screamed when I saw two dead bodies on the ground start to move. I pulled out my knife but dropped it and sighed when I realized it was just Daryl and T-Dog moving the walker bodies off of themselves.

They were alright. That made two. "Thank God," I sighed before running over and hugging Daryl. I felt him immediately stiffen and I awkwardly let go. Though he had no emotion on his face I could tell from his eyes that he was relieved to see me.

"Glad you figured out a place to hide," T-Dog whispered as he pulled me in for a hug. We stayed together for a moment before he released me. I was just about to suggest that we walk up and find the rest of the group before an ear piercing shout rang out.

Whipping around I saw that it was Sophia who was now running of into the woods with four walkers hot on her trail. They were going to get to her if no one helped. We had to do something. She had no weapon and she wasn't fast enough to get away from them. Darting from my spot with the boys without even thinking about it I tore after Sophia and ignored Daryl, who had hissed my name as I took off.

Rick was running into the woods with me. We bounded over the rail guard and darted into the woods. Thankfully we'd wound up at the woods at the same time. Needless to say we were both making a mad dash after Sophia. We had to save her. For Carol. And we had to do it quietly. We dashed around the walkers that were limping after Sophia and I nudged Rick in the right direction as I saw Sophia's hair whip out behind her. Since she was smaller and slower we managed to catch up to her pretty fast.

She was sobbing hysterically as Rick wrapped his arms around her shoulders. I dropped down on my knees in front of her. "Shh shh! Sophia, are you all right? Are you okay?" I asked her and pulled her into me.

Her hands tightened around my waist and I brushed back her hair. We were going to save her and then we were going to get her back to her mother. "Shoot them!" She yelled reaching for my gun.

"No," I ordered her but she continued to reach for it. "No!" I shouted. "Those walkers on the road would hear it. Then it wouldn't be just four, it'd be hundreds," I told her. She couldn't do it. The three of us were going to get overwhelmed if those four walkers came over here.

We only had a few minutes to get her to safety before we had to go and take care of the walkers. "Come here. Come on," Rick told her as he stepped in for me. Rick pulled her by the wrist and dragged her to a small out cove in the river bank. "All right, just hold here. You stay there. Wait," he stopped her as one of the walkers passed over the the top of the out cove. "Come on. Sophia, you have to do exactly as I say. Hide in there. Squeeze in tight. Rain and I will draw them away from you," Rick told her.

We both went to walk away before she grabbed onto us once more. "No, no, don't leave me," Sophia pleaded softly with tears in her eyes.

My heart was twinging at the look on her face. I didn't want to leave her but I had to. "Listen listen listen listen. They don't get winded. We do. We can only deal with them one at a time. We wouldn't be able to protect you. This is how we all survive. You understand? Okay?" Rick asked her. After a moment Sophia finally nodded. "Go go go go. If we don't make it back run back to the highway, back to the others straight the way we came. Keep the sun on your left shoulder," Rick told her giving her the extra instructions just in case.

Before we turned to leave I grabbed Sophia's shoulders. "Hey Sophia, it'll be fine. Just hide there for a bit until we've drawn them off," I told her before ruffling her hair and running off with Rick to take care of the walkers.

Rick headed to take down the farthest walkers and I chose to stay towards the ones that had been closer to Sophia. Silently I pulled off my bow and nocked an arrow before sending it flying into the walkers head. The first one fell and I heard the growl of one behind me. I turned back and shot another arrow into its forehead. Wanting to get back to Sophia I grabbed my two arrows and slipped them into my sheath. Rick also seemed to be done with his walkers. We met up quickly and nodded in the direction that we had left Sophia in. Sprinting to the out cove I was surprised to see that Sophia was no longer there.

I looked around for any signs of blood or a struggle but there was nothing. It seemed that she had made the conscious decision to run back to the highway. Maybe she was already there. "She must have decided to make her way back to the highway," I told Rick.

Rick nodded at me. "Yeah, let's head back," he told me. We turned towards the highway made the quick journey to where our group was still stuck. I spotted our people as we emerged from the treeline. It seemed that everyone was standing there and they were waiting for us. Everyone but one. Where was Sophia?

"Sophia's not here?" I asked as we walked up.

The moment I said it I wished that I hadn't. Carol had an absolutely horrified look on her face. "No, we thought you had found her!" Carol cried. I couldn't believe that I'd said that. I could only imagine the heart attack I'd just given her mother. Clearly sensing the tension Rick stepped in.

He was explaining the whole situation and I moved over to where Daryl was standing. He sent me a nasty glare and I knew that he would have some words with me. "Coulda gotten yourself killed," he snapped at me.

It would have been better me than her. I couldn't just leave her there. "I had to try to help her, Daryl. I couldn't have lived with myself if she had gotten attacked because I was too slow." Daryl huffed but nodded his head anyways. I walked back over to the group with Daryl trailing behind me. "Maybe we can show you guys where we left her. See if we can figure out where she went," I suggested.

Carol was crying and I knew that I was going to have to do something. I couldn't just leave Carol without her daughter. "Not a bad idea, Rain. C'mon y'all," Rick called.

We almost all went off into the woods. Although T-Dog, Carol, Lori, Carl, and Dale had stayed behind to work on the Winnebago. Or at least that was what I thought they were doing. We all headed back into the woods as Rick and I lead the group. Thankfully I wasn't seeing any walkers. I hoped that meant that there were no walkers that Sophia had been forced to avoid. I hadn't seen a sign of her since.

Once we finally came back to the out cove Rick and I pointed out that this had been the last place that we'd seen the young girl. "Sure this is the spot?" Shane asked.

I wanted to smack him. Of course this was the place that we'd left her. It had only been about ten minutes ago. "We left her right here," Rick snapped. "Drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek," Rick pointed towards where we had lead the walkers away from us.

"Without a paddle seems where we've landed," Shane added on.

My gaze fell into a snarl as I shook my head at Shane. We were going to find her. "She was gone by the time we got back here. I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder," Rick answered.

He was much more level-headed than I was. "Hey short-round, why don't you step off to one side?" Daryl snapped at Glenn. Glenn jumped up and I realized that he was walking right over the top of the trail that Sophia had left when she ran off. "You're mucking up the trail," Daryl growled.

Thankfully Glenn walked off away from the center of the trail. "Assuming she knows her left from her right," Shane arrogantly stepped in. My eyebrows knitted at his words. Oh yeah, super glad I'd never been too forward with him. He was attractive but his personality left a lot to be desired.

It seemed that Rick was not fond of Shane's comment either. Maybe it was because Rick knew what it was like to be a parent. Shane never would know that struggle. "Shane, she understood me fine," Rick snapped.

Shane merely shrugged his shoulders. "Kid's tired and scared, man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck," he commented.

The two men turned to look and see if there was anything else that we could use to hunt down Sophia. "Got clear prints right here," Daryl told us. We all quickly made our way over to where he was kneeling. "She did like you said, headed back to the highway," Daryl told us as he pointed out the trail that Sophia had left.

He was right. It was clear as day until she had veered off. What the hell had she done that for? "Let's spread out, make our way back. She couldn't have gone far," Rick suggested.

My heart was racing as I followed the footprints. They started becoming more jagged. The way that they would if someone was running. Daryl seemed to realize that I was in distress and he put his hand on my back. "Hey, we gonna find her. She'll be tuckered out hiding in a bush somewhere," he consoled me.

I nodded, not able to say anything else. We all walked forward and along the trail until it suddenly took a strange turn. "She was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way. Why would she do that?" Daryl asked. Immediately my mind jumped to walkers and I felt my heart stop.

She was too weak and had no weapon on her. She would not be able to fight off a hoard of walkers. "Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off," Rick suggested.

"A walker?" Glenn asked.

Daryl shook his head. "I don't see any other footprints. Just hers," he told us. Oh thank God.

It seemed that everyone was relieved to hear that Sophia had not run off because of walkers. "So what do we do? All of us press on?" Shane asked. It was probably for the best. We had to find her. I wouldn't be able to face Carol if we had lost her daughter.

Rick shook his head. "No, better if you, Rain, and Glenn get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all keep everybody calm," Rick told us. I didn't like having to leave them to their own devices but I knew that it would be easier with less people.

Shane nodded at his best friend. "I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied. Come on," Shane said to Glenn and I. We nodded and turned back to the highway. Before I actually moved out of the clearing I watched as Daryl and Rick headed off.

We stood and watched them for a moment before the three of us headed back to highway. The rest of the group were still moving cars to clear a path. "Great," I muttered mostly to myself as we walked back up to the main group. Glenn and Shane laughed and T-Dog lightly nudged me as I passed. We all headed towards the row of cars that were directly in front of the RV. It was the only way that we were getting out of here.

T-Dog was in the middle of pushing a sedan off of the side of the road and I went to helping. Cars always seemed to much heavier when you were actually trying to push them. "Why aren't we all out there looking?" Carol asked. I glanced up to see that she was standing off to the side. "Why are we moving cars?" She asked.

We weren't doing anything. The men and I were the only ones that were doing anything. Lori, Andrea, Carol, and the kids were all sulking. "We have to clear enough room so I can get the RV turned around as soon as it's running. Now that we have fuel we can double back to a bypass that Glenn flagged on the map. Going back's going to be easier than trying to get through this mess," Dale explained to her.

"We're not going anywhere till my daughter gets back," Carol snapped. Did she really think that we were going to leave without her? Of course we weren't! Sophia was only twelve. We had to keep her safe.

I walked over to Carol and threw my arms over her shoulders. "Hey, that goes without saying, Carol. We're gonna find her and we'll be out of here when we do," I reassured the older woman.

It wasn't just me that was trying to make sure that Carol knew that we weren't leaving without Sophia. Lori walked over too and wrapped her arm around Carol's waist. "Rick and Daryl, they're on it okay? Just a matter of time," Lori consoled the Carol.

Tears were building but I was impressed that Carol hadn't cried yet. "Can't be soon enough for me," Carol muttered. She was about to turn and walk away when Andrea piped up.

"Oh God, they're back," she muttered before motioning us towards the railing where Rick and Daryl were walking back towards us.

I immediately ran forward hoping that Sophia would be between the two men. My hopes were crushed though when I saw that they were alone. She was nowhere to be found and their faces were low. Oh my God, what had happened? "You didn't find her?" Carol asked the two.

She was panicking and I didn't blame her. That was her daughter. "Her trail went 'll pick it up again at first light," Rick answered. Oh yeah. She was going to flip out.

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods!" Carol pleaded. I knew that she wanted her back but there was no way that we would be able to find her in the dark. We would mess up any trail that we did find and trip over ourselves.

It seemed that Daryl knew that too as he shook his head at Carol. "Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost," Daryl tried to reason. He was right. It was a bad idea.

Although I knew that she wouldn't like that. I didn't blame her. She was a mother who had lost her daughter in a brutal world. "But she's twelve. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Carol asked, praying that she would get some indication of her daughter's safety.

Unfortunately it was nearly impossible for us to find her in the dark. "I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out we tracked her for a while. We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this," Rick tried to console Carol.

I was rather impressed that Daryl had said yes. I thought he hated us. Although it was a little girl and he was a good man. He would help her to the best of his ability. "Is that blood?" Carol asked.

Rick nodded and I noticed that there was blood on both Daryl and Rick's hands. Not good. "We took down a walker," Rick answered. Even worse.

"Walker? Oh my God." I was sure that Carol was about to pass out. I was glad that Lori wrapped her arms around the woman to keep her steady.

Rick shook his head and moved towards Carol. "There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia," he assured her mother. How the hell had they known that?

"How can you know that?" Carol asked, mirroring my own thoughts.

This time it was Daryl that stepped forward. "We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure," Daryl cut in.

Oh my God. That was disgusting. But at least they had made sure that Sophia had not fallen prey to the walker. At least I knew what that awful was that was around them. God damn those two could really use a dip in the water. Not that I couldn't though. "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?" Carol began to cry.

Oh no. The last thing that I wanted was for Carol to cry but I knew that at this point there was no stopping her. "Those four walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance," Rick explained, trying to justify the fact that we had had to leave Sophia defenseless.

"Sounds like they didn't have a choice, Carol," Shane tried to help defend the two of us.

She didn't seem to care that we had done what we had thought was for the best. "How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child," Carol sobbed.

This time I tried to move forward. I grabbed her hand and tried to make her look at me. "It was our only option. The only choice we could make," I tried, hoping I could get through to Carol.

"I'm sure nobody doubts that," Shane tried again.

Unfortunately Carol still didn't seem to care."My little girl got left in the woods," Carol mumbled before running off the the RV. She was crying as she slammed the door behind her. Well that didn't go as well as I'd hoped.

With nothing else to say we all slowly dispersed. It wasn't like we had anything else to say to each other. The loss of Sophia had not gone over well. Not with Carl either. He was clearly hurt that his friend was lost. So I decided to turn and push the sedan that I'd never gotten off the road. While I was moving a car Daryl came up to me and helped push it off the road. "Thanks," I mumbled to him.

I brushed my hands off and leaned against the railing. I was exhausted. And it seemed that Daryl noticed it too. "We can share the truck if you want," Daryl offered.

I was a little shocked. I glanced up at him in surprise. The last thing that I had thought that he would offer me was the truck. Or at least to share the truck. I didn't mind but I had thought that he might. "Thanks Daryl, you don't mind?" I asked him.

He shook his head and led me over to the passenger door. "Nah, I've learned to tolerate you, girl," Daryl teased.

I grinned and gave a little laugh as I pushed Daryl. He didn't budge at all. It made me so mad that despite how strong I was, Daryl was stronger. He seemed to find my lack of strength against him amusing as he was laughing softly at me. "Oh shove it, Dixon," I muttered.

We walked over to the truck and awkwardly climbed in. The position was not the most comfortable in the world. Daryl was pressed up on one end and I was on the other. My legs were in Daryl's lap and his were on either side of my hips. Not comfortable but it was the best that we could do. A little while later that night I was curled up on one end of the truck tucked in a thin blanket while Daryl was on the other side in a similar position.

It wasn't really like that was any more comfortable but I didn't want to shift and wake him up. I could tell Daryl was already asleep. He was snoring softly. It wasn't annoying though. It was soft enough that I could sleep through it. If only I could fall asleep. At least he was getting a good night's sleep. I on the other hand was gonna be up all night thinking wondering if Sophia was alright. Hang in there girl, we're coming.

The next mornin I yawned slightly and shifted a little. My hand went into something hard and I grumbled. I'd forgotten that the roof was so low in this stupid truck. Although when I looked up I realized that it wasn't the roof that I had hit. It was Daryl's jaws. He was still sleeping but he was stirring slightly. Oh my God. I had fallen asleep curled up on his chest.

Panicked I stumbled back and hit the handle on the door. Immediately it opened and I couldn't catch myself in time. I went flying out the back of the truck and landed roughly on my ass on the pavement. Damn it that hurt. "Rain!" I could hear Daryl shout from the truck. He was laughing. Asshole.

"Hey you alright?" Rick asked. I nodded weakly and stumbled towards the RV where Rick had been handing out weapons. People were fighting to laugh as I walked over to the group. Daryl came up behind me and I noticed that he was smirking. "Everybody takes a weapon," Rick called, distracting the group from my actions.

The weapons that were laid out on the hood were all blunt. There were some pipes and knives and hammers and axes. We had pretty much everything except for guns. "These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea asked.

Shane turned to her with an irritated face. "We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, Rain and I are carrying." Ha! At least I got to keep my gun. "We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles," Shane replied, rolling his eyes. He must have hated women like Andrea.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about," she growled. I merely rolled my eyes. She needed to get over it. And a knife might actually be a better weapon to use anyways. It didn't attract walkers. "And why does she get to carry?" Andrea asked as she turned her heated glare on me.

My jaws tightened as I took a step towards her. "Because I know how to use it. I'm not gonna fire a round off when I see a God damned squirrel run in front of me," I snapped at her. I could just hear Daryl's snort to my right.

Surprisingly enough it was Shane that came to my defense. "She's right," he told her. "Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it," Shane told her with a growl.

She looked furious but she was smart enough not to say anything. I looked around and saw that we would be taking everyone except for T-Dog and Dale. "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark. Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other. Everybody assemble your packs.," Rick said before turning to Dale. "Keep on those repairs. We've got to get this RV ready to move. We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to," Rick called out.

Dale looked up and nodded at us. "Good luck out there. Bring Sophia back," Dale called to us.

With that we all headed out into the woods. We had been walking for about twenty minutes when we came across a lone tent in the woods. Could Sophia maybe be hiding in it? It would've worked as a place for her to sleep last night. And it seemed that everyone else thought so too as they stopped at my side. We all were curious if Sophia had found the place suitable to stay in last night.

"She could be in there," Glenn told us, breaking off my train of thought.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there," Daryl muttered.

Rick stepped forward and motioned towards Carol. "Carol. Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear," Rick instructed.

Carol took a few steps forward and I tightened my grip on the bow and arrow that I was holding. Just in case it was not Sophia in there. "Sophia, sweetie, are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy," Carol called out.

We waited about a minute before deciding to do something. With no answer Daryl went into the tent. Like always he was armed with his crossbow. I knew that he could handle himself although a part of me was still worried about him. When did I start caring for Daryl? I used to hate him when we first met. I guess on the ride to the CDC. I suppose we had bonded then. I almost couldn't believe that I could almost consider myself friends with Daryl Dixon. I thought that I would always hate him.

It had been a few seconds since we'd seen Daryl and I found myself nervous. "Daryl? Daryl?" I called out to him. The nerves settled when a moment later he jumped out of the tent. It felt a weight had been lifted off of me.

As he walked back up to us he shook his head. "It ain't her."

But that meant that something was in there. "What's in there?" I asked him.

Daryl merely gave a shrug as he came to stand next to me once more. "Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" He asked.

I nodded and took a deep breath. We were all silent for a moment as we thought about where to go now. It was clear that everyone had been praying that we would find Sophia in there. "What direction?" Glenn finally asked.

"I think that way. I'm pretty sure," Daryl said, motioning towards where we had been walking. "Damn, it's hard to tell out here," Daryl said. We had started off again when we heard bells ringing in the distance. Church bells it sounded like. At the sound, everyone perked up.

"If we heard them, maybe Sophia did too. Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others," Carol said. Her hope seemed to have been restored.

"Or signaling they found her," Rick said.

"She could be ringing them herself," Glenn put in.

No one else had to say a word. We all knew where we needed to go. With the new found hope we all took off running in the direction that we'd heard the bells tolling only moments ago. I darted through the woods with Glenn on my heels. Everyone else was trailing behind us slowly. I broke the edge of the tree line before bounding down a small hill. On the bottom of the hill there was a church that came into view. Being the two fastest runners we had Glenn and I had gotten to the church first.

We were all panting as we looked at the church. What the hell? It didn't have a steeple. There couldn't be any bells. The ringing had stopped a minute ago. "That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells. Rick," Shane said as the rest of the group arrived at the church.

Everyone was looking around and praying that we could find her. "Sophia!" Rick shouted before wandering in. The group went to walking into the church trying to see if Sophia was hiding in there. As soon as we did I saw that there were three walkers in the building. There was a bride which Daryl was making kissy faces at. I couldn't help but laugh and snort loudly at the sight despite the situation. Rick quickly took care of the groom and Shane took out the priest.

They all fell quickly and the rest of the group walked into the building. I saw Daryl walk up to the statue of Jesus in the front of the church and ask the statue, "Yo, J.C., you taking requests?" I smiled at Daryl's attitude with the situation and turned back to where everyone else was standing.

As we walked around I saw that Shane was shaking his head at Rick. "I'm telling you it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple," Shane argued. Just as I began to look around the bells sounded again and we all dashed out the door.

We all went running for the door and I saw that Glenn had made it to the back of the church first. He seemed to be barely able to breathe. "A timer. It's on a timer," he panted.

Damn it. No one was here. The only reason that the bells were ringing was because they were on a timer. No one else was here. We were all staring at the ground pathetically as we all tried to figure out what to do. "I'm gonna go back in for a bit, Carol sighed before turning to walk back into the church.

Sighing myself I made my way into the graveyard and pulled myself up a tree on the side of the plots. It was easy as I worked my way to a lower branch. It was a young tree so I only dangled a few feet off of the ground. "You part monkey or somethin'?" I heard a familiar southern accent drawl.

A small smirk quirked on the corners of my mouth and I looked down to see that Daryl was staring up at me. He had the tiniest smirk on his face. "No more than you, Dixon," I called down to him.

I heard Daryl puff out a breath and take a seat at the base of the tree. Jumping down I landed awkwardly next to him. I was extremely grateful that Daryl grabbed me by the waist before I could fall. He steadied me and I blushed when his hand lingered a moment longer than need be. He tore his hand away from me like I had burned him and I shook my head. A moment later I plopped down next to him.

We sat together for a moment before I ran my hands through my hair. "You know when I was really little I loved climbing trees. My parents hated it though, they always thought I was gonna hurt myself. Anyways, I did it all the time and as I got older it became a way to clear my head. I just loved doing it. I still do. I guess that's the good thing about this apocalypse. There may not be any people around anymore but there are still a lot of trees."

I knew that I was rambling but I couldn't stop myself. It was funny. I hadn't had friends in years so I'd forgotten how to talk to them. I had thought that I would be awkward and not know what to say but I seemed to mold into the group well. I was able to hold conversations with some of the group. Granted there were some people that I could speak easier to than others. T-Dog, Glenn, Dale, and Rick were easy. Lori, Shane, and the kids were a little more complicated.

But then there was Daryl. I had something of a problem in the middle with him. I was able to speak to him easily. It was like I never ran out of things to say to him. And that was also the problem. When I started talking to him it was like I couldn't stop. I would get onto these little rants and it would be almost impossible to stop. Or I would say something stupid and mortify myself. There was no in between. At least not after a little bit of talking.

Maybe it was why my conversations with men I had dated in the past were stuck mostly in the bedroom. Daryl sat there in silence for a moment before he finally spoke up. "You know, I really think you're actually crazy. You escape from the loony bin or somethin when this all went down?" Daryl asked me.

I laughed loudly and nudged Daryl with my shoulder. We chuckled softly together for a moment. It was a few seconds later when we saw Rick calling everyone over. Daryl hopped up quickly and offered me his hand. I took it and allowed him to pull me up. We walked over to the open green area where we heard Rick explaining what was going on.

We all stood together and listened. "Y'all gonna follow the Creek Bed back, okay?" Rick asked. Who was staying out here? "Daryl, you're in charge," Rick said before motioning around to everyone else.

"Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough," Shane added.

So they wanted to be thorough and make sure that Sophia wasn't anywhere in the area. Or any sign of her. We had to make sure that we weren't missing her. For Carol we had to be sure. "You're splitting us up. You sure?" Lori asked.

Rick nodded at her. "Yeah, we'll catch up to you," Rick assured his wife.

The group was silent and I watched as a few people began to gather their things once more. I was sure that everyone was ready to head back to the main group. "I want to stay too. I'm her friend," Carl called before looking to his mother for the answer.

It really did surprise me to see that Lori was thinking about agreeing. Lori gave a little sigh before nodding. "Just be careful, okay?" She asked as she wrapped Carl into a hug.

"I will," Carl promised.

Lori looked down at her little boy before brushing the hair off of her face. I smiled softly at her and shook my head. She had some issues but she was a good mother. "When did you start growing up?" She asked him.

Carl didn't answer the question but he did smile at her. "I'll be along soon enough," he responded.

Lori finally let go of Carl and I watched as Rick walked up to his wife. "Here, take this," Rick told her. I watched as he handed her a small hand gun. She didn't look like she could shoot so I was glad he hadn't handed her a revolver. They were harder to use. "Remember how to use it?" He asked her.

She shook her head and tried to push the gun back into Rick's hand. "I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed," she argued.

Shane shook his head and walked over to Rick. He handed him a small 9mm. "Here, got a spare. Take it." Rick thanked Shane before grabbing the gun and stuffing it down the back of his pants.

As the groups began to make their ways out of the clearing I ran up to Rick. He turned back at me and I gave a small smile. Here was my first attempt to make up loosing Sophia to Carol. "Rick, would it be alright if I came with you guys? I really want to help looking for Sophia. It was partly my fault that we couldn't get to her fast enough. Please?" I asked him when I saw that he was thinking about saying no.

He waited for a minute and let out a sigh. I could tell that he didn't want to let me go out there but he knew that I could take care of himself. The only person that needed any protection was Carl. And between Shane, Rick, and myself we could do that. "Well, sure. I suppose we could use another set of eyes," he finally conceded.

I turned back to Daryl and the rest of the group that were ready to head back to the highway. I looked over at Daryl and I smiled. "Good luck," I told him softly.

He nodded at me and walked around me. I felt him graze gently across my back. "Be careful out there," he told me lowly before calling for the other women that had been with us to move out. I watched them leave and gave Daryl one last nod before they headed into the woods back towards the highway.

Shane, Rick, Carl, and I all turned and walked through the woods in the opposite direction from the way that Daryl and the others had gone. We had been walking in silence for about ten minutes and we were all looking carefully for Sophia. I couldn't see anything indicating as to where she had gone. I nearly tripped over a root before I straightened myself and saw that we had stopped. I was about to ask why when I saw it. A beautiful buck. It was just standing in the clearing without a care in the world that we were there.

I smiled and turned to get a better look at the gorgeous creature. It had been a long time since I had seen one. And I never saw them when I was out hunting. They were hard to hunt. "We should keep moving," Shane said.

He hadn't seen the buck yet. "Shane," Rick whispered, pointing to the buck. Carl seemed to finally notice it too. He looked back at his father as if asking permission to go up and see how close he could get to the buck. Rick merely nodded and motioned to the buck. I smiled at Carl's hesitance and put my hand on his shoulder before pushing him forward. Carl turned back and grabbed me by the hand, leading me with him.

I stood right against his side as we started to walk. We took slow and careful steps as we approached the buck who still hadn't been bothered that we were there and that close to him. When we were about fifteen feet from the buck Carl stepped on a branch and it snapped loudly. We stood ramrod still as the buck looked straight at us but still didn't move. Realizing that the buck wasn't going to leave I pulled Carl forward once more.

We were within an arms reach of the buck when I heard an loud crack echo through the air. What the hell was that? Was it a gunshot? Just as I was about to panic I saw the buck fall in front of us. Not even a moment later Carl fell too. His chest was already soaked with blood.

My heart was racing and I was about to scream when I felt a sharp pain tear through my side. Looking down I saw that there was a bleeding wound in my hip. Mother of God, someone was hunting the buck. I looked over at Carl and saw that the blood was already completely soaked through the front of the shirt that he was wearing. The bullet fragments had gone clean through the buck and had hit Carl in the chest and me in the hip. Oh shit. Mine wasn't fatal if I got help. His might be. It was right near his heart.

One of my knees collapsed from under me. "Fuck," I grunted as the pain started to set in. Just as my vision started to blur, I heard Rick and Shane crying out.

"Oh no. No. No, no, no, no!"


	11. Healing

Thankfully Shane ran over to my side and helped me stand back upright. Rick ran over and dropped at Carl's side. He was out like a light. And he was not coming back any time soon. Maybe it was better that Carl was out because getting shot currently hurt like hell. I groaned from the pain as Shane tested to see if I could stand up.

I was about to fall but I somehow managed to stand in place. Although I was sure that at any moment I was going to collapse to the ground. I was swaying the same way that I had when I was drunk the other night. My vision was blurry as I turned and saw a man come out of the woods. He was overweight with dark hair under his baseball cap. He was holding a hunting rifle and his dark eyes looked absolutely horrified at what had just happened. Good. God he was an asshole. That fucking hurt.

Rick seemed to finally notice the man that was coming out of the woods too. Rick didn't stand from his son's side but he did look up to the new man with an absolutely furious face. "You! You shot my son!" I heard Rick scream. Poor Carl. I knew that he wasn't dead though. I could see the shallow rise and fall of his chest. He wasn't dead yet. But we needed to get some medical attention. Gee thanks for your concern, Rick. Don't worry, I'm fine. Just bleeding out over here. "Her too!" Rick howled as he motioned back to me. There it is, thank you.

It was clear that the man hadn't seen me until then. He turned back to me and his face fell. Yeah, not just one person. Two. "I-I'm sorry. I know where you can get them help but we have to go now!" The fat man yelled before motioning us to follow him. Umm... hello? You have two shot people here. Although I was glad that we were going somewhere. All I wanted was morphine. That would make me as happy as a clam.

"C'mon then, show us!" Shane shouted at the man. The man turned and began running while urging us forward. Rick was able to pick Carl up quickly and run after him. Shane stayed behind to help me.

He wrapped an arm around my back and helped me under my shoulders. I threw my arm around his shoulders and his arm wrapped around my waist. He began to lead me into the thick of the woods once more and I tripped over everything. Rocks, sticks, roots. Even grass. After a few minutes we started to run to catch back up to where Rick and the other man were. I was attempting to keep up but the adrenaline from the shot had worn off. Now I could hardly walk even with Shane's help.

Shane thankfully noticed this and scooped me into his arms. One of his arms was underneath my knees and the other was over the back of my shoulders. I was in excruciating pain as the bullet wound began to stretch. My eyes slipped closed and my head rolled against Shane's chest. He noticed as his arm came around my shoulders to try and force my head back up. It came up for a moment before my head fell back against his chest.

Shane shook me slightly to try and snap me back out of it and I shouted lowly at the pain. I was going to kill him again if he did that. "C'mon Rain. Stay with me now. Don't you dare give up. That's not who you are and I know it" Shane told me. I groaned in a pathetic attempt to agree.

The only thing I wanted to do was take a nap but I knew that I couldn't. Not while I didn't know what had happened to Carl. Not before letting the rest of my group know that I was alright. And for some strange reason I didn't want to pass out until Daryl knew that I was alright. I had promised him that I would be safe. This was more than likely not his definition of safe. For a few more minutes I had to try and stay conscious.

Shane sped up so that he could run alongside the heavyset man. "Hey, you move, dickhead!" Shane shouted at the man. I supposed that was one way of being encouraging. "Come on, get us there! How far?" Shane asked. The man only heaved. He was clearly not used to running long distances. "How far?" Shane snapped again when the man didn't answer.

"Another half mile, that way!" The man shouted at us. Rick with ahead of us with Carl still in his arms. He sped up the moment that the fat man had given us the directions. The man was still trailing behind us, barely able to move. C'mon dude, I can do better than that with a bullet in my hip.

I wanted him to speed up more because Shane refused to leave the man behind. He let Rick dart ahead with Carl. I understood. He needed the medical attention more than I did. I could live. Carl's injury was near his heart. "Hershel, talk to Hershel- He'll help your boy," the fat man called to Rick. Rick sped up once more and I watched as he broke the wood line. The man finally turned to me. "Can you wait?" The man asked.

My head rolled so that it was resting against Shane's forearm. "Fuck you," I grumbled before letting my head fall back against Shane's chest.

Shane shook me slightly so that I was sitting upright. My head was still spinning on my neck though. The shot had taken more out of me than I had thought that it would. "I'd take that as a reluctant yes," Shane snapped at the man. "What's your name?" He asked as we continued running.

Well, Shane ran. I sat there. "Otis," the man heaved. More like fat-ass. I wasn't usually rude about people's weight but I mean, the man had shot me! I was pretty sure that I had a right to be rude.

"Shane," Shane introduced himself to Otis. Otis was unable to say anything so he merely nodded Shane. "And this pretty thing you shot is Rain," Shane introduced me. As much as I appreciated the compliment I was about ready to die. I wanted to rip my stomach off of myself.

So I shoved my fist into Shane's gut. He let out a little cough and turned to look down at me. "Shane, shut up and go faster," I growled at him. Shane picked up his speed and I watched as we broke the wood line. I could see Rick already halfway through the field that led to what appeared to be a little farm.

There was a barn that was set a ways back from the house. It looked like it was going to fall apart at any moment. But behind the barn was another building that was the polar opposite. It was a gorgeous house that was almost twice the size of my childhood home. It was two and half stories tall and pure white. There was a huge porch on the first floor and smaller ones on the second and third floors. They looked like they belonged to bedrooms. There must have been at least ten. The house also had three chimneys sticking up at intermittent points.

On the porch in the front there was a family standing and speaking with each other. They hadn't seen us yet. How sweet. It was like the American dream in the God damn apocalypse. Okay bitter thoughts, you aren't wanted here. Before the family could see us I looked over them. There was an older and well-shaven man that stood in the middle of the porch. He seemed to be the patriarch. There was a younger brunette girl who was probably about my age. There was a younger girl that appeared in her mid to late teens with long blonde hair similar to my own. There was another woman that looked like she could have been the blonde's mother but she was too young. The last of the members was a younger dark haired boy. He looked about the age of a blonde girl.

I assumed that normally Otis would be standing with the family. The white-haired man turned to head back into the house and I saw the brunette look up briefly. Her eyes locked onto Rick and Carl before she turned back. "Dad!" She screamed back to the white-haired man.

The older man walked back out to the porch and looked completely shocked at the sight of Rick with his dying child in his arms. "Was he bit?" The man asked nervously. Most of the family either stood or backed off.

Rick looked up for a moment to stare at the older man. He barely looked like he could comprehend where we were. "Shot, by your man," Rick answered with a heavy heave in his breath. Probably partly from running and partly from the fear of loosing his son.

"Otis?" The older man asked. He looked back to see that Otis was only now slowly crossing the yard. Even Shane and I had made it to the porch by now. Shane dropped my legs but made sure to keep an arm around my waist.

Rick glanced up at the white-haired man like he was God. "He said find Hershel. Is that you?" Rick asked. Hershel nodded and motioned for Rick to come up onto the porch. Shane helped me, almost dragging me up the stairs. "Help me- Help my boy," Rick cried pathetically to the man.

It seemed like seeing Rick break down was the one thing that Hershel needed to kick everyone into gear. "Get him inside. Inside!" Hershel shouted when no one responded. Suddenly everyone was dashing all over the place. He then began shouting orders to everyone standing around. "Patricia, I need my full kit." The older blonde ran into the house at his order. "Maggie. Painkillers, coagulates- Grab everything. Clean towels, sheets, alcohol," Hershel ordered as we all ran into the house. Maggie was the younger brunette. "In here," Hershel directed us.

We ran into the house and had I not had a bullet in my hip I would have been quite impressed with the ornate design of the home. It was like something out of a movie. Hershel brought us through the living room into something that I assumed was a guest bedroom. Hershel ordered Rick to drop Carl onto a pillowcase and I watched as the boy was dropped down. He looked horrible. He was pale with blood all over his torso.

I watched as Hershel got out a pair of scissors to cut off the shirt that Carl had been wearing. The wound looked even worse with no shirt covering it. "Pillowcase," Hershel ordered.

I wasn't quite sure who he was asking. Maybe Maggie as she was running back and forth across the room. Besides the woman named Patricia it seemed that she was the most active in trying to save Carl's life. "Is-is he alive?" Rick asked, still shaking.

Hershel ignored Rick's question. I assumed that his main focus right now was making sure that Carl was in the best hands possible. "Pillowcase, quick," Hershel repeated.

Rick walked up to try and sit next to Carl's bedside. But everyone was too busy trying to get Carl prepped for whatever it was that they were doing. "Is- is he alive?" Rick repeated.

Hershel still ignored Rick as he continued working. Maggie finally came over with an ironed pillowcase. "Fold it- Make a pad," Hershel ordered Maggie. She nodded at him and folded it into quarters. "Put pressure on the wound," Hershel ordered. Maggie did as told and I watched as she pressed the pad into Carl's chest. Hershel grabbed a stethoscope and I watched as he pressed it against Carl's chest. It took him far longer than I was comfortable with to say something. "I've got a heartbeat- It's faint. I got it. Step back," Hershel ordered Rick, who was milling right behind him. "Maggie, IV. We need some space. Your name?" Hershel asked, looking at Rick.

My knees began to wobble and Shane tightened his hold on me. I was grateful that he was still hanging onto me. Eventually I needed to tell someone that I had been shot too. "R-Rick," Rick answered unsteadily.

If I had thought that my balance was bad I could only imagine how Rick was feeling right about now. He looked like he might fall apart at any moment. "Rick?" Hershel clarified.

For the first time in a while Rick looked away from his son. He stared over at Hershel like he was seeing the man for the first time. We were making a wonderful first impression on these people. "I'm- I'm- I'm Rick," Rick barely managed to choke out.

Hershel nodded and placed his hand on Rick's shoulder. "Rick, we're gonna do everything we can, okay? You need to give us some room. Now," Hershel insisted. I watched hazily as Rick stayed still. He refused to move from his son's side. "Move!" Hershel snapped at Rick. Rick finally stood and walked away from the bed. He collapsed in a chair near the bed a moment later. Hershel placed the stethoscope back against Carl's chest and listened for the beat. "He's alive," Hershel told us after a long pause.

The look of elation on Rick's face was almost enough to make someone break down. Maybe I would have if my stomach didn't feel like it was about to fall out of my ass. "He's still alive?" Rick asked softly.

Shane's hands were tight around my shoulders and he was circling the skin on my shoulder. "Okay. It's okay," Shane comforted me. My adrenaline was completely gone at this point. The pain was now at full force and it was awful. It felt like someone was trying to pull my hipbone out of my body. Alright, so I can cross get shot off my bucket list. That wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.

I had to keep making stupid jibes at myself to keep from passing out. I'd lost a lot of blood and I couldn't afford losing consciousness now. Besides I wanted to make sure that I knew that Carl was going to be alright. He had to be alright. "You know his blood type?" Hershel asked.

I glanced up to see that Hershel was looking over Carl. He would need a blood transfusion. There was a chance that I might need one too. "A-positive. S-same as mine," Rick answered.

What luck. I didn't even know my own blood type. "That's fortunate. Don't wander far. I'm gonna need you," Hershel told Rick. Rick nodded and leaned back into the chair farther. "What happened?" Hershel asked as Otis finally emerged into the room.

He was panting heavily and I wanted to grab a bookend that was on the shelf to chuck it through his fat head. "I was tracking a buck. Bullet went through it. Went clean through," Otis explained. Yeah, went clean through into us, asshole.

Hershel nodded along to Otis's story. Part of me wanted to know if he would yell at the man later. I was certainly intending on having words with him later. "The deer slowed the bullet down, which certainly saved his life, but it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces it looks like. If I can get the bullet fragments out... And I'm countin' five," Hershel told us. "Where is the sixth?" Hershel asked more to himself than anyone else. If I'd had the energy I would have said something. Like it's in my damn side!

Otis had his hands over his face with a look of guilt underneath. Good. "I never saw him. Not until he was on the ground," Otis babbled to himself. "What about her?" Otis asked while pointing to me. Finally someone cared enough to point me out. I was now holding myself up on the wall while Shane went to snap Rick back into it.

"What about her?" Hershel asked without looking up from Carl's chest. After a moment without a response Hershel finally looked up to see me swaying and covered in blood. "Oh dear," he whispered. It seemed that everyone had finally noticed my injury. "Was she up by the buck as well?" Hershel asked.

It didn't seem that Otis was able to admit what he had done. Shoot an innocent woman and child. "She was standing next to him," Shane answered for him, pointing over to Carl.

Hershel didn't stand but he did straighten up to look at me. "Dear, can you hold on until I'm done here?" Hershel asked me. I didn't think that I had much of a choice.

It was more important that Carl got the medical attention. All I would need was someone to stitch up my wound and clean it out. Carl's could end up proving fatal. "Huh, uh mm-hmm sure," I mumbled. I was fading in and out. I'd be alright though. I thought at least. As I took a huge lurch to the side I realized that it might not be so true. Uh yeah, maybe not. Maybe I should say something.

At this point I definitely couldn't see straight anymore. I knew that I was going down at any moment. Hopefully someone would be there to catch me. Maybe I should sit down. "Lori doesn't know?" I heard Shane ask.

It was almost like Rick had forgotten about Lori. "No, she- My wife doesn't know-" Rick said softly as he turned to look at Hershel. "My wife doesn't know," he repeated to himself. A moment later Rick turned to look at me. It wasn't like he was looking at me though. It was like he was looking through me. "And Rain... Daryl doesn't know either," he added. Why had Rick mentioned Daryl?

I suppose it was because I was the closest to him. Or maybe he thought that something was going on. Was there? Daryl and I had been getting pretty close lately. Oh shut up Rain! Your relationship status is not the most important thing right now. I knew that I had to let Daryl know that I was okay. I had to get back to him. I'd told him that I would be safe. I had to get to Daryl. It was my last coherent thought before I fell to the ground and lost finally consciousness.

Daryl's P.O.V.

We had to be getting close to the camp. I was praying that we were close. I was getting sick of these women chatting back and forth. They kept panicking over the lone gunshot. "You still worrying about it?" I heard Carol ask Lori.

The rest of the group were trailing behind me slightly. Here we go again... They're going to start talking about the shot. "It was a gunshot," Lori responded.

No shit it was a gunshot. I had told them that it was a gunshot when they'd all asked about it. I should have went with Shane, Rick, Carl, and Rain. At least they were less paranoid. But these women did need help getting back safe and unharmed. "We all heard it," Carol said.

Damn them. It was just a stupid gunshot. Maybe something had happened and maybe something hadn't. We'd figure it out soon enough. "Why one- Why just one gunshot?" Lori asked.

There could have been lots of reasons for a single gunshot. I didn't want to talk about them all. "Maybe they took down a walker," Carol suggested.

I wasn't facing them but I could tell that Lori had whipped around to face Lori. "Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Shane or Rain either. They'd do it quietly," Lori argued. She was right about that. They were all smart enough to not waste a bullet on one walker. "Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Lori asked after a small pause.

This was what drove me nuts. We were rehashing the same point over and over again. "There's nothing we can do about it, anyway. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes," I finally put in, hoping to end the conversation.

There was a little pause as everyone thought about the gunshot. I was thinking about Rain. She said that she'd be safe but I'd seen plenty of times that she was fully capable to protect herself but she was not the most attentive. "So, what do we do?" Lori asked.

Turning back to them I shook my head at them. This conversation was useless. "Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia. Work our way back to the highway. I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV," I tried to end the conversation with the women once more.

I was sick of this conversation. There was nothing to do unless we wanted to hunt down the gunshot and I sure as hell wasn't going to do that. "I'm sorry for what you're going through. I know how you feel," Lori told Carol.

She didn't. Lori's child was only a few miles away. Carol's child had been lost in the woods for two days after a walker attack. It was two completely different things. "I suppose you do. Thank you. The thought of her out here by herself. It's the not knowing that's killin' me. I just keep hopin' and prayin' she doesn't wind up like Amy." My head snapped back to Carol. She seemed to notice what she'd said. "Oh, God!" Carol cried out. "That's the worst thing I ever said," she said, covering her mouth and looking at Andrea.

To Andrea's credit she didn't seem the least bit offended with what Carol had said. She had been relatively emotionless the past few days. "We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth," Andrea told Carol.

Finally getting fed up I snapped and whipped back around to the pair. "I'll tell ya what it's worth- Not a damn thing. It's a waste of time, all this hopin' and prayin'. We're gonna locate that little girl. She's gonna be just fine. Am I the only one zen around here? Good lord," I snapped. Jesus Christ I was sick of these people worrying. Where was Rain when I needed her? She knew how to calm me down. I wasn't used to it. I was only used to Merle who had always tried to rile me up when we'd been together.

Back At The Farmhouse...

There had just been a near catastrophic episode with Carl. He had stopped breathing when Hershel had tried to get the bullet fragments out of Carl's chest. It wasn't working. There was no way that Hershel was going to be able to get the bullet fragments out of Carl's chest without a respirator to keep him breathing.

The decision had been made a little while ago to have someone go retrieve Lori from their camp and bring her to her sons side. Rick and Lori would both need to be there when Carl went under the knife. Just in case something happened and he took a turn for the worst. In the meantime Shane and Otis had made the decision to go to the FEMA shelter to get the respirator needed for Carl's surgery.

Now it came down to the question of who was going to get Lori. It had to be someone that knew that woods and that wasn't many of them. "I'll get her," Maggie finally stepped in. She was dying to get off of the farm after two months of being stuck here with her family.

"Thank you so much," Rick attempted to smile at the young woman. It was much more like a grimace. Maggie turned to leave the farm before Rick called out to stop her. "Wait," he called out. Maggie turned to him curiously. "Her," Rick said motioning to the room that held Rain. It was across from Carl's room.

Rain was now in the healing process after Hershel had removed to bullet fragment and stitched her up. She would be fine. "There's a man at camp that she's close with, can you please bring him back too? His name is Daryl- Daryl Dixon," Rick said. He wasn't sure what was going on between Rain and Daryl but he knew that there was something. And he knew that Daryl would want to know that something was wrong with her. Even if she would be alright with some time.

Maggie nodded to Rick and smiled at him. "I'll bring them both back," she said told him. She was going to get them both back here. She knew that she would.

Back In The Woods...

I had never wanted to die before this. Merle sawing his own hand off must have been nothing compared to the whining of these women. This was why he get along with Rain. She wasn't like a normal girl. She liked to fight and argue and drink and cuss. He liked that. He also liked that the group was just about ready to head back to their cars and sleep the long and disappointing day off.

He hoped that they were already back. He could use a good conversation with Rain. She was good to get him back into his best mood. "Where the hell are they? How much farther?" Andrea asked while groaning.

However damn far the stupid road was. "Not much. Maybe a hundred yards as the crow flies," Daryl answered. He was rather impressed with how calm he was being. Maybe Rain was rubbing off on him.

"Too bad we're not crows," Andrea mumbled before tripping. "Oh. Oh!" She shouted. I nearly laughed but managed not to. So I continued walking. She'd get up. Or maybe one of the other women would help her up. "As the crow flies, my ass," Andrea muttered.

"Andrea?" Lori asked as she turned back. It wasn't long before we heard an ear piercing scream from Andrea. A walker had fallen oh her and she was fighting it off. I raised my crossbow to shoot the walker just as it came down on top of Andrea. Just before it could though a woman on horseback hit the walker over the head with a bat and it was thrown off of Andrea.

What the hell was that? The woman had short brown hair as she stared down at us. "Lori? Lori Grimes?" The woman asked. How the hell did she know Lori's name? "Daryl? Daryl Dixon?" The young woman continued. Alright. How the hell did she know my name?

It didn't bode well. "I'm Lori," Lori piped up, looking extremely confused.

"I'm Daryl," I replied while walking up to the woman, looking and feeling suspicious.

The woman was breathing heavily as she steadied the horse and looked down at us. "Rick sent me-" The woman breathed out. Rick? How had she found them? "You've got to come now," the woman yelled.

"What?" Both Lori and I asked.

This wasn't anything good that a strange woman was recruiting both Lori and I. "There's been an accident- Carl's been shot. So has Rain." I swore that my heart stopped right then. Rain was shot? What the hell had happened? Were they okay? "They're both still alive but you've gotta come now. Rick needs you- Just come!" Without hesitation Lori threw herself onto the horse and I scooted on right behind her.

Normally I wouldn't have but I had to make sure that Rain was alright. Carl too. He was just a kid. How had they both gotten shot? It had only been an hour. "Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" The woman asked as Lori and I got situated.

"Uh-huh," Glenn nodded, clearly worried. It might have also been that he was completely enamored with the girl. I would have laughed had I not been so worried about Rain.

"Backtrack to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. Name's Greene. Hi-yah!" The girl shouted all at once before kicking the horse into a gallop. I was never a huge fan of horses but I couldn't have cared less right now. I needed to get back to her.

Throughout the entire ride the only thoughts on my mind were about Rain. Was she okay? I had to make sure that she was okay. She had promised me that she would be safe. I shouldn't have believed that coming from a girl that had barely been able to manage to get into her bed the other night she'd been so drunk. How the hell did she even get shot? Would she make it? The woman had said she was alright but was she? Who had shot her? I'd definitely have words with them later. Was there a chance that I would ever get to tease her again? Of see her smile? Or listen to her laugh?

It sounded corny but that was what I wanted. As we rode past the gates to the farm I leaned forward and called out to the woman from around Lori. "What room is she in?" I asked.

Once I was sure that Rain was alright I would go check to see how Carl was doing. But right now he needed family with him. And since Rain didn't have family I supposed that I was her next best bet. "Second floor, third door on your right," the woman called back.

As soon as the horse rode to the door of the house I launched myself off of it and ran up the stairs to the door. There were two women there and I very nearly trampled them both. I should have called back a sorry but I couldn't find it in myself. So I bounded up the stairs and burst into the room that Rain was in.

My heart almost stopped when I saw her. She looked so different like this. Thank God I could see that she was still breathing. It seemed shallow but she was still breathing. That was all that mattered. There she was curled up in the bed. Her blonde hair was pooled around her head and the pillow. It was almost like a ray of sun. It didn't mix with what how else she looked. She also wasn't wearing a shirt. I felt my face heat up but I moved closer to her anyways.

"She had a fragment in her right hip," A man called from behind. I turned back to see a white-haired older man. "I managed to get it out without much of a problem. She's a tough girl, she made it a long time before passing out than most people would have. Must have wanted to stay awake for some reason," the man told me.

My eyes narrowed at him. This couldn't be the person who had shot her. "Who are you?" I asked him with a worse bite to my words than I had meant to be there.

The man didn't seem to take offense. "Hershel Greene," he introduced. He stuck out his hand and after a moment I shook it. "I saved your girlfriend here," Hershel told me before motioning back to Rain.

I could feel the heat spread over my face. I liked Rain just fine. Hell I liked her more than I liked most people. I liked her more than I'd even liked Merle for most of my life. "She's not my girlfriend, she's just my friend," I mumbled softly.

The idea wasn't horrifying but I couldn't bring myself to say anything else. "Ah, well excuse me," Hershel replied with a glint in his eyes. "Anyways, she'll be fine. She should be up tomorrow most likely. Although I'd prefer to wait an extra day to have her up and walking around; just to make sure she's okay. Anyways, we have a guest room if you'd like to use it," Hershel told me.

No way. We didn't know these people. I wasn't leaving her here. Even if we had known them I wouldn't leave her here. Because I wouldn't want her to leave me. "No, I'll stay here," I mumbled.

Hershel nodded at me. "Alright, then I'll have Patricia bring you a blanket for tonight. I'll leave you to have your time with her." I thanked him softly and watched as he left the room and closed the door behind him. The room went silent and I looked down at Rain.

She looked nothing like she normally did. She looked so weak in the bed. Her skin was pale, she was sweating, her torso was covered with blood, and her hair was a mess. I was furious with myself. I knew that I shouldn't have let her leave. I should have forced her to come back to camp. Then she would be with me. She would be safe.

I couldn't believe how attached I'd gotten to this girl. It had never happened with anyone he had ever known before. I was even more attached to her than I was to Merle. Maybe it was because Merle always had treated me like his baby brother. I had never been anything more than something for Merle to try and mold. She was something different. She spoke to me because she liked my company. She didn't work at our friendship. It was easy for her. For some reason it was easy for me too. I'd never had it before.

After a few minutes I sighed and moved into the chair next to her bed. After staring at her for a moment I took her cold hand in my own. She almost felt dead. I stroked her palm but I stopped suddenly when I finally figured out why I was so attached. I loved her. For the first time in my life I loved someone. And it terrified me. Merle was my brother. He always would be. But he was not her. With my thoughts never ending I eventually lulled myself to sleep; never once ceasing worrying about her.


	12. He Actually Cares

One of these days I might start waking up not in pain after doing something stupid to myself. But that day was not today! Maybe it would be next month. Or next year. Or never... Probably never. My head was pounding and there was an awkward throbbing in my lower stomach. Unfortunately it was not from pleasure. Maybe it would never be from pleasure again. Wouldn't that be disappointing? Okay, wrong time to be thinking about that.

So instead I tried to pry my eyes open. I had to wake up at some point. Although I really would have enjoyed a month-long nap. But I knew that it wasn't an option. There was always something that needed to be done. And right now I needed to figure out where I was. I could feel that I was laying on a bed. It wasn't the one in the RV though. It was too small and much more comfortable.

That was when I remembered that I wasn't in the RV anymore. Hell I probably wasn't even anywhere near it. That asshole Otis had shot me. Carl too. Oh God, Carl. I hoped that he was alright. I hoped that Rick and Shane had somehow managed to hunt down Lori and the others to let them know what was going on. I could only imagine the chewing out that I was going to get from Daryl. I had promised that I would be safe and here I was in some random house with strangers and the man who had shot me.

I supposed that I really had never been one for luck. I groaned once more at the pain as I slowly swam back into consciousness. "Once. Just once I'd like to wake up without being in pain. Is that so much to ask for?" I grumbled to myself. Or at least what I thought was myself.

A small chuckle came from the corner of the room and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I had not been expecting someone else to be in the room. I shot up quickly and a searing pain shot through my hip. Or lower stomach. Whatever that was. "Ah, fuck!" I shouted loudly. That fucking hurt. I guess I wasn't moving anytime soon. It was stupid. I just got shot. Don't move you moron.

"Careful there, Sleeping Beauty," I heard a rough southern accent say. That could only mean that one person was here.

I turned slowly to the side and caught sight of Daryl sitting at the edge of my bed. He was in a small wooden chair and staring down at me with the tiniest smirk. "Daryl!" I yelled before jumping up. I was happier to see him than I thought that I would be. Despite the pain, and wrapping my arms around his neck. I hissed in pain at the sudden movement and felt the stitches in my side stretch. That was nice of someone to help me out. I should have let go but I couldn't bring myself to care. I was safe and so was he.

More than anything else I had expected Daryl to stiffen up or pull away from me like he had the last time when we were out on the highway. For a second I was right. He tensed up to the point where I thought that he was going to break into a million pieces. But slowly after a moment his body relaxed. It wasn't all the way but hey, it's a start. He slowly lifted his arms from his side and to my surprise he wrapped them loosely around my upper back. He was smart enough to avoid the wound on my side.

His arms tightened around me slightly and I let my head fall into the crook of his neck. I had absolutely no desire to move from that position ever. That was until I heard a sharp intake of air from Daryl. Oh shit. Immediately I realized what he had made the noise for. I had hoped that no one would ever see that. I hadn't wanted anyone to ever see that. I couldn't believe that I was so stupid to forget about it. I tore myself away from him and put my back against the wall desperately looking anywhere but Daryl's eyes.

I couldn't think of what to say to him. What did you say to someone after they saw something like that? Nothing. There was literally nothing to say. But I had to think of something. I hated the awkward silence. "I uh... I didn't think that you'd see them. It uh, it wasn't from self harm. I never did that- I mean I thought about it but I never did. And I mean, they're old, they don't really bother me any more," I stammered weakly.

He didn't say anything and my heart shattered slightly. I'd just made a friend out of Daryl and now here I was about to lose him. Daryl remained silent for a while while he simply stared at the ground. Just when I had lost hope that he would speak to me he asked me quietly, "Your dad?" I was shocked that he'd said anything. I thought that he would stay silent. I hadn't thought that he would say anything. I wouldn't have blamed him if he's stood and left the room.

After all, it wasn't exactly like they were pretty. They were horrible. They ruined everything. People always freaked when they saw them. The scars that marred my back were pathetic. And they were the one reason that I never wore bikinis or went swimming outside of the middle of the night when no one could see them. They ran all up and down my back with each one worse than the next.

There were some that were smaller that were on my shoulders and lower back. The worst were in the middle. They were the ones that my father had made with the heaviest leather belt. They were the ones that had once went almost down to the bone. My father had claimed that it was from a four-wheeler accident. I had nearly cried when the doctor had believed him and sent me back home with my father.

The worst one was right in the middle of my back and went down over my spine. It hurt like hell. I had thought that my spine was going to be snapped in half when my father had hit me. I could only imagine what Daryl thought of me right now. It was horrible. No one other than a few one-night stands and my father had ever seen them. I had intended that no one in this group ever saw them. Especially not Daryl.

I had pulled the sheet back up so that it was covering my top half. It wasn't even that I didn't want him to see my chest. I couldn't have cared less that he could see my chest. The only thing that mattered was that he couldn't see the scars. They were shameful. I slowly nodded my head and looked down at the ground.

Daryl shifted slightly so that he was closer to me. Was he not ashamed to know me? Most other people just stuttered and pretended that they couldn't see them. Some people even left because they didn't want the package. "That's what I got the tattoo for. I wanted inspiration to move past him," I told Daryl. The sheet was covering the Pheonix and I sighed. It wasn't the Pheonix that I was talking about. So I awkwardly turned for Daryl to be able to get a better view of the tattoo. And the scars.

My back was to Daryl and I dropped the sheets. He was completely silent. "And though she be but little, she is fierce," Daryl read off. His voice was dark as he read. I could practically feel his smirk at the words. I didn't blame him. Most people liked to tease me and ask when I would be a full-sized adult.

I was still facing away from Daryl when I felt the bed shift slightly. I knew that he had come forward to sit on it with me. My mouth opened so that I could explain that the quote was from William Shakespeare but I was cut off quickly. Daryl's hand lightly brushed across my back and over the scars. I stiffened so much that I was sure that my back would break in two. I felt his hand stop and I knew he was about to pull his hand away.

He thought that he had been in the wrong when it was the completely opposite thing. I wanted him to keep going. No one had ever touched them before. "No," I mumbled softly. "It's okay. You can. I was just surprised," I told him. For a moment I thought that he wasn't going to put his hand back but after a few moments he finally did. They were the hands of a hunter. Hard and dry.

After a few moments I felt his hand gradually follow the path of the scars up my back. He was barely touching them with his fingertips like he was afraid that if he touched me too hard he would break them open once more. But he wouldn't. They were nine years old. His hands continued to move until he reached the middle of my back. It was where the worst of my scars were.

We stayed like that for five or so minutes while he touched every scar. I felt his hand stop on one of the scars that was in the middle and slowly follow it up to trace the tattoo at my right shoulder. His hand went to the edge of the scar before moving towards the inside of my back. He hit my spine and traced it upwards until it hit the nape of my neck. There was a tiny scar there from a hit that was slightly too hard one day. My father had been wearing his wedding ring.

Although I'd been in much more intimate situations this was the most intimate thing I'd ever experienced. I barely knew Daryl. We'd only known each other for about two weeks. Not even. But here I was letting him see the worst part of me. And he hadn't bothered to run. I couldn't believe that someone like him wouldn't run. He had every right to run and never speak to me again. I wouldn't blame him.

But he was still here. Nearly ten minutes after he'd first seen them I felt Daryl remove his hand. As he dropped it I turned back to face him and pulled the sheet back over my chest. Thankfully he averted his gaze. We'd had enough bonding for one day. I saw the pathetic look on his face and grimaced. He looked like he wanted to cry for me. I hated that. I didn't want people to think that I was pathetic.

I shook my head at him and leaned back against the wall. "It's okay," I said softly. "They don't hurt anymore. They're long healed." My gaze was aimed away from Daryl's face. Daryl merely grunted and looked down at the floor. Maybe I had said a little bit too much. Wanting to change the subject as quickly as possible I cut into the awkward air. "So how did you get here?" I asked him.

Daryl looked up at me and I could tell that he was grateful that I'd changed the subject. I was grateful that I had too. "Rick sent some girl on a horse to get Lori and I." Well that sounded safe and not suspicious at all. "He wanted us here I guess. She just told us that the both of you had been shot and we came here with her."

Okay he had to be kidding. Daryl was no moron. But what the hell did he do all of that for? He hadn't even known these people! That was so dangerous. "Wait so you just got on a random woman's horse?" I asked. Daryl dropped his head in shame. "And how does the rest of the group know where to go? Carl got shot. It's likely that we'll be here a while! How long was I out for anyways? Oh my God, is Carl okay? Did you guys find Sophia? Is everyone else-" I babbled until Daryl cut me off.

He held up his hand and I thought that he was going to smack me for a minute. I knew that I was being annoying. "Calm down girl. Gonna give yourself a heart attack if ya keep going. Everyone's fine. T-Dog's got a nasty infection but I told 'em to get to Merle's stash. Got some kick ass painkillers in there." Of course Merle had a stash. Of course he had grabbed drugs before they had left.

"Also the chick said Rick, your name, mine, and Lori's. I figured she had to know you guys. And she had told me you had gotten shot. I had to see if you were okay." A soft blush filled my face at his words. "The girl told 'em where the farm was. I guess they'll be making their way out here soon. Carl's fine too as far as I've heard. Shane and that jackass had to go to some shelter to get something to help him breathe while Hershel takes out the bullet fragments." Good. Carl was going to be okay.

"He already got yours out. Did it while you were out." I had figured that he had gotten the bullet out of me. I could feel the stitches in my side. "You been out about sixteen hours or so I'd guess." Damn. Okay maybe I had known Daryl a little longer than two weeks. "Nah, we haven't found Sophia that I know of. I might head out there soon. Check around this area. Now did I miss anything girl?" Daryl asked.

I couldn't help but to laugh at his expression. I hadn't really meant to ask that many things at once. Although it was good to hear that we hadn't lost anyone else. But we still needed to find Sophia. My mind was reeling but it came to a sudden jolt when I realized that Daryl had said that T-Dog had a bad infection. "Wait, what happened to T?" I asked. I couldn't remember anything happening to him the last time I'd seen him.

"It was when the hoard came through. He jumped up from searching one of the cars and caught his arm on the broken door. Got a pretty nasty cut there. Was just starting to show signs of infection when I left," Daryl explained.

How had I missed that? I had hugged T-Dog. Probably right after it had happened too. "Oh..." I mumbled. As long as he would be alright. The air fell into an awkward silence that I wasn't fond of. So I slowly sat up and went to swing my legs over the side of the bed. "Well... I've been sitting in this bed long enough! It's time for me to officially meet the rest of the Greene family," I stated.

Just as I moved to leap off of the side of the bed Daryl grabbed my arm. "Oh no you don't!" Daryl called before pushing me back down. I sunk into the sheets and pouted at him. "Hershel says that you need to rest for a day. Stay here in bed and make sure nothing else is wrong before you start moving around."

He had to be joking. The last thing that I wanted to do was sit in bed all day. I was restless. I wanted to go and do something. "Ugh, great. I get to lay here bored all day," I groaned. I rolled my eyes before flopping down on the bed. Unfortunately I had underestimated the fact that the bullet would was still painful. I grunted when I felt the sharp pain above my hip. Daryl laughed and went to get up when I pulled him back down into his chair. "Oh no you don't! If I have to be miserable all day so do you!" I snapped at him.

Daryl pried my hands off of himself and shook his head at me. "It don't work that way princess. Us able folks got shit to do," he replied while smirking at me.

Oh come on! I did not want to be by myself all day. "Asshole," I mumbled. Daryl merely laughed but sat back down. I was glad that he didn't want to leave yet. It was pretty obvious that we were both growing closer to each other by the moment. A few minutes had gone by and we were in a comfortable silence when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," I called and watched as Hershel stepped in.

He gave me a small smile and walked up to the foot of my bed. "Hello. Glad to see you're up. Remember me?" He asked. I nodded at him. I remembered them all. "You took a hard fall when you passed out. I wanted to make sure you didn't have any damage to your memory or mobile skills," Hershel explained.

I shook my head at him. So far everything had seemed normal with me. Other than the bit of pain that was in my hip. "Not that I know of," I told the older man. He nodded at me. "Thank you Hershel. I just really wish that I could get up," I grumbled the last part.

Hershel merely laughed and smiled. He had one daughter that seemed to be about my age. He was probably used to this kind of attitude. Although I wasn't really sure what was up with Maggie. We hadn't spoken yet. "I know you do but I really do need you to stay in bed for a day. I just want to make sure that everything is just fine and there are no underlying injuries I have to worry about." I nodded at the older man. "Now Daryl, I need to have a quick look at her. Would you mind stepping out for a bit?" Hershel asked.

Even from across the room I could feel Daryl stiffen next to me. He looked over at me with a worried look on his face. Hershel was safe though. So I nodded, letting him know that it was okay to leave my side. I smiled as he stood. No one had ever looked out for me the way that he had. He turned and left the room. The door clicked closed softly behind him. Hershel waited a few moments before walking forward to me.

"Alright then. Lay back so I can take a look at the wound," Hershel ordered. I nodded and went to lay on my back. Hershel respectfully dropped the sheet and kept his eyes focused on the wound. I watched as the man prodded at the stitches gently. Each time made me wince more than the first one. Once he had finished looking at my wound he helped pull me up slightly. I leaned back against the pillows while Hershel handed me a glass of water and a pill. "It should help with the pain. Go on and take it," Hershel instructed.

I nodded at him and grabbed the glass of water and pill. Swallowing the pill I was about to thank Hershel but the old man beat me to it. "Now what exactly happened here?" he asked while motioning to my face. Wait, what? What was wrong with my face? I didn't think I was that ugly. "It wasn't that man in here, was it?" Daryl? What? Oh, shit! He meant the bruises that Ed had left at the quarry!

"What? No!" I shouted. Hershel took a step back and I abashedly smiled to myself. I hadn't meant to snap like that. "Daryl would never do that. It was this man in our old camp, Ed. He's dead now. He was the husband of a woman that's with us. He was abusive to her. Probably their daughter too. She's the little girl that's missing right now. Anyways I stepped in after he slapped her and I managed to get a few good hits in. But lets face it, Ed was like three times my size and he had the upper hand with his hits."

The bruises were nearly gone but they were still just prominent enough to be able to see them. I could see why Hershel had thought that it might have been Daryl though, judging by the protective way that he watched over me. But Daryl did it out of protectiveness and somewhat of a connection between the two of us. Ed had done it because he wanted to be able to control someone.

Hershel took a step back and smiled at me. "I didn't mean to offend you dear." He was very much a father. It was clear by the way that he spoke to me. "I'm sure you've got yourself a good man there," Hershel said.

Whoa, that was not right. Daryl was not my man and he never would be. Yeah... He definitely never would be. "He uh- he's not my man," I stammered while blushing like mad.

I was never the best person at trying to get my thoughts across. Especially not in situations like that. "For now," Hershel said quietly before moving to leave.

Before he got to the door I called out. "Hershel wait!" I shouted before I could stop myself. He turned to me and nodded for me to speak. "Why do you say for now?" I asked him awkwardly.

Part of me thought that it might have been because there was a chance that Daryl liked me. But that wasn't true. Daryl didn't like anyone. He hated everyone here. He managed to tolerate us. As for me, he was decent around me. We were friendly but we weren't going to have any chance of being together. No way. And as for me, my relationships didn't last more than a night or two. I wasn't good with them. I never knew how to act or how to treat the other person.

Hershel walked over to the edge of the bed before he sat down. I scooted to give him enough room to sit next to me. "My dear, you should have seen the mad dash that man made to get up here to you. He nearly knocked over my two daughters in the process." Two daughters. Maggie was one. Maybe the younger blonde was the other. Poor girls. Daryl wasn't always the kindest when he had something on his mind.

"And we had offered him a bed. However he refused it. Wanted to be next to you all night and be here when you woke up. Should've seen the fury on his face when he found out it was one of my men who shot you. Good thing Otis isn't here right now. I think your friend would kill him," Hershel continued.

Despite trying to keep a straight face I laughed. "Yeah sounds like Daryl." Hershel smiled as he stood from his spot on the edge of my bed. "I'm sorry about your daughters," I apologized for Daryl, knowing that he never would. "But why was he so worried?" I said the last part more to myself than Hershel.

To my surprise, and pleasure, Hershel answered my question anyways. "My dear, you may not see it but I do. But then again I've been around much longer," Hershel told me.

What did that mean? What could he see? I wasn't blind but I was a little oblivious to things with other people. "See what?" I finally asked Hershel.

The older man grinned at me the same way that I was sure that he smiled at his daughters when he was having these types of talks with his girls. "The way he looks at you." What the fuck did that mean? "He looks at you the way that I looked at my wife," Hershel told me.

Okay well that was not what I was expecting. That was not the truth. Daryl did not look at me that way. He did not look at me the way that a man would look at his wife. There was no way. We were barely friends. I mean he was nice but there was no way that he could think of me like that. I mean I really did enjoy spending time with him. He was a lot more fun than anyone else thought that he was.

We had a good time together. But that didn't mean that we were anything else. We were friends that liked to mess around with each other's pride. If we didn't insult each other at least once our day wasn't over. We were friends. We were not anything more. Daryl couldn't look at me like that. We were only friends. That was all that he wanted. That was all that I wanted. Right?

It had to be the only thing that I wanted. I couldn't think of anything else that I might want. I mean would I hook up with him if I got the chance? Hell yeah. I wouldn't deny that. He was hot. I liked the rugged hunter look. To me he was definitely the hottest of the men in our camp. But seriously I didn't have feelings for him. Did I? I mean I got the butterflies when I saw him but that didn't mean anything. Did it?

My thoughts were interrupted when the door was pushed open. Daryl stepped through the doorway carrying a tray of food. I smiled softly at him. "Got you lunch. Figured you'd be hungry," he said as he walked in. He kicked the door shut behind himself. Damn it. There were those stupid butterflies again. No. No, it's not him. I'm just hungry. Yeah, that's it.

He plopped back into the chair and handed me the tray. "Thanks," I replied as I grabbed a piece of the beef. I had been hungrier than I thought I was seeing as I had shoveled all the food down in a matter of minutes. Of course I was pretty sure that I hadn't eaten since the CDC. It might have been from the blood loss too.

I dropped the plate on the side of the table once I'd cleaned off all of the food. "Damn girl," Daryl laughed.

What the hell was he laughing at? "What Dixon?" I snarled as I turned a heated glare on him. "You'd be hungry too if you'd just been shot," I pouted. God it still hurt. I knew that it would eventually feel better but as of right now I felt like I would never be normal again.

Daryl merely laughed once more. He stood up and I watched him curiously. Where was he going? "You should get some rest. I'm gonna do a quick check of the area and see if I can find any traces of Sophia. See if she made it this far," Daryl told me.

Damn it. I really didn't want to be left alone. It was going to be so boring. I sighed but I knew it was the best thing. We needed to keep looking for her. "Okay just please be careful please. We don't need another person injured," I joked while poking Daryl in the ribs. He smiled at me and nodded before turning and walking out of the room. The door clicked shut behind him and I sighed.

Well this was gonna be a long day. I had nothing to do. There wasn't even a damn book for me to read. So I turned around and looked out the window. I watched Daryl until he disappeared into the woods. His crossbow was in hand and I sighed. With nothing better to do and not wanting to face how I felt about Daryl I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep. I needed the sleep and I didn't want to have an argument with myself over Daryl. Nope. That was a conversation that I was gonna avoid with myself for as long as possible.

A hand laid itself on my shoulder and I jerked awake. I knocked the hand to the side as I shot to sit upright in bed. "What? What is it?" I shouted before bolting upright. Right as I did there was a searing pain in my hip. "God damn it!" I shouted as I felt the stitches stretch to the point where I thought that they would break.

Thankfully they didn't. Although I did want to jump out the second story window. Holy shit that had hurt. "Need to stop waking up like that girl," I heard Daryl snicker. Well at least someone found this situation funny.

I dropped back onto the bed and let my head roll over to face him. "Fuck you," I growled. Looking out the window I saw that it was now dark out. I must have slept longer than I had thought that I had. "Shit I slept through the rest of the day," I said in complete surprise. I thought I'd only been asleep for a few minutes.

Daryl went back to the seat that he had been in before and kicked his feet up onto the edge of my bed. "Yeah. I came in a few minutes ago and saw that you were still asleep. Didn't wanna wake you up but I needed to get you up," he told me.

Why the hell had he woken me up? I was having a perfectly nice dream that had nothing to do with annoying little butterflies in my stomach. "Ugh, what?" I asked with the little roll of my eyes.

Daryl glared at me for a moment before speaking. "Shane just got back a while ago with the respirator thing or whatever that Carl needed. Hershel apparently is finishing up the surgery now. Stitching him up. Anyways, the boy's gonna be fine. He should be up in a day or so. Thought you'd probably wanna know," Daryl told me.

Nothing had made me happier than to hear that Carl was going to be okay. I couldn't imagine how people would have taken it had he died. "Oh thank God," I breathed out weakly. At least Rick and Lori were going to still be parents. Just then I remembered what Daryl had been doing while I was out like a light. "Hey, did you find anything pointing to Sophia?" I asked him.

Daryl just dropped his head and sighed. He didn't need to say anything. I already knew what he was going to say. "Nothing yet but I'll go out again tomorrow. Did you wanna go?" He asked me.

Damn it. The longer we went without seeing anything from Sophia the worse I felt. We had to find her and soon. I was surprised at the offer but touched that Daryl had actually offered to take me along. I suppose he knew that this meant a lot to me; getting Sophia back to her mother. He knew that besides himself I cared the most about getting Sophia back. For Carol and for my own conscience.

I stared at Daryl stupidly. I probably should have answered him rather than stared at him for a while. "Thanks. I'd like that." My brain was still spinning as I realized something else that Daryl had said. "Wait. You just said that Shane had gotten back. What about Otis?" I asked, fearing the answer. I mean sure the man shot me but he didn't know. And no one deserved to die like that.

Daryl merely shrugged and went to picking at one of his arrows that had some walker goo on it. "Didn't make it. That's what he gets for shooting two people," he said flippantly.

Maybe he was angrier that I had been shot than I had thought that he was. I mean we were friends. I would be pissed if someone shot him too. "Hey now. Don't say that. It was an accident. He didn't mean to shoot anyone. Besides, he couldn't even see us," I told him.

Daryl shrugged. I could tell that he didn't care for Otis's loss. "Yeah well they're having a funeral for him tomorrow," Daryl grunted.

I hummed under my breath and nodded. A few minutes later I turned towards Daryl. He was always quiet but right now he seemed a little strange. There was something off about him. "Are you okay?" I finally asked. "You seem kinda out there," I told him.

He shook his head and tilted back in the chair. "Something seems wrong with the whole situation about Shane and Otis," Daryl explained. I nodded for him to continue. "Shane said that Otis sacrificed himself to the walkers so that he could get back to the farm and get the respirator to Carl. Something about both of them not being able to make it. But why would Otis do that? Sure he shot Carl but why sacrifice himself? He didn't even know Carl. And Shane came back with Otis's gun," Daryl explained.

It sounded like Daryl had every right to be suspicious. I was now a little suspicious too. It didn't sound right. "So what do you think happened? Shane sacrificed Otis himself?" I asked. Daryl merely nodded at me. "Well do you have any real reason to think that?" I asked again. It made sense to me but I had to see if there was anything that was better then just an assumption.

The gun was weird but there could have been something else that had happened. "When Shane got back he asked for a shower. Comes out and he's bald. Wouldn't have been weird if I hadn't seen the tiny bald spot on the back of his head where it looked like someone had ripped out a patch of hair. I was thinking that the two got in a fist fight. Otis grabbed onto Shane's hair and Shane tore away from him ripping out the hair. Shaved his head to get rid of the evidence," Daryl explained.

Maybe there was a chance that Daryl was a private detective in a past life. I couldn't believe that he had noticed a little detail like that. After a moment I nodded at the story. It all made sense to me. "So what're you gonna do?" I asked him.

We had to say something. Shane had seemed a little off the past few days. I didn't want him getting dangerous. "Nothing. Ain't my problem," Daryl responded.

I didn't agree with it but I understood why he didn't want to say anything. He was still on the outside of this group. I was slowly making my way into the middle of the group but I didn't want to get involved in this fight. So I nodded and slunk into bed giving a deep yawn. "Damn, how am I still tired? I've been asleep all day," I pouted.

Daryl merely chuckled and said, "Ya just got shot girl. You need rest. Go to sleep. It's late anyways. It's probably the middle of the night," he told me.

God damn. I couldn't believe that he had stayed awake just so that he could talk to me. He could tell that I was safe. "And are you gonna sleep in here again or actually find a bed tonight?" I asked Daryl with a smirk.

He gave me a deep smirk back. "Think I'll stick with ya one more night. I ain't used to a bed anymore and this chair is actually kinda comfy," Daryl answered as he slunk down into the chair.

He looked extremely uncomfortable but it made me happy that he was willing to give up his comfort to stay with me for the night. I laughed but nodded anyways. "Fine but take a damn blanket. That thing is almost nothing," I told Daryl motioning to the thin blanket draped over him. He went to argue me but I immediately cut him off. "No Daryl. That blanket is tiny and I don't want you to be freezing all night. If you're gonna stay with me, take it. I have like six blankets anyways and it's getting kinda hot under here." I pulled one of the larger blankets I had off of me and tossed it at Daryl, who easily caught it.

Although he grumbled at me for a while he took the blanket and spread it over himself. He already looked ten times more comfortable. He curled into the chair clearly ready to go to sleep. Just before he could drift off I leaned over to him and whispered, "Goodnight Daryl."

I leaned back into the bed and shut my eyes. Just as I was finally drifting off I heard the soft whisper to my right, "Goodnight Rain." That night I fell asleep with the tiniest smile on my face.


	13. The Cherokee Rose

It couldn't have been more than three or four hours later when I saw the sun streaming in through the curtains. God I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep. But I had slept already for nearly a day and a half. It would be a complete waste of time if I went back to bed. And I wanted to go out and hunt for Sophia with Daryl later. That little girl was still out there and I was determined to save her.

So I yawned and stretched my arms above my head. The bones in my neck and back snapped loudly and I grimaced. It was still better than sleeping in the woods. Even though I'd actually only spent one night there in a tent it had been awful. Maybe because I had been constantly reminded that it was Merle's. Maybe I was afraid that his one-handed ghost would come and kill me. Nah. If Merle came back to kill someone I was sure that it would either be Rick or T-Dog. Maybe Daryl too.

Shaking away my pointless thoughts I sat up. I looked over at Daryl who looked to be waking up himself. He was shoving the blankets that had been on him off to the floor. I smiled at him and shook my head. "Good morning, Prince Charming," I told him with a smirk. Daryl merely rolled his eyes and pushed himself out of the chair. It was like he didn't need any time to wake himself up. Freak. I watched as he walked over to the window.

He barely pulled the curtains open and I appreciated it. My eyes couldn't really take the sunlight. "Looks like everyone's here," he told me. It was a good thing. I couldn't see out from here.

I couldn't believe that they were already here. Of course I had been out for an entire day. So I supposed that it made sense that they were already here. But what about Sophia? Was there a chance that they had found her. "Really?" I asked. Without waiting for an answer I jumped up from bed and limped slightly over to the window. He was right. Everyone was out there save Shane, Rick, Lori, and Carl. I assumed that they were all still sitting with Carl to see if he was going to be alright. "C'mon, we should go say hi," I told Daryl.

He nodded and gave me a hand. I used it to painfully pull myself out of the bed. The stitches stretched and I groaned softly. It really did hurt. Daryl turned away from me long enough so that I could grab my black t-shirt and slip it over my head once more. It really fucking hurt. Daryl turned briefly to check if I was alright but when he saw that my shirt still wasn't on proper;y he turned back away. Once it was on and I was ready to leave I called back to Daryl. He nodded and the two of us walked out of the room together. We were walking through the hallway and I smiled at all of the old family pictures. These people were sweet. Although there were two people in the pictures that I was sure I hadn't seen before.

Not that I was ever going to ask. That was rude. Of course it was also rude of one of them to shoot me. Daryl and I walked down the hallway and I stopped short suddenly. My hip was killing me but I had been doing alright. That was until I saw something that I knew would be a problem. "Shit, stairs," I mumbled.

Daryl laughed and moved slightly so that he could wrap his arm around my waist. There was a little tingling as he did so and I shook my head. I was fine. I just needed his help. "Here, take 'em one at a time," he said.

He kept most of my weight on himself as he helped me down the stairs. I was just barely able to wobble down the stairs and more than once Daryl reached out to keep me from falling down them. This was unfortunately much more difficult than I had thought that it was going to be. His hands were pressing against my bare skin where the shirt had ridden up and I blushed softly. That was awkward. And he probably wasn't feeling a damn thing. That was just my luck. As we finally hit the landing I let out a little breath. Thank God.

Although just as I thought he would let go of me he actually kept his hands on my waist. He walked us through the living room, which was large enough to host a family of nearly twenty. There was furniture spread out everywhere and a few drinks were set out too. But there weren't any people. They must have all been scattered through the house. He walked us down the porch towards the rest of the group. Just as we made it to the yard Daryl let go of me and I heard the tail end of their conversation.

They were standing just a few yards from where we were. I smiled as I saw Lori and Rick. They must have gotten out here earlier. "How is he?" I heard Carol ask Lori and Rick. They must have been talking about Carl's recovery. Hey, what about me people? I got shot too you know.

But that would sound bratty. And to be fair he had been much worse than me. "He'll pull through thanks to Hershel and his people. And Shane. We'd have lost Carl if not for him," Lori replied, smiling.

As we walked I turned to Daryl. I noticed that his face had fallen into a scowl at the mention of Shane's name. So had mine. I really did like Shane. He wasn't a bad guy. He had just done a bad thing. "Thank God. We were so worried. How'd it happen?" Carol asked.

Some asshole shot us because he wasn't paying attention. "Hunting accident," Rick told her. Well that was nicer than I had thought that he would be. After all it was his son that had been shot. Hell, he had been there when it had happened. "That's all. Just a stupid accident," Rick replied to her with a sigh.

Just as she said that I watched as everyone turned back to Daryl and I. He took a step to the side and I snorted under my breath. Of course he didn't want everyone else to see that he might actually want to be near me. The the rest of the group smiled and I laughed at them softly. They looked thrilled to see me. Well that was nice. At least someone cared that I was alive and healthy. I smiled at the group and laughed softly. They all came walking over to me but Glenn and T-Dog were the fastest

Glenn was the first to pull me into a slightly painful bear hug. I was sure that I could feel my rib crack under the pressure. But I didn't make him let me go. "We were so worried about you Rain!" Glenn yelled in my ear.

Alright that definitely hurt. But I smiled and patted Glenn on the back. He took a step back from me and I smiled as T-Dog moved forward and gave me another tight hug. "Eh I was okay. I think it was just a lot of blood loss. I got one fragment in the hip," I told the group. Before they could ask I raised my shirt and showed off the stitched wound. There were a few sad looks exchanged throughout the group and I shrugged. "Hey, it's kind of a cool scar. If the world ever gets back to normal I can say it was a battle wound," I joked. I gave Dale a quick wink. A moment later he came up to hug me. Once he let go I turned to Lori and Rick. "It's Carl that I was more worried about though. I'm happy to hear that he'll pull through," I told them with a smile at the couple.

Lori grabbed me into a soft hug and I smiled at the woman. "Thank you Rain. I'm sorry that we didn't check to see if you were okay but Hershel said that you were doing fine. That you just needed rest," Rick explained to me. He had an extremely guilty look on his face.

But I merely smiled and shook my head at him. It wasn't his fault. "Don't be sorry Rick. You had a son to take care of. I understand that you had something more important," I told Rick. He smiled at me and pulled me in for a hug. After that Carol and Dale also came up to hug me, both giving me well wishes.

"I hate to interrupt your reunion," A voice called. We all turned around to see that Hershel had made his way out of the house. I smiled at him as I realized that he was looking me over to see if I was healthy enough to actually be out here. We must have been so caught up in saying hello to each other again that we had forgotten to check and see if any of the Greene's were around.

Hershel waited to see if any of the rest of us wanted to say anything. "But we are about to have a service for Otis. If you'd all mind attending?" Hershel asked. We all nodded and watched as the rest of the Greene's were moving out. The two blondes were sobbing, the older was sobbing harder. We moved with them towards the huge oak tree in the yard. I watched with a sad gaze as the family took the spots closest to a new grave. We watched quietly as the service began. Throughout all of the service we all placed rocks on a pile as a tribute to Otis.

Shane was the last person to walk out to the funeral. He looked more than a little uncomfortable to be out here. I assumed that it was because Daryl was right. Shane must have done something out there to hurt Otis. Or maybe he really had been the one that had killed Otis. Either way I assumed that he was not comfortable being out here. Not after everything that had happened.

I watched as Hershel read a Bible verse. Everyone from our group looked at the ground. Hershel's people all stayed focused on the grave. "Blessed be God, father of our lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in Grace. Shane, will you speak for Otis?" Hershel asked.

All heads looked over at Shane in shock. Shane stared at Hershel for a moment before shaking his head and dropping his head to the ground. "I'm not good at it. I'm sorry," he mumbled.

It was just then that Otis' wife, Patricia spoke up. Rick had told me who she was right before the funeral had begun. She looked over towards Shane with teary eyes. "You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning," Patricia pleaded to Shane. She was now sobbing softly. I hoped that Shane would say something. Anything. Just to appease Otis's wife.

He took a moment before nodding. "Okay. We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up." As I looked at him again I realized that his ankle was swollen up. He must have sprained it pretty bad. "'We've got to save the boy.' See, that's what he said. He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. 'Run,' he said. He said, 'I'll take the rear. I'll cover you.' And when I looked back... If not for Otis, I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis. He saved us both. If any death ever had meaning, it was his."

I was actually reasonably impressed with Shane's story. But I knew the signs of a liar. He had barely looked up from the ground. And he kept losing his train of thought. It was because he was trying to keep his story in check. It had been a convincing speech but I'd seen the guilt in his eyes throughout the entire thing. I looked over at Daryl quickly. He was already looking at me. He nodded at me, telling me that he was thinking the same thing.

Patricia sobbed softly but thanked Shane anyways. She headed back into the house and I watched as Beth, Hershel's younger daughter grabbed her. The pair stalked back off into the house. A younger man walked behind them. He was about Beth's age but I was reasonably sure that he was Beth's boyfriend. The Greene family made their way back to the house slowly. Although there was the exception of Hershel and Maggie, the older daughter. They stood with us until the door to the house closed.

It was a moment before Hershel motioned for our group to follow him over to where our cars were. We all nodded and walked over to our truck. He laid out a map that he had before he turned to Rick. "How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked.

Apparently Rick had told Hershel that we were looking for Sophia. I guess the map would at least be helpful. We would know where we had been and where we hadn't checked yet. "This'll be day three," Rick answered.

Hershel nodded before unfolding the map. It was extremely impressive. This whole thing showed everything about the county. "County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations," Hershel told us as he straightened the map out across the hood of the truck.

It seemed that I wasn't the only who was glad to see about the map. "This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized. We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams," Rick said as he smiled at the older man.

This was a good thing. And we could get almost everyone out there. With the exception of the women and Dale and T-Dog. "Not you," Hershel told Rick. Rick cocked his head at the older man. "Not today. You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." Rick did not look thrilled but he nodded anyways. Hershel was right. He'd get heat exhaustion within minutes. "And your ankle. Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody," Hershel told Shane.

Not good. That meant that there was really only Glenn and Daryl that would be at their best. Even I was having a little bit of trouble walking. But I would anyways. "Guess it's just me. I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there," Daryl said.

He was not going out there alone. I was definitely going with him. It was too dangerous for one person to go out there by themselves. "Me too," I told them. Daryl turned to him and I scowled before he could say anything else. "As long as there aren't any stairs I'll be okay. I can head out with Daryl," I cut in. I wanted to be able to do my part.

Daryl did not look thrilled with me as he turned towards me and shook his head. "No," Daryl snapped. I looked at him and cocked my head. "You were just shot. You need to rest," he told me.

That might have been true but it was not something that I was going to do. I was going to go out there and help him look for Sophia. "I"m fine. I made it out here alright. I can make it in the woods for a while. If I start to feel weird I'll head back to the farm. But I'll be fine," I tried to insist.

Daryl looked like he was about to snap back at me but before he could Rick leaned over. "Rain are you sure that you'll be alright?" He asked me. I nodded and noticed Daryl grimace at me. He looked pissed that I had volunteered myself but I didn't care. I was going to go out there and help him find Sophia.

It looked like Daryl still might snap at me but he never got the chance. "I can still be useful. I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back," Shane offered.

At least someone was going to do something other than Daryl and I. "All right, tomorrow then. We'll start doing this right," Rick told us. We all nodded and a few of us leaned up against the truck. "That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we've been promising them," Rick said.

He was right about that. At the moment it was really only Rick, Shane, Daryl, and I that could properly shoot. I was pretty sure that Andrea, Dale, and Glenn were halfway decent too. But in this new world we needed everyone to know how to properly shoot. "I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp," Hershel told us.

I understood that he didn't want us to carry weapons on his property but we also needed to feel at least slightly safe. I guess with my knives and bow and arrow I would be alright though. "All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here-" Shane started before Rick cut him off.

"Look, we're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that," Rick told us. As much as I didn't like that I couldn't have my guns on me I did understand that Hershel didn't want us all carrying. It could get dangerous. "First things first: Set camp, find Sophia," Rick told us.

He was completely right about that. We needed to get some sort of camp set up. For now it seemed that we would be staying here for a bit. "I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to. What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how we handle that," Shane said. It was the one thing that no one else had wanted to say.

We all went silent. We knew what we would have to do but no one wanted to be the one to say it. "You do what has to be done," Rick said solemnly.

Unfortunately it was the truth. If she was bit we couldn't leave her like that. We had to take care of her. We couldn't hurt her mother even more by leaving her like that. We would have to let her be at rest. We would just have to gather ourselves enough to do it. "And her mother? What do you tell her?" Shane asked.

The only thing that we could tell her. "The truth," Rick said softly.

It was what we would have to do. Carol would never stop until we found out where Sophia was. "I'll gather and secure all the weapons. Make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off site," Shane said, changing the subject. No one wanted to continue thinking about what to do if we found Sophia in the wrong state. Not wanting to hunt Shane down later I handed him my Beretta. I gave a soft sigh as he took it. That thing was my baby. But oh well. I had plenty of other weapons to use in the meantime.

Everyone else began to hand their guns over to Shane. Although Rick did turn to Hershel. "I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience. Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun," Rick said, looking to Hershel. The older man took a moment before nodding his consent. "Thank you," Rick said.

We all shifted to move out but before we could Hershel spoke up once more. "That stuff you brought, got more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?" he asked us.

Unfortunately not. Most of the medicine that we had had were all used on myself and T-Dog. We really hadn't had any injuries lately so we hadn't needed them. "Just what you've seen," Rick told him.

"We're running short already," Hershel sighed.

Damn it. Carl and I had probably used the rest of their medication and none of the rest of us had anything to contribute. Maybe I should go out on a run and try to get them some more medicine. "I should make a run into town," Maggie spoke up before I could.

Maybe it was better that she went. I didn't know this place. I was sure that she did. "Not the place Shane went?" Rick asked, referring to the FEMA shelter that Shane and Otis had gone to for the respirator. Hopefully she wasn't planning on going there. It didn't seem the safest. Not after Otis had died there.

She turned to Rick and shook her head. "No, there's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I've done it before," Maggie assured Rick. I was glad to hear that. She seemed like a nice girl. I didn't want to watch her get hurt. And I didn't want to see the Greene family lose another member.

Before she could leave Rick motioned over to where Glenn was still standing. He was a few feet away from the truck. "See our man there in the baseball cap?" Rick asked. Maggie nodded as her eyes landed on Glenn. "That's Glenn, our go-to-town expert. I'd ask him along just to be cautious," he warned her.

Maggie nodded and went to go talk to Glenn. I snorted loudly as he practically dropped to the ground at the sight of her. He really was such a boy. It was so clear that he had a huge crush on her. I didn't blame him. She was really very pretty. And she was about his age. It was better than me. I had a stupid physical crush on someone that was probably close to twice my age. Shaking the thoughts out of my head I went back to watching the rest of them.

As Maggie left the group everyone else went to set up camp and continue on their chores for the day. Rick presumably went to check on his son. I was pretty sure that Lori was still watching over him. At least I thought that she was still with him. I was glad that Rick was going to go be a father rather than trying to go be a leader. Glenn and Maggie went to head to the pharmacy and Shane hopped in a car to go head out and check if Sophia had come back yet. It seemed that Andrea was going with him. T-Dog was with Dale until his arm started to feel better. I assumed that Hershel was inside with the rest of his family.

Everyone had already moved out when I let out a little sigh and walked over to my pile of things. Dale and T-Dog were tossing everything out of the RV so that people could set up their own camps. I picked up the tent that had once belonged to Merle and my things and made my way out towards the wood line. Thankfully Daryl had told me that I could keep Merle's tent, seeing as how he didn't need it any more.

Pitching my tent as fast as I could I looked up to look around at everyone else. It seemed that most of the groups tents were already set up. People were moving fast. Not that I could blame them. We all needed to get set up as fast as possible so we could get back to work on finding Sophia. I noticed that I was actually relatively distanced form the rest of the group. The closest person to me near the main group was well away from me. They were all the way near the house. I was out towards the barn.

Being out that far didn't bother me though. I wanted my space. As much as I liked my group I didn't always like being near them; there was just too much drama. I opened up the flap on my tent and rolled out my sleeping bag before throwing my bags in the corner. Slinging my bow over my shoulder and sheathing my knives I turned to leave the tent. As I walked out of the tent I saw Daryl coming over to me. I also noticed that he too had pitched his tent away from the rest of the group. I was actually pretty close to where he was set up.

I stood with my hip cocked out to the side as I waited for him to come up to me. "You ready to go?" He asked me once he stood at my side. I nodded and started off to the wood line with him when I heard Rick calling out. I turned to see him running over to us.

He was breathing a little heavily as he came to stand next to us. Daryl looked furious that we had been interrupted. "Daryl. Rain. You okay out there on your own?" Rick asked us. He looked extremely concerned.

Daryl shrugged softly. He didn't look like he cared. "I'm better on my own," Daryl shrugged. Oh come on. What was I? Chopped liver? "We'll be back before dark," Daryl told Rick.

Rick nodded. Daryl turned back so that we could leave but before that happened I saw Rick step forward once more. "Hey," Rick called out. Daryl stopped and turned to look at Rick once more. "We got a base. We can get this search properly organized now," he told the hunter.

"You got a point or are we just chatting?" Daryl snapped.

Rick let out a deep breath as he shrugged. "My point is it lets you off the hook. You don't owe us anything." I looked at Rick surprised. Daryl was not so heartless that he would leave a little girl out there all on her own. Did he think that Daryl didn't care about finding Sophia? Hell, besides Carol and myself I thought that Daryl cared the most.

It seemed that Daryl didn't appreciate the comment. "My other plans fell through," Daryl snapped and I knew immediately he meant Merle. He must have still blamed Rick and them for what had happened.

Although it wasn't really fair. He had forgiven me by now. "We could give you more space," Rick suggested.

It wasn't like he really needed more space. I was the closest person to him and Daryl seemed to have finally become just a tad bit fond of me. "Set up over by the barn," Daryl muttered.

Rick shook his head at Daryl. "No, no need for that. Better you stay close to the house," Rick tried to reason with him. Daryl however merely scoffed and took off for the woods. I turned back to Rick and gave him an apologetic smile. He shrugged his shoulders and gave me a small smile back.

I assumed that he was heading back to the house to go check and see how Carl was doing. With that I turned around and ran off after Daryl. He was walking fast but I was a fast runner. I caught up to him in under a minute. I caught his shoulder and he whipped around to me. "Hey, what was that about? He was only trying to help," I told Daryl softly.

"Don't need his damn help," Daryl snapped at me. I flinched slightly and nodded at him. I didn't want to push him any farther so I walked quietly.

I could imagine that he was pissed. I didn't blame him. I would be too if Rick had suggested that I couldn't have cared less about what had happened to Sophia. She was our priority. We were all concerned with finding her. We couldn't have cared less about anything else. The only thing that mattered right now was that we protected Sophia with everything that we had. We were not going to let Carol lose her daughter. We had been walking in silence for about fifteen minutes when I turned to look at Daryl.

There was one thing that was bothering me. "So do you really think we have a shot at finding her?" I asked. I couldn't believe that he really thought that we were going to find her.

I wanted to think that we were going to find her but she was young. She had no way to defend herself. And this was the third day that she was out there. I wanted to know why exactly Daryl thought that we had such a good chance of finding her. "Hell yeah I do," he replied.

At least someone had the confidence that we were going to find her. "She is only twelve though," I mumbled with a small sigh.

Daryl turned to me and shook his head. "Hell I was younger than her when I got lost in the woods," Daryl told me.

My head snapped over to him quickly. "What?" I asked. I never known that Daryl had gotten lost in the woods. He didn't seem like the type to even be able to get lost in the woods. He knew these woods so well I couldn't imagine that he had ever taken the wrong step.

Although if he was young at the time I supposed it made sense. "Nine days in the woods eating berries, wiping my ass with poison oak," he told me. I had to bite back a laugh at the poison oak part. I could only imagine the rash that that had left.

Maybe one day I'd see it. No! Do not think about that. Trying to shake my mind free of those images I turned back to Daryl. "So your family found you?" I asked.

He shook his head. "My old man was off on a bender with some waitress." I shook my head. For all of my father's faults he had at least stuck to one woman. "Merle was doing another stint in juvie." Of course Merle had been to juvie. "Didn't even know I was gone. I made my way back though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched something awful."

I felt terrible that Daryl had been treated like he was nothing as a child. Although I couldn't hold it in any more. Not about the poison oak. I burst out laughing and Daryl shoved me. I already had poor balance from laughing so hard and so when Daryl shoved me I fell into the grass. "That's karma for laughing at my itchy ass," he told me.

Unfortunately I had deserved that. So I smiled and took Daryl's hand to help me back up. Both of our hands lingered a moment longer than necessary. Over his shoulder I spotted something and smiled. "Hey Daryl, look at that," I told him while pointing to a decrepit farmhouse a few yards off. I had almost missed it. It was covered by trees. "Think Sophia could be in there?" I asked him after a moment.

In reality almost anything could be in there. "Only one way to find out," he mumbled. Daryl motioned for me to follow him as we headed off towards the farmhouse with me in tow.

We slowly made our way into the house and kicked the door shut behind us. We left a tiny space so we could get out if need be. Daryl pulled off his crossbow and I followed suit, pulling of my bow and immediately nocked an arrow. Daryl slowly moved into the dark house with me right on his heels. Even before the end of the world I could tell that no one had lived here in a long time. The house looked like it was falling apart at the seams.

We made our way through the house while checking all the rooms to make sure that there were no walkers. There were a few bedrooms and a bathroom that I never wanted to see again but there were no walkers. No living soul had been in this place in a fair amount of time. Daryl had already been through his section of the house and had agreed with me. There were no walkers anywhere. Seeing that the house was clear we began a search for any signs of Sophia. I moved off into the living room when I heard Daryl call out my name softly.

I ran back into the kitchen and asked what it was. "Check it out," Daryl said. He was motioning to a small cupboard that looked as though someone had recently hidden in there. The dust was cleared out and any pots and pans that had been in there before had been thrown to the ground. "Think she might have spent a night here, hidden in here," Daryl said.

Whoever it was would have had to have been small. "She would be just about the right size," I muttered while thinking it over. It definitely could have been her. "I'm gonna check the front, see if there's anything else that would let us know that she was here," I told him.

Daryl nodded and headed towards the back door of the house. "Alright, I'll check out back," Daryl told me.

I nodded and went to the front yard. There were a whole lot of overgrown flowerbeds and a few wooden piles but there was nothing that made me inclined to think that Sophia had been here. Sighing I went to the back of the house and made my way into the backyard. It took me a minute to find him but I finally spotted Daryl leaning down in front of a patch of flowers. I made my way over to Daryl and leaned down next to him. "Those are pretty flowers," I whispered quietly.

And they really were. They were almost pure white. In some ways they reminded me of a daisy. But these were prettier. I had never seen them before. "It's a Cherokee Rose," Daryl told me.

"What?" I asked him.

"A Cherokee Rose," he repeated. "The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the trail of tears the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell. I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother. But I believe this one bloomed for Carol's little girl."

A small smile passed over my face at his words. He was no idiot. Daryl was a smart man. A good one too. "That's beautiful Daryl. Carol would love one of those. You should give her one." I sat still for a few minutes and then poked him gently in the shoulder. "Who woulda thought that tough old Daryl had a soft spot for flowers?" I asked him with a smirk.

He grabbed my shoulder and shoved me gently. "Shut up," he growled. I laughed and pulled out one of my throwing knives to cut the stem of the flower.

"Throwing knife?" Daryl asked me.

I glanced up at him, slightly surprised that he had even noticed. Most people didn't. "Yeah. My dad gave them to me before... well, you know. Anyways, he loved weapons. All sorts. I guess that's where I get it from. When I was younger he bought me this set and taught me how to use them. I've always kept them around. They were the last real present he ever gave to me," I explained.

Daryl nodded and looked to the ground. He knew that my father was a sore spot with me. After a minute he finally looked up at me and smirked. "You good with 'em?" He asked.

I smirked back. "I like to think so," I told him proudly.

In truth I was always pretty good with them. There were people that were better than me but I was sure that I was good enough to impress him. "Show me," he challenged.

I laughed and jumped up while making my way over to the house. I pulled out my pocket knife and carved a small circle into the houses side. It was no more than a foot in diameter. Anyone who wasn't trained to use them properly would miss. I could only hope that I wouldn't. I couldn't. Daryl would never let me live it down. Stepping back I turned to Daryl and smirked.

We stood about ten or fifteen feet back from the house. "Now you make that and I'll be impressed," he teased.

There was a better chance of me making it than him. I laughed and pulled all the lessons on how to throw the knives out of the back of my mind. It had been a long time since I tried for show. I knew that I had to throw with the lightest end of the blade. It was the the handle on this one. You had to wrap four fingers around the handle keeping the thumb over the top. I also had to keep my wrist straight because I was at a long range.

Taking all of my weight I turned and put it on my dominant leg, which I made sure was behind me before raising the knife so that it was perpendicular to the ground. I bent my arm at the elbow so the blade was next to my head. Shifting my weight from my dominant to non-dominant hand I swung downward in a straight line and allowed the blade to slip from my grip and soar toward the target.

After following through I turned so that I could look at the target. Once I caught sight of where my blade landed I smirked. The blade had stuck in the target just about an inch to the right of the dead center. "So?" I asked with a proud smirk.

Daryl was staring at my shot with the tiniest of smiles on it. "Damn girl. Not bad," Daryl praised.

It was certainly more than I had been expecting. I smiled and yanked my knife out of the wood before sheathing it and making my way back over to Daryl. "Sun's going down. We should head back now," Daryl told me. I nodded and we headed back to the camp in silence. Breaking out of the wood line we walked over to the campfire where a small dinner was going on.

No one needed to ask about what the two of us had found. They just knew that we hadn't found Sophia one way or another. Although we did tell Carol that we found something that may lead us to her. Carol's mood had considerably lifted after that. The two of us had taken our seats after we'd explained our find and got plates from Carol. We exchanged small talk with the others and as our meals came to their end the others informed us of what had happened at the farm that day.

As we finished our food and turned to clear our plates we all began to explain what had happened back here. It had apparently been a long day for everyone. Even those who had stayed here. There was apparently a walker in one of the wells that the group had had to get out. After a near miss Glenn had managed to pull it out and destroy it. Although we weren't going to be able to drink out of it anymore. Maggie was also attacked at the pharmacy. Luckily everyone had been okay.

Once I said good night to everyone I got up from my space and walked over to my tent. I wanted some company but Daryl was currently giving Carol the Cherokee Rose he'd found. So I was heading to my tent for a peaceful night when I saw a figure out in the distance. As I got closer I heard sniffling. What the hell was that? The closer that I got the more that I realized that it was a woman. Lori? What was she doing out here? And why was she crying? What had happened to her?

As I walked up I made sure to be quiet. I didn't want to startle her. "Hey Lori? It's Rain, are you OK?" I asked her. I heard Lori shuffle around and I was extremely surprised when she threw her arms around me. I was shocked at her sudden actions however I hugged her back. She needed some type of help. And whatever it was I would give it to her. "Hey, it's okay. What happened?" I tried softly.

Lori sniffled for a while but eventually met my eyes. They were bright red. She had clearly been crying for a while. "Rain... I don't know how it happened. How I was so stupid?" She sobbed. I had been about to ask what she had meant when she choked out, "I'm pregnant."

This was not the type of company that I had wanted. "Oh God..."


	14. Hunting

Last night hadn't gone the way that I had intended for it too. I hadn't slept a wink at all last night. Not that I had been expecting to once I had seen Lori. She was completely distraught. She didn't know what to say or do. Not that I blamed her. What was there that she could say or so? Nothing that wouldn't make people furious. Nothing that wouldn't make Shane or Rick lose their minds.

Mostly last night I had just comforted Lori and tried to offer her my help. But there was a lot of things that she needed help with. She didn't know when the baby had been conceived. It had to have been over two weeks ago. She was already having morning sickness. That meant that she wouldn't know whether or not it was Rick's or Shane's. The hopeful part of me thought that it was Rick's. The sane part of me knew that it was Shane's. Rick hadn't been back in Lori's life long enough for it to be his.

I hadn't told her that though. She didn't need to hear it. Not tonight. Maybe not ever. I had finally left and said goodnight when Lori had cried herself out. It had been well past two in the morning when I had stumbled back into my tent. My thoughts were only on Lori. Would she keep it? She had told me that she had gotten Glenn to get Plan B pills just in case. But would she have the heart to do it? I knew that I wouldn't. Either way there was no point in me sitting here and thinking about it.

I'd be there to help her but this wasn't my problem. It was Lori's. So I stood and crawled out of my tent. I had probably slept late today. I could tell because I was starving. I needed to eat something. Although just as I walked out of the tent nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw that Daryl was standing there. He had been about to walk into the tent. "Good God, you need to stop doing that," I sighed.

He really was going to give me a heart attack one of these days. Daryl merely laughed at me and shook his head before stepping back to allow me to exit the tent fully. "C'mon princess, it's late. Almost lunch time," he told me.

How was it already lunchtime? I hated sleeping in that late. "What?" I shrieked before launching myself out of the tent and dragging Daryl by the hand as we headed towards the main fire pit by the Winnebago.

As we walked I saw Dale turn towards me. He walked down the ladder from the roof. He dropped into the RV for a moment before coming back out. When he did he handed me a small nutrition bar. It wasn't much but it was more than nothing. I supposed that it was the best that I was getting this morning. "Sorry dear, but you missed the main breakfast," Dale told me.

I had always hated granola bar breakfasts but this was better than nothing. So I quickly opened it and scarfed it down. "That's okay this'll do," I told Dale while scarfing the bar down. It was gone within the minute.

Dale and Daryl both laughed at me and I rolled my eyes. I was starving! Since this whole thing had gone down I had barely eaten. We really needed to get more food. Or wake me up when I was missing breakfast. "I had an idea I wanted to run by you," Carol said, looking over at Lori.

All heads turned towards them as we waited to hear what it was that Carol wanted to run by Lori. Both women were in better moods since yesterday. Carol had been better since Daryl and I had told her that we might have found something indicating that Sophia was still alive. I was pretty sure that Lori felt better once she had told someone about her pregnancy. Or maybe she was doing what most women in her situation did. Ignore it until it can no longer be ignored. Or maybe she did take those Plan B pills.

"What's that?" Lori asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

I was a little curious to hear what it was that Carol was thinking about. "That big kitchen of theirs got me thinking. I wouldn't mind cooking in a real kitchen again. Maybe we all pitch in and cook dinner for Hershel and his family tonight. Kind of looking for things to keep my mind occupied," Sophia told me.

Honestly I couldn't blame her. She needed to think of something other than Sophia. She was going to go insane if she kept thinking about Sophia. And it was a good idea. We owed them a thank-you. Despite the fact that one of their men had shot Carl and I. "After everything they've done for us, seems like the least we could do," Lori said with a smile.

She was a mother. She probably wanted to be able to cook for people like she once had. "You mind extending the invitation?" Carol asked. I cocked my eyebrow at the girl. What did that mean? "Would just feel more right coming from you," Carol explained.

I still wasn't sure what she meant. And it seemed pretty obvious that Lori didn't know what she meant either. "How so?" Lori asked. I was curious to hear that explanation as well.

Carol gave a small shrug. "You're Rick's wife. It sort of makes you our unofficial first lady," Carol explained. I supposed that was true. Although my ego wanted to butt in and say that the only person that deserved to be an 'unofficial first lady' was someone that busted their ass around here.

But that was rude and I didn't want to start a fight. So I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away. Just before I could walk away I was startled by Lori calling out to me. I turned back around and cocked my head. "Huh?" I asked her stupidly.

It was slightly rude. I really hadn't meant to say it like that. So I smiled at her as a somewhat apology. She grinned at me and walked up to my side. But it was Carol that actually spoke. "Would you mind maybe helping us out with dinner?" The older woman asked.

Bad idea. A seriously bad idea. She was not going to enjoy me trying to cook dinner with them. We hadn't had a worse idea in a long time. "Uh I wouldn't mind at all but I'm pretty sure you don't want to poison them." Everyone stared at me like I was insane. "Sorry but I'm not much of a cook. Over the last six years I've been living off take out and frozen foods." The women both laughed and nodded, freeing me from any kitchen duties.

Thank God. Setting the Greene's house on fire after they'd saved our lives would probably not be taken very well. Daryl walked over to me and I smiled at him. "But yet you can hunt just fine?" He asked me.

They were two completely separate things. I was determined to get him to see that. "Well yeah!" I yelled. He shook his head at me. "I don't have to put spices and shit like that on them. Hunting and skinning I can do. Cooking and baking? I'm pathetic," I told him.

"You're only a little pathetic," Daryl told me. It was one of the few times that I'd ever really heard him joke. My jaws dropped as I stared at him. That was not what I was expecting. I laughed and shoved into him roughly. I couldn't believe that he had said something like that. He took a few steps to the side and I laughed once more. I knew that he wasn't really a stick in the mud.

We laughed and shoved at each other for a few minutes until Rick called us over. Daryl slung an arm over my shoulder as I hip-checked him. It didn't do much though. We laughed softly together as we walked to where Rick was standing. "Morning, guys. Let's get going," Rick said as we all gathered round. With the exception of Carol and Lori we were all here. "We've got a lot of ground to cover. All right, everyone's getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl and Rain found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far." Rick said.

It was a good thing. It meant that now we had renewed the chance to find Sophia. "I'd like to help," I heard a man say. It was one of Hershel's men. His younger daughter's boyfriend. Jimmy I thought that it was. "I know the area pretty well and stuff," he told us awkwardly.

He couldn't have been that old. Jimmy looked about seventeen or so. And he did not look like he really knew what he was talking about. He probably just wanted to handle a gun and get out of here for a little bit. "Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked the younger boy.

Jimmy shuffled his feet for a moment. He was such a liar. "Yeah yeah. He said I should ask you." Of yeah. Definitely a liar. But hey it really wasn't my place to call the kid out.

"All right then. Thanks," Rick said, buying into his lie.

I couldn't believe that he had bought into the lie. "Nothing about what Daryl and Rain found screams Sophia to me," Shane said. My head snapped over to him. What the hell was that about? "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse," Shane said. I glared and was about to snap at him when Daryl cut in.

He liked Shane about as much as I did right now. "Anybody includes her, right? Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high," Daryl said, motioning to just above his hip. It was where Sophia stood compared to him. It definitely could have been her.

And we were going to go back out there to check and see if it had been her. We owed it to Sophia. "It's a good lead," Rick snapped at Shane. He was about as determined to get to Sophia as we were. "Maybe we'll pick up her trail again," Rick said hopefully.

It wasn't a maybe. We were going to get to her. "No maybe about it," Daryl snapped. It seemed that he shared my sentiment. "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her," Daryl said with confidence.

It was a good idea. One of the best ideas that I had heard from any of the group in a while. "Good idea," Rick told him. Daryl simply gave a short nod.

I had to go and help him. He wasn't going to find her by himself. "I'll go with you," I spoke up while I looked up at Daryl.

He nodded at me to go with him but before we could head off Lori spoke up to me. "Actually Rain, I was going to ask. We're running low on fresh meat. For the dinner and just for meals in general. I hate to ask but do you think you could go hunting today?" Lori asked me. No way. I had to help Daryl get Sophia back. "I would ask Daryl but he's the better tracker and is more likely to find Sophia. You, being our only other hunter, were our best option. I'm sorry but we really need it," Lori asked me. She looked extremely guilty.

Damn her. I knew that what she was asking me was important but I also wanted to go and try to help. I didn't like the thought of having Daryl go out alone but we needed the food. Honestly we needed the food more than we needed Sophia. So after deliberating for a moment I nodded. "Sure. I should be back in a few hours then. No promises on what I catch though, I haven't seen many animals out around here," I told her honestly.

There were hardly any animals out here. Too many people around. But I would try my hardest. We needed some food to hold us over. "No problem Rain. Thank you," Rick told me with a smile.

I got ready to head into the woods but before I could I heard Dale speak up. "Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there too," Dale said. He was looking at Daryl with a smile. Daryl wore a dark scowl. I could tell that it was not something that he wanted mentioned.

But what did he mean? The blood-sucking dog from the Spanish legends was the only thing that I could think that he meant. "Chupacabra?" I asked Dale with a smile.

They had gotten me curious. It was killing me that I didn't know what he meant. "You never heard this?" Dale asked me. Rick seemed about as confused as I was. We both shook our heads. "Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra." I smiled at Daryl, knowing it was something that he would say. Jimmy on the other hand full out laughed.

Daryl did not appreciate being made fun of. "What are you braying at, jackass?" Daryl snapped while glaring at the kid. I swear I'd never seen the blood drain from one person's face so fast.

The normal tan that was on his face was gone within seconds. It looked like he had died and we were speaking to his ghost. Of course if he laughed again at Daryl there was a chance that he would become a ghost. "You believe in a blood-sucking dog?" Jimmy asked.

So I was right about what the chupacabra was. "Do you believe dead people walking around?" Daryl snapped. That was actually a rather valid point. If someone had told me that one day I would be fighting the dead that had come back to life I would have laughed. It sounded like such crap.

Jimmy didn't respond but he did reach out to grab one of the rifles that was on the edge of the hood of the truck. Thankfully he didn't reach it before Rick stepped up and shoved the younger boys hand back. "Hey hey. Ever fire one before?" Rick asked Jimmy. I could almost guarantee that he hadn't.

I was slightly surprised to see that Jimmy turned back to snap at Rick. "Well if I'm going out I want one," Jimmy told Rick with a slight snarl.

It didn't look like Rick wanted to take what Jimmy had said but before the Sheriff could say anything Daryl butted in. "Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees," Daryl muttered. I couldn't help but smile at the small comment. He had good one-liners. It was too bad that more people didn't realize that.

It seemed that Shane wasn't overly fond of someone that wasn't trained with guns. "Why don't you come train tomorrow?" Shane suggested. "If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor. For now he can come with us," Shane said. That was good. At least we had someone to watch after him until he was trained properly.

Daryl scoffed and began to walk backwards. "He's yours to babysit then," Daryl growled before stalking off back towards the woods.

There was nothing else to say. No one knew what to say except to head out and get started on the hunt for Sophia. Unless you were me, that is. I was unfortunately stuck here having to go on a stupid hunt. We all split up and I followed behind Daryl out to the barn. He was few yards ahead of me. I picked up my speed to meet him at the doors of the barn. He was already saddling up one of the horses.

I figured that he hadn't asked Hershel if he could take the horse out but I knew that it wasn't my place to say anything. Daryl finished saddling the horse before turning to where I was leaning against the barn doors. "Wish I could go out there with you. I wanna help look for Sophia not hunt for food which we have," I groaned.

Daryl walked the horse over to me. The horse looked slightly nervous. Maybe it was because Daryl didn't really like horses. He had told me that one night during a drive. "Gonna need more food for when she's back," Daryl grunted as he began to tighten all of the straps.

He was right about that but I didn't want to admit it. "I guess," I mumbled. I really did need to get some meat for all of us. We were running dangerously low. We were running mostly on dry foods for now. "Hey Daryl?" I called. He turned to face me and I walked up to him. I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a tight hug. Like I'd expected he tensed up but after a moment he slowly relaxed. To my shock he even put an arm around my upper back. "Please be careful," I begged him before stepping away.

He gave me a surprised look but smirked at me after a moment. "Me be careful?" He asked me. I nodded yes to him. "I ain't the one who got shot," he said with a laugh. A moment later he pulled himself up into the saddle of the horse. I hated the little butterflies I got in my stomach when he did that. I liked a man that could handle themselves outside of the city and a three-piece suit.

He settled himself into the saddle and I shook my head at him. "Oh shut it Dixon," I snapped. Daryl laughed and gave the horse a small kick. It only took the horse a moment to go racing off into the woods. I sighed but followed him to the wood line slowly disappearing from eye shot of the farm.

For a few minutes I followed the hoof prints of the horse that Daryl had been on. Although after about three or four minutes I knew that it was time to deviate. The horse was too loud. It was probably going to scare off anything else in the woods. I would have to be somewhere other than where they were. Daryl and the horse were going to be too loud.

Once I had gotten about a half a mile away from where I had deviated from the trail that Daryl had gone down. After a minute I pulled my bow from my shoulders and pulled out an arrow. A bush rustled in the distance and I nocked it. There had to be something out here. I needed it if we were going to get any meat for the dinner that Lori and Carol were planning on making. God that was going to be strange.

Honestly I couldn't even remember the last time that I'd been to a nice dinner. My program had held a few during my time in college but I had always avoided them. I tried to avoid anywhere that had a bunch of people. I supposed that it was being from my slightly antisocial personality. Although it had changed since I had been here with my new group. I supposed that the last time that I had been to a nice dinner was when I was back with my family. We had been to a nice restaurant a few weeks before my sister was born. It was a night that I liked to try to remember. It was good to try and fool myself into thinking that I'd had a good family.

But they were not people that I liked to think about. Walking forwards for a few minutes I heard the first definitive rustle. Aiming my bow at the bush that had rustled I prepared for whatever it was. With lightning speed a rabbit shot out from the bushes and I had to release almost blindly in order to hit it. I cringed when I realized that I had hit the rabbit but it was in the leg. The poor thing must have been in so much pain. Walking up to the rabbit I apologized to it softly before bringing my knife up to its throat and slicing. At least I had put the thing out if its misery. Strapping on the rabbit to my belt I kept on walking.

At least it was gone from this cruel world now. Nocking a new arrow I moved forward once more. For hours I walked and hit small animal after small animal. I didn't have anything big but I did have plenty of rabbits, squirrels, and birds. Making my way back to camp I finally allowed my mind to wander exactly where I didn't want it to. Daryl.

What did I think of him? I definitely liked him. That wasn't up for debate. But how much did I? It wasn't really like how it was with my past relationships. I mean I had always liked the guys I was with but I was never very emotional with them. My relationships had almost always been physical. Not saying that I was whoring around all the time but hey, I wasn't the most virtuous person around. I guess I could blame it on the 'daddy issues'. Nah, I wasn't one of those girls. It was just easier to blame him. But no. It was my tendency to emotionally separate myself from people. But to my surprise I was very connected with my group.

They were the first people in a long time that I'd found myself close to. But Daryl. What was I with him? I knew that I got the butterflies with him and he occupied my thoughts a lot of the time. I got bubbly and grossly giggly with him, and I smile a lot more and... Oh my God. I knew it now. I loved him. I loved Daryl Dixon. But how did that happen? I wasn't planning on ever falling in love with anyone.

No! He didn't feel the same way. We were friends that were closer with each other than we were with the rest of the group. It was just because we both had similar personalities. We were a little too nasty to others to actually get along with others. We managed for a few minutes at a time but not for hours. Not like we could with each other. But we couldn't try it. I couldn't. He didn't like me. He never would. I would just have to lose the feelings. Yeah, that'll work. I'll just lose the feelings.

As I walked I glanced through the woods. If I was going to be out here I might as well look for any signs of Sophia. She had to be out here somewhere. I wasn't far from the farmhouse that we had found the signs of her in. There had to be some sign of her. I was going to find her. We had to find her. We owed it to Carol to find her daughter. I should have been there to save her with Rick. Maybe I should have let Daryl run instead. He would have been able to catch her. He was better than I was with those sort of things. He was a protector. I wanted to pretend that I was a protector but I wasn't. I wasn't even close.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard the familiar snarling of a walker. Shit. Shit shit shit. Turning to the sound ready to fire an arrow I saw that it wasn't just one. It was four. "Oh shit," I mumbled before scrambling to fire the first arrow. It hit the closest walker who dropped right in front of me. I was tempted to make a mad dash for the farm but I couldn't drag these things back there.

No one there right now could fight them. And I didn't have my gun on me either. Not good. This was so not good. Stumbling back I managed to pull out another arrow and shoot down the second one. Two down, two to go. However, before I could get the third one it reached me. The horrid creature barreled into me and knocked me on my ass. Okay that hurt. Keeping my bow in front of it's head I kept it's jaws from closing around my neck. Struggling to keep the walker away from me I let out a small whimper as the other fell next to me.

I was going to die. There was no way that I could get the two of them away from me. Struggling to keep the walker on top of me away from my neck with one hand I reached down for my knife with the other arm. As I tried to grab it I felt a small cry escape my lips. After a moment of fighting against the two walkers I finally managed to pull my knife free of the holster. Unfortunately as I blindly grabbed it and pulled it up to the walker it caught painfully on my leg. I watched as a large gash opened in my thigh. I cried out softly as I thrust it roughly into the head of the walker. After a moment I ripped the knife out of the walkers head and thrust it into the one on top of me.

Both walkers fell and I panted heavily. I let out a few deep breaths before I threw the walker off of me and stood weakly. Once I got back to my feet and finished wobbling I shouldered my bow. I dropped onto the ground once more as I tried to pull myself back up. The cut on my leg was deeper than I had originally thought. Sighing, I ripped off the bottom half of my shirt while showing off the belly button ring I had. Taking the extra fabric I wrapped it around my thigh where I had cut myself. Within seconds I had already bled through the binding. I tightened the wrap once more and began my limp back to camp. The whole time I was resisting the urge to cry out whenever I put my weight on the injured leg. This was so not good.

Meanwhile with Daryl...

Everything had been going fine. I'd even found the girls damn doll. Then that damn horse had bucked me off. I swore if I got that thing back I was gonna cook it. Horse meat was always good. It was Merle's favorite. Now with an arrow in my side I was laying at the bottom of the ravine. And I had no idea what to do. There was nothing that I could do. Not without someone here to help left me up.

But that wasn't an option. There was no one here to help me get back up the ravine. There was no one here to do anything for me. If I wanted to get back up to camp the only way that I was going to do it was by myself. I was fading in and out of consciousness and I didn't have the energy to make it up the hill yet. That was a problem. I needed to get back to the farm before the sun set. Damn that had been a big ass fall.

As I laid there I saw a figure stalking over to me. Someone was out here. I could shout at them. They could help me get back to the camp. I squinted my eyes to get a better look as the man walked over to me. "Why don't you pull that arrow out, dummy? You could bind your wound better." I knew that voice.

I knew that I knew that voice. I had listened to that voice for over thirty-five years. "Merle," I said in genuine surprise. How had he found me? And how did he get his other arm back? Something was wrong here.

Merle leaned down in front of me and stared at me. He looked incredibly pleased to see me in such a pathetic state. He always enjoyed seeing me at my weakest. "What's going on here? You taking a siesta or something?" Merle taunted. Classic Merle for ya.

He always had to be an asshole. I had never known Merle to be a halfway decent guy. Especially not when I was injured. "A shitty day, bro," I growled.

Just like I had expected Merle laughed. "Like me to get your pillow? Maybe rub your feet?" He asked me. Asshole, I'd like to see you down here with an arrow in your side.

"Screw you," I snapped at him.

Merle shook his head. "Huh-uh. You're the one screwed from the looks of it. All them years I spent trying to make a man of you, this is what I get? Look at you. Lying in the dirt like a used rubber. You're gonna die out here, brother. And for what?" He asked me.

I was not going to die out here. Not if I could help it. I wasn't ready to die yet. "A girl. They lost a little girl," I told him, referring to Sophia.

Merle snorted loudly. "So you got a thing for little girls now?" Merle taunted.

He never could take anything seriously. Not even someone losing their child. "Shut up," I snarled at him.

It was crucial that we found Sophia. I hadn't needed anyone looking for me when I was her age. Despite what Merle thought I was tough enough to survive out here. She wasn't. "'Cause I noticed you ain't out looking for old Merle no more," he told me.

We had tried. We had all tried. Hell, even Rain had wanted to come and try. "Tried like hell to find you, bro," I told him honestly.

This time Merle actually seemed angry with me. "Like hell you did. You split, man. Lit out first chance you got. You lit out," he growled.

That was not the truth. I had never wanted to leave Merle. No matter how mad he made me he was still my brother. I hated having to leave him in Atlanta. "All you had to do was wait. We went back for you. Rick and I, we did right by you," I told him.

He didn't seem to appreciate my dragging Rick into this. "This the same Rick that cuffed me to the rooftop in the first place? Forced me to cut off my own hand? This him we're talking about here? You his bitch now?" That was where my blood started to boil.

"I ain't nobody's bitch," I snarled at my brother.

The days had come and gone when I was his. I was better than that. I knew that now. She had taught me that. "You're a joke is what you are, playing errand boy to a bunch of pansy-asses, niggers and democrats. You're nothing but a freak to them. Redneck trash. That's all you are. They're laughing at you behind your back. You know that, don't you? I got a little news for you, son. One day they gonna scrape you off their heels like you was dog shit."

No, not her. She had proven time and time again that she was better than anyone else that I had ever met. She was even better than Merle. She treated me more like family than my own family ever had. And it wasn't even fair. Not after all of the times I had screamed at her and called her names that would have made other women run for the hills. She wouldn't leave. Not after everything. We were friends. She was my only friend.

"Hey. They ain't your kin, your blood. And that little bitch don't give a shit about you. She sure as hell don't love you either." Maybe not. But she would still be there for me. I knew that she would. "Hell, you had any damn nuts in that sack of yours, you'd got back there and shoot your pal Rick in the face for me. Now you listen to me. Ain't nobody ever gonna care about you except me, little brother. Nobody ever will. Come on, get up on your feet before I have to kick your teeth in. Let's go," Merle taunted.

He was shaking my foot roughly and I growled at him under my breath. He always had been a pain in the ass. I was about to yell at Merle to knock it off and stop shaking my foot when I realized that it was not Merle. He had been a mirage. It was really a walker that was chewing on my boot. I scrambled back and kicked the walker as hard as I could. Even moving was hurting like hell. I scrambled back a few more feet before picking up a large tree branch that was laying near me.

Without taking a chance to screw something up I swung the branch back towards the walkers head. I hit the fucker one, two, and three times until its head was mush. Once I was sure that it was dead I looked up. I was panting so hard that I was sure that I might pass out at any second. Right as I looked up I groaned. A second walker was headed straight for me.

"Shit," I muttered. With no idea of what else to do I gritted my teeth together and ripped the arrow out of my side. Thankfully I didn't make a noise to draw even more over to me. The pain was too much for me to move so I waited for the walker to reach me. Once it was a few feet away I raised the arrow and drove it into the bastards head. I grunted from the pain if the opened wound as the walker fell next to me.

Now that they were all gone I went to work on fixing myself to get back to camp. Taking Merle's advice I tore the sleeves of my shirt off and wrapped them around my torso effectively making a makeshift tourniquet. Leaning over to the walkers I had taken down I pulled out my knife and cut off their ears, stringing them on a piece of linen from my shirt. I could tell that walkers moved primarily on scent; not on noise. If I smelled like one of them then they might think that I was one. I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to fight off any more walkers if they happened to stumble by.

As I dragged myself back over to the bottom of the ravine I dropped once more. I still wasn't able to move very well but it was better without the arrow in my side. "Son of a bitch was right," I growled. Putting all of my strength into my arms I gritted my teeth once more and attempted to pull myself up the side of the cliff. I had made it about halfway up when I lost my grip and went tumbling back down painfully. Fuck. I was not making it back up there. I huffed and laid there while trying to pull myself back together.

Just what I needed, Merle came back over to stand at the top of the ravine. "What's the matter, Darlina? That all you got in you? Throw away that purse and climb," Merle taunted as he leaned onto his knees.

I wanted him to get the hell away from me. "I liked it better when you was missing," I snapped at my brother.

"Come on, don't be like that. I'm on your side," Merle told me.

That was a damned lie. Merle had never been there for me. He was always either in juvie or the few times that he was around me he was laughing at me or making fun of me. "Yeah? Since when?" I asked while pulling myself up and beginning the climb to the top again. I had to get to Rain. I made her a promise that I'd be back. I had to get back to her.

I had promised her that I would be alright. "Hell, since the day you were born, baby brother. Somebody had to look after your worthless ass," he told me.

He never took care of me. Our father didn't take care of me. Our mother hadn't even taken care of me. I had taken care of me. "You never took care of me. You talk a big game but you was never there. Hell, you ain't here now. Guess some things never change," I told him.

"Well, I'll tell you what I'm as real as your chupacabra," Merle teased.

Damn him it had really been there. I wasn't insane, no matter how much Merle thought that I was. "I know what I saw," I grunted. I knew that I had seen that thing that day.

Merle of course simply laughed at me. "And I'm sure them shrooms you ate had nothing to do with it, right?" He asked me.

I had not taken shrooms that day. Or maybe I had. Most days with Merle in my youth ran together these days. I wanted to forget them. I wanted to move past them. I wanted to be better than them. "You'd best shut the hell up," I threatened.

"Or what? You're gonna come up here and shut my mouth for me?" Hell yeah I was. "Well, come on and do it then, if you think you're man enough. Hey, kick off them damn high heels and climb, son. You know, maybe if you don't make it to the top, I'll give that little girl of yours a right pounding, show her how a real man does it." He wasn't going to dare lay a hand on her. "You know what else? If I were you I'd take a pause for the cause, brother. 'Cause I just don't think you're gonna make it to the top. Come on. Come on, little brother," Merle repeated.

Infuriated with Merle I screamed and finally pushed myself over the top of the ledge. Jumping up ready to kill Merle, I looked around but he was nowhere in sight. I guess he at least gave me the motivation I needed to get to the top. Now I needed to get to Rain. With that last thought I started off back to the farm and back to her.

Back at Camp...

I gave a soft grunt as I finally made my way back into camp. It had taken me well over an hour to get back to the campsite with the horrible pain in my thigh. I had just broken the wood line when I saw my group seated around the Winnebago. With Rick in immediate eyesight I called out to him. "Rick, help!" With their heads whipping around to see me I dropped in the grass and waited for them to get me.

There was no need to worry any more. They were here. They were going to get me help. "Oh my God, Rain! What happened?" I heard Rick shout. I tried to open my mouth to say something but all that came out was a pathetic groan. "Get her some water!" Rick called as he picked me up and started carrying me back to camp.

"Another damn accident," I moaned. "I was lost in thought headed back to camp when four walkers surprised me. Killed the first two easy but the third one fell on me and the other crawled over to me. Had my bow above me fending the one on top of me off and I pulled out my knife to kill the last one. When I did it caught my leg pretty bad," I explained while gulping down the water that Shane had given me when we made it back to the fire.

Thankfully Rick helped me sit down on one of the wooden logs. I was taking in deep breaths and feeling much better. After a few minutes a thought popped into my head. "Daryl. Where is he?" I asked Rick.

He had promised me that he would be back soon. He had damn well better be back. I was going to kill him if he got himself injured after being injured for so long. "He's not back yet Rain but don't worry, I'm sure he'll be back soon," Rick reassured me.

Not fully convinced I nodded anyways and handed Lori my bag and belt of catches. She smiled at me and leaned down in front of me. She looked like she was about to cry. She probably figured that the whole thing had been her fault. It hadn't been. I was the one that hadn't been paying attention. "I'm so sorry Rain, I would have never sent you out there had I known that that would happen," Lori exclaimed.

I shook my head and smiled at her. It really wasn't her fault. "Don't worry about it Lori. You didn't know and it was my fault. Now go get started on dinner with Carol." I smiled and received a small smile back. Lori stood up, giving her husband a kiss before she disappeared into the house.

I was just about to ask Rick when the dinner was going to be done when I heard Andrea shout from the top of the RV. "Walker. Walker!" She shouted.

Everyone straightened out at the news. That was not a good thing. Walkers never came to this side of the creek. They couldn't make it through. That was not good. If they were getting through here it was going to get dangerous for us. "Just the one?" Rick asked.

As I turned back I saw that it really was only one. At least it wasn't a whole group of them. "I bet I can nail it from here," Andrea said with an overconfident tinge to her voice.

She really wasn't that good of a shot. I didn't want her to miss and draw over more walkers. It would be a better idea to keep any fighting against the walkers silent. "No no, Andrea. Put the gun down. You'd best let us handle this," Shane stated as he started heading for the walker. Myself, Rick Glenn and T-Dog followed.

"Shane, hold up. Hershel wants to deal with walkers," Rick called from behind. What was it that Hershel wanted to do with the walkers? It always seemed that he wanted to stay away from them.

It seemed that Shane shared my sentiment. "What for, man? We got it covered," he told his best friend.

We all began to pick up speed as we headed towards the walker. "Is that Daryl?" Glenn asked. I took a good look and realized that it was. It was his clothing. Oh my God. He was covered in blood and dirt, looked badly injured, and was limping. Please God, don't let him be a walker.

I was positive that I couldn't deal with him dying. He was my friend. He was my best friend. And I fucking loved him. "That's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl asked. I sighed knowing that he was at least alive. I had been about to run over to him when a gun shot rang out and Daryl dropped to the ground.

What the fuck just happened? "No! No! No!" Rick shouted.

"Rick!" Shane called from behind as we all started running over towards where Daryl had fallen.

"Daryl!" I shrieked louder than I had thought was possible. "You fucking idiot!" I shouted as I pointed an accusing finger at Andrea. She was going to die if Daryl was dead. I hated her more than I had ever hated her before.

The door to the house opened and I turned back long enough to see that Hershel had stepped out of the house. "What on earth's going on out here?" Hershel yelled from his porch as he looked out at the scene.

I watched as Rick and Shane lifted Daryl from the ground. "I was kidding," Daryl moaned as they began dragging him towards the house. Oh thank God, her aim was so shitty she had just grazed his temple. He was going to live as long as they cleaned out the wound.

"Come on," Rick grunted.

Thankfully between Rick and Shane they were able to carry Daryl quickly towards the house. "Oh my God. Oh my God, is he dead?" Andrea cried, running up to the group of us.

No one bothered to look over towards her. "Unconscious. You just grazed him," Rick explained.

They were taking this much better than I was. I had never been very level-headed before and I was about to prove how heated I was right now. "He may not be dead, but you will be!" I screeched before running off and reeling at Andrea. She didn't have any time before I landed a strong hit on her left cheek. Moving back as she stumbled I launched all of my weight on her and knocker her to the ground.

She was not a good fighter and I was going to use that to my advantage. Taking hit after hit on Andrea I made sure that I had her arms pinned with my legs and feet. She was not moving until I knew that she no longer could. She, however was more flexible than I thought. She brought her knee into my back and I jumped while hissing at the pain. With my weight no longer fully on her she pulled back and scratched me across the neck and my chest. Hissing at the sharp pain I reeled my arm back and brought it down on her nose. Hearing the satisfying crunch I smirked, knowing that I had at least dislocated it.

Unfortunately the men began to separate me from her. Damn it I had wanted to keep going. "Alright, knock it off!" I heard Rick call as he pulled me off of Andrea and threw me over to Glenn. Glenn caught me and held on tightly as I tried to get back to the other blonde. Rick then helped Andrea up and handed her over to Shane. She definitely didn't look too good. She looked on the verge of unconsciousness. Good. But I wanted her done for. "Come one you, we need to get Daryl to Hershel. You and Andrea too," Rick said.

We were slowly being dragged back to the house. Well Daryl and Andrea were. I was more being forced. "But look at him. What the hell happened? He's wearing ears," Glenn told us.

Was he? I looked down and saw that he was indeed wearing a necklace made of string with walker ears attached at intermittent points. "Let's keep that to ourselves," Rick said as he tore the ears from around Daryl's neck.

We were all walking up to the house when T-Dog's voice startled us all. "Guys, isn't this Sophia's?" T-Dog asked. Everyone turned back to see that he was holding up Sophia's doll that Morales' daughter had given to her before they had left for Birmingham. Oh shit. This search was far from over. It was just beginning.


	15. The Barn

We had gone to getting everyone medical help almost immediately after arriving back into the Greene's house. The family had panicked and run for the medical supplies that we had so conveniently encountered yesterday. So far Daryl was taking up most of them. But it wasn't just him. Andrea had taken up some of the medical supplies too. She had needed her cuts disinfected and she had needed one bad cut stitched up. There was nothing to be done about the bruising that was all over her body. Particularly bad over her face. Good.

The rest of the group were currently waiting for dinner to be served. I couldn't have cared less about the dinner. All that mattered to me was whether or not Daryl was going to be okay. I had gotten multiple offers to come help set up the dining room table downstairs but I had ignored them all. Thankfully no one had bothered me to actually move. They all treated me the same way that they had treated Lori and Rick when Carl had been shot. He was up and around slightly but he still wasn't doing good. He was out of the woods though.

I had been sitting outside of Daryl's room for about an hour now and I was still refusing to move. This was the same room that I had been in when I was stitched. Apparently Daryl was out for now and Hershel was stitching him up. They had been in there for a while but I knew that they had things that they needed to do. They needed to stitch up both his head and his stomach. He had been hurt worse than I was expecting.

It broke my heart to see him like that. I had been almost expecting myself to get injured but I hadn't been expecting Daryl to get injured. He always seemed to sure of himself. I watched as Maggie walked into the hallway and smiled softly at me. "Hey, Rain. We really need to get something done about that leg. It'll be fine but I need to get it cleaned out now. I can take you to another room to get it done," she told me.

It would probably be a better idea to leave but I couldn't leave without knowing what was going to happen to Daryl. "No. I want to stay here just in case," I told her softly.

She nodded at me and stood to leave. I watched as she walked down the stairs slowly. Her booted feet clomped down the stairs and a few minutes later I saw Maggie come back with a first aid kit. She smiled at me and plopped down in front of me. Silently she took out the needle and thread. She disinfected it before putting the needle to my skin. Unconsciously I cringed as it went against my skin.

Maggie clearly knew that I wasn't fond of needles. "Sorry, but it has to get closed up and rinsed out to prevent infection," she told me. I nodded and squeezed my eyes shut when I felt the needle pierce my skin. God I hated needles. After a moment of silence Maggie spoke up once more. "So you really must not want to leave your boyfriend, huh?" She asked.

A soft blush filled my face and I shook my head. He was never going to be my boyfriend. Even if I wanted him to be. No. Don't think about that. "He's not my boyfriend," I mumbled awkwardly. "We're friends."

She shook her head and smiled once more as she neared the end of the wound. Thank God. I felt like I was about to throw up. "Oh, I'm sorry. You two just seemed awful close and I thought that maybe you were together. Well, even if not he seems to really care about you. Maybe something will eventually come of the friendship," she told me with a smile. I watched as she tied off the string and put some antiseptic on it. Once she was done Maggie patted my knee and stood up, leaving me alone in the hall.

Once more the hallway fell into silence and I sat against the wall heavily. Down on the first floor I could hear some of the group talking to each other. But I merely continued to stare at the other end of the hallway. It was close to ten minutes later when the door opened up and Hershel looked over at me. He seemed just fine so I assumed that Daryl was at least still alive. Better than nothing.

He gave me a soft nod, motioning back to the door. "Let me go get the rest of your group. He's slowly waking up," Hershel told me. I didn't bother saying anything back to him. Dashing into the room I gasped at the sight of Daryl. He was half conscious, bandaged, and covered in blood. He looked incredibly uncomfortable. Sighing at the sight of him I moved over to the side of the bed and took the seat left in the corner. The seat that he had been in when I'd gotten shot.

It just seemed like the right thing to do. He had done it for me. I should have had the courtesy to do the same. I just wanted to be able to speak to me. My prayers were answered as I looked over and noticed that Daryl's eyed were finally open. He smiled at me and leaned over to the edge of the bed. "Hey there princess," he grinned.

I smiled back and walked over to the edge of the bed. He moved just enough so that I could take a seat at the edge. Just as I was about to respond to him Rick, Shane, T-Dog, and Hershel came back into the room. They all stared at us curiously for a moment before looking over to Daryl. Rick was the first one to ask how Daryl was feeling. Daryl responded with a bored huff that he was fine. It was a moment later that Rick asked about the doll that Daryl had found.

For a while I had forgotten that Daryl had actually managed to find Sophia's doll. I had been so busy hoping that he would be alright. "I found it washed up on the creek bed right there," Daryl told them.

If it had been washed up the chances were the she had dropped it. But where had she dropped it? And why had she dropped it? She was attached at the hip to that thing. "She must have dropped it crossing there somewhere. Cuts the grid almost in half," Shane replied.

"Yeah, you're welcome," Daryl snapped sarcastically. He wanted to find Sophia as much as the rest of us but I was pretty sure that he hadn't been expecting to get shot by a bullet or an arrow in the process.

The group was silent as we all processed the information and thought about where it was that Sophia was hiding. "How's he looking?" Rick asked Hershel after a moment. I was glad that he had. I wanted to know what was wrong with him.

"I had no idea we'd be going through the antibiotics so quickly. Any idea what happened to my horse?" Hershel asked. I couldn't help but glare at the older man for his insensitivity to Daryl's situation. Daryl was clearly in a lot of pain. Couldn't Hershel have said something to help us out?

"Yeah, the one who almost killed me? If it's smart, it left the country," Daryl replied. I couldn't help but to snort at his answer. Daryl always had the best way of putting things.

It didn't seem that Hershel appreciated the comment. "We call that one Nelly, as in 'Nervous Nelly'. I could have told you she'd throw you if you'd bothered to ask," Hershel told Daryl with a small smirk. Daryl merely stuttered for a minute before Hershel asked everyone out so that we could let Daryl rest. I stayed behind though, waiting for the door to close.

It didn't seem that anyone was going to make me leave. They all knew that I wanted a chance to speak with him in private. "So you'll be safe, huh?" I asked him.

There was a small grin on my face as Daryl looked over at me. "Don't start that with me girly. You got a nasty looking cut on your leg," Daryl said, motioning to the knife wound. I glared at Daryl but sighed, knowing that he was right. Although it was still better than getting shot. "Now what the hell happened with Andrea? Heard Hershel talkin about it when I came to," Daryl asked.

Uh oh. I had been hoping to get away with that without having to say anything. I hoped that he wasn't appalled that I had attacked her on essentially no grounds. "I uh... I attacked her. For uh, shooting you. Broke her nose I think," I said shyly while looking at the floor. Daryl merely barked out a laugh and nodded.

At least he hadn't thought that I was horrible for doing that. "That's my girl," he laughed while looking at me. I looked down and blushed, partially from the compliment and partially from the fact that I had finally noticed that Daryl wasn't wearing a shirt. Not that I could see anything, he had the sheet wrapped up around his shoulders. Smiling at Daryl I went to sit down on the chair when I heard a knock at the door. Hershel's youngest daughter- Beth I thought it was- stepped into the room.

She had the same colored hair as me and I smiled at her softly. She was looking away from Daryl and looked like she was nervous even looking at me. She was wearing a soft green shirt with a pair of boyfriend jeans. She seemed to embody innocence right now. "Dinner is ready if you'd like to join us, Rain," she told me softly.

"Be there in a minute," I told her. She nodded before leaving. She left the door open and I sighed. They were definitely expecting me tonight. There was no way that I was getting out of this. "I'll bring you something up," I told Daryl. He nodded and I turned to leave the room.

As it turned out the dinner was incredibly awkward. Although the food was good I would have preferred to eat in solitude. Lucky Daryl, he didn't have to sit through this. We had been silent for the entire dinner and on the few occasions that someone tried to start to speak someone else quickly ended the conversation. And it probably didn't help that I was sitting next to Andrea. She looked horrible. At least Dale was on my other side. To my surprise though Glenn finally spoke up and broke the awkward silence.

"Does anybody know how to play guitar?" Glenn asked. It was the first time that someone had spoken in nearly twenty minutes. "Dale found a cool one. Somebody's got to know how to play," Glenn prodded when no one answered.

I didn't. I'd played the flute briefly but I hadn't played in a long time. And I never really had been that good. "Otis did," Patricia said solemnly.

Of course Otis could play. "Yes, and he was very good too," Hershel added.

That was it. Not being able to take the silence anymore I pushed out of my chair, picked up my plate, and left to the kitchen. Thankfully no one had stopped me as I made my way into the large kitchen. I had just finished cleaning my plate and preparing one for Daryl when Carol walked into the kitchen. "Couldn't take it either?" I asked her quiet enough for the people in the other room to not hear me.

She looked up at me with a smile and shook her head. "Oh well I actually came to make Daryl a plate, but it seems like you've got it handled," she said while smiling at me.

She was about to leave to go back into the dining room when I called out to her. "Carol wait. I think Daryl would like it. I'll head up there with you," I told her. She smiled and allowed me to lead the way. We headed up the stairs and I walked into Daryl's room. He sat up when he saw me but shrank back down when Carol walked in behind me. Carol smiled at Daryl, who hiked the sheet up around himself. There has to be some reason he doesn't want people to see him. And it was not body issues.

Carol walked over to the edge of the bed and I smiled as I leaned in the corner. "How are you feeling?" Carol asked Daryl.

"As good as I look," Daryl said. Hey, I didn't think that he looked half-bad. Although I probably shouldn't say that.

Carol merely nodded before taking another step towards Daryl. "I brought you some dinner. You must be starving," Carol said as she put the tray onto Daryl's lap.

She was leaning over Daryl slightly and I watched as he shrunk away from her like she was venomous. "Watch out, I got stitches." You idiot, I think she knew that. Carol smiled while I rolled my eyes at him.

As I was expecting Carol ignored Daryl. She walked forward and leaned over his bed. "You need to know something. You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did in his whole life." My eyebrows knitted together in depression. How sad, how could a man treat his daughter or wife like that? Of course the same could be said for my father.

He shook his head at her. I noticed that he was averting his eyes from her. "I didn't do anything Rick or Shane wouldn't have done," Daryl said seemingly embarrassed. That's the point you idiot.

I was fighting extremely hard to not laugh at him. He was so awkward. "I know. You're every bit as good as them. Every bit," Carol said. She leaned down to give Daryl a kiss on the forehead and I laughed at how much he shrunk away from her. He was like a kid getting a kiss from his mother. Carol leaned away from Daryl and smiled at me before she left the room closing the door behind her.

Once she was gone I walked over to the chair where Daryl had sat when I was injured. "So how was dinner?" Daryl asked me after a moment as I pulled the chair up next to his bed. I took a seat in it and folded the blanket over my lap.

"Awful," I snorted. Daryl gave me an odd look and I explained it. "It was just so awkward. No one was talking and when they did, it was about Otis. You're lucky that you got to stay up here." Daryl laughed and nodded at me. After a moment I looked over at him and smirked. "So how's being shot feel?" I asked Daryl.

He turned over to me with a nasty glare. I had figured that he wouldn't appreciate it. No matter. It made me laugh. "Very funny. Hurts like hell," he told me.

At least he'd only been grazed by the bullet. Although the same could be argued that I'd only had a fragment. Oh well, I was still determined that my injury had been worse. "Oh you big baby I actually got shot, you just got grazed," I said teasing Daryl.

He looked over at me and shook his head. "Well I got bucked off a damn horse, rolled down a hill, got impaled by an arrow, killed a walker with a stick, ripped out the arrow and killed another one, climbed back up the hill, fell back down, and got grazed by a bullet in the temple. Your turn," he snapped all in one breath.

So maybe he really had a worse day than I ever had. "Okay fine, you win," I told him with a laugh. The rest of the night went just like that. My teasing Daryl and him teasing me back. We must've been up for hours doing that before I eventually fell asleep, resting half on the bed.

It turned out to be the best nights sleep that I'd gotten in a long time. The next morning I yawned and stretched, climbing out of the chair. A moment later I looked over at the bed only to see that Daryl was no longer there. What the hell? Where was he? Damn him for leaving me there without anyone else. So I stood and grabbed some fresh clothes out of my bag. I pulled on a pair of faded blue jean shorts and a light green tank top before walking out of the room. I hoped that it would be the last night that I spent in there.

As I walked out of the house I realized that no one else was awake. Or if they were awake they weren't hanging out downstairs. I walked outside of the house and down through the yard. Glancing around I saw most of the group but not the man that I was looking for. When I finally did catch sight of the man that was walking with a significant limp I saw that he was almost to his tent.

He must have left a while ago though. He really wasn't making it very far. Every step that he took only helped him wobble forward about another half of a foot. Once I ran up to his side I extended a hand to him which he batted away. "Really Daryl I woulda helped you out here," I told him.

But Daryl was not the type of man that wanted a girl to help him. "I don't need help. Just wanted to get outta that damn house and thought I'd let you sleep," he told me. I nodded as we made our way into his tent. He must have set it up when I wasn't paying attention. Letting the flap close behind us I walked over and helped him lay down on his bed. I was about to respond when I heard movement outside of the tent.

We both looked up and I growled when I saw who it was. "Hey," Andrea interrupted. I noticed that she was staying on the outside of the tent. Smart girl. She tossed a book that she had in her hands at Daryl. "This is not that great, but-" she said before being interrupted.

Daryl had already grabbed the book. "What, no pictures?" Daryl asked as he flipped through the book. I knew that he was joking but I still rolled my eyes. He was such a pain.

Andrea sighed before taking a step forward. "I'm so sorry. I feel like shit," Andrea said. Good. I almost laughed at the sight of her. Her nose was slightly crooked. It looked like no one had reset it yet. I hoped that she left it that way. Suited her better. She had two dark black eyes. They were similar to the ones Ed had given me. And that wasn't to mention the bruises that littered her face and her swollen cheeks. I had gotten off easy with the three bright red nail marks that went down my neck and chest.

Daryl shook his head and looked up at her. He was playing with the tip of an arrow. The book had been tossed to the floor. "Yeah, you and me both," he told her.

We all stood there awkwardly for a moment before Andrea finally spoke up once more. "I don't expect you to forgive me, but if there's anything I can do-" she spoke until Daryl cut her off.

"You were trying to protect the group. We're good," he told her. He may forgive you but that doesn't mean I do. She gave Daryl a small smile before turning to walk away. Just as Andrea was walking out of the tent Daryl called out to her. "But hey. Shoot me again and you'd best pray I'm dead." It was a joke and we all knew it. Actually maybe it wasn't a joke. Andrea smiled and slowly walked away from the tent.

Once she was gone I turned and smiled at Daryl. He had stopped picking at the arrow long enough to look over at me. "So you gonna keep me company girl?" Daryl asked me.

As much as I would like to stay with him for the day I had payback to deliver. So I smirked and looked at him sideways while moving to the exit of the tent. "You know I would but us able bodied folks got shit to do," I told him. I laughed lightly and started out the tent flap when I heard Daryl mumble something that sounded like 'you fucker'. I turned back to him and said, "I'll come back later to bring you some dinner."

Daryl nodded at me and I left the tent. As I walked through the yard I looked around for everyone. There wasn't a damn soul in sight. It took me a while but I finally realized that they must have all already left for gun training. Well I guess there went any chance for me to go keep someone company. So I walked around the camp trying to find something to do. I supposed that if I couldn't find anyone to bother I could always go back and hang with Daryl. But I was getting sick of those damned butterflies.

It was why I was so grateful when I found someone that wasn't Daryl. Dale was working on the Winnebago and I went over to see if he needed any help. He grinned when he saw me walking up. "Hey Dale, mind some company?" I asked him.

He turned towards me and motioned me over. I smiled and came to a stop next to him. "Not at all dear, I was just checking the engine," he told me.

He was covered in grease and motor oil. I drank in the scent. It was like I was standing out in the front yard with my father. But those days were long done. I stood over Dale and watched him work all while listening to things that my father had once upon a time explained to me. But that was before he had lost my mother. After a moment of silence I turned to Dale with a smile.

"You know Dale, you remind me a lot of my dad." He looked over at me with a curious gaze. That was when I remembered that I had told Dale that my father was a horrible man that didn't deserve me. I should probably fix that. "Well before he turned into an asshole," I explained.

Dale laughed and handed me a wrench to place back in the toolbox. I nodded and dropped it back into the red box. "Well I'm glad that I'm at least before," he told me. I laughed softly and nodded. I was glad that he was a before too. Dale was a good man. He was better than my father ever had been. "Say, why didn't you go to gun training?" Dale asked me after a moment of silence.

Shrugging my shoulders I fingered the holster that felt incredibly empty without my pistol. "Eh I already know how to shoot one and I wasn't an education major for a reason," I told Dale. He laughed and nodded at me. As I looked up I saw that Glenn was headed over to us. I smiled at him and waved him over. Just as he made it up to us I gave him a small nudge. "Hey Glenn."

"Rain," Glenn said awkwardly. I cocked my head at him. Glenn was never as abrasive as that. "Spark plugs, huh?" Glenn asked us after a moment. He looked incredibly nervous.

What the hell was wrong with him? And how did he not know that this wasn't the engine? "Uh Glenn, this is the engine," I said to him, giving him a suspicious look. His face went white as he realized that he was caught.

It seemed that I wasn't the only one that saw that something was wrong with Glenn. "Want to tell us what's going on?" Dale asked him.

Despite the fact that Dale had never been a father before he acted just like one. "You're old," Glenn said towards Dale. Idiot. "And Rain, you're smart. You're- You know things." I nearly laughed at Glenn. He really did have a way with words. "So. What if somebody told you something that somebody else should know?" Glenn asked us.

Well worded Glenn. A wonder you weren't a Pulitzer Prize winning author. He just needed to get it out with. I knew how annoying it was to beat around the bush. "Glenn, stop being dramatic. Spit it out," Dale told him.

He fiddled with his hands for a moment before looking up at us. "There's there's walkers in the barn and Lori's pregnant," Glenn spat out in one breath.

What the hell did he just say? I knew about Lori but I didn't know that Glenn knew. And I sure as hell didn't know that the barn was full of walkers. How the hell did he find that out? "Wait, I knew about Lori. I comforted her the other night. But how did you find out about the walkers? And are you sure?" I babbled.

We had to know that the barn really was full of walkers before we went to actually go and do something. Or accused them of doing something that we hadn't. "I'm sure. I wanted to uh- well uh- get away with Maggie, well we-" Glenn rambled.

I was no fool. Neither was Dale. We both knew what he was trying to do with Maggie. "Glenn we're all adults here. I get it. Don't be embarrassed. And shit she's hot. Good job. Anyways continue," I told Glenn so that he would continue his story.

Maybe one day I'd call him out on his budding relationship with Maggie but for right now we had something more important to deal with. "Well anyways I told her to meet me at the barn after the dinner. She tried to get to me to stop them but I managed to see them first. The doors are secure but the second floor is open. That's how I saw them," Glenn told us.

At least the first floor was closed. That meant that there was seemingly no way out of the barn for the walkers. "How many?" Dale asked.

If there were just a few we could take care of them. But how the hell had they gotten in there? And why were they in there? Nothing made sense about this. "Maybe about twenty." Not good. That was more than I was expecting. "I have no idea. I couldn't see them very well," Glenn said.

If he had seen about twenty there was a chance that there were at least ten. That was already too many. "We have to tell the rest of the group," I said after a moment of silence.

Before I could even get the chance to think about what to do to tell the group Glenn cut into my thoughts. "No!" He shouted. I jumped slightly at the sudden shout. "I swore Maggie I wouldn't say anything but I know I need to but still. Let me do it. I'll tell them in the morning. I swear," he begged.

The last thing that I wanted to do was let this thing get swept under the rug. But I had to. For Glenn we were going to have to let this thing slide for the night. After all we had made it here for over half of a week. Another night was not going to kill us. We could live through the night. Plus we would hear something if the doors on the barn were blown open. So after a moment I sighed but nodded anyways.

The three of us worked together in silence and every now and again Dale and I would tease Glenn about his relationship with Maggie. He tried to avoid every question but we did get out of him that they had slept together for the first time back at the farm. It was nearly three hours later that the rest of the group came back from gun training. Dinner was quickly made and not wanting to look at the guilty look on Glenn's face all night I got up. There wasn't really much to say about our days anyways. Grabbing myself and Daryl a plate I said goodnight to everyone and made my way back to Daryl's tent.

The flap was closed. I assumed that he had probably slept for most of the day. I called out to Daryl before I walked in and opened the flap without confirmation that I could walk in. I didn't care. He would be fine with me coming in. I walked in and saw that Daryl was still messing with an arrow. Had he really done nothing else today other than play with the point of the arrowhead? Idiot.

He glanced up at me and nodded. "Brought you dinner," I told him. He nodded me to walk in and I let the flap fall back slightly behind me. As we walked in I glanced down and saw the book that Andrea had brought him on the floor. Once I read the title I smiled. "You know The Invisible Man is actually a really good book," I told him.

It wouldn't make much of a difference. Daryl was not a reader. Not like I was. "It's boring. I tried it," he told me. I had a feeling that he hadn't gotten much past the first few pages. So I sighed but smiled anyways. I walked forward to hand Daryl his plate before turning and sitting on the floor in front of him.

Dinner was done quickly. It wasn't much that we had. The majority of our meat was gone after the large dinner last night. I was pissed. It meant that I would just have to go back out again some time soon. We had finished with dinner and had been sitting in silence for a while when Daryl finally spoke up. "You've been awfully quiet tonight. What's going on?" Daryl asked.

Of course he was able to tell that something was wrong with me. It was probably the way that I had been picking at my nails and chewing on them. Things that I rarely did. I had wanted to keep it a secret but I knew that I had to tell Daryl. I just couldn't resist opening my big fat mouth. "The barn is full of walkers," I blurted out.

His head snapped over to me and I dropped my head for a moment. That was not the way that I wanted to tell him that. "What?" He asked me. I merely nodded in response. "How'd you know?" He asked.

"Glenn was going to the barn to have sex with Maggie and he went to the second floor and saw them in there. There's apparently about twenty," I informed the hunter.

He took a moment to process the information before looking up at me. "Wait." I nodded for him to continue. "So Glenn did it with the farmer's daughter?" Daryl asked.

What the hell? Was that really the only information that he got out of that? "Daryl!" I shouted. He recoiled but stared at me like I had lost my marbles. I was not the one here who was off their rocker. "I can't believe that that's what you pulled from this. Although I gotta admit I said the same thing when I first found out," I admitted softly.

It was the truth. But that didn't matter. It wasn't the priority. "Not our land princess. Nothing we can do about it," he told me. I sighed and nodded. I knew that we couldn't say anything. Glenn wanted to be the first one. "Besides, haven't been attacked yet."

He was right about that. We had been lucky enough to not get attacked yet. The barn must have been sealed well. "I know I just had to get it out. Glenn is apparently telling everyone tomorrow at breakfast," I informed Daryl.

He hummed at me and laid out of his mattress once more. "That ought to make a good breakfast conversation," Daryl muttered mostly to himself.

It really did drive me nuts that more people didn't know just how funny Daryl was. He was hysterical. I had learned that lately. So I laughed and laid down. Despite having not done much I was exhausted from the day. It was probably still leftover from the knife wound from yesterday. And that was already feeling ten times better. We both laid down and said good night to each other. Despite the fact that I probably should have gotten up to go back to my tent I couldn't find it in myself to do it. So I closed my eyes and pulled a small blanket over myself. Within minutes and even with Daryl's lamp still burning I had fallen asleep.

My sleep had been perfect. I'd been dreaming that I'd met all of these people in the old world. We'd all had perfect lives. And we hadn't had to fight against the walkers. Although I'd much rather have them in this life. It was harder but it was better. So when I opened my eyes I had a smile on my lips. At least that was until I realized that I was awake. And it was early. Okay so maybe I wasn't as happy as I'd thought that I would be. I yawned and went into a deep stretch. Hmm... I supped that it had become habit for me to fall asleep with Daryl. Evidently it didn't bother him. I knew that he would say something if he really didn't want me here.

After a moment I stood and walked over to the cot that Daryl was laying in. He was still fast asleep. Poking Daryl in the shoulder I waited for his eyes to open. They sprung open almost immediately. He stared at me with a curious face. "C'mon, I'm pretty sure Glenn's gonna tell the rest of the group today. About the barn."

He grumbled for a moment but Daryl finally stood and climbed out of the cot. He seemed to be having a much easier time walking than he had yesterday. Although he still looked like he was in a little bit of pain. Once we'd both grabbed our shoes Daryl opened the flap and let me walk out first. I waited for him before turning and walking over to where the group was sitting. Daryl eventually sped up and left me trailing slightly behind.

The two of us took seats of logs near the RV and I took a plate from Carol. Dale was on the side that Daryl wasn't occupying. We all sat together and ate for a moment before Glenn stood. He paced for a moment, drawing attention of some of the group members. "Um, guys," Glenn started. He was looking at the entire group who were all looking back at him expectantly. He stopped for a moment and looked over at me. I gave him a supportive nod and he continued. "So the barn is full of walkers," he announced.

Way to be blunt Glenn. The entire group dropped their plates and broke into a run towards the barn. I sighed and dropped my plate as well. I wasn't done with that. I supposed that I could eat later. The group had been running for about three seconds before I stood and started to run as well. I still reached it at the same time as Rick. He was the third person there. Shane was looking inside and I watched as he jumped back after a moment. There were definitely walkers in there.

He ran a hand over his head before he looked back at Rick and sighed. "You cannot tell me you're all right with this," he told his best friend.

It didn't seem that Rick was overly thrilled about this new situation but I knew what he was thinking. It wasn't our choice. We were guests here. "No I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land," Rick said, voicing my thoughts.

Shane did not share the sentiment. "This is our lives!" He yelled.

"Lower your voice," both Rick and I hissed. The last thing that we needed were any of the Greene's coming out here and seeing that we had discovered the secrets of their walkers.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea stated. Naturally she'd side with him. Stupid whore. Yeah, I knew that I'd seen a smile on her face when they'd gotten back from their search for Sophia on the highway. I knew that she'd hooked up with him. Hope she liked Lori's leftovers. I debated on saying something about it. The only reason that I didn't was because Rick looked genuinely in pain over what to do.

The last thing that I needed was to start another fight. "It ain't right. Not remotely. Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time," Shane tried to convince the group.

It was clear that he didn't like that there was a new leader in play. And we couldn't leave. There were too many reasons that we couldn't leave. This place was good. It was safe. We didn't know about Fort Benning. "We can't go," Rick mumbled.

"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane asked. I wanted to snap at him. Lori. Carl. Sophia. Myself. Daryl. T-Dog. We had a lot of injured, sick, and pregnant people here. We weren't going to be able to leave for a while.

To my surprise it was Carol that stood up to Shane. "Because my daughter is still out there," the older woman cut in.

Once more Shane ran his hands over the top of his head before turning to Carol. "Okay. Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility," Shane started.

Hell no. Sophia was out there somewhere. We had just found evidence that she was still out there. And no matter what we were going to save her. We had to. No matter what we needed to know what had happened to her. "We're not leaving Sophia behind," Rick growled.

This time it was Daryl that stepped in. "I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago," Daryl cut in. He was right. She had made it this far, she could still be making it. She might be tougher than we all thought.

People could do some amazing things when they were scared and desperate. "You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll," Shane mocked.

God he was being such an asshole. Whatever had happened out there with Otis had changed him. He was not the same man that had carried me onto the farm a week ago. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about," Daryl snapped.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said," Shane attempted to justify.

"You get a good lead, it's in the first-" Daryl started before Shane cut in.

"Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction." Oh yeah he was definitely being an asshole.

Finally fed up with Shane, Daryl launched himself at him. The two were exchanging heavy blows while the rest of the group backed off of the two fighting men. I wasn't really sure who had the upper hand. Shane was the trained fighter out of the two of them but Daryl was angrier. He was stronger. He had a reason to fight against Shane. He had been the one out there every day looking for her. He was the one that had taken a bullet and an arrow for her. Normally I would have cut in but Shane deserved it. Rick however did cut in.

He stepped between the two and pushed on their chests to get them away from each other. "Back off!" Rick snarled at the two men.

At least he wasn't just ganging up on Daryl. He knew that Shane was in the wrong here too. "Keep your hands off me," Daryl snapped at Rick. He moved back and came to stand at my side.

The two men glared at each other and at the ground for a few minutes before everyone realized that they had both calmed down enough to listen to reason. "Now just let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out," Rick said.

It seemed reasonable to me. If we were going to do anything with the walkers we needed to make sure that Hershel knew our plans. "What are you gonna figure out?" Shane yelled.

Idiot. "If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land," Rick justified.

We were all silent for a moment. I knew that Shane wanted to clear the barn and I understood that. But I also understood that this was not our land. It was not our choice on what happened to the walkers. It was up to Hershel and his people. "Hershel sees those things in there as people- sick people- his wife, his stepson," Dale added.

I hadn't even known that Dale had known much about the situation. "You knew?" Rick asked. He seemed shocked that Dale had known anything about this too.

Dale nodded. "Yesterday I talked to Hershel," he told us.

It must have been after dinner when I had gone to spend the night with Daryl. I had been with Dale all during the rest of the day. "And you waited the night?" Rick asked. He seemed a little peeved.

Dale merely shrugged. "I thought we could survive one more night. We did," he told us. I nodded. We had survived a week without even knowing about them. One night wasn't going to hurt. "I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."

All eyes turned on the Asian man for a moment and he took a step back. I didn't blame him. He didn't want to be the one to be put at fault for the walkers in the barn. "The man is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or no," Shane said.

At that point there was nothing else to say. We had hashed out the argument and at that point it would just be a repeat. Rick headed off and I assumed that he was going to speak with Hershel. No one else had anything to say. So with that we all moved away from the barn to gather our thoughts. It didn't seem that anyone was in the mood for chatter. Daryl had walked off before me and I turned to see if I could follow him. As I looked through the yard I saw that Daryl was retreating to the stables. Carol was close behind him. I sped up to walk slowly behind them. Once I arrived at the barn with them I hid behind the wall to the stable, listening to the exchange between the two.

Daryl was already saddling up a horse and I scowled. He probably hadn't asked to borrow that one either. I saw him grunt at the pain and I sighed. He wasn't well enough to go. "You can't," Carol tried to stop Daryl from going out on the hunt again for Sophia.

He didn't seem to care. "I'm fine," he grunted.

"Hershel said you need to heal," Carol argued. It was the mother in her that was coming out to play.

"Yeah, I don't care."

"Well, I do," Carol said. I turned to her curiously as did Daryl. I supposed she did care about him. It figured. He had nearly died trying to ensure that Carol got her daughter back. "Rick's going out later to follow the trail," Carol tried again.

He shrugged. Daryl was not the type to lay around and do nothing. "Yeah well, I ain't gonna sit around and do nothing." Typical Daryl. He was going to get himself killed this time. And I would be so pissed.

She seemed to share my thoughts. "No, you're gonna go out there and get yourself hurt even worse." She was right. I just wished that he would notice that. "We don't know if we're gonna find her, Daryl. We don't. I don't," Carol mumbled softly. I nearly fell from my hiding spot. What? Had Carol given up on finding Sophia?

We were going to find her. We had to find her. One way or another. "What?" He asked while looking at Carol. He looked furious. After a moment he turned away from her and went to grab a saddle.

She shuffled on her feet for a moment. "Can't lose you too." As she said that Daryl grabbed the saddle and the weight pulled him down, pulling painfully at his stitches. He leaned over in pain and hissed softly. "Are you all right?" She asked while moving to his side.

He did not want the help. He whipped around to her angrily. "Just leave me be," he shouted. Carol moved back in surprise and it seemed like she was going to ask him something else when he muttered, "Stupid bitch." Shaking her head Carol turned around and walked out of the stable. Once she was gone from view I moved out of my hiding spot and walked up to where Daryl was kneeling in the hay.

He was still trying to get over the pain of the pulled stitches. "You know she was only trying to help. And she was right, you can't do this," I told Daryl. Without giving me a chance to say something I picked up the saddle and threw it back to where it had been hung up.

He was watching me with dark eyes. I had figured that he wouldn't be happy with me for counteracting his work. "Someone's gotta find that girl," he grumbled.

I turned to him and offered my hand. He took it but barely used any of his weight as he stood. I figured that it was because he didn't want to look weak. I grabbed the sides of his forearms as he came back up to his full height. "And we will but right now you need to heal. You could kill yourself if you get injured again,' I told him softly. Daryl merely huffed at me before moving away to stand at the entrance to the stable. I walked over to him and grabbed him by the arm. He was going to be angry until we went and found something to do. "C'mon, lets go find the rest of the group. See if you can help with something that won't kill you," I teased.

Daryl huffed again but followed me anyways. It had been a joke but I was serious. He was my best friend. I did not want to have to watch him nearly kill himself again. I had thought that I was going to die when I saw him get shot by Andrea. Although the sight of her with the black eyes was somewhat of repentance. Especially since the bruises that Ed had given me back at the quarry were finally gone. For a few hours we went back to Daryl tent and I helped him sharpen arrows. The entire time we had been messing around with each other and teasing over who was the better hunter. No one won that argument. Or at least not out loud.

After a few hours we made our way out the yard once more. I seriously hoped that Daryl and I coming out of his tent together after a few hours alone didn't look as bad as it sounded. Who was I kidding? It was definitely as bad. Hell, it was probably worse. Shaking away those thoughts I glanced around and I saw that a few people had gathered together again. Glenn, Lori, Andrea, and T-Dog were hanging around.

As we walked up I smirked at Glenn. "You look like you should be in line for the early bird special," I joked with Glenn as I saw he was wearing one of Dale's fishing hats. It turned out that Glenn had told Maggie that he had told the rest of us about the walkers in the barn. She had broken an egg in his red one as payback.

Not that I blamed her. I probably would have done the same thing. As Glenn shoved me Lori looked over at him in pity. "Go get your cap. I'll wash it for you, okay?" Lori told Glenn.

He nodded and went to go get the red baseball cap. "Do you know what's going on?" Andrea asked. What did she mean?

"Where is everyone?" T-Dog asked.

So that was what she meant. I had seen mostly everyone with the exception of Dale, Rick, Shane, and the rest of the Greene's. "Y'all haven't seen Rick have you?" I asked. He was the one person that we needed to speak to right now.

We were only ignoring the walker problem right now. We would have to fix it sooner or later. "He went off with Hershel," Glenn told us. Where the hell had they gone? "We were supposed to leave a couple hours ago," he continued.

Where were they even supposed to be going? Probably not important. The only important thing was where they had all gone. "Yeah you were," Lori added.

Daryl came to stand at my side. "What the hell?" He asked.

I shrugged and cocked my hip out. "Rick told us he was going out," I told Daryl.

It was the truth. He had wanted to go out and find Hershel. But how the hell weren't they back yet? Had they gone to Virginia or something? "Damn it. Isn't anybody taking this seriously? We got us a damn trail," Daryl said. He was right. We needed to get out there before Sophia could get too far away from where the trail for her had left off. "Oh, here we go," Daryl said as he rolled his eyes at Shane. He was currently stalking up to the porch where we were all standing. He had a bag slung over his shoulder.

Were those the guns he had? Why the hell did he have them? We weren't supposed to be carrying. It was one of the reasons that we were allowed to stay here. "What's all this?" Lori asked as he approached us.

Shane ignored her as he slung the bag towards the ground and reached in. "You with me, man?" Shane asked Daryl while holding out a riffle.

Daryl stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Yeah," Daryl said while taking the riffle from Shane.

Once Daryl had a hold of the rifle Shane moved over to Andrea. "Time to grow up. You already got yours?" He asked her.

"Yeah," she nodded. It was then that I realized that she had a small pistol on her hip. What the hell? Why did she get to keep her gun and I had to give mine up? I was a better shot than her. And she had shot Daryl! "Where's Dale?" She asked him.

Once more Shane moved over to stand in front of me. He went digging through the bag. "He's on his way," Shane huffed.

Something must have gone down between the two of them. Shane had never minded Dale. He had looked up to him. But he did not seem happy at all to hear the older man's name now. "Thought we couldn't carry," I said angrily. I did not want to get kicked out of this place. Shane shook his head at me and handed me my Beretta which I gratefully took back.

"We can and we have to. Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't." I heard the door open and I looked over to see that Maggie had come out of the house. She looked furious as she came to stand in between Glenn and I. "How about you, man? You gonna protect yours?" Shane asked Glenn while holding out another riffle. Glenn looked over at Maggie for a moment but said nothing. "That's it," he whispered as Glenn took the gun.

He looked more than uncomfortable to be holding the gun but I knew that it was just because Maggie was standing there. He knew how to shoot. "Can you shoot?" Shane asked as he turned to Maggie.

Her arms were folded over her chest so that she couldn't take a gun. "Can you stop? You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight," Maggie hissed at Shane.

We couldn't leave. We would have no chance out on the road. We still didn't have that much food or really any place to live. This was the best that we had. "We have to stay, Shane," Lori said.

He continued to try and hand her a gun when I snarled and took up a protective stance in front of the woman. "What are you doing? You're gonna get us kicked out of here," I hissed at Shane.

It was obvious that Shane didn't understand the repercussions that would come of his actions. "We ain't going anywhere, okay? Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He- Well, he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right? Huh?" He asked. No one answered. He turned to face Carl and my jaws tightened. "Now I want you to take this. You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it," Shane tried to egg on the young boy.

Ever the responsible mother Lori stepped in front of Shane before Carl could take the gun and glared at him. "Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make," she told him.

Shane opened his mouth to say something else but before he could T-Dog groaned. "Oh shit," he said while looking out in the yard. I turned to look out and saw what T was talking about. Not good. Not good at all. Rick and Hershel were headed back across the yard but that was with two walkers on catch poles. What the hell were they doing?

It took a sudden movement from Shane to get to rest of us into mode. "What is that? What is that?" Shane yelled running to meet the pair in the yard. I took off after him and knew that the rest of the group had followed my lead. I could hear the pounding of their footsteps behind me.

"Shane!" I heard Lori yell from behind me.

Shane was the only one that went stomping over to Hershel and Rick. He was also the only one that looked overly pissed. Everyone else just looked confused at the sudden turn of events. "What the hell are you doing?" Shane shouted at Rick.

"Shane, just back off," Rick warned as Shane came within a few feet of Hershel and Rick.

Both men were clearly having a problem keeping the walkers at bay. I was sure that at any minute they were going to manage to break away from the catch pole. "Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked, seeing that we were all armed.

I wasn't sure that our carrying weapons was the main problem right now. Not when they were hanging onto two things that were trying to kill us. "Are you kidding me? You see? You see what they're holding onto?" Shane asked, addressing us all.

The comment was not received well by the farmer. "I see who I'm holding onto," Hershel snapped.

It was another comment that was not well received. "No, man, you don't," Shane laughed while shaking his head.

Instead of letting Shane get any closer to Hershel, Rick took a step forward. "Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk," Rick tried to reason with his best friend.

As much as I hated this he was right. They needed to get rid of the walkers first and then we could talk about everything that was going down right now. "What you want to talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us," Shane yelled, seeming to lose it. Whatever it was that he had left.

The mention of Andrea's late sister made the woman in question flinch. And by now all of the Greene family had made their way out of the house. I heard Patricia's soft sob at the mention of her late husband's name. "Shane, shut up!" Rick shouted.

"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something. Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" Shane pulled out his gun and shot the walker Hershel was holding three times through the chest. "No!" Shane yelled. What a waste of bullets.

People clearly wanted to stop Shane but no one knew what to do without getting themselves shot. "Stop it!" Lori shouted.

Shane put the gun down to his side before staring back at Hershel. "That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that? Why is it still coming? That's its heart, its lungs," Shane yelled as he shot the corresponding areas that would normally be fatal. "Why is it still coming?" Shane asked, turning back to Hershel.

"Shane, enough," Rick warned. It was enough. But no one knew what to do or how to step in.

Shane broke eye contact from Hershel for long enough to turn to Rick. "Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough. Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone!" Oh fuck you, you asshole. "Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough. Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now." Shane finished his speech and ran to the barn, taking a pick axe with him. He was working to pry the barn doors open. Oh God. I'd try to stop him but I knew that I was no match for him.

We were all panicking in our spots. "Take the snare pole. Hershel, take the snare pole. Hershel, listen to me, man, please. Take it now. Hershel! Take it!" Rick yelled. No matter how much he yelled though Hershel would not take the pole. "No, Shane. Do not do this, brother. Wait! Don't do it!" It was too late. Hershel had already collapsed to his knees. Looking back, I saw the rest of Hershel's people looking on in horror.

There had to be something that we could do but no one wanted to get in a fight with Shane right now. He was too unstable. "Rick!" Lori shouted, not that it would do any good.

"Please!" Rick begged with Shane but it was too late. A moment after Shane finally managed to break open the barn doors. He was now goading the walkers out.

"Come on. Come on, we're out here," Shane howled at the walkers.

The walkers were slowly making their way out. No matter how much people were panicking it was too late to stop it. They were already out. "This is not the way! Please!" Rick begged. Shane simply turned around and shot Rick's walker. With no way left but to take down the walkers, myself, Andrea, Rick, T-Dog and Daryl reluctantly joined Shane.

They were already gone. We had the living to protect. "Get behind me," I heard Lori say to Carl.

"Come on," Shane urged the walkers again.

They finally started to limp awkwardly from the barn. Most of them looked relatively new. "Maggie," Glenn pleaded with the Greene daughter.

"It's okay, " she reassured him. She stood back making sure that her family were still planted in their places. Glenn pulled out his gun and stepped next to me in line, joining the gunfire.

The walkers came into clear view and I waited a moment. I wanted to wait until they got a little closer. I wanted to wait until I had to kill the first of them. "Stay back!" Rick warned the rest of the Greene family.

We all hated what we had to do. We were killing not just walkers but people that meant something to this family. Firing shot after shot I was taking more and more walkers down but my guilt increased with each one. These were their family, friends, and neighbors who we were killing without a second thought. A few times I noticed walkers that were familiar to me. I had seen them in pictures before. Shawn and Annette Greene. Maggie had briefly mentioned them to me. Shawn was her half-brother. Beth's full brother. Annette was her step-mother. Hershel's wife and Beth's mother.

"Stop!" I heard Beth shout in the background. I hated to think it. We all wanted to stop. This was not something that we wanted to do. But we had to.

Firing my last shot and taking down the last walker I sighed and dropped my gun to my side. That had hurt. But we had to. Turning back I heard another growl and whipped back around to the barn. There was still one more. I saw a small walker emerge from the barn and I raised my gun to kill it when I finally saw just who the walker was. Or had been. Holy shit. It was Sophia. She was wearing the same clothes she had had on when she was lost and she had a huge bite mark on her shoulder. I choked back a sob and dropped my gun. Everyone did, even Shane.

There wasn't a sound to be heard other than her soft growling. "Sophia? Sophia!" Carol shouted and went to run for her daughter. I was about to intercept her when Daryl caught Carol, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to the ground.

As least he was making sure that she wasn't going to get to her daughter. I saw that Rick was walking up to Sophia, but I ran and caught up with him. I caught his arm as he was about to shoot Sophia and shook my head at him before raising my own gun. "You sure?" Rick asked me.

After a moment I nodded. She had been mine to find. I'd been the stupid one to not stay with her. Rick could have taken care of the walkers. So I should be the one to have to live with the guilt of finally killing her. Sophia was a couple of feet away from me when I turned back to shake my head at a crying Carol. She had to know that I never wanted to do this. I blinked back tears before turning to look back at Sophia. I raised my arms and took up the slack in the trigger. As my hand tightened around the trigger I felt my eyes water and my body begin to shake.

I did not want to do this. But I had to. Rick didn't deserve this. He had tried so hard. "Sophia. Sophia. Oh no. Sophia. Sophia. No. Sophia," I heard Carol continue to cry in the background.

"Don't watch," I heard Daryl mumble to Carol.

I waited a moment to make sure that he had buried her face in his shoulder. With every last ounce of strength that I had I pulled the trigger. The bang echoed through the air and I watched as Sophia's body dropped in front of me. It was surreal as the brass shell-casing was kicked back and my gun went falling from my hands into the grass. In that moment all was silent except the cries of Beth and Carol.


	16. Hatlin's

What the hell had I just done? I couldn't believe that I'd just done it. I stared at the dead body of Sophia Peletier and dropped to my knees weakly. I wanted to continue standing but I didn't think that I could. My knees had given out. I wasn't strong enough to keep standing. I threw my gun to the side of me. I didn't want to see it. Rick came to stand next to me and I felt his hand lay itself on my shoulder. His hand was warm but I could barely feel it. I felt empty, broken. I simply couldn't believe it.

We had fought so hard to get to her. She had everything going for her. She had so many people looking for her. We'd given her exact directions to get back to us. But it was me. I had left her. I could have let Rick take care of the walkers and gotten her back to the highway. But I didn't. I left her. And my payback was having to kill her in front of everyone, in front of her mother. I was sure that Carol hated me now. I wouldn't have blamed her.

After all I was the reason her daughter was dead. She had every right in the world to hate me right now. I could only hope that she hadn't actually seen me put Sophia down. I turned back long enough to see Carol shove away from Daryl and run back to the RV. She was crying loudly the whole way. No one bothered to stop her. I sighed and started to stand. I didn't want to be here any longer. I was about to leave when I saw Beth run past me and over to one of the fallen walkers. It was Annette Greene; her mother.

I watched as Rick held up an arm to stop her. "Wait, wait, wait, wait," he called out to her. She simply ignored him and brushed by, trying to get to her fallen mother. Just let her go Rick.

Despite trying to grab her before she could get to the walker, Rick missed her. "Ma!" Beth cried as she dropped down onto her knees and held the body of her dead mother. Just as I was about to pull away from the group I heard a shriek tear through the otherwise silent air.

My feet worked on their own accord to see that Beth was currently in a precarious situation. It was evident that Annette Greene was not truly dead. She had managed to climb up and latch her fingers around Beth's shoulders. The younger girl was trying to yank away from her rotting mother. Thankfully Beth was smart enough to keep away from her mother. Running over I slid on my knees over to Beth and wrapped one arm around her while I used the other to push Annette's face away from Beth's shoulder.

The walker was far too close to Beth for my liking and I did not want to be the reason that the Greene family lost another member. "Come on! Pull her away, pull her away!" Everyone shouted. Just as I began to lose my grip on Annette, Andrea came running over to us. I ducked and pulled Beth down with me. Annette went to grab for us once more but Andrea was faster. She hit Beth's dead mother with a shovel over the head killing her once and for all. Sighing deeply and wiping the sweat from my brow I dropped my grasp on the walker's head and released Beth. The younger girl scrambled up and ran over to Patricia, who wrapped her arms around the sobbing girl.

Just as the Greene family went to retreat to their house I heard Shane speak up. "We've been out. We've been combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along?" Shane asked no one in particular before rounding on the farmer. "You knew," he growled at Hershel.

This was a pointless argument. We had all lost something today. Not just us. Hershel and his people had too. "Leave us alone," Maggie snapped at Shane. She was holding up her father, who looked ready to fall at any moment.

"Hey, Shane. Just stop, man," Rick said to Shane while putting his arm on his shoulder to pull him back from the Greene's.

Shane took to Rick's arm over his shoulder about as well as Daryl had earlier. "Get your hands off me," Shane snapped at Rick. The bald man rolled his arm and shoulder to throw Rick's hand off.

Finally it seemed that Hershel snapped into the present and realized what had just happened. "I-" Hershel started weakly before he was cut off by Shane.

"You knew and you kept it from us," Shane snarled.

I somehow doubted that Hershel knew. I was pretty sure that it wasn't him that took care of the walkers. Even if it was it didn't matter. They had never seen Sophia. They didn't know what she looked like. It wasn't their fault. "I didn't know," Hershel insisted.

Shane clearly thought that Hershel was lying. "That's bullshit. I think y'all knew," he challenged as he took a step forward to Hershel and Maggie.

His daughter did not like the threat to her father's safety. "We didn't know!" Maggie yelled.

I believed her. The Greene's were not malicious people. If they had known that it was Sophia in there they would have said something. Especially after so many people had been injured while looking for her. They were parents too. Some of them. They wouldn't have wanted Carol to be suffering for as long as she had. "Why was she there? Your Otis put those people in the barn," Shane said while glaring at Hershel.

So it was Otis that had put the walkers in the barn. He had never known Sophia. He hadn't even known that we'd had a lost little girl. "Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed," Hershel mumbled.

That would have been the only thing that made sense. I still wasn't surprised when Shane snapped yet again. "You expect me to believe that? Do I look like an idiot?" He asked. Well actually with the shaved head and overalls, yes you do.

Not that I was going to tell him that. I didn't have the energy to speak up or out against anyone. "Shane, hey hey hey," Rick tried to calm his best friend. There was no use in anyone getting upset.

To my surprise it was Hershel that snapped first. "I don't care what you believe!" Hershel yelled at Shane.

The sudden outburst had startled everyone. I even saw Maggie jump slightly. "Everybody just calm down," Rick tried.

Hershel took to being told to calm down about as well as a woman on her period did. "Get him off my land!" Hershel shouted loudly while pointing over at Shane.

"Please," Maggie added.

They turned to walk away and I let out a breath that I hadn't known that I'd been holding. This day certainly had not gone the way that I had been expecting it too. "No. Let me tell you something," Shane tried to speak while grabbing onto Hershel's shoulder.

Hershel didn't respond to the sudden touch but Maggie yanked her father away roughly. "Hey. Don't touch him! Haven't you done enough?" Maggie snapped at Shane while pulling her father back towards their house.

They turned to leave but before they could make it a few feet Hershel turned back to us. "I mean it. Off my land," Hershel sighed before allowing Maggie to lead him, and the rest of their family, back towards their house. That wasn't a good thing. He had directed the last comment as us. I saw Rick attempt to follow them but Shane stepped in front of him before he could.

Rick tried to walk past again but Shane merely cut in front of him once more. "What are you doing? Hey, what are you doing? Daryl almost died looking for her, Rick. Any one of us could have." It was the truth but I knew that they hadn't known. I'd seen the shock on their faces. "I'm gonna tell you right now. That son of a bitch, he knew."

It seemed that Rick agreed with me that Hershel hadn't known that Sophia was one of the walkers in the barn. "He didn't know. He's not like that. He opened his home to us," he argued.

He was right. Hershel could have easily let Carl and I die from the bullet wounds. "He put us all in danger," Shane argued again. I saw the two of them get into it a little more but I couldn't do with this. Not right now.

So with not being able to take the arguing anymore I pushed myself off of the ground and headed for the woods. The only person that looked over at me was Daryl. He looked like he might follow me but a moment later he turned in the other direction and headed for the tent. I assumed that he wanted to mourn in his own way. As I broke the wood line I only walked for about a minute when I came on a small clearing. I stood in the middle of the clearing and stared for a moment. It was far too peaceful out here. Not for everything that had just happened. My knees buckled and I went dropping to the ground. As I settled into the grass I did something I hadn't done in years. I cried.

The feeling was so foreign for a moment I thought that I was dying. It didn't bother me. The tears weren't a little sob either. They were absolute hysterics. The last time I had cried this hard was when I had left home at fourteen; afraid with nowhere to go. This was different. I wasn't crying for myself. I was crying for someone else. I was sure that I sat in the clearing for over an hour. Finally I had let most of my emotions out and I was now just down to silent crying. Only the occasional tear went rolling down my cheeks. I lifted my head slightly when I heard footsteps but relaxed when I realized they were too even to be a walkers.

For a minute I thought that it might have been Daryl finally coming out to check on me but the footsteps were too heavy. Daryl was an almost silent walker. It came from being a hunter. My steps were near silent too. Seeing red tennis shoes at my feet I was mildly surprised when I realized that it was Glenn. I would have thought he'd be comforting Maggie. "I would've thought you'd be with Maggie," I mumbled to him.

He didn't say anything. Glenn sat down next to me and pushed a stray strand of my hair behind my ear. I looked down. "I thought that I should give her some space for a while, let her help her family. Besides you looked like you needed the comfort more." His arm went around my shoulders and I let my head fall into the crook of his neck. "Daryl was about to come out here," Glenn told me.

I looked over at him and cocked my brow. "Oh?" I couldn't understand why he was going to. Or why he hadn't.

Glenn nodded at me. "He was pacing back and forth at the wood line for a while. I could tell that he wanted to come check on you. But he isn't exactly the best with emotional confrontation. When I passed him on my way in here I told him that I'd check up on you. He mumbled something and said that he'd come see you later," he told me.

I looked down at the ground and dug my feet into the grass, tearing up a few patches. "He doesn't have to come check on me. I can handle myself," I mumbled more to myself than Glenn.

The boy in question chuckled slightly and shook his head at me. "Rain I think you're really smart. You're smarter than me. Smarter than even Dale. But you can be really thick sometimes," he told me. My head cocked to the side at his words. I needed this. I needed to get my mind off of Sophia for a minute. "He wasn't going to come out here to make sure that you were safe. He was going to come out here to see if you were alright. Because he cares about you. Just like I care about Maggie," he told me.

I shook my head and snorted at him. "He doesn't care about me the way that you care about Maggie. We're friends. Good friends. You and Maggie. You guys love each other. Everyone can see it," I told him.

"Funny," Glenn said. I nodded at him to continue. "Everyone says the same thing about you and Daryl."

I didn't want to say anything else. I didn't even know what to say. We didn't love each other. As friends, sure. But not as anything else. Glenn seemed to get the hint that now was the wrong time to talk about this. So I leaned my head back on Glenn's shoulder and he ran his fingers over my knuckles. We sat in silence for a few minutes before I looked up at Glenn. "She died because of me," I said softly.

It was a drastic change in attitude from what we had just been talking about. "Rain, you can't say that. Sophia's death wasn't your fault. It was an accident, just like the day you and Carl got shot. A stupid accident," Glenn argued.

He was right. They were the same in some ways. What happened to all three of us had been accidents. But there was one difference. "Except we both survived," I mumbled.

Glenn was silent as he processed the information. It was true. We were both quiet as our knees knocked together. It was clear that we didn't know what to say to each other. "How could you think that she died because of you?" Glenn asked me.

Because it's always my fault. I didn't say that though. "Because four walkers had followed her into the woods. I decided to play hero and take down two walkers while Rick got the other two. I could have let him handle it. I could have given him my knife and I could've taken Sophia back to the highway. Or he could have taken her and I could have used my bow and arrows. You know what her last words to me were? They were 'please don't leave me here'. But I did. I left her and I told her I'd be back, but I never was. That was the last time I saw her alive."

Glenn didn't like my self-deprecating thoughts. "And what would have happened if Rick had gotten overwhelmed?" Glenn asked me. I had thought about that. It was the only reason that I had left her. "You did the right thing. Sophia knew that. She knew you had to leave her, that it was the only viable option. And now she may not be here but she's looking down on you. And I'm sure she wants to tell you thank you for all that you, and everyone else did while looking for her."

He made a good point but even the best point couldn't stop the guilt that I was feeling. Maybe it was because I was the last person to see her other than Rick. We had seen her in her last moments. Not even Carol. "I still could have tried to save her," I muttered.

Glenn didn't like that comment. "Rain you tried harder than anyone, except maybe Daryl." He was right about that. I had taken quite a few wounds trying to find the girl. "But you took a bullet and knife wound in the process!" Glenn yelled.

That was not necessarily true. The bullet wound had been from searching for her but the knife wound was my own damned fault. "The knife was from my fight with walkers," I told Glenn.

Glenn shook his head and his shoulder, knocking me off of my spot. He turned to face me and grabbed my knee tightly. "Oh come on I know you. You were thinking about something. Maybe it was her, maybe it wasn't. But I know that while you were out there you were looking for her." He wasn't wrong. I had been thinking about her right before I was attacked. Glenn was silent for a minute before he stood up and offered me his hand, which I took. "Come on, we're having a service for her soon. I know you'd want to be there," he told me.

He wasn't wrong. I did want to be there. Sighing, I grabbed his arm and allowed him to pull me up. We walked out of the clearing in silence with Glenn's arm draped over my shoulder. I looked out towards my tent and noticed that Daryl's was no longer there. Where was he? Looking around I saw that he had moved his tent out almost to the wood line. I guess we had a similar way of dealing with things; pulling away from others. I looked up and noticed that most of the group were standing around and debating on what to do with the bodies.

Glenn nodded at me with an encouraging smile. Walking up to the group I sighed but grabbed a shovel from Dale anyways. He brought me in to press a quick kiss against my forehead. "You want us to start burying?" Daryl asked Rick as he walked up to the group. He gave me a concerned look but I merely dropped my head down. I didn't wan to see the pity.

Rick sighed and shook his head. "We need a service," he answered. He was right about that. We needed a service for the loved ones. I knew that it wasn't just Shawn and Annette that the Greene's had lost today. There had been neighbors and friends in there too.

"Carol would want that," Lori put in.

It wasn't just her. We all wanted that for our young friend. "Yeah, we all want that," Andrea sighed.

We all knew that we would need to have a service for the loved ones. "Let's dig a grave for Sophia, and Annette and Shawn, uh, over by those trees," Rick said as he motioned over towards some larger trees near the wood line but still on the property. "And we'll need a truck to move the bodies," Rick said shakily.

I did a quick mental count of the bodies. As it turned out there had been well over thirty walkers in the barn. "I'll get the keys," T-Dog said.

He turned to get the truck but before he could Daryl stepped forward. "No, no. I got the truck," Daryl told him. I assumed that it was because the truck had been Merle's. Merle was gone but he was still Daryl's brother. And I assumed that Daryl was still loyal to Merle. Despite the fact that he was easily adapting into our new family.

As he walked by he brushed me on the shoulder. I gave a weak smile before turning back to the group. "And the others?" Andrea asked. She was right. We couldn't bury them all unless we did a mass grave. "That's a lot of digging."

Sophia, Shawn, and Annette deserved better than that. "We bury the ones we love and burn the rest," Rick said. It was the way that we had been doing things since the attack back at the quarry.

We were all silent and still for a moment. "Let's get to work," Lori mumbled before walking off. My eyebrows knitted at her. I knew that she was pregnant but it couldn't have been more than a month. She could have at least helped a little. I would have.

But this was the wrong time to start an argument. So I walked over and started on a grave. The entire time I grumbled to myself about how unfair it was that Lori wasn't working. I understood Carol. She was mourning. It would be cruel of us to ask her to help with her daughter's grave. We had the respect to do the job for her. Plus she really wasn't that strong anyways. She was almost useless. But that was fine. She was good with cooking and cleaning. Lori had been next to useless lately. And I hated to be nasty but I was getting to my wits end. She had to start helping around here soon. Pregnant or not. Rick's wife or not. We all had our roles. Hers was not to sit on her ass.

Of course that was probably the starvation, dehydration, and depression talking. So I shook my thoughts out of my head and went to working in relative silence. I found myself digging the grave quickly. But it still felt like I had been digging graves for an eternity. I sighed before wiping my forehead and throwing the shovel down. I was finally done with my grave. Sophia's. I let out a long sigh before moving to the Winnebago, going inside for a bottle of water. I closed the door behind me and went to the kitchenette, grabbing a bottle and almost downing the entire thing.

I leaned back on the counter lost in my thoughts when Carol's voice startled me back into reality. I had forgotten she was in here. "You should be careful out there, it's incredibly hot," she told me. She walked up to my side and handed me a rag.

I took it from her with a soft thanks. "Yeah it is," I mumbled. We both stood in silence for a moment before I finally turned to look at Carol. Her eyes were red. I was sure that mine mirrored them. "Carol I'm so sorry that I left Sophia. And that I couldn't find her. And that I had to..." I trailed off but I knew that Carol understood.

She turned to me with the shake of her head. She grabbed my arms lightly and I had to force myself not to pull away. "Rain, you have nothing to apologize for. If you had taken her and left Rick he could have died. And what would we do without him? Sweetie, you took an arrow and a knife in the process of looking for her. You and Daryl did more for my little girl than either one of you ever needed to do. Thank you," she told me.

I couldn't believe that she was thanking me. I had just killed her little girl. I looked up at Carol genuinely surprised. "You don't hate me?" I asked her.

Carol gave me a small smile and shook her head at me. "Rain, how could I hate you?" There were plenty of reasons to hate me. "Especially after all you've done for me. You're like a daughter to me," she told me softly.

At least if Sophia was gone she still had me. She had all of us. We would always be here for her. We would be her new family. I smiled slightly and whispered, "You're like a mother to me, the one I never deserved," I told her honestly.

My parents might not have been good people but I knew enough to know that I didn't deserve a good mother. Just the way that they hadn't deserved a good child. "No Rain, you deserve the best. You have such a huge heart and you deserve to have love and happiness. And I know you're close to finding it," she told me.

It was very much something a mother would say. She gave me a knowing smile and I was about to ask what she meant when Daryl walked in. He looked over at me briefly before his eyes flicked over to Carol. "They're ready. Come on," Daryl told us; meaning Sophia's funeral.

She turned to Daryl before shaking her head gently. I had known that it would be hard on her. No parent should have to attend their own children's funeral. "Why?" Carol asked, shocking me.

She had to go. That was her child. I knew that it would be hard but she was going to have to find it in herself to go. "'Cause that's your little girl," Daryl told her.

He was as surprised as I was that Carol didn't want to go. "That's not my little girl. That's some other thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought- She didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago." Carol looked so forlorn.

I wanted to shake Carol and tell her she needed to go. But I couldn't force her. There was nothing that we could do. Shaking my head I got up and walked out of the RV with Daryl. His hand was on my back lightly as we walked. It provided the assistance that I needed to bring myself to actually walk over to the crowd. When we got there his hand still didn't leave my back. We merely took spots side by side and listened as Maggie finished speaking about her family. She was the only one that looked remotely able to speak.

We both stood awkwardly as everyone waited for the eulogy to be given for Sophia. Rick was the first one to step up. "Can someone speak for Sophia?" Rick asked, obviously uncomfortable. The group of us sat in uncomfortable silence before I spoke up.

"I will," I said before I could stop myself. For a minute I had no idea what to say but I eventually gathered my thoughts and took a deep breath. "Sophia... I didn't know her very well but I can tell a lot about a person just by seeing them. And I saw a lot in Sophia. She didn't have a mean bone in her body. This world was a cruel place for her. In a way I'm glad she's gone. She doesn't have to fight and be miserable here. I know that somewhere up there someone is watching over her. And I know that Sophia would want us to keep fighting. So that's what we're going to do. Keep fighting. For Sophia," I said softly.

I sighed and looked up at the group for approval. Everyone was giving me appreciative nods and I knew that I hadn't fucked up. Daryl's hand was tight on my back. "Thank you Rain, Sophia would have liked that," Rick told me. I hoped that he was right about that. I hoped that she was watching over us.

There was nothing to say after that. And with that members of the group started to dissipate slowly. The Greene family were the first to leave. Shane left only a moment after them but in the completely opposite direction. Dale and Andrea followed a moment later. T-Dog went in the same direction as the former two a minute later. It took a few minutes longer for Daryl to leave. His hand brushed against my lower back as he walked away. Out of eye shot of the rest of the group Daryl nodded back towards his tent letting me know that he would be there if I wanted to talk.

I did want to talk but I wasn't ready yet. For now I wanted to stay with Sophia. So I remained until it was Maggie, Rick, Glenn, and myself left. We all stood together in a somewhat awkward silence. "Hershel is missing," Maggie blurted out suddenly.

"What?" I asked before anyone else could say anything. Why the hell had Hershel gone missing? It didn't seem good. "Where do you think he could have gone?" I asked her.

Maggie shrugged her shoulders. That also wasn't good. His own daughter didn't even know where he had gone. That meant that he didn't want anyone to know where he was going. "How long?" Rick asked.

The longer he had been gone the worse that this was going to get. "Since the barn. Beth is in some sort of catatonic shock though, we need him here," she answered.

Not good. It was no longer a missing person's case. We now needed a doctor. "Shit," Glenn mumbled.

We couldn't just comb the entire town for him. That could take hours. Beth could be dead by the time that we did that. "I do have an idea of where he is though. Come with me," she told us. That was good. She motioned us after her and we followed. She lead our small group back to the house and upstairs without saying a word. We walked past the bedrooms that Daryl, Carl, and I had been in while we were staying in here and into what appeared to be Hershel's bedroom.

It was basically the same thing as the bedroom I had been in. This one was just larger. "Your stepmother's things?" Rick asked, pointing to a box of women's clothes in the corner of the room.

They sure as hell weren't Hershel's. "He was so sure she'd recover. They'd just pick up where they left off," she told us while allowing us to look around the room.

Rick went over to the dresser and picked up what looked like an old flask. "Looks like he found an old friend." Odd. I didn't peg Hershel for much of a drinker.

Maggie nodded and walked over to take the flask back. "That belonged to my grandfather, gave it to dad when he died," the brunette explained.

"I didn't take Hershel for a drinker," Rick said. He seemed to share the same thoughts about the old farmer that I did.

Maggie smiled bitterly and shook her head at us. "No, he gave it up on the day I was born. He didn't even allow liquor in the house." Well that was no fun.

We all stood for a moment and Hershel paced for a moment before turning back to Maggie with an inquisitive gaze. "What's the bar in town?" Rick asked.

Good idea. The bar in town would be the one place that made sense for Hershel to go. He had clearly picked up his drinking habits once more and I figured that he wouldn't want to be anywhere near the farm. "Hatlin's. He practically lived there in his drinking days," Maggie told him.

That was an almost surefire sign that he was going to be there now. "Betting that's where I'll find him," Rick said.

"Yeah, I've seen the place. I'll take you," Glenn offered.

Rick nodded his thanks to the Asian man and Maggie thanked them before everyone started to move towards the door to the bedroom. "All right, I'll get the truck," Rick told him.

The two nodded at each other and walked into the hallway. Rick turned towards the staircase and started walking away so I ran to catch up with him. I had to get out of here. I needed to leave. If even just for half an hour. I had been trapped here for two long. "Rick!" I yelled. The man in question turned back to me. "Hey, I just wanted to see if I could come with you guys to get Hershel?" I asked him.

He stared at me for a moment and I sighed. I knew that look. He was going to tell me no. "Rain, I don't think-"

"Please Rick. I can't stand being here. Everyone is moping around and I just can't be around it anymore. Plus I can't take looking at that barn. Please. You know that I can shoot, let me go with you guys. Wouldn't hurt to have another pair of eyes on the lookout," I begged him.

The only thing that I wanted right now was to get the hell out of here. Rick seemed to think about it for a minute before nodding his head. "Go get your stuff, I'm bringing the truck around now. We're leaving in a few."

"Thank you!" I called before running off to my tent.

Actually it was more than a run. It was close to a sprint. It was why I was out to the tent in just under thirty seconds. Once I dashed in I grabbed my Beretta and strapped it to my waist. Once it was secured I pulled all of my knives on me. Just in case. The paranoid part of me grabbed my Springfield as well and tucked it into the back of my pants. We didn't need to lose anyone else. Turning and sprinting back to the house I met Rick and Glenn at the truck before jumping in and heading to Hatlin's.

I was pretty sure that no one said anything to anyone. The only person that might have known that we were leaving was Lori. I hadn't bothered saying anything to Daryl. I would have had to go out to his tent and I still wasn't sure that I could face him. Glenn had made sure that Maggie knew that Rick had probably told Lori. That was only two people that knew. Although two was better than none. We had been driving for about ten minutes, crammed into the bench seat together.

It was a moment later when Glenn spoke up, startling us out of our thoughts. "Maggie said she loves me. She doesn't mean it. I mean she can't. I mean well- She she's upset or confused. She's probably feeling, like-"

I couldn't help but to laugh at Glenn's rambling when Rick cut him off. It was nice to hear that rather than talk about Sophia or the Greene's. "I think she's smart enough to know what she's feeling."

Glenn didn't seem to understand that someone could feel that way about him. "No. No. No, you know what? She wants to be in love, so she's she needs something to- to, like to hold onto," Glenn stammered, trying to justify Maggie's love for him.

He was such an idiot. Although maybe that was what he thought about Daryl and I. "Glenn, it's pretty obvious to everyone Maggie loves you, and not just because you're one of the last men standing. So what's the problem?" Rick asked.

I could answer that one. Glenn was not good with the female species. "I didn't say it back. I've never had a woman say that to me before except my mom, of course, and my sisters. But with Maggie, it's different. We barely know each other. What does she really know about me? Nothing. We're practically strangers. But I didn't know what to do with it. I just stood there like a jerk," he said.

Ouch to Maggie. I'd had men say it to me and I hadn't responded before. They always looked hurt. I could only imagine how she felt right about now. "Really Glenn?" I asked. Her nodded awkwardly. "You love her too, you could've just said it back," I told him while shaking my head.

Glenn's face went red and I smiled. "Hey. Hey, this is a good thing, something we don't get enough of these days. Enjoy it. And when we get back, return the favor. It's not like she's going anywhere," he told Glenn.

At least we hoped that she wasn't going anywhere. The conversation had been going well, but I got the bad feeling that it was about to go south. Letting the smile on my face drop, I listened. "Rick? I know about Lori, her being pregnant. I got her those pills," Glenn told Rick guiltily.

He had a guilty conscience. I knew that he wouldn't be able to keep the secret for too long. "I figured," Rick said without bothering to look away from the road.

I figured that by now Lori had made the decision to keep the baby. At least if Rick was being so calm about it. "Hey, I'm sorry I kept it from you," Glenn said after a moment of silence.

Rick looked up from the road and shook his head. "Don't be. You did what you thought was right. It just so happens it wasn't, Rick told him coldly. That seemed to be the end of the conversation as Rick turned his attention back to the road. I sighed at the now awkward air and looked out the window. This might have been even worse than the farm. Hopefully Hatlin's wasn't too far away.

Back at the Farm...

I hadn't been sharpening my arrows for long when I saw Lori walking over to me. Oh good. I thought that they were all mourning. Scoffing, I looked down at the arrows and tried to block her out. Maybe if I looked away long enough she'd get lost. "Moving to the suburbs?" She teased. I didn't say anything back. "Listen, Beth's in some kind of catatonic shock. We need Hershel," she told me.

She really expected me to even know what she was talking about? Or where the hell the old man was? Wasn't my damned job to know where everyone was. "Yeah. So what?" I asked. I didn't care one bit.

She shifted on her feet for a moment. "So I need you to run into town real quick and bring him and Rick back," she told me. I ignored her. She could get off her ass and do it herself. "Daryl?" She asked again. I merely scoffed and scraped hard at the arrow I was holding.

The only thing that I knew was that Rick and Glenn had gone out to go find him. They'd made sure that Shane and I knew before they left. "Your bitch went window-shopping. You want him? Fetch him yourself. I got better things to do," I snapped at Lori.

Her face fell as she stared at me in shock. Not that I cared. I was done with looking for people. "What's the matter with you? How could you be so selfish?" Lori asked. My head snapped up in shock and I whipped my head over to look at her.

She wanted to dare call me selfish? I was not selfish. "Selfish?" I snapped at her. "Listen to me, Olive Oyl. I was out there looking for that little girl every single day. I took a bullet and an arrow in the process. Don't you tell me about me getting my hands dirty! You want those two idiots? Have a nice ride. I'm done looking for people," I snarled at her.

She was not making me the bad guy here. I hadn't done a damn thing wrong. Lori was about to walk off when she turned around and added one last thing. "Rain is with them too, just thought you should know." With that Lori stomped away from my little camp.

It felt like my blood had turned to ice. What? Rain was with them? Why would she go? Not for any good reason. She had a savior complex. And a self-destruct complex. She was in shock and in pain. I was no fool. I knew that she wanted to take her anger out on something. Oh God. She was like Merle in that regard. She was gonna get herself killed. Shit. She had slowly turned into the family that I'd always wanted. The one that I had never thought that I'd deserved. I was sure that she felt the same way. What would I do if she never came back from this trip? The answer was simple. I would never come back either. Losing Rain meant losing myself.

At Hatlin's Bar...

The bar was typical of something that you would see in a small southern town. All dark wood with old farming equipment hung up on the walls. It was cute. I probably would have spent a lot of time in here too if I'd lived out here. "Hershel," Rick called out as we stepped into the bar.

It was completely empty except for Hershel who was sitting up at the counter nursing a small glass of some type of whiskey. "Who's with you?" He called without looking back.

I went to walk over to the older man but Rick held out an arm to stop me. "Glenn. And Rain."

"Maggie sent them?" Hershel asked. He still hadn't turned around. I wasn't surprised that he'd thought that Maggie had sent us. Glenn was obviously in love with her and I supposed that Maggie and I were friends.

Rick shook his head but it wasn't like Hershel saw. "They volunteered. They're good like that," Rick said.

I couldn't help but let a bitter smile cross my face. Glenn was good. I wasn't. Not really. "How many have you had?" Rick asked while walking up to the bar. Glenn and I followed slowly knowing that we were to stay in the background of this conversation.

"Not enough," Hershel replied.

He sounded like I did when I spent my college nights in the local bars. Those nights usually didn't end well and the mornings would follow by me finding myself in an unfamiliar bedroom. "Let's finish this up back at home. Beth collapsed, is in some sort of state," Rick informed.

I had hoped that that would be enough to get Hershel to go check on his youngest daughter. "Must be in shock," he said nonchalantly. That was not the answer that I had been expecting.

He was her father. We needed him there to help her. "I think you are too," Rick told him.

He definitely was. In his own eyes he had lost his wife and daughter today. "Maggie's with her?" Hershel asked, looking unconcerned.

It drove me up the damn wall. We needed Hershel. Beth needed Hershel. "Yeah, but Beth needs you," Rick tried.

He merely shrugged his shoulders and continued to swirl around the amber liquid. "What could I do? She needs her mother. Or rather to mourn like she should've done weeks ago. I robbed her of that. I see that now," Hershel said solemnly. Come on. You're the doctor type person, genius.

He was the only person that was medically able to help her. "You thought there was a cure. Can't blame yourself for holding out for hope," Rick said. True, but maybe you didn't have to do it in such an odd way.

That was the first time that Hershel turned back to fully look at us. Thankfully he didn't seem too far gone. "Hope? When I first saw you running across my field with your boy in your arms, I had little hope he would survive." What about me? I got shot too, which everyone seemed to forget.

I saw the slight wince that Rick made at the memory of his son being near death with nothing that he could do. "But he did," Rick whispered.

It was damn close though. Even earlier today at the barn Carl hadn't looked too good. "He did. Even though we lost Otis. Your man Shane made it back and we saved your boy. That was the miracle that proved to me miracles do exist. Only it was a sham, a bait and switch. I was a fool, Rick, and you people saw that. My daughters deserve better than that," Hershel said.

My teeth ground together. No, they deserved Hershel. He was a good man. I was the one that had deserved a better father. "They deserve to have their father. They still have you. Don't make them lose you too," I tried to convince Hershel. We waited a moment to see if he would say anything back to me.

He didn't respond to me so I sighed and walked away from him. Rick and Glenn had moved off to the side a minute ago. They were currently whispering softly about what we could do. "So what do we do? Just wait for him to pass out?" Glenn asked.

No. We couldn't do that. We needed him back sober. He needed to be able to help Beth. "We can't leave him!" I snapped louder than I had meant to. "He could drink himself to death here. We have to get him to stop," I said softer that time.

I'd had my fair share of drunk nights and I knew that at the rate Hershel was going he'd not be coming back any time soon. "Just go. Just go!" Hershel shouted at us.

"I promised Maggie I'd bring you home safe," Rick told Hershel as we all walked back over to stand next to the older man.

"Like you promised that little girl?" He asked without bothering to face us. I ground my teeth together but managed to prevent myself from saying anything. That was a low blow. But I was sure that under normal circumstances Hershel would not have said that.

It took Rick a moment to brush off the comment about Sophia too. "So what's your plan? Finish that bottle? Drink yourself to death and leave your girls alone?" Rick asked calmly.

I was impressed. I would not have taken it that well. "Stop telling me how to care for my family, my farm. You people are like a plague!" Hershel yelled. That time he turned back to face us. What the hell was that for? "I do the Christian thing, give you shelter, and you destroy it all!"

We hadn't done a damn thing. Maybe Shane had but the rest of us had done nothing. "The world was already in bad shape when we met," Rick attempted to argue calmly.

"And you take no responsibility! You're supposed to be their leader!" Hershel yelled at Rick.

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" Rick asked.

This time Hershel calmed down enough to speak to us without me worrying about drawing walkers towards us. "Yes. Yes. Yes, you are."

He went back to swirling the liquid around the glass but he didn't say anything and didn't take another drink. "Now come on. Your girls need you now more than ever," Rick tried again.

We had to leave. "I didn't want to believe you. You told me there was no cure, that these people were dead, not sick. I chose not to believe that. But when Shane shot Lou in the chest and she just kept coming, that's when I knew what an ass I'd been, that Annette had been dead long ago and I was feeding a rotten corpse! That's when I knew there was no hope. And when that little girl came out of the barn, the look on your face I knew you knew it too. Right? There is no hope. And you know it now, like I do. Don't you? There is no hope for any of us." God, he sounded like Jenner did at the CDC.

Rick did not enjoy Hershel's new take on life. "You know what the truth is? Nothing has changed. Death is death. It's always been there, whether it's from a heart attack, cancer, or a Walker. What's the difference? You didn't think it was hopeless before, did you? Now there are people back at home trying to hang on. They need us, even if it's just to give them a reason to go on, even if we don't believe it ourselves. You know what? This this isn't about what we believe anymore. It's about them."

I smiled at Rick's way of putting it, when the bar doors opened. My hand dropped to my knife and I ripped it out of the sheath. If there were walkers we had enough of us to take them down. But the knife nearly slipped from my hand when I realized that it was two living men. I sighed at the knowledge that we were still safe from walkers but quickly scowled at the men. One was overweight and greasy looking. The other looked like he'd sell you out for a sandwich. I growled slightly and raised my knife once more. I didn't like the way the men were looking at me. Their eyes were stopping longer than they should have on my chest.

They both moved forward to close the door but not so close that a knife fight was an option. "Son of a bitch. They're alive. I'm Dave. That scrawny-looking douche bag there is Tony," the fat one spoke up.

"Eat me, Dave." The thin one, Tony, spoke up.

"Hey, maybe someday I will." Tony walked around the four of us to make sure that he wasn't posing himself as a threat. He hopped over the bar and I watched as he helped himself to the bottle sitting on the counter that Hershel had been using. "We met on I-95 coming out of Philly. Damn shit-show that was," Tony told us.

Thankfully I-95 hadn't been too bad coming north. "I'm Glenn. It's nice to meet some new people," Glenn said as he took a step forward towards Tony. Dave was still behind us. I didn't like what they were doing. Closing in on us. Oh Glenn, as oblivious as always.

"Rick Grimes," Rick told them. He looked like he didn't trust the two at all. Smart man.

I was reasonably surprised that Hershel stayed silent. He was always so good about manners. "How about you, pal? Sweetheart? Have one?" Tony asked while motioning to the bottle. He had poured one for both Glenn and Rick. I merely shook my head and continued scowling at them.

It was dangerous to be even slightly intoxicated right now. "I just quit," Hershel told the two.

"You've got a unique sense of timing, my friend," Tony said while laughing loudly.

The two were still staring at us. I was sure that they were waiting for Hershel and I to give our names. "His name's Hershel. He lost people today, a lot of them," Rick explained.

If the situation had been less tense I would have thanked Rick for not giving away my name. "I'm truly sorry to hear that. To better days and new friends. And to our dead, may they be in a better place," Tony said while toasting with Dave, Rick, and Glenn.

They all tipped back their drinks as Hershel and I watched on. "And how about you sweetheart, you got a name?" Tony asked turning to me.

"Rain," I grit out.

Something akin to entertainment lit up in both Dave and Tony's eyes. Damn my parents for not naming me something normal like Jessica. "Rain, huh? I like it. Hot name for a hot girl," Tony said as he gave me a wink. I recoiled in disgust and longed to plant one of my knives in between his wandering eyes.

Thankfully the attention was taken away from us. I realized that Rick had been eyeing the gun on Tony's hip. "Not bad, huh? I got it off a cop," Tony said. He grabbed the gun in his hands and started to twirl it.

That wasn't going to sit well. "I'm a cop," Rick said. I knew it.

Tony seemed to know that his comment was not well received. "This one was already dead," he justified.

"You fellas are a long way from Philadelphia," Hershel said, attempting to diffuse the situation.

"It feels like we're a long way from anywhere," Tony said.

"Well, what drove you South?" Hershel asked.

That was a good point. Why had they come down here? "Well, I can tell you it wasn't the weather. I must've dropped thirty pounds in sweat alone down here," Tony complained. Good, then leave. I had always liked the weather in the south. Maybe it was because I hated the cold.

"I wish," Dave grunted in the corner. Ah don't worry buddy, its blubber. For winter- hibernating. I thought about saying it out loud but realized that it would not be a wise move on my part.

"No, first it was D.C. I heard there might be some kind of refugee camp, but the roads were so jammed, we never even got close. We decided to get off the highways, into the sticks, keep hauling ass. Every group we came across had a new rumor about a way out of this thing. One guy told us there was the coast guard sitting in the Gulf, sending ferries to the islands. The latest was a rail yard in Montgomery running trains to the middle of the country - Kansas, Nebraska," Tony explained to us.

"Nebraska?" Glenn asked.

It made sense. States that didn't have huge metropolitan cities. "Low population, lots of guns. Kinda makes sense. Ever been to Nebraska, kid?" Tony asked Glenn. He shook his head. "A reason they call 'em flyover states. How about you guys?"

I chose not to say anything. We didn't need to be sharing too much. "Fort Benning, eventually," Rick answered.

At least he hadn't said anything about where we were now. "I hate to piss in your cornflakes, officer, but we ran across a grunt who was stationed at Benning. He said the place was overrun by lamebrains." God no. Was no place still safe?

The news quickly reverberated through the rest of us. Benning was our one chance once we were ready to leave Hershel's farm. "Wait, Fort Benning is gone? Are you for real?" Glenn asked. He was clearly shocked.

Of course he was. That was our chance down the drain. "Sadly, I am. Oddly, the truth is there is no way out of this mess. Just keep going from one pipe dream to the next, praying one of these mindless freaks doesn't grab a hold of you when you sleep." Mindless freaks, meaning yourselves?

"If you sleep," Dave butted in.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, it doesn't look like you guys are hanging your hats here. You holed up somewhere else?" Tony asked. Shit. Here we go. I gave Rick a concerned look, and he nodded at me, knowing where this was about to go.

"Not really," Rick answered.

They might have been good people but we weren't going to take the chance and bring them back to the farm. "Those your cars out front?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Rick asked, beginning to get defensive.

Tony nodded once more. "We're living in ours. Those look kinda empty, clean. Where's all your gear?" Tony asked. I knew that this conversation was going downhill fast. Just in case things turned ugly I slipped my hand into my pocket and grabbed the handle of the throwing knife I had tucked away. I knew there was a reason that I'd taken so many weapons.

"We're with a larger group out scouting, thought we could use a drink," Hershel said quickly.

I was rather impressed that he'd thought of the lie so quickly. "A drink? Hershel, man I thought you quit,' Tony said. Hershel didn't respond. "Well, we're thinking of setting up around here. Is it is it safe?" Tony asked. Liar.

We all shrugged. There wasn't really any place that was safe anymore. "It can be, although I have killed a couple of walkers around here," Glenn told them. He would know the best.

Both men's eyebrows shot to their foreheads. "Walkers? That what you call them?" Tony asked.

"Yeah."

Tony smiled. "That's good. I like that. I like that better than lamebrains. More succinct." I had thought the same thing when I first heard it. Undead really hadn't been cutting it for me.

Not being able to keep my mouth shut any longer I turned to Tony. "Succinct? I'm surprised you know what that means," I snarled at Tony. He merely shrugged his shoulders and laughed.

"Okay, Tony went to college," Dave butted in. He was obviously the one that was supposed to let Tony do all of the talking.

It was a moment before someone spoke up again. "So what so what, you guys set up on the outskirts or something? That new development? Trailer park or something? A farm?" Tony asked. Something sparked in his eyes when he said that. "Old McDonald had a farm. You got a farm? E-I-e-I-o. Is it safe?" Here we go. It was about to get ugly.

"It's gotta be," Dave said.

"You got food, water?" Tony asked.

They were asking things faster than we could explain. "You got cooze?" Dave asked. I was sure that my eyes went nearly black at his words. I'd had too much experience with men like him. "Anything like her. Shit I'd pay for something like her even back in the good 'ole days," Dave said, giving me an appreciate up and down. I could feel Glenn and Rick tense at his words. "Ain't had a piece of ass in weeks. Whatcha think sweets, head out back, have a bit of fun?" Dave asked me.

I could take a lot. But I had heard enough. "You even try to touch me and I'll cut your head off," I told Dave while pulling an arrow out of my sheath and motioning it towards him before slipping it back in place. "Piece of shit," I snarled at Dave who backed off his eyes widening in fear.

Tony realized that his friend had taken things with me a step too far. He stepped between the two of us. "Listen, pardon my friend. City kids they got no tact," Tony said. Apology not accepted.

Especially since he hadn't said it to me. "No disrespect," Rick said. I whipped around at him but he gave me a pleading look. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to be civil and keep these men from snapping. Still if I got the chance I'd like to blow Dave's brains out.

Not that there were many brains there to begin with. "So listen, Glenn-" Tony started. I knew that he was attempting to make a deal with us about getting to the farm.

We were not letting him there. Not after what Dave had said. "We've said enough," Rick cut him off.

They did not like that we weren't even considering letting them come back with us. "Well, hang on a second. This farm it sounds pretty sweet. Don't it sound sweet, Tony?" Dave asked, looking to his friend.

"Yeah, real sweet. How about a little Southern hospitality? We got some buddies back at camp, been having a real hard time. I don't see why you can't make room for a few more. We can pool our resources, our manpower," Tony tried to convince us. Yeah right. Y'all can rot in hell for all I care.

We were all having trouble these days. But that didn't mean that we could just openly trust each other. "Look, I'm sorry. That's not an option," Rick tried, playing diplomat once more.

"Doesn't sound like it'd be a problem," Tony shrugged his shoulders.

They just didn't get that we weren't going to let them back with us. "What part of no do you not understand?" I growled at Tony.

He turned to me and smirked. "Watch it sweetheart I won't hesitate to rough you up," Tony smirked at me. I shook my head in disgust and irritation. I hated when men didn't take my threats seriously. I was worse than they thought that I could be.

"I'm sorry. We can't. We can't take in anymore," Rick finally said.

Tony scoffed as he walked around the bar. His patience was wearing thin. "You guys are something else. I thought I thought we were friends. We got people we gotta look out for too," he pleaded with us.

That was exactly the reason that we weren't taking them in. Because we had family and friends back at the farm that we all had to protect. Just like they did. "We don't know anything about you," Rick said.

Tony nodded in understanding. "No, that's true. You don't know anything about us. You don't know what we've had to go through out there, the things we've had to do. I bet you've had to do some of those same things yourself. Am I right? 'Cause ain't nobody's hands clean in what's left of this world. We're all the same. So come on, let's take a nice friendly hayride to this farm and we'll get to know each other." I tightened my grip on my knife knowing that Tony's patience was wearing thin. So was mine though.

"That's not gonna happen," Rick flat out told Tony.

"Rick this is bullshit," Dave snapped angrily.

The sudden volume change made me jump slightly. I hadn't heard Dave or Tony get much louder than speaking volume. "Calm down," Rick told the heavy-set man.

You could never tell anyone to calm down. It was human nature to take that comment poorly. "Don't tell me to calm down. Don't ever tell me to calm down. I'll shoot you three assholes and your bitch in the head and take your damn farm!" Dave yelled. I was about ready to pull out my knife and throw when Tony once more stepped in.

He was the peacekeeper between the two of them. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Relax. Take it easy. Nobody's killing anybody. Nobody's shooting anybody. Right, Rick? Look. We're just friends having a drink. That's all. Now where's the good stuff, huh? Good stuff, good stuff, good stuff," Tony muttered as he went back to the barn and combed through the racks. "Let's see. Hey, look at that. That'll work. You gotta understand we can't stay out there. You know what it's like."

Tony had grabbed a bottle of expensive liquor and was now pouring himself a shot. "Yeah, I do. But the farm is too crowded as is. I'm sorry. You'll have to keep looking," Rick tried to tell him as politely as possible.

Tony's previous smile fell and went into a straight line. "Keep looking. Where do you suggest we do that?" Tony asked.

"I don't know. I hear Nebraska's nice," Rick joked. I couldn't help but to smile at Rick's comment. However my smile dropped when I saw Tony's hand reach casually for his belt. Right next to his gun. I looked at Rick to silently warn him but Rick also moved his hand to his belt. Tony would be taken care of. Instead of looking at Tony I turned slightly to face Dave while tightening my hand around the handle.

The smile appeared on Tony's face once more. "Nebraska. This guy," Tony laughed before pulling his gun out. But Rick was faster. Rick shot Tony in the forehead and not missing my window of opportunity, I turned and pulled out my knife before launching it into Dave's head. He dropped heavily, landing on the floor with a loud thud.

Both Dave and Tony were now lying in pools of their own blood. Slowly walking up to Dave I pulled my knife out of his forehead. It was right then that I realized something. I had killed my first living person and I hadn't cared. I hadn't hesitated. I was growing cold. One last thought ran through my mind before going to stand with Rick and Glenn on shaky legs. Was I turning into my father?


	17. Again

That was a hell of a lot more than I had been expecting to happen today. All I'd wanted was for us to get Hershel back to ensure that we didn't lose anyone else today. We had already lost Sophia. We didn't need to lose Beth too. But now we'd found ourselves in the middle of a fight. And now two men were dead. Granted they deserved to be dead but it wasn't really what we had wanted to happen.

"Holy shit," Glenn sighed. He was the first of us to break the silence. That was exactly what I had been thinking. I was pretty sure that it was what we had all been thinking.

Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Rick walking up to stand at my side. I stared numbly as blood from Dave's head wound began to run towards where my boot was. "You all right?" Rick asked me.

Didn't seem like these days we had much of a choice but to be okay. "Yeah," I nodded, barely able to speak.

"Hershel?" Rick called back once he knew that I was alright. The man merely nodded his head. "Glenn?" The Asian gave Rick another nod. "Let's head back," Ric told us softly. The four of us grabbed our stuff and went to leave the bar. We all knew that the shot most likely would attract walkers. It was not a fight that we could afford right now. Not with so few of us.

I jumped as I heard the sound of a car engine approaching. We all looked quickly over to Rick. "Car. Car. Get down," he hissed at us. I ducked down beside the bar with Rick while Glenn was up by the front door. He was leaning just outside of the doors. Hershel was in the back of the bar behind a table. If we were lucky no one would even head in here.

I heard Glenn gasp as the engine of the car shut off. A moment later we heard the car doors open and close. I held a hand over my mouth to keep myself from making a noise anything louder than a simple breath. if these people were with Dave and Tony they couldn't be good news. We waited in silence until the footsteps faded.

Just as I thought that the people had left I heard a man call out. "Dave? Tony? They said over here?" The man seemingly asked someone else. Not good. They had a rescue party. And there was definitely more than one.

"Yeah," another man's voice answered.

"I'm telling you, man, I heard shots," I heard a third man say.

"I saw roamers two streets over. Might be more around here," I heard the second man speak up again. They were all standing just a few yards from the entrance to the bar. I could only pray that they didn't try to check back here.

They were silent for a moment and I waited with baited breath. "It's hot. We gotta get out of here," the first man spoke up. I assumed that they meant that there were a bunch of walkers around. Good. Leave. Let everyone else make it out of this alive.

"Dave! Tony!" The third man shouted. Shut the hell up you moron! You trying to get yourself killed? And subsequently the rest of your men, Hershel, Glenn, Rick and I?

It seemed that another man shared my sentiment. "Shut up, you idiot! You wanna attract 'em?" I nearly rolled my eyes at the other man. He had spoken just as loud. "Just stick close. We're gonna find 'em."

They all fell silent for another few moments. "Dude, he said to stay close," a new man warned. "Tony," he whisper-yelled a moment later.

The men had been poking around out front of the bar for nearly five minutes. I was sure that we were going to be trapped in here all night. It was a while later when we began to hear the distinct growling of walkers. Shit. That just made this escape a lot harder. Although maybe there was a chance that they would chase these men off. I heard the gasps and grunts of the men as they began to realize that walkers had invaded the area. We could also hear the grunting of the men fighting off the rest of the walkers.

It seemed quiet enough until we heard a call. "Shit! No!" One man yelled. I thought that he might have died but I never heard anything else from the group. The walker growling finally died off but I still heard the footsteps of the men outside of the bar. Fuck. They still wouldn't leave. What did we do now? There was nowhere to go.

We were all shifting anxiously. "Why won't they leave?" Glenn whispered worriedly.

"Would you?" I asked him rhetorically. I knew that I wouldn't leave somewhere if any of my people were missing. "They're looking for their men," I hissed back to him. I couldn't fault them for that.

As always Rick was the first person to take charge. "We can't sit here any longer. Let's head out the back and make a run to the car," Rick whispered to us all. We began to move however I jumped and fell back to the floor when I heard a gun fire.

My eyes quickly roamed over the other three in the bar before checking over myself. The gunshot hadn't been for any of us. "What happened?" A man asked outside.

"Roamers, I nailed 'em," a smaller voice answered. I grit my teeth together. One shot for one walker? Waste of bullets and it would attract them. I could only hope that we made it out of here before they came. "They disappeared but their car's still there." I assumed the man was talking about the car Dave and Tony must have come in.

"I cleared those buildings," another man said.

"You guys get this one?" One of the men asked. I had a terrible feeling that he was pointing to the bar. Just as I thought that I heard his footsteps coming up to the front door of the bar. My eyes worriedly searched around the bar for an escape but the only one I could think of was the back door. And we would have to move now if we wanted to get there.

"No," I heard the first man from earlier say.

"Me neither."

A scoff was clear on the other side of the door. "We're looking for Dave and Tony and no one checks the damn bar?" The man snapped. I heard the mans footsteps approach and my mind went into a panic. They obviously had us outnumbered and most likely, outgunned.

This was not an encounter that we were going to enjoy. The man began to push the door open but before he could get it too far Glenn slid over and pushed the door shut sitting with his back against it. My breath escaped me as I leaned back against the bar once more. Glenn wasn't going to be able to move now. It was a good thing that it kept the men out but now they knew that someone was in the bar.

A few more sets of feet came forward until they stopped on the other side of the bar. "What?" One of the men asked.

The man who had just tried to come into the bar responded. "Someone pushed it shut. There's someone in there." The man rose his voice and called out to us, "Yo, is someone in there? Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want no trouble. We're just looking for our friends." No trouble my ass. I looked over at Rick and judging by the look he was giving me, he knew it too.

Dave and Tony had been bad enough. We didn't want to fight with the rest of them. We had to get back and see what was happening with Beth. "What do we do?" One of the men outside asked.

It was silent for a moment. "Bum rush the door?" Another man asked.

"No, we don't know how many are there. Just relax." At least they weren't going to take a violent way out of this. The man once more called into the bar to us. "We don't want any trouble. We're just looking for our friends. If something happened, tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. If you can help us not get killed, I'd appreciate it." Fuck you guys, you're probably just like your friends. I shook my head at Rick and he nodded.

"Dude, you're bugging. I'm telling you nobody's in there."

Thank God. It sounded like they were debating on leaving. "Someone guard the door. If they're in there, they might know where Dave and Tony are." I was pretty sure that dead on the floor would not have been an acceptable answer.

They were silent for a while and I held a deep breath. After the longest minute of my life the footsteps began to depart. I let out the long and quiet sigh slowly. I was about ready to make a move for the back door when Rick shouted out, "They drew on us!" Idiot! Quickly the footsteps came back to the outside of the door.

It was a guilty conscience. He was a cop. He was the good guy. It had damn well better not get us killed right now. "Rick! They were leaving, why'd you do that?" I hissed at him.

He never got a chance to respond to me. "Dave and Tony in there? They alive?" One of the men asked.

If I'd liked Rick just a little less I would have used one of my arrows to ensure that he couldn't say anything. "No," Rick finally replied to them. I sighed deeply at his actions. Rick might want to play nice with them but I had a feeling that they wouldn't be so happy when they found out that we had killed their friends.

"They killed Dave and Tony," one of the men said. Hmm, I liked that they had managed to guess that.

Of course if we were in here and protecting our asses it was a pretty safe bet that it wasn't walkers that had killed them. "Come on, man, let's go," one of the men said. Thank God, maybe they'd just leave us in peace.

No one had to have any blood spilled. "No, I'm not leaving, I'm not telling Jane. I'm not gonna go back and tell them that Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar," another man said as my jaws tightened. Let her get the hell over it, we've all lost someone.

"Your friends drew on us! They gave us no choice! I'm sure we've all lost enough people, done things we wish we didn't have to, but it's like that now. You know that! So let's just chalk this up to what it was- wrong place, wrong-" Rick was cut off at the sound of shotguns firing, shattering the glass of the doors.

Gasping loudly I dove to the back of the bar where Hershel was, quickly followed by Rick. I wasn't sure where Glenn was. The shotguns continued to fire when Rick pulled me to face him by my shoulders, "Get outta here! Go! Rain, lead them back to the car!"

From the back of the bar I heard more noise. They were surrounding us. I heard the men's engine rev and Rick shouted out in a last ditch effort. "Hey! We all know this is not gonna end well! There's nothing in it for any of us! You guys just just back off, no one else gets hurt!" He shouted. I heard guns clicking and the stairs rattling. We were not winning this battle.

They had at least three times as many people as we did. Maybe four considering that I couldn't find our resident Asian. I looked around and hissed to Rick, "Where the hell is Glenn?"

He didn't answer as we headed out of the back of the bar and into the back alleyway where the dumpsters were. "Shit!" One of the men outside yelled before cocking his shotgun and firing. Panicking, I finally saw Glenn sprinting around the bar to where we were. The man outside cocked his shotgun and fired once more, narrowly missing Glenn.

He had the best luck of anyone that I knew. He stood and turned to look for us. "Glenn! Glenn!" Rick shouted.

The young man caught sight of us before nodding and sprinting off in our direction. Gunshots followed his movements. "Glenn, are you okay?" I asked him as he dove and fell by us.

He would be scraped up and bruised but he would definitely live. "I- I'm all right. I'm all right," he stuttered while shaking badly.

It might not just be Beth that needed some type of therapy. I was pretty sure that after this we all would. Especially since we currently had no way out. The men from Dave and Tony's group were completely blocking our ways out. Up front I heard a shotgun cocking again and the door of the bar close. They weren't far from us now. We didn't have long left to go and find somewhere to hide. My heart was pounding so loud in my ears that I could only hear the mumbling of the men.

I couldn't make out any of the words. "I'll hold 'em here. You cover Glenn," Rick told me and I nodded before he turned back to the man. "See if you can make it to your car. Tell him to pull up back. We'll run for it, get the hell out of here," Rick whispered to us.

He couldn't just stay back here alone. He was going to get himself either shot or killed. "Let me stay with you, help hold them back," I told Rick.

Rick shook his head. He was not going to risk my life too to get us out of here. "No, I need you to go with them, help cover Glenn, and keep a sharp eye out," Rick told me. I wasn't happy about leaving Rick back here but I nodded anyways.

There was no time for arguing now. The best thing to do was listen to Rick and take his direction as best as I possibly could. "You want me to cover Glenn?" Hershel asked.

I wasn't even aware that Hershel could shoot. "You missed all that gun training. It could've come in handy now," Rick told the older man. Something told me that Hershel wasn't completely helpless with a gun. It came with the man owning a southern farm territory. Turning to Hershel I handed him my spare gun. It was a pistol but it would work.

Even though it had only been in his hands for less than a moment I knew that he could handle it. He proved it just by the way that he held it. "Nah, I can shoot. I just don't like to," he answered.

We all started to crawl a little closer to the back doors of the bar. "Sorry. Sorry," Glenn sighed to Hershel and I as we moved back to the back door of the bar where he had been waiting.

"Rick wants you to try for the car," Hershel told Glenn.

"Try?" Glenn asked with wide eyes. He somehow always ended up the one that went on the suicide missions.

Hershel smiled and nodded at the younger boy. "You'll try and succeed. Rain and I will cover you," Hershel said. I nodded to him, giving him a small assuring smile. I would go, but Glenn was a tiny but faster than I was and we needed the fastest of us.

"That's a great plan," Glenn mumbled before the three of us left out the back door of the bar and ducked into the alley.

There were a few people hanging around up on the rooftops but if we were fast enough no one would even notice that we were out here. This hadn't gone too far. Nodding to Glenn he looked at me before he took of in a sprint down the alley. He'd barely made it ten feet when I heard a shot being fired. Glenn groaned and hit the ground by the dumpster. I was about to run to him to check if he was alright when I felt a shooting pain run through my leg.

At this point I knew what it was; a gunshot. I was familiar by now. Are you fucking kidding me? Again! That's the second time in like a week and a half! And this time it was right where the knife wound was. Oh great. My long list of injuries was only expanding. Moving my leg a tiny bit I felt that the bullet was lodged into my leg. Shit. That was even worse than going clean through. I was going to have to get it out of here. I collapsed onto one knee, out of the gunman's eye-shot. Feeling around the opening of the wound I could tell that it luckily hadn't hit my femoral artery. The bleeding was too slow. The bullet was preventing a lot of normal blood loss. Good, I couldn't pass out now.

Coming back into reality and collapsing onto one knee I heard the gunfire continue and groaning coming from Glenn's direction. I could walk. I was used to the feeling of a gunshot wound. I was alright. He wasn't. Pulling myself into a standing position I heard footsteps coming towards us. I could only hope that it was my group and not theirs. Turning as fast as I could and raising my gun I noticed that it was just Rick.

That was definitely my first stroke of luck in a few minutes. Since I'd been shot for a second damned time. "What happened?" He asked as he saw my weak ability to stand.

My knees were shaking and I was sure that I was about to fall on my ass. The only reason that I was still standing was because Glenn was probably worse off than I was. Hershel stopped firing and turned to Rick. "He fired. He must've hit Glenn," the old man informed our leader.

Sure but that didn't mean that he had good aim. "Yeah, through me! Oh God damn it! Fuckers! Is Glenn okay?" I groaned once I'd calmed down enough to properly speak.

It seemed that Rick had finally realized what had happened. "Rain!" He shouted as he came over to where I was barely standing. "Are you okay?" Rick asked. Hershel finally turned to look at me as well.

For now I was fine but I needed to get out of here. And fast. "I'm fine, hurts like hell but I'll live. We gotta see if Glenn's okay. I have no idea where he was hit," I told Rick, groaning in pain at the weight I was putting on my leg.

He had dropped behind the dumpster when the shot was fired. I hadn't seen him since the damned bullet had ripped through my thigh. "Where is he?" Rick asked.

If he was lucky he was in a better place than we were right now. "He's behind the dumpster. Doesn't look like he's moving," Hershel said.

No. We couldn't let him die. I could only imagine the look on Maggie's face if we came back with Glenn's corpse rather than his body. The three of us quickly made our way over to him and ducked behind the dumpster. "You hit? Are you hit?" Rick whispered to Glenn.

He was somewhat responsive so that was better than nothing else. At least he was still alive. "No. No. It's all right," Glenn moaned while slowly moving to a stand.

He wasn't hit. The bullet had just barely missed him to lodge itself in my leg. "Naturally I'd be the only one that gets hit," I growled under my breath. I suppose that life wasn't fair.

"Here," Rick said as he pulled my arm around his shoulder to help keep me upright. I moved my weight onto my left leg and balanced my weight on Rick while leaning onto him a little bit. His other arm went around my waist and I thanked him softly. I was sure that I would fall over if he wasn't supporting me. "The car's right there," he told us, giving my shoulder a squeeze.

"Okay," I mumbled pathetically.

This shot definitely hurt more than the last one. Maybe it was because the entire bullet had lodged into my thigh. With every little movement I could feel it ripping apart some ligaments. "We're almost home," Rick mumbled in my ear.

"You good? Can you hold on?" Hershel asked moving to my other side.

He helped me take pressure off of the other side of me. It didn't help the throbbing that was shooting through my thigh. "I'm good," I mumbled. "What choice do I have?"

The answer was that I didn't have a choice. We had to keep going. I had to keep moving. I could get help back at the farm. The groaning of the walkers continued, closer to us this time. That was not good. We had to get out of here and fast. "Let's go," Rick hissed to us.

The four of us were still tucked away in the back of the alley. We began to move out of the alley when gunshots began to sound close to us. "Get back," Rick hissed. We all moved back and pressed ourselves against the wall of the bar.

Tires squealed as we saw the men's cars pull up. Thank God. If we could get them out of here we would have a much easier time getting out to the cars. Right now they were covering them. "Let's get out of here! Roamers all over the place! Hurry up! We gotta get out of here! What about Sean?" The men were all yelling.

Damn it. There were walkers all over the place. Even without the men here that would make our escape ten times harder. "They shot him. We gotta go. Roamers are everywhere," another man answered.

"We're leaving?" A different man asked.

"Jump! Hurry up, jump already," the first man called to someone up on the roof.

The four of us turned to look and see who the first man had called to. I looked up and saw a kid, probably about three or so years younger than me, preparing to jump from the rooftop. I watched as the kid backed up a few steps and took a flying leap off of the rooftop. As good as the jump was it wasn't good enough. The kid fell short of the dumpster that he was aiming for and instead went right down on the spiked fence. His thigh was currently being impaled all the way through by one of the spikes.

The kid let out an ear-splitting scream. I knew that he was in agony. It just looked painful. Alright, so maybe he was having a worse day than me. "Dude didn't make it," Glenn whispered to us.

The pain and blood loss was getting to me. "No shit Glenn, I think everyone knew that," I hissed. He looked at me apologetically and I nodded at him, grunting in pain. It wasn't his fault that I had been shot.

Actually it kind of was. They had been aiming for Glenn and had missed, resulting in me getting shot. "Help me! Help help me!" The kid was shouting at his group members. He was obviously unable to move.

"I've gotta go. I've gotta go. I'm sorry!" The man driving the truck apologized before slamming his foot down on the gas and taking off.

The kid went into a panic. "No no, don't leave!" He shouted before the man and the rest of their people began to peel out of the area. Soon it was only the kid and the four of us left. "Help me! No! No! Help!" The kid was screaming. A tiny part of me felt bad for him. He was just a kid after all.

"Get Hershel," Rick told Glenn.

Hershel was still back in the alley making sure that there were no strays. We were all being careful about how close the walkers were getting to us. "Help! Help me! No! No!" The kid continued to scream at the top of his lungs.

"Her- Hershel! Hershel. Hershel," Glenn called to the older man.

"Can you stand?" Rick asked me.

We were about to find out. "Uh, sure," I muttered awkwardly. I really wasn't sure. He nodded at me, slowly letting me go before running across the street to where the kid was laying attached to the fence. I shifted my weight around and managed to find a way to lean without putting any weight on my bad leg. It left me swaying slightly.

"The gunfire must've attracted the walkers," Hershel said, popping up next to me.

No shit. It was between the gunfire and all of those men shouting at each other and us. "Where's Rick?" Glenn asked.

"He- he ran across," I sighed. The pain was beginning to get to me. I was sure that if we didn't get out of here in the next few minutes I would fall. And I was reasonably confident that I wasn't going to be able to get up again.

Despite the fact that I hadn't been hit in the femoral artery, my entire thigh was on fire. "Well, hell, we can't go without him. Rick!" Glenn shouted. We ran across to the kid and Rick. Glenn and Hershel helped me half-limp over. Each time I took a step on my wounded leg I would fall slightly. Once we were there we all gave Rick a look that said it was time to go.

He looked back at the kid with pity in his eyes. "We have to go now," he told the kid.

"No!" The kid shouted while crying loudly.

His noises were only making the walkers come faster. "Shh! I'm sorry, son. We have to go," Rick told the kid.

"No no, don't leave me please," the boy begged. I looked away in pity. It was such an inhumane way to die; left like bait for the walkers. But we didn't have the time to get him out of here.

"We have to go," Rick told the kid.

"We can't," Hershel said. Was the older man really suggesting that we stay here and get the kid out of this mess? We couldn't! If we stayed any longer I was going to bleed out and the walkers would catch us.

Rick didn't like that idea either. "He was just shooting at us!" Rick hissed.

"He's a kid," Hershel argued.

Too damn bad! "Yeah, so is Carl. Life sucks sometimes! I'm not dying for this kid. C'mon, I've lost enough blood," I snapped at the men. I felt bad for the kid but I was on my last leg here. Literally.

The kid looked over at me with a pathetic face. "Please help me," the kid sobbed.

"This place is crawling with walkers!" Glenn hissed.

"We can't leave him!" Rick shouted at Glenn.

As the two men argued I watched Hershel walk over to examine the wound on the kids leg. "The fence went clean through. There's no way we can get the leg off in one piece," Hershel observed. The kid merely continued to sob loudly.

Finally Rick seemed fed up with the noise that was still coming from the kid. "Shut up or I will shoot you!" Rick hissed at the kid, raising his gun to the kids head. That seemed to shut him up.

"That may be the answer," Hershel said thoughtfully. "We're not gonna get that leg off without tearing the muscle to shreds. He certainly can't run. He may bleed out," Hershel said.

It seemed like the only chance that the kid had was if we cut the leg off. He might have a fighting chance then. "Shut up," Rick growled at the kid who had begun to sob again. "I'm sorry," Rick said when he realized that the boy was genuinely terrified. He was now screaming in a mix of pain and fear. "Sh-sh shut up. Shut up."

"Maybe we should put him down. I don't wanna see any more killing, but this is cruel," Glenn suggested, pointing to the kids leg.

Glenn was right. We tore the leg off, that was cruel. We left him here and he was eaten by walkers. That was also cruel. "Can't we just take the leg off?" I asked.

It seemed like that would be our best bet as Rick nodded. "That hatchet still in the car?" Rick asked.

The idea of losing his leg did not sit well with the kid. It probably wouldn't sit well with me either. "No no, don't don't Don't cut my leg off, please. Please, not my leg," the kid begged.

"Shut the hell up! You want us to help you?" Rick asked. The kid sobbed and nodded slowly. "Then let us do what we have to," Rick snapped at the kid again.

Glenn dashed off to the car to grab the hatchet. He came back a moment later and handed it over to Rick. "Will this cut through the bone?" Rick asked Hershel while holding up the hatchet.

It would but it might not make it the first two or three hits. The kid would probably pass out from pain. Hershel nodded. "I'll have to sever the ligaments below the kneecap, cut above the tibia. He's going to lose his lower leg," Hershel told us.

The fear had once again sunk into the kid. "No, don't. No."

It was the only option other than trying to rip the leg clean off. "When we get clear of here, we're gonna have to find some tinder, cauterize the wound so he doesn't bleed out," Hershel added.

We could worry about that once we got out of here. "All right, no choice. Hurry up," Rick told Hershel, who was leaning over the kid and preparing to hack his leg off.

"Oh God, oh God. No!"

"Hand me that stick," Hershel told Rick.

Rick turned around and saw the large stick that Hershel was pointing at. He was probably going to use it as a splint so that the boy could walk. "Here," Rick said as he handed Hershel the stick.

"No. Ah!" The boy shouted. His eyes went from fearful to petrified. I heard the familiar growl of walkers and I grunted. He wasn't afraid of us. He was afraid of the walkers. Really? Could we not catch a break today?

"Guys, walkers," Glenn warned us.

"Hurry up!" Rick shouted at Hershel over the yells of the kid. "Shut up!" Rick yelled at the kid once again.

"Oh God," I heard Glenn moan. I turned back and saw it. A huge hoard of walkers headed right for us. We were making too much noise and I was sure that the mix of my blood and the boy's blood was drawing them over. "They're everywhere."

"Hershel, how we doing over there?" Rick asked, obviously concerned. I knew the walkers were getting too close so I joined Rick and Glenn in taking down the walkers that were getting too close for comfort.

My aim was not good right now. I was still wobbling on my legs and I put my gun down. I didn't need to accidentally shoot someone. "I need more hands! Easy easy," Hershel told the kid.

The only extra hands that we could use were currently busy trying to take down the walkers. "No, don't don't don't don't cut my leg off please."

"Come on, we gotta go! I'm almost out of ammo!" Rick yelled. Just as he yelled his gun clicked. He was out. "We don't have much time! Come on, we've gotta go! Can't hold 'em off! Hershel, do it now! Come on, Hershel!" Rick was screaming at Hershel. The walkers were within a few yards of us and everyone had run out of bullets.

Hershel was looking over the kid's leg frantically. We needed more time if we were going to do this right. "There is no time!" Hershel called to us.

"Hershel, come on!" Rick told him. The farmer gave the kid an apologetic glance before turning and making a mad dash to the truck. He jumped into his car and revved the engine. A moment later Glenn grabbed my arm and put one of his around my waist, leading me off to the truck.

Rick had since moved back to stand at the kids side. "Rick! Come on!" I shouted to him.

The kid was desperately pleading with us not to leave him. "Please don't leave me! Please! No! Please don't leave me! Please! Please don't leave me!" The kid continued to scream.

I knew that Rick wasn't going to leave him. That wasn't who he was. So Rick walked over to him, grabbed his leg, and ripped it off the fence in one swift motion. I winced as I heard the earth shattering scream from the kid. Rick swiftly pulled the kid from the dumpster his body was laying on and picked him up, throwing him into the trunk of Hershel's car. Now free to leave, Hershel revved the engine and peeled out from the lot. He was going away from the main hoard of walkers. Running back to the car Rick threw open the door, jumping into the car and slamming the door. Glenn had already started the engine so Rick slammed on the gas and pulled out of the lot as well.

The hoard was left without a meal that day. We had been driving for about five minutes on our way back to the farm when Glenn finally looked at me. "Rain, I need to get the bullet out. It looks like it went in as only one piece."

I had been about to scream hell no to him when Rick opened the glove box, pulling out a pair of tweezers. "I'll keep the car as steady as possible," he told us. Glenn grabbed the tweezers and I sighed.

Great. "What the hell? Just do it fast," I warned. Glenn held the tweezers and put them right up to my leg. It was then that I noticed that his hand was shaking pretty badly. "Glenn, it's like your playing Operation. That game from when we were kids. Just do it and do it fast. I'll tell you if you need to stop." Glenn nodded and slowly brought the tweezers to the bullet wound; I had been lucky, the wound wasn't incredibly deep. Glenn finally moved the tweezers into the wound and poked at the bullet. "Don't poke it you idiot! Grab it and pull it out!"

Obviously I had surprised Glenn as he looked up at me with wide eyes. "I'm trying! I don't want to hit the flesh around it!" Glenn shouted back at me.

We were still a few miles out from the farm but I was sure that they could hear us. "Glenn you're going to have to! I have a high pain tolerance, just do it!" Glenn opened the tweezers the entire way and I felt him maneuver them around the bullet to grab onto the edges. He tightened the grip on the bullet and I felt it twist slightly in my leg. "Oh fuck!" I shouted in pain.

My shout had startled Glenn. "What?" Glenn jumped jerking the bullet with him.

Damn him! "Get it the hell out of me!" With one swift motion Glenn tore the tweezers out, pulling the bullet out with them. As he did it the wound opened slightly. The blood, now with nothing blocking it's path, began to flood out. It was running over my thigh and onto the bed of the truck.

Rick threw back a piece of cloth, which Glenn easily caught. "Tie that around her leg, stem the bleeding. We don't want her passing out on us." Glenn was tying the cloth when Rick called out to me, "Will you be okay waiting on those stitches Rain? Randall's gonna need some serious surgery on that leg," he told me.

I nodded. "I'll be fine. Maybe I'll get someone else to stitch it up. Wait, Randall?" I asked after a moment.

"That's his name," Rick mumbled.

The rest of the ride was silent. We were only about two or three minutes from the farm. I watched as we pulled into the camp, throwing our doors open. Glenn gave me a hand off of the truck. I limped out of the car and immediately caught Daryl's eye. He seemed to be standing apart from the rest of the group. There were so many emotions in them; hurt, betrayal, and anger. But there was something else there too. He looked relieved and slightly happy. Something else was there too, but I couldn't pick it out. His eyes dropped to my bleeding leg and worry took over his face.

"Guys," Glenn said as he stepped out of the car.

Hershel stopped his engine and pulled himself out of his car. "Dad! You're okay," Maggie called, running to embrace her father. Hershel had definitely snapped out of it since we had been in the bar.

He hugged his daughter before turning to the rest of us. "Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery," Hershel said as he moved out of his hug with Maggie. Patricia nodded and ran out to the shed, obviously confused at who was hurt.

We hadn't brought Randall out for the rest of us to see. "Are you hurt?" Lori asked, running to Rick.

He shook his head at his wife. "No, but what happened to you?" Rick asked his wife. I finally broke my gaze from Daryl and looked over at Lori. What the hell had happened to her? She had cuts and bruises all over her face and arms. Had Shane finally lost it?

Lori blushed softly. "I was in a car accident," she said. How? We're literally the only people around.

Rick was as confused at her words as I was. "Accident? How?" Rick asked.

"I went looking for you," she answered.

Shane walked up and came to stand on Rick and Lori's side. "Snuck out on her own. Brought her back," Shane told us all.

"Are you crazy? You could've-" Rick started before Daryl cut him off.

"Who the hell is that?" Daryl asked as Hershel pulled Randall out of the trunk.

The boy in question was barely conscious. "That's Randall. We couldn't just leave him behind. He would've bled out, if he lived that long. It's gotten bad in town," Rick answered him.

It was right after that when people began to disperse. Everyone went to check out our new addition except for Daryl. He walked over to me and wrapped one arm under my shoulders and the other under my knees. "What're you-" I was cut off by Daryl swooping me up bridal style and carrying me over to his tent. Feeling like I didn't have a choice I sighed and fell limp in his arms.

Thankfully he didn't have much of a swagger in his step that would rock my injury. He was steady as he walked. We had just come up on Daryl's tent when he stepped in and laid me down on the cot he had. I rolled slightly to him to try and say something although he was turned around and rummaging for something. Judging on the look he'd had when he walked up to me I figured that it would do me good to stay silent. He had looked something in between extremely pissed and extremely concerned.

A moment later he popped back up with a sewing kit in hand. He took a seat in front of the cot, pulling off the tie on my leg. His eyes went wide and his Adam's Apple bobbed for a moment. I watched as he thread the needle and put it to my skin. I sucked in a deep breath waiting for the pain but Daryl surprised me with one action.

With the hand he was using to keep both me and himself steady he slowly moved his hand in circles on my thigh. He was trying to keep me calm. It was working, but a little too well. Goosebumps began to rise on my leg. Embarrassed at the involuntary reaction I looked away from Daryl. A few minutes later he broke the string and tied it off. His hand had never stopped moving on my thigh. Now finished though he finally removed his hand and I grew the nerve to look him in the eye.

His intense gaze almost made me look away but I held his stare. "Why?" He finally whispered.

Well that was not the chewing out that I had been expecting. "What?" I asked, shocked that that had been what had come out. I had thought that he was going to yell at me or something.

He cleared his throat and dropped his gaze to the ground. "Why'd you go?" He asked me.

My heart broke at his question. He seemed so betrayed by the fact that I had gone. "Daryl I- I felt guilty. At the whole Sophia thing. And wherever I went people just gave me these pitying looks. I needed to get away from them. When I heard that there was a chance for a rescue I had to go. I had to feel like I could do something again, like I wasn't a..." I trailed off.

"A what?" He asked me.

My breath caught in my throat and I shook my head at him. "A failure," I whispered softly.

The angry look on his face dropped and he grabbed my hand. "Rain, you are anything but. You had the guts to do something that only Rick did. You took care of it. You weren't a failure. That little girl didn't die because of ya. It was just a stupid accident. And if she's looking down on you right now, she don't want you to feel like this."

Maybe she didn't. But it didn't matter. I felt like I would be devastated like this for the rest of my life. Like it would always be this way. "I deserved it, for everything I've ever done," I mumbled.

"No Rain," he started, rubbing the back of my hand. "You deserve to be happy. I don't know what you did before and that don't matter now. All that matters is what I've seen. You care about everyone here. I see it. For some reason I think you picked me to care about most." I smiled at that, he was right. "You might be accident prone, but it's gettin kinda fun, stitchin' you up." Again I smiled.

His face held the slightest hint of a blush. "You are the best person this group has. You have a huge heart. A way of saying things to make people love you. Everyone here does." I tried to look away from him but he grabbed my chin, forcing me to be on his level and look him in the eyes. My heart began to pick up the pace. I was sure that Daryl saw the redness going to my face. "You mean everything to these people. You really are the heart of the group even if you don't think you mean anything. You mean the world to them. To me. I don't know what I woulda done if ya didn't come back," he muttered the last part.

He would have been alright. I wasn't that great. I noticed that his eyes had dropped and I rested my hand on his knee. He was kneeling in front of me. "Thank you, Daryl." I smiled at him and he gave me a small smile back.

He would never know what those words meant to me. He would never know that no one else had ever said anything to me like that before. I didn't know what came over me in that moment but I did something unexpected. I did something that I would have slapped myself for if I'd had the sense. I kissed Daryl Dixon. And something unexpected happened to me. Daryl Dixon kissed me back.


	18. Fun Times

It was one of those moments that I wished that I could have seen through a television screen. I was sure that the angels were singing in the background. The camera was probably moving in a wide arc around the two of us as we pressed our bodies together. A soft halo of light would have been surrounding us, highlighting the differences in our faces. We would have smiled and laughed as we pulled away together. It would have just been to catch our breath before coming back together again. But this wasn't a movie.

I wasn't so confident in knowing that Daryl would kiss me back. I didn't know what had come over me in that moment. This wasn't Hollywood. But I did know that I was glad that I did it. Daryl's lip were soft but chapped as we moved together. I could tell that he was nervous. Hell I felt his hand shaking against my thigh. He was a good kisser. His other hand came to rest softly on my back. It bunched the shirt that I was wearing up slightly. The hand that was on my thigh tensed slightly.

But all good things must come to an end. The haze in my brain slowly began to fade and I came back into reality. What had I done? I was such an idiot! Daryl hadn't been expecting that and I'd basically attacked him. All because he'd said some sweet things to me. God I was such a girl. Pulling back I nearly gave myself whiplash. Daryl gave me a confused but concerned look at my sudden change in demeanor.

I could see my panicked look in the reflection of his eyes. I could also see that my face was flushed to the point where I looked like a fire truck. "I uh- I'm- I- that uh- I'm sorry. I- I didn't uh mean for that. It was uh just in the moment and I uh- I'll just go," I finally managed to bite out. I jumped up to go, completely forgetting about my leg. The moment that my leg hit the ground I yelped in pain. I began to fall to the floor when Daryl caught me around my waist, helping me back to the cot.

My ass hit the bed and I looked awkwardly down at the floor. I couldn't manage to bring myself to look him in the eye. The air suddenly seemed incredibly thick. "You okay?" He asked after a moment.

No. No, I just kissed you! Of course I'm not okay. "Uh yeah. I just forgot about my leg. Look Daryl, about that, I'm so-" Daryl cut me off though before I could finish.

"Rain, don't apologize. It's okay." My face was slightly dejected. I knew that it was. As much as I was hoping that we would be able to forget about tonight a tiny part of me had also been hoping that he would kiss me again.

Some part of me knew that I should say something about it. Daryl was my friend. He was my best friend. I didn't want things between us to get awkward just because he'd said a few things that I had taken the wrong way. "That won't happen again. I've just never had someone say those kind of things before and I got a little carried away. I swear though, it won't happen again," I told him.

He nodded at me. His hands still hadn't left my waist and I knew that my face was still burning with embarrassment at my actions. "I didn't tell you those things on a whim. I told you them because they were true," he told me. I nodded weakly at him. I noticed that he didn't say anything in response to me promising that I would never kiss him again.

"Well you didn't need to say them. So thank you. I promise I'll stick to verbal thank you's from now on," I tried joking. Daryl laughed slightly but I noticed his hands tighten on my hip and his eyes briefly dart down to my mouth. It was probably just an involuntary movement. Just the way that I was dying to move in and kiss him again. But once was enough for one lifetime.

"Don't always have to be just verbal," Daryl told me. My jaw dropped at his insinuation but I felt like an utter fool when he brought me in for a hug. A hug. Of course it was just a hug. Why would he not hug me? Once he let go of me he turned and pushed me back into the cot. "Look, just stay here for the night. It's late and we'll be stumbling all over each other trying to get you back to your tent," he told me.

That really wasn't something that I thought that either one of us was comfortable with. I was still reeling with embarrassment and he seemed to be a little out of it. I was sure that it was the first time that we had each kissed someone in a while. "No. No, I can go back to my tent," I insisted.

Once I made a move to stand Daryl shoved me back in the bed. Heat spread across my chest when his lips came dangerously close to hitting mine again. Damn me for wanting to kiss him again. "Rain, stay here. We're both tired and I don't think you'll make it two steps before you collapse. Plus someone should be here with you tonight. Just in case," he told me. His voice had dropped off at the end.

He went to making a little camp for me on the floor of the tent. I couldn't help but to smile. That was more than he needed to do. All I needed was a cleared space and maybe one blanket. "Daryl?" I asked. He hummed in response. "I really am so sorry about that-" I started before he cut me off.

"If you apologize to me for that kiss one more time I'm going to shoot you. It's fine, Rain," he insisted. I smiled and nodded. He probably wasn't being completely honest but I wasn't in the position to get shot again. "It was nice," he mumbled under his breath.

The snort that came through my nostrils was involuntary. "If you think that was good you should see the rest of the act," I mumbled to him without thinking. Oh my God. I can't believe I just said that! This was Daryl that I was talking to. Not some stupid college guy.

Thankfully he blew off the comment like he hadn't even heard it. I was more than surprised when Daryl turned off the lamp and laid down in the bed that I had thought that he had been making for me. "Go to bed," he told me before turning away.

He was not really going to let me sleep up here in his bed after I had nearly attacked him. No way. It didn't make any sense. Of course he had kissed back before I'd broken it. Why the hell had I done that? Maybe he kissed back on instinct. The smarter part of me knew that he had kissed me back because he'd wanted it. "You know this is your bed. I can take the floor, Daryl."

Despite the fact that it was pitch black in the tent I knew that he was shaking his head at me. "Nah girl, you're injured. You take the cot."

No one could ever say that Daryl was a selfish man. "Thanks," I mumbled awkwardly. I turned on my side and closed my eyes. It was late and I wanted nothing more than to sleep for a month. I was about a thousand percent done with this day. First I'd been forced to kill Sophia and then we'd had to bury her. I'd gone on a rescue mission for Hershel and killed a man. I'd been shot for a second time. And I'd kissed Daryl without any warning.

I'd been turning into quite the character over the past few weeks. My life sounded like a bad drama. Just as the world began to get fuzzy I heard Daryl speak. "Maybe one day you can show me the whole act." My entire body went completely rigid and my eyes sprung open. That wasn't to mention the heat that spread over my face, neck, and chest among other areas. Daryl knew that he'd gotten to me. He let out a little snort.

Grabbing a pillow that was behind my head in my hands I turned and chucked it at him. He laughed lowly and kept the pillow. Well that meant that I was missing a pillow. At least I had the cot. I rolled away from Daryl and let my head sink into the reasonably squishy mattress. It was better than the sleeping bag that I was using in my cot. I pushed aside the thoughts that I wanted Daryl up here with me. Oh yeah, that kiss was gonna mess with my mind for weeks to come. So was he.

We both laid down and I let out a deep breath. The pain was starting to come back. I was just about asleep when I heard Daryl stirring in his sleep. I looked over to him curiously. He was reaching around him seemingly trying to find something. I was about to wake him up when I heard him mumble out a low, "I'm sorry." With that his movement stopped and I fell back onto the cot. As I was falling asleep I had one thought on my mind. What was he sorry for?

It wasn't worth thinking about. I would never know. So I fell asleep to the sound of Daryl's soft snoring. I woke up the next morning to Daryl shaking me on the shoulder. "C'mon. They're talking to Randall. We should go." I nodded and allowed him to slip an arm around my waist.

He was stronger than both Rick, Hershel, and Glenn had been. They had let me keep some weight on my leg. For all intents and purposes he was carrying me. My feet were just barely hitting the grass. I wanted to tell him that I was able to walk on my own but I didn't think that he would let me. So I let him continue to half-drag me over to the house. With his assistance we made it to the front of the house quickly. It was evident that the group were keeping Randall in the barn until we figured out what to do with him.

So we headed there and overheard Rick speaking to him with Shane. The conversation didn't sound pretty. They were both shouting at each other and at Randall. Mostly just each other. And with each passing moment the argument only grew more heated. Daryl seemed like he was about to walk into the barn but I grabbed his shoulder. "Sounds like an argument, we might wanna stay out of that," I told Daryl.

It was obvious that he wanted to go in and check on the two men but he didn't. He merely nodded at me. With his help we limped back out towards the fire pit. "I'm gonna head out and try for a hunt. The meat you got us lasted a while but we're running low now. I need to get some more." It was a good idea. We could get a lot together. "And no you can't come," Daryl said before I could offer myself.

"Why not?" I pouted stupidly.

Daryl glared at me and shook his head. "You can barely stand. You should go to Dale or someone and see if they need help with something less physical. Have him maybe clean out that wound. Don't want it getting infected," Daryl told me.

He was right but that didn't mean that I wanted to let him out there on his own. Although maybe he needed to be on his own after the kiss. I nodded at Daryl and allowed him to help me over to the Winnebago. As I was about to walk into the RV I turned back to Daryl. He was already turned back and ready to head into the woods. "Hey Daryl! Be careful out there. Seems like lately we're both pretty accident prone." I winked at him and I saw a slight smile grace his face before he turned away from me and headed to the woods.

I turned back to the RV and pushed the door open slightly, limping inside. I closed the door once I was in. On the other side of the RV Dale was doing the dishes. He glanced up when the door thumped closed. Dale turned to me and smiled. "Rain! I had heard you were injured. Here, take a seat. I'll take a look at it. You slept through breakfast by the way. No worries though, we have a breakfast bar or something though." Dale dug through the cabinets and pulled out a granola bar tossing it over to me. "Not very good, but it's better than nothing."

"It's fine Dale, thank you," I told him. I unwrapped the granola bar and started to eat it quickly. It was stale and a little disgusting but I didn't have much room to argue that I wanted something better. Once I was done I handed the wrapper to Dale. "So what's going on today?" I asked after a moment of silence.

Dale cleaned off the last dish and placed it back in the cabinet. "I believe that Rick and Shane decided the best thing to do with Randall is take him off site. They'll have him blindfolded with headphones on in the trunk. He'll never know where we were and we won't have to kill him," Dale told me.

It was the best choice for all of us. We didn't have to kill Randall and we got rid of the problem. I assumed that they had talked about it last night when Daryl had been helping me out. "How far out are they going?" I asked.

It was mostly so I knew when they would be back and we would all have to get back to work. It seemed like everyone was enjoying a day to sleep in right now. "Eighteen miles out," Dale answered.

They would be back in about an hour if they were fast. "That's good. Means he won't be heading back here. He probably won't be able to find his group either. They were set up in the woods. More than likely that they've moved on by now. He can go start over again with someone else," I said mostly to myself.

"That's true," Dale told me. We both nodded and continued to sit in silence. I normally wasn't this quiet but I couldn't stop thinking about that damned kiss. "Have any plans for the day?" Dale asked me.

I shook my head at the older man. "Not really. I was just going to go around and see who needed help," I told him. There really wasn't much to do without Rick and Shane here to order us around. "I suppose if there's nothing to do I might go see if I can find that copy of The Invisible Man. Got nothing better to do," I told him.

Dale smiled at me and went to cleaning off the table. Someone had been taking apart a gun but they hadn't bothered to put it back together. "Everyone is around here somewhere. Most people are enjoying the day off. Without Rick and Shane around there really isn't anyone to give directions for chores," Dale said.

"So better enjoy the freedom while we have it," I teased.

He nodded at me with a smile. I reached out for the gun parts and began to reassemble it. I was better with short arms. Dale really didn't know much beyond the rifle that he always used. "Well we should have it for a few hours. Where did you go off to last night? The Greene's home?" Dale asked me. I let a curtain of hair fall in front of my face at his question. I didn't want to blush. "Went to your tent to see if you needed stitches and you weren't there," he continued.

That was sweet of him to try and see if I needed any help. But thankfully Daryl had taken care of me before I could find anyone else to do it. "Daryl did them. I was fine. He watched over me last night," I told him.

A pleased grin fell over Dale's face and I sighed. I should have lied and said that I did go to the Greene's home. "Fine thing for him to do," Dale said. I nodded slowly, knowing that this conversation was not over. "He's become quite taken with you lately. And I think you've become rather taken with him as well," he told me with a knowing glint in his eyes.

"Come off it," I snapped. Dale laughed in response. "There's nothing between us. He's really helped me out with adjusting to the new world. He's my first friend in a long time. He helped me realize that I had more friends in this group than him. He's another hunter. I don't meet too many of them. We have kid of similar backgrounds. We just click. As friends," I added.

Dale turned back to me and gave me a suspicious look. I should have known that he wouldn't believe that that was it. "Rain, I may not have had any kids of my own but I can tell when something's bothering them. What is it?" He asked me.

The teasing tone had left his voice and instead he was speaking to me like a father would speak to his daughter after she'd had a bad day. "It's nothing, just me being stupid," I told him.

"Let me take a wild guess and say it has something to do with Daryl," Dale said. I looked up at him surprised that he had said anything about Daryl. Not that I should have been. Dale knew that Daryl and I had some strange dynamic going. Dale laughed at the look on my face, "Rain, anyone with half a brain can tell that you two care about each other. You both may have started out with a rocky relationship but we can all see lately that there's something with you two."

He turned to leave the RV before I called back to him. "Wait, what? Something with us?" I asked.

Dale gave me a sweet smile. "Love, dear. I see it in the way you look at him and he looks at you. It's the way I used to look at my wife. Whether you know it or not, something is developing between you two."

Love? Was that really what it was? I had never been in love before. I mean I had loved my mother and father at one point but that wasn't the same thing as romantic love. I knew for a fact that I had never been romantically in love with someone. Those had been more of infatuations. I'd never really loved anyone. I guess I hadn't even thought that it was possible that someone like me would be able to find love. I just wasn't that type of person. I looked up at Dale. He had plenty of life experience, maybe he would be able to help me.

"Dale?" I called. The older man turned back to me with a grin. "I uh- I sort of um... kissed Daryl last night. It was weird. I got this weird feeling. But anyways he actually kissed me back. I mean he kinda spilled his heart out to me and I just did it. What does that mean? I apologized to him for it but he just kept telling me that it was okay and we just kind of went back to normal. So what now? He can't love me, can he?" I asked.

I wasn't sure that my ramble had made any sense but Dale seemed to understand me well enough. He smiled at me, shaking his head and laughing. "Rain that man loves you so much it's painful to watch. And I know that you love him as well. I can tell though that you both haven't had much luck perhaps in the romance department. But my dear, he's scared. You have to give him time."

But what did that mean? I never had to fight for a guy before. I'd gone with the bold ones that had come to me first. That was why they'd never meant anything to me. "So what? I wait for him to come to me?" I asked.

He gave a small shrug. "Maybe, but it wouldn't hurt to nudge him along." He winked at me and went to the door of the RV.

He swung the door open and went to leave. "Wait!" I called out to stop him. "What does that mean?" I asked Dale. He merely laughed before stepping out of the RV. I rolled my eyes and looked down at my leg. I had been so busy thinking about Daryl that I hadn't even noticed Dale fixing my leg.

Today was not going the way that I had thought that it would. I finished locking the slide on the gun back into the place and put it down on the table. Whoever owned this gun could get it whenever they saw it next. Once I'd grabbed my bow and arrows I took them off and placed them on the table. No use in carrying around a bunch of weapons today. I kept one knife in my holster before leaving the RV. I could find someone else to go help. I started across the yard in a daze. My thoughts completely engulfed in Daryl. I'd only been walking a few seconds when I ran into Glenn. Literally. I fell off balance and hit the ground with an small grunt.

My thigh twinged painfully but it could have been worse. "Oh my God! Rain! I'm so sorry I wasn't paying attention," he told me. He leaned down a hand and helped me up. I brushed the dirt off of myself and smiled at him.

Wasn't his fault. I hadn't been paying attention to where I was going either. "It's okay. Thinking about Maggie?" I asked him. He nodded at me with a depressed sigh. Something was up between the two of them. I'd hardly seen him say two words to her since last night. "I wasn't really all there either. Didn't even see you," I laughed. Glenn nodded at me.

He took off his baseball cap to brush back his hair. "I was a huge coward out there and I'm embarrassed to even be around her now," he sighed. He really hadn't been that bad. He was just scared. There was no fault to be found in that. "But anyways, what were you thinking about?" He asked me.

I sighed and mumbled out, "Daryl."

Glenn laughed at me. I supposed that my biggest issue in a walker-ridden world was about a man; that was kind of funny. "Yeah, I figured. Dale said that I should find you and ask what was going on." Damn it Dale, I'm gonna kill you. "So what happened? I saw him pick you up and then the two of you disappeared until this morning." Glenn gave me an odd look and I cocked my head to the side.

What was he giving me that look for? "What are you-" I cut myself off when I realized what he had been insinuating. "Oh! No! God no! No! He just helped stitch me up. I slept on his cot, he was on the floor, and he woke me up this morning. He sent me to Dale to get my leg sanitized. Nothing else," I told Glenn.

The Asian man gave me a type of smirk that a brother would give his sister when he knew that she was leaving details of a story out. "You seem almost a little too defensive there," he told me.

Maybe I was. But there was no way that I wanted to tell him what had happened. He could go ask Daryl if he wanted to know the entire story. "You going to get up the nerve to go and ask Daryl what happened last night?" I asked him with a smirk.

Despite the fact that Daryl had gotten much friendlier over the past few weeks I knew that he still wasn't the most friendly person in the entire world. Glenn wasn't afraid of him anymore but he was not going to be willing to ask him if something had happened between the two of us. "Hell no. But I could always go letting everyone else know what 'happened' between you and Daryl last night," Glenn told me.

He wouldn't dare. I could get him back if he did something like that. "You do that and I promise that Hershel will know just who to come after with that big shotgun of his," I threatened.

Of course we both knew that this was a joke considering the smirks on our faces. Neither one of us would do that to each other. But we weren't going to back down from each other's challenges. "You wouldn't do that to Maggie. You like her," Glenn told me.

It wasn't a lie. I hadn't spoken to Maggie that much since arriving at the farm but she seemed nice enough to me. Perhaps in time we would really be friends. "I do. I like you too. But you'd be amazed of the things that I could do to you if you make me mad. Things that would make you run away from me. Of course I could catch you," I told him.

Maybe not right now but once my leg was feeling better I would be able to catch him again. "Five-foot-three blonde girl tries to intimidate you. Doesn't work too well," Glenn told me. I grit my teeth together and bundled my fists before rearing back and punching him in the arm. "Ow! Asshole," he muttered. I smirked at him and brushed my shoulder off cockily. "About Daryl, I believe you. But what really happened? I know you're leaving a part out Rain. I know you better than you think," he told me.

"You know I know you pretty well too Glenn," I laughed.

He was smart enough to know that I was just saying anything that I could to get out of having to admit to him what had happened between Daryl and I. "Maybe, but this is about you right now," he smiled at me.

There was no way that I was going to be getting out of this conversation. Dale had made sure of that. So I sucked in a breath and sighed deeply. "Well uh- I kissed Daryl, and he uh, kissed me back," I stuttered awkwardly.

My feet were digging into the grass and I felt like a two year old that had just been scorned after telling the truth of who had broken the expensive lamp that was a family heirloom. "I'll be damned, I was actually right," Glenn muttered.

What the hell did he just say? "What?" I asked.

It seemed that Glenn wasn't aware that he had just said that. His eyes widened in fear. "Oh!" He jumped awkwardly. Suddenly he was the one that looked like a scorned child. "Well uh- we all kind of had a uh bet going," Glenn stammered while turning to look away from me. "It was Dale, T-Dog, Rick, Lori, Carol, and I. We were all betting on when you two would uh... get together," Glenn muttered.

How old were we? They were all betting on when Daryl and I would get together. Oh yeah, someone was going to die today. "And," I grit out between my teeth, "what were the bets?" I asked.

It took Glenn a moment to gather his thoughts. "Well I thought that it would be here at the farm. Dale had thought that it would be back at the quarry. T-Dog didn't think it would happen for a while and neither did Lori. But they did both think that it would happen. Carol thought that it would be right after he got shot. Rick, uh- Rick thought it would be while you two were out on a camping trip one day," he told me with a guilty look on his face.

I was so going to kill them all. "When were these bets made?" I asked.

"We uh, started them at the quarry and they've just kept going. Really we started them the minute that we saw you two screaming at each other for the first time," he told me, stepping back as I advanced on him.

I hummed in response to his answer. "You better run Glenn Rhee! I may have a bullet wound but that doesn't mean that I won't catch you!" I shouted. Glenn took off in a dead sprint and I followed, running toward the house. He was faster than me because of the wound. I was trailing just a bit when I half sprinted and half limped past Lori. Carl was trailing behind her.

"What happened?" She called as I came up on her.

"The bet!" I shouted. Her face went pale as a sheet. I stopped next to her and looked over at Carl. "Hey Carl, want to help me kill Glenn?" I smiled at the young boy. He smiled back at me and nodded. I pulled him along with me and sent him after the young Asian. Carl and I both ran in a circle, going opposite directions and cutting off Glenn. "Go Carl!" I shouted to the kid.

He laughed and ran after our friend while knocking him onto the ground. He wouldn't have caught Glenn normally but I knew that Glenn had let Carl catch him. For the sake of letting him have a good time this once. He deserved it. Carl had just been shot. We weren't even sure that he would survive. He needed to have just a little bit of fun. I smiled as the pair wrestled for a moment before Carl crawled off of Glenn and walked over to me. He immediately wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug. I was surprised at first but I hugged him back.

Once he let go of me he smiled and laughed. "That was fun!" He yelled.

I laughed and smiled back at him. He deserved to have fun like this every once and a while. Especially when the world was as serious as it was right now. So I leaned over in front of him. Not that I had to go very far. I wasn't exactly very tall. "Hey Carl, wanna learn how to do a handstand?" I asked him.

Lori was watching us with a bright smile. It had probably been a while since she had seen Carl having fun like this. The boy smiled wide at me. It was the most I'd ever seen him smile. "Yeah!" He yelled.

I smiled at Carl and launched into my explanation. "So you stand straight up with your feet a tiny bit apart and you take a big step forward with your dominant leg. Make sure you keep straight, if you step to the side you'll twist and it'll mess you up. Don't forget to raise your arms. As you step let your body tip over your lunged leg like a see-saw. Hold your arms straight and move your head toward the ground. Move with a bit of force forward over your lunged leg. This is gonna balance you; gravity will actually help here. Keep your arms straight as you go to the ground and keep your shoulders tight toward your neck. As you go up straighten your legs and torso toward the sky, keep your legs together, and balance your weight on your hands. Got it?" I asked, laughing because I knew that he hadn't.

He gave me a worried look and I smiled. "I'll show you." I walked a bit away from everyone and quickly went into a perfect handstand. Everyone that had gathered around were clapping. Dale, Lori, Carl, T-Dog, Glenn, Carol, Maggie, Hershel, Patricia, and even Andrea were out and smiling at me.

My legs were up completely over my head as I glanced around at the upside down group that were all smiling at me. "Cool!" Carl laughed at me. I began to walk around on my hands much to the astonishment of the group.

It had taken me nearly a year to be able to walk like this on my hands. There had been plenty of trips to the doctor because I'd taken a bad fall into the coffee table. "Damn girl," T-Dog laughed.

"How'd you learn to do that?" Lori asked.

If I could have shrugged my shoulders I would have. "Eh, I've always been flexible but I was in gymnastics for years. This was one of my favorite things to do. I would walk around the house for hours like this when I was little. It used to make my mom so mad. She said that that was why I was so crazy; all the blood would rush to my head and never go back down."

My voice was slightly nasally because of my position. The group laughed and I heard Glenn mumble to Maggie, "Flexible huh? I'm sure Daryl will love that."

And that was why I had hit him earlier. "I'll still kill you Glenn!" I shouted. He looked up at me, surprised that I'd heard him, and Maggie slapped him over the back of his head. I laughed and called out, "Thanks Maggie!" The brunette laughed and winked at me.

I began to walk in circles on my hands and turning around, I saw Daryl walking towards us. He had a belt of squirrels strapped to him. "Thank you Daryl, I'll take those," Lori said to him. Daryl tossed over the belt to her which she easily caught.

Briefly I went up on one hand. I couldn't hold it long though before I had to put down my other hand once more. I walked on my hands backwards away from Daryl. "What the hell are you doing girl?" Daryl asked as he walked up to me.

"Showing off my astounding balance," I gloated. Daryl humphed and pushed my non-injured leg over. "Ah! Daryl!" I shouted as my legs began to tip over. I attempted to tuck into a roll but it was too late. I went sprawling into the grass with a loud thump. Of course my mouth had come into direct contact with the stupid ground. Spitting out a bit of dirt I looked up to see Daryl laughing and the rest of the group trying to stifle theirs.

Jerk. I grunted at him. If he wanted to play it that way I could play it right back. I swept my leg up and under his legs, yanking out his knee. It made him fall right beside me. It was the least graceful that I'd ever seen him. He grunted and hit the ground roughly. "Asshole, you deserved that," I told him laughing at his shocked face. Daryl pushed himself up and grabbed my arm, pulling me up with him. "So anyways Carl just like that, except maybe not the landing."

He laughed and went to do one before turning to me. I could tell that he was nervous. "Here, I'll spot you. When you go up I'll catch your legs and steady you." Carl nodded at me and quickly went into a handstand. He had gone up a little too fast and slightly to the side but I easily caught him. "Okay, I've got you steadied. Now I'm going to let go. If you feel yourself falling just move to the opposite side to steady yourself. Ready?"

"Yeah," he called up to me. I let go of his legs and watched as he swayed a bit but steadied himself. He was wobbling badly and I had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to stay up for too long.

Still though, I was proud of him. He'd done better than I had the first time. "You've got it!" I called to him.

"Good job baby," Lori praised her son.

His wobbling steadied for a moment. "Whoa!" The young boy yelled. I saw Carl begin to lose his balance and I rushed to catch him but I was too late. He went down on his back but bounced right back up. "That was awesome! Thanks Rain!" I nodded at him and watched. Carl ran back out and continued attempting his handstands, having a harder time keeping up without me there to catch him.

Glenn and Lori however went to help him steady himself. They were a little less steady with him than I had been. Carol and Dale were laughing as they seemingly reminisced on old life. T-Dog was giving the handstands a try as well with Andrea laughing at his failures. Patricia and Hershel laughed as they teased Maggie about her brief stint as a gymnast when she was younger; I could see the big smile on Glenn's face as he listened in. Beth stood with them, smiling at her older sister. Jimmy had his arms around her.

I laughed softly as I watched the entire group have a blast in the yard. It was the most that I'd seen anyone laugh since this whole thing started. Taking a step back I flopped down into the grass, watching everyone. I smiled brightly at everyone as Daryl sat down next to me. "So a good hunting trip?" I asked.

He nodded at me. I noticed that he was sitting a tad bit closer than he really needed to be. I appreciated it. "Yeah but it looks like I missed the fun," he said with a laugh.

"Carl, and not just him, no one gets to have fun anymore. Now we just focus on surviving all the time. I thought that we should all have a day to just have fun. Especially since Shane and Rick aren't here. No one to tell us to get back to work. Unless you wanna take over the lead fun-sucker role?" I asked, nudging him with my shoulder.

He laughed and nudged me back, "I think I'll leave that to them." I smiled and we sat watching everyone else in silence. They were all laughing loudly and pushing and shoving each other. We almost looked like a real family.

T-Dog took a hard fall from a handstand and as he fell he rolled right into Glenn. The two men crashed in the grass together, much to the amusement of everyone else. Even Daryl laughed loudly. He looked so much better with a smile. "You know I remember enough from the CDC that I do remember telling you that you weren't a stick in the mud. I'm glad that you proved me right. I always hated being wrong anyways," I told him.

He turned to me. There was no longer a smile on his face but he looked happier than I had seen him in a while. "So I've seen. I think I remember a few things too. One of those being that you do naughty nicely," he told me.

The heat immediately spread through my face, neck, and chest. I couldn't believe that he remembered that thing. I wasn't even sure where it had gone. That was actually probably a better thing. "I- uh... That's just a stupid shirt. I'm pretty sure that I lost it sometime since we've been at the CDC. I couldn't find it in my bag," I mumbled.

A grin spread over his face once more. He knew that he had gotten to me. I just wished that he wouldn't have said something like that. It was mortifying to me. I'd never acted the way around any guys that I did around Daryl. "Either way, it told the truth," he told me. I knew that it was a hit at the kiss that we had shared last night.

"And what about you?" I asked in a sudden spurt of bravery.

Would he really have done naughty nicely? I wanted to know. I wanted him to show me. But I was never going to tell him that. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He asked me.

Another sudden comment flew out of my mouth before I could stop it. "I would."

He leaned in close to me. His lips just barely brushed by my ear. "Someday you'll find out," he told me. I hope so. But I didn't dare say that out loud. We had just been watching for a few minutes when he leaned over to me once more putting his mouth close to my ear. It was much more innocent this time. "I told you that you were the heart to this group," he said.

I nodded, finally understanding what he was saying. They would have never done anything like this if I hadn't been around. I sighed contentedly and leaned my head on his shoulder. He still tensed at my touch but he slowly relaxed, letting himself put an arm behind me. It was just barely touching my back and hip. I smiled and watched the group screw around, letting my mind wander. Later today it would be back to work. But for now we could enjoy the time and each other.


	19. Randall

We had all been sitting in the yard laughing and socializing with each other for about an hour when Rick and Shane pulled up. The laughter softened slightly as we all turned to see what had happened. I watched as the two men jumped out of the truck. They looked pissed. They were dirty too. Had they run into walkers out there? I watched as Rick walked around the back of the car and pulled Randall out of the trunk. What the hell? I thought that they were dropping him off eighteen miles away from the farm. He was back? Why?

I didn't really want to ask any questions though. They both looked incredibly pissed. Neither one of them looked like they wanted to say anything to the other. I wondered if maybe it had been a walker attack. But that didn't make sense as to why Randall was back or why they were that pissed. Nothing made sense to me right now. What had happened out there?

"Daryl! Can I talk to you for a minute?" Rick asked as he came up to us. Daryl nodded and stood up, helping me up with him. My leg gave out slightly at the sudden pressure. "I need you to go in there and get some answers out of Randall." I knew immediately what he was asking. To beat the answers out of Randall. Daryl looked at me and I gave a long sigh but nodded. We needed to know what to expect if these men came looking for Randall.

After a moment Daryl turned back and nodded at Rick. "Sure, lets go." Daryl patted my back and left toward the barn. I sighed before moving off to the rest of the group where I tried to help Carl, who was now attempting a cartwheel. As hard as I tried to concentrate on the happy atmosphere my mind kept wandering back to what was going on in that barn.

In the Barn...

I'd been questioning Randall for about ten minutes now and I'd still hardly gotten anything. The kid was too busy crying to actually bother telling me anything. I leaned down in front of the kid again and grabbed him roughly by the collar. "I told you-" he yelled to me before I cut him off.

"You told me shit!" I spat in his face. The only thing that he'd told me was that he hadn't been with them for more than a few weeks.

The boy spit out a tiny bit of blood from a hit that I'd delivered to him earlier. "I barely knew those guys. I met 'em on the road," he told me.

It was something and I believed him. He was a little too awkward to have known them before the outbreak. "How many in your group?" I asked.

The boy closed his eyes and leaned back against the pipe that he was chained to. "Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." I swung at Randall again and stopped at the last moment. He sucked in a quick breath at the . "Come on, man," he pleaded with me.

"How many?" I yelled again, giving the boy a hard shake.

"Uh," he stuttered as he thought. I tightened my grip on his shirt and went to throw another punch at his face. He cowered and began to stutter again. "Thirty- thirty!" He finally told me.

Too many for us to handle. We only had a few that could actually fight. It seemed like everyone in their group was capable to handle themselves. "Where?' I asked. They couldn't be anywhere near us. I'd never seen them on a hunting trip.

"Uh I don't know. I swear," the kid said when I bunched my fists around his shirt again. "We were never anyplace more than a night," he told me.

That might have been the truth but I didn't care. "Scouting? Planning on staying local?" I asked. Let's hope not.

Once more the kid shook his head. "I- I don't know. They- they left me behind," the kid stuttered.

Rain had mentioned that the people that the kid had been with had left him when he had landed on the fence while trying to jump from the roof. I wasn't getting my answers from this kid fast enough. "Did you ever pick off a scab?" I asked, trying to intimidate the kid.

The kid backed as far into the pipe as he possibly could. "Come on, man! I'm-I'm trying to cooperate." The intimidation routine was obviously working.

"Start real slow at first."

"No," he pleaded.

I merely continued. "Sooner or later, you've just gotta rip it off," I continued. I knew he was about to crack.

The boy looked like he was about to cry. "Okay. Okay. They have weapons- Heavy stuff, automatics." Even we didn't have automatics. "But I didn't do anything," the kid told me.

That was a damn lie. He was the reason that Rain had gotten shot in the leg. "Your boys shot at my boys, and hell, a girl too. Tried to take this farm. You just went along for the ride? You're trying to tell me you're innocent?" I asked him.

By now the boy was crying. "Yes!" He shouted! "These- these people took me in. Not just guys. A whole group of 'em. Men and women, kids too. Just like you people. Thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know? But we go out, scavenge. Just the men. One night, we- we found this little campsite. A man and his two daughters. Teenagers, you know? Real young. Real cute. Their daddy had to watch while these guys- they... And they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just- They just made him watch as his daughters- They just-just- just left him there."

No. This boy was seriously fucked in the head if he thought that I was going to let him walk after something like that. No one would lay an unwanted hand on a woman. Especially not a kid. The kid noticed my sudden demeanor change. "No, but-but- but I didn't touch those girls. No, I swear I didn't to- Please. Please. You gotta believe me, man. I'm not like that. I ain't like that. Please. Please, you gotta believe me."

As the boy told me his story I had been pacing back and forth to ensure that I didn't do anything that I regretted. But I couldn't hold it in anymore. I was now fuming at his little story. I ran back to the kid and punched as hard as I could at his nose. I heard the crack and watched as his head smacked back against the pole. I was genuinely surprised when it didn't knock him out. I could definitely see the stars in his eyes.

Turning abruptly on my heels I went to tell Rick what I had learned when the kid called out to me. "Hey! You want my advice?" I stopped long enough to hear him out. "Leave while you can. Your girlfriend's pretty and you won't like what they do to her. She'll get it the worst," he warned.

Like hell someone would ever lay a hand on her. I had to clench my fists to keep from killing the kid right there. I stormed out of the barn before I could do anything that I would regret. No way in hell. Those men wouldn't come anywhere near this camp. And if any of them even thought to lay a hand on Rain... They'd have to go through me. No one would ever hurt Rain. Over my dead body.

Back Outside...

We all stood together and waited for Daryl. My hands were writhing together as I wondered about what was happening in the barn. After about ten minutes Daryl walked outside, and by the looks of it he was fuming. He was strutting over to where Rick, Shane and I were standing. As he walked over the rest of the group came walking up with him. I was about to call out and ask what had happened when I looked down at his hands. His knuckles were covered in blood. He had beaten the answers out of Randall. Literally.

Once the majority of the group came over we all stood together. "So, what you gonna do?" T-Dog asked Rick about what we were doing with Randall. Considering dropping him off eighteen miles out apparently hadn't gone over very well. Daryl was just a few meters away.

"We'd all feel better if we knew the plan," Lori said.

"Is there a plan? We gonna keep him here?" Andrea asked.

I did not like the thought of keeping him here with the rest of us. "We'll know soon enough," Rick said, looking to Daryl.

Daryl let out a little huff. "Boy there's got a gang. Thirty men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna- They're gonna wish they were," Daryl told us. He gave me a sidelong glance and I couldn't but gag at the thought of that. I wasn't planning on that happening, especially if the men were anything like Dave and Tony.

It didn't seem that the thought went over very well with anyone else either. I noticed that Daryl looked slightly pained when he looked over at me. "What did you do?" Carol asked Daryl.

He shook his head at her. "Had a little chat," he told her. I could see Carol look him over slowly. Her eyes go wide when they saw his hands.

Carol quickly looked to me but I shrugged my shoulders motioning to my leg with my eyes. Sorry Carol, but this guy shot me. I was not playing nice with this. "No one goes near this guy," Rick grit out, shaking his head.

His wife was here as were his other friends. He was not going to let these men lay a hand on anyone in our little camp. "Rick, what are you gonna do?" Lori asked her husband.

He let his head drop to the ground for a moment before glancing back up. "We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat," Rick said darkly.

So apparently it was finally decided. After all this debating, Randall was going to die. I felt bad for him but I knew that we had to do this. "You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked.

He sounded horrified at the prospect. He was a good man. He didn't want to see us kill someone over something that other people had done. "It's settled. I'll do it today," Rick grumbled.

It was his own punishment to himself. He was going to kill Randall since saving him was his own idea. "You can't do this. You don't wanna do this. I know you don't," Dale argued.

That was completely true. Rick didn't want to do it. But this wasn't about what we wanted to do. It was about what we had to do. "I thought about it all night. Knowing what we know now, I don't see a way out of it."

"But you can't just decide on your own to take someone's life," Dale pleaded.

"The group seemed supportive," Rick said while motioning to us.

Dale stepped forward and shook his head. "What, because they didn't speak back?" Dale asked Rick. He spoke up again before Rick could. "You didn't let 'em. There's gotta be a- a process." No come on, we just came to a decision. Let's not draw this out.

"And what would that be? We can't call witnesses, go before a judge," Rick said.

He was right about that. But we had to do something. "So he's automatically guilty by association and sentenced to death?" Dale asked. We all nodded slowly. "He's just a kid." I believe he's nineteen Dale. That made him not a kid anymore. Even in our old society he would have been considered an adult and would be tried as one.

"Gimme some time to talk to everyone. We can't-" Rick tried to tell Dale, however he was cut off by the older man once again.

"Try to figure out another way-"

Rick was finally fed up with the argument. "No, we can't drag this out! People are scared," Rick yelled. Clearly he wanted this dealt with as soon as possible.

I didn't blame him. Randall was a nasty cloud that was hanging over the camp. We had to get rid of him as soon as possible. "Which is why they need time to discuss this," Dale attempted to reason with Rick.

Rick shook his head. "No, no, no, they need to be safe. I owe 'em that," Rick said. I felt bad for the man. He had no idea what to do and he felt like no matter what, he would upset someone.

He wasn't wrong ."You think about your son. The message that you're giving him- Shoot first, think later. I'm asking for one day to talk to everybody. You can give me that. Think- think about Carl," Dale said. For a minute I thought he was right. Rick was being more of a leader than he was a father to Carl.

"I am," Rick snarled at Dale before looking away. "We reconvene at sunset, then what happens, happens," Rick told us with a strong tone to his voice.

A moment later he walked away with his head dropped towards the ground. Lori followed him right after. I sighed and turned around while heading away from the camp. There was nothing more to say here. After I left everyone else started to disperse. Daryl was a pace behind me. He came up to my side and somehow my feet automatically led me to his campsite. It had almost become habit for me to go there. I sat down on the log he had in front of his fire pit and a moment later he plopped down next to me.

We sat in silence for a moment before I looked over at Daryl. He was picking at one of the tips of his arrows. He looked like he had something on his mind. "What do you think is gonna happen with Randall?" I asked him.

Daryl looked up at me with a slightly surprised look. I wondered if he had forgotten that I was here. He shrugged his shoulders at me. "They'll kill him," Daryl mumbled.

But would we really? We were still human. As much as I hated thinking about what Randall had done a part of me still felt slightly guilty. We weren't even letting him speak for himself. "You really think that?" I asked him.

He nodded at me. "Yeah. Dale's the only one who don't wanna see the boy get killed. Shit we shouldn't have him walking around us. Said as I was leavin' that I wouldn't like what they'd do to you... That they'd make it the worst on you," he told me softly.

My heart dropped into my stomach. That wasn't good. That wasn't something that I wanted to deal with. No man would ever put his hands on me like that. "Oh. I- It- I'll be okay," I said softly.

Maybe that wasn't the truth but I didn't want him feeling even worse for me. Daryl leaned over at me and grabbed my hand. His were still rough and the palms were cracked. "I ain't lettin nothin happen to you," he said softly, running his fingers over the back of my hand. "Not anyone else in this group either. 'Cept maybe Shane. Over my dead body," he said. I smiled slightly and was about to ask him how exactly he'd gotten the answers out of Randall when Daryl growled out, "What the hell is it now?" I looked up and saw that Dale was walking over to us.

He looked like he was on some type of mission. "The whole point of me coming up here is to get away from you people," Daryl snapped at Dale as the older man came to a stop right in front of us. Daryl picked up an arrow and his whetstone as he began to sharpen his arrows in an attempt to avoid Dale's conversation.

He was not going to get out of the conversation that easily. "Gonna take more than that," Dale told him.

Daryl hadn't bothered looking up from the arrow. I was stuck smiling awkwardly at Dale. "Carol send you?" Daryl asked without looking up.

I heard Dale let out a puff of air. "Carol's not the only one that's concerned about you. Your new role in the group," Dale told him. I knew what he meant. Daryl was slowly becoming a leader figure to the rest of the group while Shane was on a slippery slope downhill.

Finally Daryl turned to look up at Dale. He looked pissed. "Oh, man. I don't need my head shrunk. This group's broken. I'm better off fending for myself," Daryl snapped. Gee, thanks buddy.

"You act like you don't care," Dale said, incredulous.

A small scoff came from Daryl. "Yeah, it's 'cause I don't," Daryl snapped again. It was a lie. I knew that deep down some part of him cared. He was not his brother.

Dale seemed to agree with me. "So live or die, you don't care what happens to Randall?" Dale asked. He seemed to think that Daryl somewhere deep down, he cared. He cared but not enough to change his mind. Pretty much everyone in the camp just wanted the Randall situation out of their minds.

"Nope," Daryl said, popping the 'p'.

Dale let out another breath. "Then why not stand with me, try to save the kid's life, if it really doesn't matter one way or the other?" He asked.

Daryl gave a soft snort. "Didn't peg you for a desperate son of a bitch," Daryl said. God Daryl, think you could be any more harsh? I knew that he wasn't always the nicest person in the world but that was cruel.

Thankfully it didn't phase Dale. "Your opinion makes a difference," Dale tried with Daryl.

"Man, ain't nobody looking at me for nothing," Daryl told the older man.

That wasn't exactly the truth. "Carol is, and I am. I'm sure Rain does as well," Dale said while motioning to me. Daryl quickly turned to me with a strange look but shook his head. Dale looked at me as well. Oh no, don't drag me into this. But he was right. I did look to Daryl for certain things.

"Right now," Daryl muttered.

I assumed that because of Merle being the type of man he was Daryl had never been a leader. Merle was always the one that ruled everything. Being a leader was something new and foreign to Daryl. "And you obviously- You have Rick's ear." Dale was right on that matter.

"Rick just looks to Shane. Let him," Daryl snapped. For now. Rick would eventually see what kind of person Shane was and I could only imagine what would happen when that day came.

"You cared about what happened to Sophia. Cared what it meant to the group. Torturing people? That isn't you. You're a decent man." He was. But I was sure that Daryl would never believe that. "So is Rick. Shane- He's different. Rain, come on." Daryl laughed and blew air out of his nose.

I wasn't sure what he wanted me to say. I wasn't sure whose side I was on in this fight. "Dale I'm sorry but I think Randall might have been the one that shot me. And I really have no desire to be anywhere around these men. Hell I met two of 'em and didn't get a great impression from either one," I told Dale while shaking my head.

Daryl didn't know that I had met two of them. He gave me a strange look when I admitted it. "And why's that about Shane? 'Cause he killed Otis?" Daryl asked.

Dale's eyed widened. "He tell you that?"

Of course not. Daryl was not the fool that some people thought he was. "He told some story- How Otis covered him, saved his ass. He showed up with the dead guy's gun. Rick ain't stupid. If he didn't figure that out, it's 'cause he didn't wanna. It's like I said. Group's broken." Dale merely shook his head and left the small campsite.

When he was finally out of earshot I turned to Daryl. "Did you really mean that? About the group being broken?" I asked him. I wanted to think that he had just said it in frustration.

But instead he just nodded at me. "Yeah. No one knows what to do with a problem we could have solved from the beginning. Everyone's fighting too. Relationships here are going down the drain fast. You gotta be able to see that," he told me.

I gave a soft nod. He was right about that too. Lori and Rick seemed to be having their problems. Carl was barely getting along with his parents. And Rick and Shane looked like they might kill each other at any moment. "I do, but this group is strong. We made it this far. I know that we can keep on," I told him. Daryl just sighed in response.

Rolling my eyes I stood up and pulled off my long sleeved shirt that I had been wearing. It left me in a thin tank top. I laid down in the grass and closed my eyes, letting the sun sink into my body. "The hell are you doing girl?" Daryl asked me.

I opened one of my eyes. "Getting some sun. I plan on enjoying the sun for as long as I can before the damn cold takes over." Daryl scoffed at me but I ignored him and crossed my legs over each other before zoning out.

This day had been stressful enough. Annoying too. I didn't want to have to deal with anything else other than the fact that I would probably wake up with a sunburn. The only thing that mattered was that since I couldn't enjoy the beach I was going to be damn sure to enjoy the sun. I didn't know how long I'd been out for when I back too. I looked up and saw that Daryl was still sharpening his arrows, but the sun looked like it would be sinking soon.

He looked like he was off in his own world. "Hey Daryl?" I called. Daryl hummed and looked up at me. "I was just thinking that you know a little bit about me and I know a tiny bit about you but other than that we really don't know anything about each other," I said stupidly.

The moment that I said it I wished that I could have taken it back. He was going to laugh at me or tell me to get out. God I shared one kiss with the guy and now I was a bumbling idiot while he was totally cool. "Well? What did you wanna know?" He asked me.

It caught me off guard. I hadn't thought that he would play along. "Umm... What's your favorite color?" I asked him. Oh, great question Rain. That didn't just make you sound like a complete moron or anything.

He laughed softly and I smiled awkwardly. He had a nice smile. And his laugh was cute. Why the hell was I such a girl? It surprised me that he answered anyways. "Green. What about you?" He asked.

There wasn't really a favorite color but there were a few that I liked. I smiled at him. "Purple. Okay so what-" I started before Daryl cut me off.

"Oh no, girl," he told me and I smirked. "It's my turn. What were you doing when this all went down?" He asked me.

That was actually a good question. Better than mine had been. I thought for a minute and looked at him, "I was finishing my last paper when this news alert popped up on the screen. It was the Secretary of Defense and I ignored it at first but then I heard the screaming. I looked out my window and saw what was happening. Grabbed my stuff but waited a few days. When it was safe I finally went out and headed to Atlanta. You know the rest. What about you?" I asked.

He gave a soft shrug. "I was in a bar with Merle. Saw that same warning and we hopped in the truck and left. Went back home and got our stuff heading for Atlanta. Ended up caught in a traffic jam and that's where we met up with Glenn and T-Dog."

I hadn't known that he'd met Glenn and T-Dog before everyone else. Come to think of it I hadn't even known how he'd become a part of this group. "Okay, what were you doing work wise before this?" I asked.

He seemed to think for a minute when he finally answered. "Didn't really do anything. Where Merle went, I went. I mean I fixed up bikes for a while. Harley's were my favorite. Loved doing that. Were you working too?" He asked me.

I nodded. "Since I left home when I was fourteen I worked at a gun range. Under the table until I was eighteen. They didn't allow minors but they felt bad for my situation. Besides I loved guns growing up. Must've got that from my dad," I laughed.

"Makes sense. Gotta live somehow." He was right. Had I not worked at the gun store I would have hated to see where I would have ended up working. "How about sports? Do anything growing up?" He asked.

I laughed. "Oh yeah. I did a lot. The first thing I tried to do was figure skating. We quickly learned that I had no balance on ice and I never would. After that it was gymnastics; I loved that. Did it for about four and a half years. When my instructor moved I stopped. Right after that my dad enrolled me in MMA fighting. I did that for about two and a half years before my mom found out and pulled me out of it. Of course, I still did it behind her back. Then when I was ten I started dance and I was in that until I was fourteen when... Well, all that went down."

Daryl looked impressed with my words. "Damn girl. You did everything. I didn't really do anything. Just ran around the lived right in the middle of 'em. The woods were my escape. And when Merle was here he would take me out into the woods and teach me survival skills. One of the few good things that he ever did for me growing up."

I couldn't help but to smile. They probably were good brothers. They just didn't want to admit it. "Well then I've told you about my family. How about yours?" I asked Daryl. I saw the reluctance in his eyes but he eventually opened his mouth.

He was about to speak when a call came from the yard. "Daryl, Rain! It's time to make the decision!" Lori called out to us.

She turned back to the house. "Ugh, really?" Daryl laughed and pulled me up off of the ground. "Don't think you're done with this conversation mister. You still owe me an answer," I told him while nudging Daryl in the shoulder.

He laughed at me and walked side by side with me as we headed through the yard. On our way there we also found out that neither one of us had been in relationships before this had gone down. It made my stomach flutter with nerves when he told me that no one had made him feel like wanting to be in a relationship. But it made my heart soar when he told me that I was better than any woman he'd met before. It made me want to grab him and shove him back into the woods to show just how much better I was.

But Daryl wasn't that type of man. So we made our way up to the house and into the living room. I was shocked to see that literally everyone was in there. Daryl and I were the last to get there. The room was silent for a moment. "So how do we do this? Just take a vote?" Lori asked.

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.

"How about majority rules" Lori put in again.

Majority rules would be the only way that this would work. I didn't think that we were going to be able to reach a unanimous vote. "Well, let's- let's just see where everybody stands, then we can talk through the options," Rick said, clearly uncomfortable.

"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward," Shane spoke up.

Dale was quick to speak up. "Killing him, right? I mean, why even bother to even take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing," he snapped at the group.

"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know," Rick told the older man.

The only person that would want to spare him was Dale. "Well, I can tell you it's a small group. Maybe just me and Glenn," Dale said motioning to the young Asian.

I didn't even think that Glenn wanted to spare Randall after what had happened at Hatlin's. "Look, I- I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this-" Glenn started, before Dale cut him off.

"They've got you scared."

"He's not one of us," Rick said.

"And we've- we've lost too many people already," Glenn stuttered.

He was right. We couldn't risk another because we took a chance on someone we didn't know. "How about you? Do you agree with this?" Dale asked Andrea. She looked incredibly conflicted.

I didn't blame her. I didn't want to hurt Randall but I also didn't want to leave him where he could hurt us. "Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" Andrea asked.

No way. "Just another mouth to feed. It may be a lean winter," Daryl spoke up.

"We could ration better," Andrea suggested.

She was fucked in the head if she thought that it was going to work like that. "I don't think so. Daryl and I are the hunters. There's barely enough food coming up as is and the weather is getting colder. The animals are all going to be going into hibernation soon. We can barely able to keep up with the people we have now in the warmer weather. I'm sorry, but it's too hard. We'd have to be going on runs more often and that's risking our people," I said.

There was no way Daryl and I would be able to keep up another persons mouth to feed. Like I had said, we could barely keep up with the people we did have. "Well he could be an asset," Dale said. "Give him a chance to prove himself."

"Put him to work?" Andrea asked for clarification.

"We're not letting him walk around," Rick said.

He was right. If we let him walk he could run off and destroy everything that we had worked for. "We could put an escort on him," Andrea suggested.

No one would do anything like that. "Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Rick asked.

"I will," Dale immediately jumped in. That was true. He was the one person that would volunteer to do anything as long as it kept Randall alive.

But I wasn't comfortable with him being around here. Not because of the guys that he had been with and not because of what these men had done before. Because of something else. "Hey guys let's not forget. This guy shot me. I don't really like him walking around where we live and sleep," I put in.

"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy. And Rain's right, he shot her. Who's to say the same wouldn't happen if we let him off by himself," Rick said.

"He's right. I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up," Lori said.

It was the best option that we had but it wouldn't make any sense. "We can't exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labor. Look, say we let him join us, right? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his thirty men," Rick tried to explain the worst case scenario.

That would be hell for us. The women and the men. "So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt? If we do this, we're saying there's no hope," Dale sighed.

"Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization," Rick said.

"Oh my God," Dale sighed.

"Could you drive him further out?" I heard someone else call out. I turned to look back where the Greene family were standing together. "Leave him like you planned?" Hershel asked.

It wasn't a bad idea but it hadn't worked last time. Chances were it wouldn't work this time. "You barely came back this time. There are walkers. You could break down," Lori said, looking to Rick. The couple was having issues but I could tell that Lori did not want to lose Rick.

"Y-you could get lost," Glenn added.

"Or get ambushed," Shane said. He seemed to have a strange sense about him when he mentioned it.

As much as I wanted to think about it I shook my head. "They're right. We should not put our own people at risk for him," I said.

"If you go through with it, how would you do it? Would he suffer?" Andrea asked.

We weren't those kinds of people. If we were going to do this we were going to make it fast and relatively painless. "We could hang him, right? Just snap his neck," T-Dog put in.

"I thought about that. Shooting may be more humane," Rick said.

Shooting him would be more humane. Snapping his neck might not work. It didn't always and we would just paralyze him. "And what about the body? Do we bury him?" Glenn asked.

"Hold on, hold on!" Dale snapped. I turned back and shook my head at him. "You're talking about this like it's already decided," Dale sighed. What more is there to talk about? It was too risky to let Randall stay here.

"You've been talking all day, going around in circles," Rick said.

And that was the worst part. No matter how much we talked about this we just came back to the same argument. "You just wanna go around in circles again? This is a young man's life, and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation! Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?" Dale asked us.

They pushed us to this Dale. "We all know what needs to be done," Shane snapped.

"No, Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned here." Rick said. "We have a responsibility-" he started when Shane cut him off.

"So what's the other solution?"

"Let Rick finish," Lori told Shane.

"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet," Andrea groaned. Like that was really helpful.

"I wish we could," Rick sighed.

"So let's work on it!" Dale yelled.

"We are," Rick argued back.

The group looked like it was about to descend into chaos. "Stop it. Just stop it," Carol said. We all turned to her curiously. "I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide- Either of you, both of you- But leave me out," she said.

Once she had finished speaking Dale turned to her. "Not speaking out or killing him yourself- There's no difference," Dale told her. Carol sighed and walked out of the living room into the kitchen.

I couldn't blame her, this was getting ridiculous. "All right, that's enough. Anybody who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance," Rick said, knowing that Dale would speak up.

"You once said that we don't kill the living," Dale said.

He was right about that. But that was also said as he pointed a gun at a living man. "Well, that was before the living tried to kill us," Rick defended. Good point.

"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were- the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's Harsh. It's- it's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't wanna live in, and I don't- and I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please. Let's just do what's right. Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?" Dale asked, looking around.

For a while no one said anything. "He's right. We should try to find another way," Andrea spoke up.

So that was now one more person on his side. "Anybody else?" Rick asked. As expected, no one spoke up.

It was turning into majority rules. And the majority were for killing him. "Are y'all gonna watch, too? No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. Well I won't be a party to it. This group is broken," Dale said, before storming out of the house.

"Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Wait, wait," Rick tried but Dale didn't stop. We were all silent as we stared at the ground in silence. "Well it's settled then," Rick sighed. "I'll go do it."

"You'll need help," Shane spoke up.

"I'll go too," T-Dog said.

"Yeah, me too," Daryl sighed.

After a moment I stepped forward as well. "Count me in, I feel like I should be there too," I said. Rick sighed but led us out of the house and towards the barn.

The yard was cold and I turned to look around and see where Dale had gone. Wherever he was he had gone out quickly. I assumed that he didn't want us anywhere near him. Not unless we decided to let Dale live. We walked into the barn and I saw that Randall glanced up at us. He looked extremely confused. Shane and T-Dog stood on either side or Randall and pulled him out of handcuffs, bringing him to Rick and shoving him onto his knees.

The boy fell heavily as he looked back and forth between all of us. There was an incredibly pain-stricken look in his eyes. "Put him there," Rick pointed.

I watched as they led him over to the middle of the barn and threw him down. "Oh, hey-hey!" Randall yelled at the man-handling.

"It's all gonna be over soon," Rick tried to soothe the kid.

The news didn't settle well. "What? What's gonna be over soon?" Randall asked, now in a panic. Rick pulled out his gun and aimed it at Randall's forehead.

I could see the fear seep into Randall's eyes as he stared down the barrel of Rick's gun. "Relax," Rick told the boy.

He seemed to finally understand what was going to happen to him. "Hey- hey. No, no, no, no," Randall began to cry. I almost felt bad for the kid until I remembered that he had shot me.

"Shh, shh, shh, shh," Rick shushed the boy.

"No," Randall begged.

"Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh."

"Oh, no no," Randall cried.

Daryl, T-Dog, Glenn, Shane, and I looked on silently. "Would you like to stand or kneel?" Rick asked.

I assumed that it wasn't the best thing that he could have said to the kid. Or the best way to word it. "Oh, no, please. Ple- Ah-ah-ah," Randall sobbed even harder.

An acidic feeling seeped into my stomach and I groaned. This wasn't exactly making me feel like a good person. "Do you have any final words?" Rick asked Randall.

"No, please. Please don't. Don't," Randall begged.

I watched as Rick cocked the gun and aimed it straight in between Randall's eyes. "Do it, dad. Do it," I heard Carl's voice behind me. I whipped around and saw the boy standing there.

Oh no. He could not be in here. This wasn't something that a kid needed to see. "Carl! What the hell are you doing here?" I hissed at the boy.

How the hell had he even gotten out here? Shouldn't Lori have been watching him? "Are you kidding me? What'd I say to you? What did I say to you?" Rick hissed at his son. "Take him away. Take him away. Get up," Rick growled to the men.

Shane and T-Dog quickly strung Randall back up to the pipe. The boy was clearly in pain. "Ah. Ah," Randall cried, somewhere in between pain and relief now that he knew he would survive for at least a while longer.

We walked back to the house in silence. We had just walked into the door and everyone stared at us curiously. They all wanted to know what was happening. "We're keeping him in custody, for now," Rick told the group as we settled into the room.

Rick was pushing his son along in front. "I'm gonna find Dale," Andrea said before running off. He would be happy to know that we had spared Randall's life for now.

"Carl, go inside. Now, please," Rick told his son. Carl stomped into the house and flung himself up the stairs. "He followed us. He wanted to watch. I couldn't," Rick told his wife.

"That's okay. That's okay," Lori consoled her husband.

We were all headed back into the living room of the house when we heard a lone shot sound from the field. What the hell was that? Oh my God. Dale and Andrea were out there. Something was wrong. The rest of the group sensed it too as we all came to a dead stop. "What happened?" Lori asked.

"Come here. Come here," Rick told Glenn "T-Dog, get a shotgun now!" Rick yelled to the man. He nodded and ran to get the gun. Rick turned back to his wife, "I want you to go in the house, I want you to lock the door and I want you to stay inside," he ordered her.

She nodded at her husband and looked extremely concerned. "Okay, okay," she said while guiding the Greene's and the women into the house.

"What was that? What happened?" Glenn asked.

No one really knew what was happening. "I don't know-" Rick said as we heard a scream. At the sound of the scream I took off in a dead sprint into the yard.

The rest of the group weren't far behind me. "Go!" I heard Rick shout behind me. I had made it all the way out to the middle of the yard when I heard Andrea screaming.

"No! Dale! Help! Over here! Help!" She shouted. I ran up towards her scream when I saw her figure. She was leaning over Dale, whose rib cage was torn open and his guts were hanging out. Only one thing could have done this. A walker. I felt tears immediately spring to my eyes. No, not Dale.

We needed help if we were going to be able to do something to help save him. "Run!" I shouted to the group.

Rick was the next one to the scene. He came to a skidding halt and dropped to the ground next to me. "Hang in there, buddy," Rick said to Dale when he got to the scene.

Tears were steadily flowing down my face as I gripped onto Dale's hands as tight as I could. It was like I was afraid if I let go of his hand I would lose him. "No Dale! No! Not you, I can't lose you, no!" I cried to the older man.

"Who is it?" T-Dog asked. It was seeing as myself, Andrea, and Rick were covering Dale.

"Oh, my God," Andrea sobbed. "Oh, God."

"Rick!" I heard Shane shout.

Rick ignored Shane and focused on Dale. "All right, just listen to my voice. Listen to me, all right? Just listen to me. Okay, hold on now," Rick told the older man, his own voice breaking.

This was the one chance that I had to say something to Dale. I had to say something to him before I lost my chance. "Dale- I- I just wanted you to know that you may not have ever had a daughter, but- but- you were like a father to me," I confessed. Dale deserved to know what I thought of him before he died.

His bloody hand came up to brush back the hair on my face. A tear fell on it and rolled down his arm. "You- you were- my- my- ne- ew family," Dale barely managed to get out.

"Get Hershel! He needs blood. We gotta operate now. Hang on, Dale. Hang on. Listen to me. Come on- Okay, just listen to my voice. All right, please. Hershel! We need Hershel! Look at me." Rick was in a panic. Hershel was almost to the spot we were all at.

"Dale, we're gonna help. We're here," Andrea sighed.

He was fading fast. There was a glaze in his eyes and I was pretty sure that he couldn't speak any longer. "Just hold on- hold on," Rick said.

"What happened?" Hershel asked, coming up on the scene.

"What can we do?" Andrea asked.

"Dale, it's gonna be okay," Rick assured the man.

"Can we move him?" Glenn asked.

No. There was literally nothing that we could do. "He won't make the trip. You have to do the operation here. Glenn, get back to the house." Rick was saying. He was determined to save Dale.

"Rick," Hershel said. He shook his head and I sobbed even harder. In the back of our minds we all knew that there was nothing that could be done to save him.

"No! Oh, God," I cried, knowing nothing could be done to save Dale.

"He's suffering," Andrea told Rick. "Do something! Come on."

"Oh, God," I cried as Rick brought up his pistol to Dale's head. Daryl grabbed his hand at the last minute, taking the gun. He leaned down next to me putting the gun to Dale's head and putting the other hand on my thigh, squeezing gently.

There was pain in his eyes. "I'm sorry, brother," Daryl said before squeezing the trigger. The bang echoed through the field and I cried out. I sobbed over Dale's body when I felt Daryl wrap an arm around my waist. "Come on. Shouldn't see this," he mumbled in my ear.

He easily pulled me up from the ground considering that I wasn't helping at all. My legs felt like they were jelly. I couldn't even bring myself to stand. I just wanted to fall over and be left out here. I wanted to be able to go back and have it be me that got attacked by the walkers. Not him. He was so much better than me. Better than everyone. I let Daryl lead me blindly back to his tent where he set me down on his cot and sat down in front of me on his knees.

His hands were on my thighs as he tried to get me to look at him. "Rain, look at me," Daryl said, grabbing my face with his hands. He wiped off the tears from my eyes with the pads of his thumb, but new ones quickly formed.

I couldn't. Not right now. "It was my fault Daryl," I sobbed softly. "He died because of me. I knew I shouldn't have let him go out there. Not at night, not by himself. I could have just called him back! But I was so caught up in the Randall situation that I didn't!" I cried.

It really wasn't my fault but that didn't stop it from hurting. "Rain, what happened to Dale was not your fault. It was an accident. Don't blame yourself for Dale like you do Sophia. I know you blame yourself for what happened to her. Neither of them were your fault," he told me, tightening his grip on my face.

"But still! I could have at least followed him out or-" I ranted. I was silenced by Daryl kissing me, hard.

I tensed as I had not expecting it. The last time that we had kissed it had been me that started it. But now it was him. And that was why I almost immediately gave in, kissing him back. His lips were still chapped but his hands seemed softer against my face and his body was strong on mine. After a minute of our lips moving in sync Daryl moved one hand to the back of my neck, deepening the kiss. It was even better than the first one. Before I ever wanted him to stop he pulled back.

I was breathing hard and fast when we pulled apart. No one had ever kissed me like that. "Lay down, you should get some sleep," Daryl told me. I moved into his bed and pulled the sheets over me. Daryl sat down on the floor while getting himself ready to go to bed.

Something came over me. I caught his hand before he laid all the way down. "No, please stay up here with me. Just for tonight." Daryl looked uncomfortable but after a moment he climbed into the cot. It shocked me. I hadn't thought that he would. He pulled the sheets over his waist and over me. I laid down on my side facing him and buried my face into his pillow. The kiss had silenced me before but now I was crying once more. Daryl moved one hand under my head and rubbed circles on my back.

If it had been a different situation I would have melted. I didn't know how long I laid there crying, but it must have been for hours. Around the middle of the night I had finally cried myself out and I was now falling asleep out of pure exhaustion. If I wasn't so tired I wouldn't be able to sleep at all. Not when I kept seeing Dale's body. Not when I kept hearing him say his final words to me. It was nearly morning when I realized that Daryl was still tracing patterns on my back. He wouldn't fall asleep until I did.


	20. Losses

It was unsurprising that when I woke up I felt terrible. I was exhausted and had barely slept at all the night before. In fact I was sure that I'd slept for less than three hours. I woke up slowly, not wanting to push myself after the night that I'd had. I knew enough to know that after a night like the one that I'd had I was going to feel awful. When I awoke it was with a pounding headache and blurry eyes. It was one of the worst that I'd felt in months.

The last time I'd felt like this had been after a night of way too much drinking. It had been one of the times that I'd told myself that I would never drink again. Of course it was a lie. Blinking out the dried up tears I noticed that my vision was normal but I was staring at something beige. Daryl's cot was dark blue and his pillow was white. So why was this blue. And why was this beige thing moving? What the hell?

Slowly pulling my head back I realized that I had not just been staring at something beige. I had been laying on top of it. That beige thing also happened to be Daryl. Or at least it was his shirt. I jumped slightly, rocking the entire cot. My face was burning a brilliant red. There had to be some way for me to get out of here without waking him up. I had been annoying enough to him since last night.

Trying to figure out what to do I looked down and noticed that I was going to be completely trapped. One of his arms was underneath me with that hand resting on my waist. He had me pulled tightly into him, our chests pressing together. I also had a hand laying on Daryl's chest. Grunting slightly I moved his hand off of me and went to sit up when I realized that my bottom half was trapped too. Oh what now? Looking down, I saw that our legs were tangled together. His legs had mine caught in between them. I also had one of his legs very close to where it did not belong. Naturally I would do that.

Moving as slowly as possible I awkwardly untangled myself from Daryl and went to climb over him to quietly slip from the tent. I had one knee over his torso and found myself currently straddling his waist. I had just raised my other leg to get out of the bed when a voice startled me. "Moving a little fast there, ain't we princess? Didn't think you were ready for that."

I noticed the smirk on his face but I paid it no mind. He had made me jump in surprise. It made me lose my balance and I began to fall off of the cot. Daryl, his reflexes quick as ever, pulled himself up and grabbed my hand to catch me. But my weight had been more then he was anticipating and I pulled him to the ground as well. I landed on my back with a loud grunt. In order to avoid squashing me like a bug Daryl landed on his knees, now straddling my waist as I had been doing to him a moment earlier.

We each sat there in shock. What the hell happened now? "I uh, I'm- I uh," I stuttered, feeling like an idiot. Daryl had landed on his hands as well and they were on each side of my face. With his back bent down towards me his head was only a few inches from mine. We needed to get up and do something but neither one of us seemed to be able to find it in ourselves to move.

I tried to say something to him but I found myself lost in his eyes. They were a beautiful, brilliant, blue and I could've stared at them forever. They were so much nicer than my dull brown. I smiled a shy smile at Daryl and I noticed that he was slowly lowering himself on top of me. I closed my eyes and was about to give in and kiss him when an unwanted voice snapped me from my trance.

I immediately backed off and shot a surprised glare over to the owner of the voice. "Oh! I uh- I didn't mean to interrupt. I just uh- I thought you'd like to know that uh Dale's funeral is gonna happen in a few minutes," Rick told us, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree.

In my nearly drunken-like trance last night I had forgotten that when we'd come into the tent last night Daryl had never zipped the tent back up. It really hadn't been on the top of our priority list. Rick coughed awkwardly and turned on his heels faster than I had ever seen him before. I could hear him leaving Daryl's small camp to head back to the main campsite. I couldn't help but feel slightly bad for Rick. He looked like he had wanted to die when he saw us. Yeah, me too.

Before he could get too far I shouted out to him. "Rick! Wait! Nothing was going on! It was a-" I sighed knowing that Rick was out of earshot by now. Even if he could hear me I knew that he wouldn't believe me.

Letting my head fall back onto the floor of the tent roughly I let my eyes trace up to look at Daryl. He was still staring intently at me when our eyes met once more. He immediately coughed and blushed awkwardly. We both broke gazes and mumbled uncomfortable apologies to each other. Daryl quickly jumped off of me and I pushed myself to my feet. I had been about to walk out of the tent to try and gather my thoughts when Daryl called out to me.

"Rain," he called. I looked back at him. "You uh, might wanna change that shirt before you go out there," he warned.

I looked down at my shirt to see what he was talking about. I noticed that it was completely covered in blood. Not an inch of it was clean. It was all Dale's blood. I nearly gagged at the sight and I felt tears prickle my eyes at the memory of what had happened last night. Part of me had been hoping that it was some type of cruel dream. I sighed, knowing damn well that I didn't have any clean clothes. They all needed to be washed. I had been waiting for Patricia to tell us that it was laundry day. I guess I would have to buck up and just wear this.

"I don't have anything clean to wear. I was waiting for Patricia to wash my clothes. I didn't wanna be a burden to Lori and Carol after everything. I'll just wear this," I sighed while tugging at the hem of the shirt and turning to leave again.

Daryl sighed behind me and I turned back. He was motioning to his things on the floor. "You can borrow one of mine," he said, surprising me. "Don't want you going out there in that. Don't worry about it," he told me when he saw that I was reluctant to take his clothing.

Without giving me a chance he bent down and picked up a beige top. Like most of his other shirts the sleeves were clearly ripped off. I smiled at the obvious sign of Daryl. It was one of the simple things that I still enjoyed in life; the fact that he couldn't own a shirt with sleeves. Not that I minded of course. But what would he do when winter started? He tossed it to me and I easily caught it, thanking him quietly. I thought for a moment about leaving but I saw no purpose in walking back to my tent just to change.

Instead I just turned my back to him. Other than my modesty I had nothing to hide. He had already seen the scars. They wouldn't be anything new to him. After taking a deep breath I peeled my shirt off, leaving me in my bra. I felt my face and neck heat up but I wasn't embarrassed that Daryl could see my body, rather that he could see the scars. He had seen them once before but it seemed like something had been hiding them. Maybe the fact that I was hiding behind the blankets or because I was in a bed. Now it seemed so much worse.

Daryl had left the shirt on the floor so I leaned over and grabbed it. I put my arms through the short sleeves and moved to pull it over my head. It was almost completely over me when I felt one hand on my waist. The other was in the middle of my back. He slid the hand that was on my waist up my side, over my arm, and to the shirt. He grabbed the edges of the fabric before pushing it off of my arms. A moment later he moved it back down to my waist. I knew that at the moment I was as stiff as a board.

No one had ever touched me like this before. It was one of the best things that someone could ever do to me. "Don't be embarrassed. They make ya even better. Show that you were tough enough to make it through," Daryl breathed in my ear.

I gasped slightly as his lips brushed my neck gently. Even though I was sure that it was accidental it was still unexpected. He usually had such good control of himself. I dropped my head at his comment. They didn't make me brave, they were hideous. "They don't. They remind me of the worst times, when I was the lowest." I sighed and felt Daryl's hands tighten on me slightly.

I felt awful, realizing that I had struck some sort of chord with him. I shouldn't have said anything. "No Rain, I used to think the same thing but then I realized, they show that you didn't stoop to their level. That you were the bigger person and that you were strong enough to make it through. That you were determined to be something better." I was about to ask him how he knew all of these things so well when I realized that he was saying from experience. I bristled at the thought of someone ever laying a hand on Daryl the way that my father had to me.

Interrupting my thoughts I heard the rustle of clothing behind me and I blushed knowing that he had taken his shirt off. I was tempted to turn around but it felt like an invasion of privacy. Daryl seemed like the type to want to take things slow. Extremely slow. However, a moment later I felt Daryl's hands on my hips. He slowly turned me to face him. The first thing I was met with was his torso, considering our height difference.

It wasn't like he had the perfect body but he was well toned and I could see the firm muscles in his abdomen. It had come from his years of being a hunter. I noticed a light freckling of scars but none that were too bad. I couldn't help but wonder if they were from hunting accidents or wrestling matches with Merle. He cleared his throat and my eyes quickly diverted from his chest, my face going tomato red. Daryl let out a long sigh and dropped his eyes from my face. I was surprised to see the shame that was clearly written across his face. A moment later he slowly turned so that his back was facing me.

I had to clap my hand over my mouth to keep me from gasping. I had figured that he had scars judging by the way that he had talked briefly about his family. But these were way worse than I had expected. While I most likely had more, his were worse. They were wide and had most likely been deep when he had gotten them. Good God. They almost looked like they had been from a whip. Or maybe a belt. I wasn't sure which. How dare someone ever lay a hand on him like that.

The only thing that I could think that was good about this was that these all looked well over at least fifteen or maybe twenty years old. I wasn't sure if he would care if I touched him but I couldn't help it. I moved my hand to the middle of his back where he had one particularly long scar and placed my hand on the top of it, right beside his left shoulder blade. I could feel every muscle in his body tense but I ignored it. I lightly traced the scar down his back to right above his waistline.

My nails were just barely grazing the skin. I move so close to him that our bare skin was pressing together. I moved in slightly so that I could press a soft kiss against his right shoulder blade, over a scar. I felt the small shiver that ran up his spine and I let a bitter smile creep onto my lips. "Your dad?" I asked so quietly that I wasn't even sure that he'd heard me.

"Yeah," he muttered to my surprise. So he had heard me. I would have thought that even if he had heard me he would've ignored me. Before I could look at the scars any longer Daryl turned to face me and went to pull his shirt on. Before he could though, in a moment of boldness, I grabbed his hand and pulled the shirt from his grip to toss it onto the bed. He looked surprised but I ignored it.

This was the chance to take things into my own hands that Dale had been talking about. I owed it to him to see where this led. I knew that if he was looking down on me he would want this. Taking a small step toward Daryl I felt the heat radiating from his body. It was then that I noticed how tall he really was. I was staring at his chest, which I could tell he was trying to hide from me. He was ashamed of everything. It broke my heart. He was such an incredible man and he had no idea.

I grabbed his hand gently and curled our fingers together. "Don't hide them," I whispered. "They make you even more perfect." He scoffed and looked away from me. I sighed and took one hand to push his face, forcing him to look at me. "To me," I whispered. There was only a tiny space between us and I quickly filled it. We were standing so close that I could feel his breath fanning on my face and the heat from the skin to skin contact.

I felt my heart skip a beat when Daryl closed the space between us and pressed his lips to my own. I gasped slightly. I still wasn't used to his new-found affection towards me. My eyes fluttered closed and I began to kiss back with a ferocity that I hadn't felt in years. I could tell that Daryl wasn't expecting it but he was fine to keep up with me. I smiled at the thought that it was like I was sixteen again. My hormones raging out of control. But this time I knew exactly what I was doing.

To my genuine surprise Daryl walked us back towards the cot. His knees hit the mattress and he fell onto the bed. He easily grabbed the back of my thighs and pulled me roughly onto his lap. He wrapped an arm around my lower back to keep me steady on his lap. I wrapped both of my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, which he responded to. Parting my lips slightly I felt him do the same and I decided to test the waters.

I needed to know. This was now or never. I gently ran my tongue across his lip and after a moments hesitation, he opened his mouth. I gently slid my tongue into his mouth and we wrestled for dominance. The fight lasted nearly ten minutes but he eventually won. Calming down slightly I simply let my tongue, and his, wander. I smiled at the taste of smoke and barbecue. It was an odd taste, but it was his, and I loved it.

The part of me that hadn't been satisfied like this in quite a while raged inside of me like a caged bull. It had been well over three months since I'd done anything like this. I dropped my hands to Daryl's waist, testing the waters again. I was shocked that he didn't move my hands, but I was ecstatic. I had thought that he would gently move me away. After a moment's deliberation I continued to his belt. I fiddled with the buckle for a few seconds and was about to slip it off when I heard a call from a few yards outside of the tent.

"Daryl? Rain? We're about ready to start the ceremony," Carol called from the outside. Shit! I'd been so caught up in the moment with Daryl that I'd forgotten about Dale. I vaulted off of Daryl, who jumped up right as soon as I had moved out of the way. Putting ourselves together at lightning speed we raced out of the tent, trying to look as calm as possible before joining Carol in walking over to the service.

Despite trying to look calm and somber I knew that I must have been completely flushed. It was obvious as I saw the odd look Maggie was giving me when we walked up to the group. I noticed that her gaze went to Daryl so I looked over as well. He was looking intently at the ground and his face was beet red. He looked like a teenager that had been caught in a hot make-out session by their parents. Maggie looked back at me cocking an eyebrow, and I blushed brightly.

She knew what was going on. She gave me a questioning glance so I mouthed 'I'll tell you later,' to which she nodded and looked over to Glenn. Hey maybe I needed a girl friend here. Besides Carol and sometimes Lori, I was always bonding with the guys. I'd definitely have to talk to Maggie later. My thoughts slammed to a halt when I heard Rick clear his throat. I looked up, eager to hear what our leader had to say about Dale.

Rick cleared his throat again, looking nervous, but I gave him a reassuring smile. Swallowing deeply he shuffled for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Dale could- could get under your skin. He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us- The truth, who we really are," Rick said slowly.

I looked over to see Shane shift uncomfortably. That's right you coward, he knew all about what you did, who you really are. "In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives. Our safety, our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale." I smiled at Rick gratefully. He was right. We would honor Dale by fixing the cracks in the group. Rick looked over at me, and I nodded.

The group had been about to disperse back to their tents or work when Hershel called us over. "I'd like you all to come back with us to the house, if you don't mind?" Rick nodded and motioned for us to follow him.

The group made their way to the house in silence, myself and Daryl trailing at the back. I was curious as to what Hershel was bringing us to the house to tell us. It had to be important if we were going to the house just to hear it. I sighed as we climbed up the stairs to the house and looked around. It seemed like every time that we had the group all get together there were less and less people. Hershel stood up and cleared his throat to get our attention. "Well, I've been thinkin' for a while now... It's gettin colder out there, winter is right around the corner." Hershel was right, I was beginning to feel the bite in the air in the late nights. "I wanted to let you all know, that I'd like to invite you all to come live in the house, we'll manage to make due. It's about time too, I should've let you all move in a while ago." I smiled brightly at Daryl. The house was gorgeous and now we'd be able to make a life for ourselves in it. This was the beginning of the new life we were all so fondly dreaming of.

Rick, ever the cautious member of the group, pointed out, "It'll be tight." He was right. That would be fifteen people all living together under one roof. Luckily we could make use of the living room, dining room, and offices. Things that no longer were needed. We would also be doubling up, that way there was more room for those who would not be able to take the actual rooms.

"Don't worry about that," Hershel told our leader. I knew what he was thinking, the same as I was. It would be hard but there was plenty of room in the old farm house and we would somehow manage to make it work. We had to. We always did.

"With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up, with fifty head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell," Andrea said quickly.

I supposed she was right. With no creek to have to pass and no mud for the walkers to get stuck in, it was much more likely that we'd be seeing more of them. It was the reason that Dale had been attacked. He wasn't going to be the last if we weren't careful. It really wasn't smart for us to be sleeping out in the yard right now. Then again it was probably never the best choice. Not like we'd had a better option anyways.

"She's right. We should've moved you in a while ago," Hershel said, looking slightly guilty. I knew that right now he was feeling that part of Dale's death was his own fault. Yeah, I feel you buddy.

We all took a moment to grieve softly before Rick took over as the leader once more. "All right, let's move the vehicles near each of the doors - facing out toward the road," Rick ordered. Glenn, Carol, and Lori all went to go move the cars around while Daryl, T-Dog, Andrea, Rick, and myself all ran out to the tents.

We were all breaking down our camps and gathering our gear. The sooner that we could be in the house the easier things would be for us. Daryl had headed off to his tent when I noticed T-Dog walking over to me. I smiled at the man. It had been a while since I had actually talked to him. I missed it. T was good to have around to cheer you up when you were having a bad day. He always knew what to say to make you laugh. He was just that kind of person.

I waved him over to me before I ducked into my tent- well Merle's technically- and began to throw the contents onto the grass outside. I could see his shadow stop on the edge of the tent. "What's up T?" I asked. I backed out of the tent and went to taking the stakes out of the ground. T-Dog was standing on the other side of the tent, helping me to break it down.

"You know, I was watching you when you came out to the funeral service and I couldn't help but notice that you were comin' out of Daryl's tent. And that you're wearing his shirt. That is his ain't it?" He asked, motioning to my torso. Oh shit! The shirt, I had forgotten about it. I blushed deeply at what T-Dog was insinuating, even though something like that might have happened had Carol not called.

"Oh no! I just I- uh- fell asleep in there last night, after the whole... you know," I said, not being able to actually say it out loud. "My shirt had blood on it this morning and he gave me one of his to borrow, just that. Nothing else happened," I told him, awkwardly smiling. T-Dog laughed and helped me pick up a few of my things still laying around before walking with me back to the house.

T-Dog laughed and clapped me on the back. "You know Rain, you do a lot of things well but lying? That ain't one of 'em." I had been about to defend myself but T pushed open the door to the house and put my stuff down in the corner, next to Daryl's things. Before I could get anything out T's face turned serious. "Something happened with him this morning. I don't know what, but something did. I won't ask what, but when you're ready to talk about it, I'm always here to lend an ear." I smiled at T-Dog, thanking him. Happily turning back to unpacking my own things, I tuned in to hear Rick directing Glenn on where to put some non-perishables, or something like that.

"Just leave it there," Rick told Glenn, who grunted as he dropped the box of food. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his wrists, trying to get the kinks out of his joints. I laughed and shook my head at his dramatics.

He was such a baby. "Need to get back to the gym there soon buddy," I prodded at Glenn, poking him in the arm.

He turned to look at me with a glare. "Shut up, Rain." He was trying to look serious but that made it all the funnier. I laughed and after a moment Glenn was laughing as well. I noticed the odd look I was getting from Daryl so I smiled at him. He scoffed and turned away but I saw the small smile turn up on the corners of his lips before he could turn completely away.

On the other side of the house I heard Rick making orders so I turned around to listen. "We'll build a lookout in the windmill, another in the barn loft. That should give us sightlines both sides of the property. T-Dog, you take the perimeter around the house. Keep track of everyone coming and going." T nodded and went back to unpacking. They weren't bad ideas but we would have to start them fast. Winter was coming and we wouldn't be able to do this work in the snow.

"What about standing guard?" Glenn asked.

After the Dale incident we needed to make sure that there wasn't going to be any more stray walkers running around. It would only ensure that someone else would get attacked. If there were any more walkers we would have people that would be ready to take them out immediately. No more having people walking blindly through the fields. It was bound to happen that someone would get attacked by a walker. Just too bad it wasn't Andrea.

"I need you and Daryl on double duty," Rick told the Asian. Glenn and Daryl both nodded before Glenn picked up a box and went to the basement door, before turning back to us.

"Gotcha. I'll stock the basement with food and water. Enough that we can all survive there a few days if need be," Glenn said to Rick, who nodded in response. Glenn sighed and retreated down the stairs.

Andrea turned to Rick and asked, "What about patrols?" Uh hello genius, maybe we should figure out the house situation first before we do any of that.

Thankfully Rick agreed with me. "Let's get this area locked down first. After that, Shane'll assign shifts while me and Daryl take Randall offsite and cut him loose," Rick told her.

Smart man. And this time Daryl wouldn't fight Rick like Shane must have. It was the reason that it hadn't worked the first time. Rick looked to Daryl who nodded his affirmative on the plan. "We're back to that now?" Andrea scoffed.

She didn't notice but I turned a nasty glare on her. "It was the right plan first time around. Poor execution," Rick said, shaking his head at her.

By now Shane had come up to join the conversation. "That's a slight understatement-" Shane started to argue when Rick cut him off.

The day had been going good so far and I could tell that Rick wasn't in the mood for Shane's bullshit. "You don't agree, but this what's happening. Swallow it- Move on," Rick snapped. I could tell that Shane was on the verge of breaking so he merely barked back at Rick.

"You know that Dale's death and the prisoner- that's two separate things, right? You wanna take Daryl as your wingman, be my guest," he motioned over to Daryl who was glaring daggers at Shane.

He was trying to bait Rick into an argument. "Thank you," Rick sighed. He not in the mood for any more arguing today. Not after we'd had to bury one of our best men.

Shane scoffed and turned to leave the house, calling out to Rick before he left. "You got it." Well damn, that was over-dramatic. It sounded like arguments I'd heard drunk freshmen couples having with each other on my college campus. Was it really only a few months ago?

"I see why you're not taking Shane with you," Daryl said, turning back to Rick and snapping me out of my thoughts.

Rick turned back with a sigh. "Just know I've got no more patience where he's concerned. He's turning over a new leaf. Rain. When I'm out with Daryl, keep an eye on things around here," Rick told me. He wanted me to keep the farm under control? I guess with Shane being an ass and Daryl going with him, the leadership role fell to me. Still, I was surprised that he hadn't asked Glenn or T-Dog.

"Me?" I asked. Rick nodded to me and I let out a small puff of air.

"Shane's got a way of letting things get out of hand, especially when he's all torqued up," Rick said to me. I assumed that he was trying to justify why he was having me watch over the group. Hey it's fine buddy, it's just that if anything happens or someone dies, it's all on me. Now I see why Rick is always so tense.

Taking a deep breath I brushed back my hair. "I think we're all a bit torqued up at this point," I told Rick. I wasn't trying to defend Shane, but we really were all completely stressed out. I was just waiting to see who would be the first to break. Andrea merely scoffed at me and I turned to glare at the older woman.

"If you're staying here permanently, he's got to understand that it's what Rick and I say, not whatever he wants," Daryl said. I turned, surprised at what he had said. I let a small smile creep onto my lips. Daryl had finally assumed his role as one of the leaders of the group.

"You've become close," Andrea pointed out to Daryl. No shit, Sherlock.

Daryl merely shrugged his shoulders at her. "We talk," Daryl told her. I couldn't tell if they were talking about Rick or Shane at this point.

"Then you know he's not a bad guy. He's just his own worst enemy," Rick put in. No Rick, Shane is on a slippery slope downhill and I don't want anyone to be around him when he does finally hit rock bottom.

"You want me to babysit Shane?" Daryl asked. I couldn't help but laugh. He really did have the best way of putting things.

Rick shook his head lightly at Daryl. "I need to make sure every time I leave the farm all hell doesn't break loose," he said. Daryl nodded, knowing that Rick only wanted to keep the group safe. Right now Shane was the one that was jeopardizing that safety.

"Then maybe you should stop leaving," Daryl said with the shrug of his shoulders. I knew that Daryl only meant the best for the group.

Rick sighed deeply and looked at Daryl. I knew that he would end up considering what he had said. "Will you keep an eye on things?" Rick asked.

"Of course," Daryl nodded.

With that Rick moved off and I turned back to my things. I leaned down and picked them up, tossing them over my shoulders. There had to be some place for me to live in here. I didn't want to take a bedroom. There were other people that could use them. Lori or Carol. The Greene's too. This was their home. I went to find someplace to move into again when Daryl grabbed my shoulders.

I jumped slightly and turned back to look at him. "There's an office in the back of the house, let's check it out." I smiled at Daryl and nodded, walking with him to the back of the house. I was trailing right behind Daryl. He kicked open the glass pane door and we walked inside.

It wasn't a huge room but it was definitely big enough for the two of us. I dropped my stuff off and looked around the room. The room was mostly squared but the back wall was slightly rounded. There was a large wooden desk in the middle of the room that looked well over a hundred years old. There was also a large floor lamp next to the desk and a few built in shelves. The back wall was a huge window with red coverings on it.

Daryl was standing over by the desk and he motioned over to me. "Wanna move this out of the way?" He asked. I nodded and helped him move the desk to the corner of the room. It was heavier than it looked.

Once we had it pushed as far to the corner as it could go I went to setting out our things. We didn't need the tents but we did need the blankets and cot. I assumed that we were going to be sharing the cot. It made my cheeks burn. I turned away from our sleeping area when Daryl turned to walk out the door, "Daryl, where are you going?" I asked. He turned back to me and smiled.

"Gonna go help move the heavier stuff downstairs," Daryl told me and I nodded. There weren't too many other people to help with the heavier objects. Daryl smirked lightly at me and I cocked my head to the side. "Unless you wanted to do somethin' else?" He laughed at my face, which was slowly turning red.

Asshole. "You'd like that wouldn't you? Seemed to be all for it earlier," I teased. The smirk quickly dropped off of his face and embarrassment filled it, along with something else. Was that hunger? Lust maybe? It didn't matter. I laughed as he walked out of the room, grumbling to himself. I was still laughing when I began to unpack.

Not even a minute later a soft knock came at the door. I turned to see Maggie standing at the door. I smiled at the woman and motioned her towards me. "Come on in." I hadn't realized until the other day when I'd overheard Glenn say it; Maggie was my age. Twenty-two. I smiled at Maggie and she laughed upon seeing my shirt. I blushed deeply and stammered out, "Oh, well uh- my um. My shirt had blood and uh he-" Maggie laughed and cut me off.

"Nope, I wanna hear the entire thing. C'mon, I don't get to have girl talk any more, so I crave it when I see it," she told me, nudging me. I laughed lightly and sighed deeply before launching into the entire story of what had happened with Daryl.

I began with when he had brought me to his tent last night, and ended with us heading to the funeral. Well I had left out the scars, no need for anyone but the two of us to know that part. Maggie sat there for a moment, perched on top of the desk. I was in the rolling chair next to it. She was just staring at me before she began to laugh. And not just giggle, she was in pure hysterics. I couldn't believe it! What the hell was she laughing about? This was serious! What was I gonna do about Daryl?

I had no idea what it was that he wanted or thought of me now but I was going to find out. "Maggie! Why the hell are you laughing? This is so not funny!" Naturally Maggie's laughter only increased and after sitting there, dumbfounded for a few moments, I started to giggle too.

I suppose my accident this morning was kind of funny. I was sure our faces had both been priceless. It had barely been ten seconds before the two of us were on the floor, both bawling from laughing so hard. After a few minutes the both of us calmed down and wiped the tears from my eyes. I looked at her and smiled. "Oh man, I haven't laughed like that in forever. In fact, I don't know if I've ever laughed like that."

She frowned at my word choice. "That's awful, you should always have someone in your life that makes you laugh like that," she told me before narrowing her eyes at me and getting serious. "Rain, I know you're confused with the Daryl thing but he seems like the type that would need a real connection to do something like that. Not just a 'hit it and quit it' kind of guy. If you ask me I say that man loves you so much and the fact that you don't see it is so painful. So what are you waiting for? Make the first move like I did with Glenn. Like you did today, just maybe this time do it somewhere slightly more private," she told me, winking. I knew that the blood had rushed to my face.

I sighed at Maggie. She was right, I should make the first move, but I didn't know how to. "It's just that, Maggie. I've never had a real relationship. You know? I liked them, but that was it. The connection we shared was almost always physical. That part I can do just fine, it's just the emotional part. I have no idea how to do that." And it was true. How did I show him that I'm not only physically attracted to him, but emotionally as well?

Maggie grinned softly. "Rain, I think you know perfectly well how to be emotionally connected to him. I think you already are," she told me, winking once more. Ugh, why did everyone leave me with these cryptic answers?

I had been about to ask what she meant by that when Daryl came back up into the room. He gave Maggie an odd look. Of course, he had never really seen the two of us speak together. She merely smiled and mumbled an excuse me as she slipped past him and out the door. Just before she could leave she moved back. "Oh, and it's time for dinner you two. Just thought I'd let you know."

I nodded at her and let her leave before us. "Let's go," I told Daryl, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room to the living room. We quickly bounded down the stairs and just as we hit the landing, Daryl looked at me asked, "What was that about?" I smiled at Daryl and shook my head.

There was no way in hell that I was telling him what we had been talking about. "Oh nothing, just having a girl to girl talk," I told him, and turned away. I heard him scoff and I couldn't help but let the small smile creep across my lips.

Boys would never understand the value of girl talks. I walked out into the main living room and saw the chaos that was ensuing with everyone moving into the house. It was almost comical to watch. Well damn. I hoped that dinner was soon. I was starving. I went over to help Glenn who was moving a box. Helping him lift the box, I began to scheme about how to finally just get my feelings out there with Daryl.

Maggie would be proud of me. "Just trying to-" the Asian man started when T-Dog burst into the house with wide eyes and sweat beading all over his face.

It looked like the poor guy had just seen a ghost. He was shaking and his face had gone as pale as I was sure that it could. I was about to ask what was wrong when I realized something. He was the person that was supposed to be guarding Randall right now. Oh God. There were only two reasons he would be in here that I could think of, and I didn't like either idea too much.

We all walked up to go see if everything was okay. "T, what's wrong? What happened?" I asked as he tried to catch his breath. I took a deep breath myself to prepare for the awful answer that was sure to follow.

"Randall's missing," he breathed out. I heard everyone begin to murmur, out of fear and curiosity. And there it is. Fuck. What now? We had no idea where the hell he was, or if he was with anyone. I glanced around the room and noticed that everyone was present except for Shane. Of course, something was going on and whatever it was, if Shane was involved in it, it sure as hell wasn't good.

We had to do something and we had to do it now. "Missing?" Carol asked, clearly worried.

"How long's he been gone?" Hershel asked. It seemed like T-Dog was about to answer when I noticed Rick coming into the room with Lori trailing behind him.

All worried eyes looked over to Rick. "What's goin' on?" He asked, looking confused. T-Dog quickly explained what was going on, that Randall was missing and had been for a while it seemed and that we had no idea where he was.

Wanting to possibly shine some light on the situation, I also put in that the only member of our group that was missing at the moment was Shane. Rick narrowed his eyes, clearly trying to weigh all the possible situations that could be happening. He loudly ordered that we all head to the barn to check it out. Myself, Glenn, Daryl, and Rick got there first, as we were the fastest in the group. Not long after though, the rest of the group appeared behind us. They all stayed towards the doors of the barn.

With them safe in the background I went over to inspect the cuffs and I narrowed my eyes. They were still securely hooked. I'd been close enough to Randall to know that he probably was small enough to slip them but there was no way he would've been able to do it without cutting himself a few times. The problem was that these cuffs had absolutely no blood on them. Well a bit of dried blood, but he had to have escaped recently. The blood on these cuffs was long dried.

So there was a little but of blood, but none of it was fresh. This didn't make any sense. How did he get out of here? "So how the hell did he get out?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Rick and Daryl were examining the cuffs with me. "It's hard to say. The cuffs are still hooked," Rick told me, examining the cuffs closer. No shit, Rick. I briefly wondered if Shane may have let him lose, taken him out to kill him finally. Maybe. But why re-hook the cuffs? Unless he was doing something else entirely. Ugh, one day people. One damn day I'd like to go without some new problem popping up.

"He must' slipped 'em," Daryl said. I looked over him and narrowed my eyes. He shrugged his shoulders at me and I rolled my eyes. He wasn't thinking hard enough.

There was no way. I had been in handcuffs before and my wrists were smaller then Randall's. I couldn't even slip them. Well maybe, but it would have seriously hurt. I probably would have broken my wrists in the process too. These were tight. He could have slipped them, but he would have cut himself pretty badly trying to do it. And like I had thought before, there were no blood spots anywhere.

"Is that possible?" Carol asked, breaking my thoughts. Yes, possible, but hard. I had tried for a moment the one time when I was in handcuffs once and I had seriously hurt myself doing it, making no progress either.

"It is if you've got nothing to lose," Rick mumbled. That really was true.

"The door was secured from the outside," Andrea pointed out. That was true also. For Randall to get out someone would have had to either not secure the door correctly, or had to have opened it for him. And as much as I hated Andrea I knew that she was capable enough to know how to lock a door the right way.

"Rick! Rick!" I heard shouting from outside the barn. I looked up to see Shane stomping over to the barn with blood dripping down his face. Good God, what the hell had happened to him? And don't tell me a walker got him or something, it looked more like he'd taken a hard hit. There was no way it was from Randall either, the kid was like half Shane's size and maybe had a quarter of his strength. Something here was very, very wrong.

The entire group met Shane outside of the barn. "What happened?" Rick asked, clearly worried for his friend. I didn't blame him but c'mon Rick, think. Something here isn't fitting. It's like we have the one last piece of the puzzle with us, but it was for a different puzzle. Okay, maybe that was a stupid analogy but I hadn't eaten in a day.

"He's armed! He's got my gun!" Shane yelled to us, waving his arms around. Uh huh, and how exactly did he do that Shane? Aren't you a trained police officer?

"Are you okay?" Rick asked, with a slightly suspicious look in his eyes. Good, Rick was starting to see the gaps in this story as well.

Shane nodded, looking extremely furious. "I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face," Shane explained to us. Ah, so the plot thickens. I took a step closer to Shane asking to see the wound. "No Rain, I'm fine. Thanks. That little shit is our priority," he said as he batted me away.

Nodding at him I took a few steps back. I was glad that he'd bought that I wanted to see the wound when in reality I had been checking out around the wound for any clues to what had exactly happened. He was a cop but he certainly wasn't a neurosurgeon. He was no genius. All I'd seen when I looked at him was a small piece of bark in what was left of his hair. It was right behind his ear. Unless Randall had shoved Shane into a tree, this story wasn't working out. My eyes narrowed as I stared at him.

"All right, Hershel, T-Dog, get everybody back in the house," Rick ordered. The two men quickly collected the rest of the group and began to usher them back into the house for safety. "Glenn, Daryl, Rain, come with us." I nodded at Rick and moved to the side of the group along with Daryl and Glenn. "T, I'm gonna need that gun." T-Dog nodded and handed Rick the small pistol. I couldn't help but notice Shane's eyes follow the gun. What was he planning? Nothing good I bet.

Everyone seemed panicked as we went to make for the woods. "Just let him go. That was the plan wasn't it, to just let him go?" Lori asked. Yes Lori, but not right out in the woods with a damn gun. We don't need the kid dragging his friends back here. They were already pretty upset with us, from the episode back at Hatlin's. I wasn't too partial to seeing them again.

"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here, not on our front step with a gun," Rick snarled. I could see Lori recoil slightly but I knew that Rick hadn't meant it to come out that way, he was just frustrated.

"Don't go out there. Y'all know what can happen," Lori practically cried to her husband. I knew that she was afraid but we had to go. Something way worse could happen if we didn't go out there.

Once more Rick began to head away. "Get everybody back in the house. Lock all the doors and stay put!" Rick yelled before pulling Shane, Daryl, Glenn, and myself towards the woods. Now it was time to get down to business. I could hear the rest of the group ushering each other back into the house as we retreated towards the woods.

Once we were away from the group Shane started to speak again. "I saw him head up through the trees that way before I blacked out. I'm not sure how long," Shane told us. Blacked out? Right, because that little ninety pound kid could get the jump on a guy Shane's size.

"He couldn't have gotten far. He's hobbled, exhausted," Glenn tried to point out hopefully.

"And armed," Shane growled.

"So are we," Rick replied. "Can you track him?" Rick asked Daryl. Hate to burst your bubble Rick, but it's way too dark to see anything footprint wise. They just blended in with the ground right now.

It would be morning before we could see anything. "No, I don't see nothing," Daryl said, looking down at the ground, trying to examine it for prints.

"Hey, look, there ain't no use in tracking him, okay? He went that way," Shane snapped, pointing out to the deepest parts of the woods. Why are you getting so defensive Shane? We were just trying to find the kid. Just because he went one way didn't mean he wouldn't have changed his path at all.

Before we could get too far Rick stuck his hand out to stop us. "We need to pair up. We spread out, we just chase him down," Rick said.

Finally it seemed that Daryl had had enough. "That's it. Kid weighs a buck-twenty-five soaking wet. You trying to tell us he got the jump on you?" Daryl asked. I couldn't help but smile at his wording. And I was glad that he was catching onto what was happening here. It meant that I wasn't being paranoid or crazy, this really was a fucked up situation.

Shane didn't appreciate being questioned. "I say a rock pretty much evens those odds, wouldn't you?" Shane snapped at Daryl. A rock, huh? Then how'd you get fresh tree bark in your hair? Shane had a good plan in it, but it had some large holes in it too.

"So you hit your head on a tree on the way down?" I asked Shane, narrowing my eyes. Shane had advanced slightly on me when both Rick and Daryl stepped in between us. Rick quickly intervened in the tense situation.

"Alright, knock it off. You, Rain, and Glenn start heading up the right flank. Me and Shane'll take the left. Remember, Randall's not the only threat out there. Keep an eye out for each other," Rick cautioned us before we moved up into the woods.

We all said goodbye to each other and wished the others good luck before we moved off. It was nighttime in the woods and that meant that we had to be silent while we walked. Like Rick said, Randall wasn't the only threat out there. We'd been walking for about ten minutes now and I was searching everywhere for tracks or some sign of what had happened. There was nothing that I could see. I was getting annoyed that we hadn't come up with anything when I heard Daryl call out to us.

"There's two sets of tracks right here. Shane must've followed him a lot longer than he said." I looked down and noticed that there were two sets of prints. One on top of the other.

"There's fresh blood on this tree," Glenn called out. "Rain, why did you ask him about a tree?"

"When I asked to look at the wound I was asking so I could get a look for any clues as to what had happened. There was a tiny piece of bark in the little hair he still has. And it was fresh, it came from the tree, not when he apparently passed out. I wonder if he was lying about the rock? If he injured himself. I don't know why, but I'm sure that he has some warped reason behind it," I explained.

Glenn thought over my words as Daryl continued to search. "There's more tracks. Looks like they're walking in tandem," Daryl said, still examining the tracks. Glenn walked over and stepped directly on the tracks. Daryl glared at him and Glenn mumbled a small sorry.

Daryl shook his head and looked up at the hill where there was a slight rise in the ground. "Yeah, there was a little dust up right here," he said. What was he talking about?

"What do you mean?" Glenn asked, obviously as confused as I was.

Daryl turned back to Glenn and motioned with his crossbow to where the dirt and grass was kicked up. "I mean something went down. It's getting weird. Had a little trouble." It was obvious that Daryl was trying to reason this out for himself.

I was wondering how that happened. If Randall had hit Shane, sneaking up on him with the rock like he had said, it would have knocked him out right there. They wouldn't have had a fight and there wouldn't have been blood on that tree. Or at the very least he would have been staggering. These steps were measured and straight. Not from someone who had been hit by a rock. My thoughts were interrupted when I heard the growl of a walker. I turned back and grabbed my knife before walking up to it. Glenn and Daryl were behind me.

I stopped short when I got a look at its face. This was not what I was expecting. "It's Randall," I called back, sinking my knife into his forehead. Well at least that solved the Randall problem.

Now the question was how had this happened? There was nothing that looked like a bite wound or a scratch from a walker. From what I saw Randall had no visible bites and no tears in his clothes that would suggest he had been bitten under his clothes. I was careful to look him over and under. I ruffled all of his clothes and checked over anywhere that could have possibly had a bite.

Of course if would held it I had some help. "Well? Come on, he's not gonna bite. Anymore," I sighed, leaning down to Randall's body. We all looked him over but kept coming back with nothing. His neck, however, seemed to be badly broken. That could definitely kill someone, but why would he have become a walker if he wasn't bit?

"He's got no bites," Daryl said. I nodded, he was right. I'd felt over Randall's body twice now, there were no bite or scratch marks anywhere on him.

"Yeah, none you can see," Glenn said.

No. There were none anywhere. "Glenn, his neck's broken. That's the only thing that I can see what he would have died from. There are no bites or scratches anywhere on him. I checked," I told him. Glenn just shook his head, obviously not believing it. I could barely believe it either.

This didn't make any sense. "No he was a walker, he had to have been bit," Glenn tried to reason. I understood why he was freaked out. I didn't get it either but there were absolutely no bites on him. How, I had no idea.

Daryl walked over and shook his head at Glenn. He was still looking over Randall. "No Glenn, she's right. He died from this," Daryl said, motioning to Randall's broken neck. Something extremely fishy was going on here. I walked over to where Daryl was kneeling and I put a hand on his shoulder.

He looked up at my curiously. "You guys head back to the house. Tell the others what's going on but don't scare them. I'm gonna find Rick and Shane. I need to somehow warn Rick. Something bad is about to happen, I just know it," I told them. Daryl grabbed my arm before I could walk away and pulled me back to him.

"Rain, you be careful out there. Something's up with Shane. You see any signs of trouble, you run back here. Grab us and we'll take care of it." I nodded to him and he dropped his voice to a whisper so that Glenn couldn't hear. The younger man turned a slight red and walked a little away from us; thank you for taking the hint, Glenn. "You don't need to go," he told me.

I shook my head at him and grabbed his hand. "I have to go. Someone has to make sure that Rick is safe. We need him. I would do the same thing if it was you," I told him quietly.

He had a strange look on his face as he nodded sadly at me. "Then please, be careful. I can't lose you." I smiled lightly at him and put my hand on his cheek.

"I will, you both be careful too," I told them. Both Glenn and Daryl nodded at me. I went to pull away but before I actually did, I stood on my tip toes and gave Daryl a quick kiss on the cheek before turning and running off. I gave Glenn a pat on the shoulder as I passed him and he whispered a small good luck to me.

Without staying for a moment more I ran off quickly. Ducking through the bushes I went to head up the left flank. It was slightly more covered in tall grass than the right was. I scanned the area closely for Rick and Shane. I was almost out to the field with no sign of them. I was about to give up when I heard movement. Looking out of the break in the trees I saw that it was Rick and Shane. Just as I was about to go out to them, I saw Shane raise his gun at Rick. Quickly pulling my own gun out, I aimed at Shane and just when I was about to fire, I heard Rick speak.

"So this is where you planned to do it?" Rick asked Shane, barely turning to look at his once best friend. I grit my teeth. I wanted to shoot him but it was probably best if I waited to see where this conversation was going. I had to be ready though. Just in case.

Shane shrugged his shoulders and I had to resist from pulling the trigger and ending that asshole's life. How dare he take this as if it were no big deal? He was on the verge of killing his best friend; that was not a shoulder shrugging scenario. "It's a good place as any," Shane hissed at Rick. At this point Rick turned fully to Shane. Even back slightly from the scene I could see the betrayal in Rick's eyes. It was the only thing giving away emotions. His face was stone cold.

Rick let out a bitter laugh and glared at Shane. "At least have the balls to call this what it is. Murder. You really believe if you walk back onto that farm alone- No me, no Randall-" Shane cut off his ex friend and hissed at him.

"I want you to hush up." Of course Shane, you can't really go through with this. I moved slightly closer to them. I was now only a few yards away, the tall grass was covering me. It was moments like this that I was glad that I was short. Sometimes it came in handy

"You really believe they're gonna buy whatever bullshit story you cook up?" Rick asked, the bitterness seeping in his voice. I kept a close eye on Shane, just making sure his hand wasn't getting any tighter around the trigger. I still had my gun aimed for Shane's head, just in case.

"That's just it. It ain't no story. I saw that prisoner shoot you down. I ran after him. I snapped his neck. It ain't gonna be easy, but Lori and Carl- They'll get over you. They done it before. They just gonna have to." You idiot, they never got over it. Carl and Lori were trying to be brave and they used him as their out from life. It was a fault on both of their parts. But Carl was just a kid and Lori was weak.

"Why? Why now? I thought we worked this all out," Rick asked. The bite had gone out of his voice and I could now hear the actual sorrow in it. The pain in his voice broke my heart.

"We tried to kill each other man. What you think? We just gonna forget about it all? We gonna ride off into the sunset together?" Shane scoffed while motioning towards where I was hiding.

Kill each other? What? That must have been what happened when they went to drop Randall off the first time. I guess that explained the looks on the both of their faces when they got back. That was when it hit me. Rick knew Shane wanted to kill him. That's why he only went with Shane alone. He didn't want anyone to be around when it happened. But was Rick planning on how to kill Shane as well? What was going on in his head right now?

He had to have a plan. Rick always did. "You're gonna kill me in cold blood? Screw my wife? Have my children- my children- call you daddy? Is that what you want? That life won't be worth a damn. I know you. You won't be able to live with this," Rick told him. I wasn't so sure. Shane's humanity has just about reached zero.

"What you know about what I can live with? You got no idea what I can live with, what I live with! You wanna talk about what I can do, Rick? How about what you can do?" Shane snapped at Rick. I tightened my grip. I could tell that Shane's patience had worn down and he was ready to end this.

"Here I am," Rick said, extending his arms to his side.

"Come on, man. Raise your gun," Shane said, motioning to Rick's gun. Oh, so he did have some humanity in him. He couldn't kill his best friend when he was unarmed. He wanted a reason to kill Rick.

The other man would not fall for it so easily. "No. No, I will not," Rick shook his head at Shane, who looked like he was fuming that Rick wouldn't play into his game. Instead of pulling the trigger, Shane tried to elicit an emotional response.

"What happened, Rick? I thought you weren't the good guy anymore. Ain't that what you said? Even right here, right now, you ain't gonna fight for 'em? I'm a better father than you, Rick. I'm better for Lori than you, man. It's 'cause I'm a better man than you, Rick. 'Cause I can be here and I'll fight for it. You come back here and you just destroy everything! You got a broken woman. You got a weak boy. You ain't got the first clue on how to fix it. Raise your gun." How dare he say that? I could tell that it had gotten to him slightly as I saw the edge of his eye twitch, but Rick managed to keep his calm. I must admit, I was impressed that his temper was staying in check. Mine however, was not.

"You're gonna have to kill an unarmed man. Watch my hand. Nice and easy. Easy does it," Rick began to lower the gun and as he finally dropped the gun I saw Shane's finger twitch on the trigger and he bent down to pick up Rick's gun leaving our leader defenseless. Oh hell no, this had gone on long enough. I was putting an end to it now.

Jumping from my hiding spot I bounded in front of Rick and raised my gun to Shane's head, who respectively had his aimed at mine. I didn't think I'd ever seen such a venomous look from someone. "Don't you dare. You take one step and I swear to God Shane, I'll blow your damn head off. What're you gonna do now? Not only will you have to kill Rick, but me too. I'm sure that they won't buy that. Neither one of us coming back, but you did," I snarled at him. I thought for a moment that Shane would shoot me where I stood, but he resisted the urge.

"Rain, go back to the house," Rick told me, gently pushing me from in front of him to off to the side with his arm. I went to step back in front of Rick but he again kept his arm in front of me, keeping me from jumping back into Shane's line of fire.

"Listen to him, little bitch," Shane growled at me. Now fully pissed I broke past the small barrier of Rick's arm and took back my place in front of Rick, growling at Shane.

"I ain't movin'. You can try to kill him or try to kill me, but I can guarantee you that no matter what you won't walk away from this," I snapped at him.

I saw something animalistic pop up in his eyes and before things could get any worse Rick stepped around me and stood directly in front of me, blocking my view of Shane. I tried to pull Rick back but he turned to me and gave me a pleading look. Glancing down to his belt briefly, I saw it. The glint of a knife. Rick still had a weapon and he was about to use it to kill Shane. Smart Rick, very smart. The one part of me that wished he wouldn't do it popped up. I could only imagine how damaged Rick would be after being forced to do this. To kill the man he once called his best friend. But he had to, Shane had left him no other choice.

"Now listen to me, Shane. There is still a way back from this. Nothing has happened here. We're gonna lay down our guns and we're gonna walk back to the farm. Together. Back to Lori. Back to Carl. Put this all behind us," Rick calmly told Shane, to my surprise. Maybe he wasn't going to do it.

But faster than I could imagine, Rick whipped out his knife, and stabbed Shane in the heart. I jumped as Rick let the weight of Shane's body take him down. He shushed Shane softly. The man was quickly dying. In fact he would probably be dead within the minute. Rick held Shane in his arms and screamed through the tears that were flowing down his face.

"Damn you for making me do this, Shane. This was you, not me! You did this to us! This was you, not me- not me! Not me! Son of-" Rick was screaming to Shane's dead body, and I was watching with my hand tight on Rick's shoulder when I heard a call from behind us.

"Dad? Rain?" Oh my God, it was Carl. I turned around and saw the young boy there. Tears and fear glinting in his eyes as he looked at the dead body of Shane Walsh. Damn it. Carl had just seen not only Rick kill Shane, but me attempt to as well. What was he thinking now? In these past few minutes, how much permanent damage had we done to the young boys brain?

"Carl," I breathed out, shaking my head, trying to form words. Trying to defend myself and his father. It must have looked like we had just killed Shane in cold blood. And dear God, what the hell did Carl have a gun for? Was that Daryl's gun? Seriously Rain, c'mon this is not the time for that.

Rick stepped forward with his hands out towards Carl. "You know- you should be back home with Mom. Just- just put the- put the gun down. It's not what it seems. Please," Rick tried to beg to his son. I looked over to Rick and saw that he was shaking. Carl raised the gun to what looked like Rick's head. No! It wasn't what it looked like!

"Carl, this had to happen. You didn't see it. Put the gun down and we can talk," I told him, extending my hand and trying to walk up to him. Hopefully I could pull the gun out of his hands before he killed Rick or myself.

"Wait-wait-wait-wait," Rick begged to his son who had put his hand on the trigger.

I cringed softly as Rick approached his son and I let out a high pitched scream as Carl pulled the trigger. I looked up in time to see Rick jump. I glanced around and noticed that none of us were dead. What the hell? Turning around, I saw that Shane's body was closer then it had been. It was directly behind Rick now.

I walked closer to it and I noticed that he had the features of a walker. But that didn't make sense. He wasn't bit. He had been shot. So Carl hadn't been trying to shoot Rick, he was trying to protect his father. But now Shane had become a walker too, just like Randall. How the hell was that happening? What the hell was happening?

"Oh my God," I sighed.


	21. Leaving

I sighed, looking at the shocked expression on Carl's face. We were all stunned. No one had expected this to happen. What had started as a hunt for Randall had turned into a showdown where we had lost Shane. At the hands of Rick. And Carl had put down his first walker. A man that he'd looked at as a second father. Maybe Dale was right. Maybe we really were broken. We had to fix this though. And it started with getting back to the house and letting everyone know what had happened.

I turned and placed my hand gently on Rick's shoulder. He turned back to me with a numb gaze. "Rick, we should go. Let's head back to the house. We need to tell everyone what just happened." Rick nodded at me and the three of us took off back toward the house, Rick with his hand on Carl's back. Would they really believe the story? It wasn't exactly an easy one.

At the House...

We'd been sitting in the dark in the woods for about twenty minutes now. It wasn't by choice. We were just waiting for a sign or something that told us that Rain had found Shane and Rick. But all was silent. We didn't even know if she had found them. Maybe she had found them and gone back to the house. But wouldn't she have come to get us? It didn't matter. We were finally making our way back to the farmhouse.

As we walked there was still no sign or word from Rick or Shane. Nothing from Rain either. I was finally starting to get worried. Where the hell was she? She was smart but the damn girl did tend to make rash decisions. It was one of the things that we had in common. What if she intervened on something she shouldn't have? Or it could have been something even worse. We'd heard a shot. What if it was for her?

It couldn't be. She was stronger than that. I shook my head to clear those thoughts. I couldn't afford to think like that. We had made it to the front steps when I heard Andrea speak, "I'm going after them." No way, she had no chance of finding them. That was the only reason I hadn't decided to go searching yet.

We were at the door when I heard Lori speak up. "Don't, they could be anywhere. And if Randall comes back, we're gonna need you here." She was right, we needed all the manpower we could get. But still, Rick and Shane weren't even back yet?

I threw the screen door open roughly and walked into the house. All eyes turned to Glenn and I. "Rick and Shane ain't back?" That was surprising. Shane had been there with Randall. Would have thought he could find him fast. Unless Shane really did break Randall's neck and Rain was walking into a trap that wasn't meant to be for her.

"No," Lori said, shaking her head at me. Damn it. Where the hell were the three of them?

"We heard a shot," I told them. It wasn't likely but maybe one of them had fired it. Meaning to tell us to come back? Far fetched, but I needed to figure this out.

Lori looked at me and shrugged slightly. I knew that she was trying to not freak herself out. Her husband was out there. "Maybe they found Randall." I shook my head at her.

"We found him," I told her.

She gave me an odd look and asked, "Is he back in the shed?"

"He's a walker," I told her.

She was clearly surprised at that news. "Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked from the other corner of the room.

Both Glenn and I shook our heads. "No, the weird thing is he wasn't bit," Glenn put it, giving Hershel a guilty look even though it wasn't his fault that Randall had gotten out. Especially if Shane really was the one that let him out of the barn.

"His neck was broke," I put in.

"So he fought back," Andrea added and I shook my head again at her.

Something strange had happened to him and it had come as a surprise. "The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together," I told the group. There was no way that Shane wasn't involved in this somehow. None of it was adding up, none of it was making sense.

Lori came up to me and put her hands together, looking like she was ready to beg. "Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?" She asked me. This time I wouldn't say no. This time the group was in immediate danger.

And this time, I knew that Rain was out there with them. "You got it," I told her.

She sighed deeply and patted my arm as she walked by me. "Thank you," she breathed out. She had nothing to thank me for. I had someone out there too. I nodded and walked towards the door, ready to go hunt them down.

In the Field...

We were walking for a few minutes in an awkward silence. None of us had any clue what to say to each other. We were a few feet away from the barn when Carl spoke up. "You bit too?" He asked his father.

Too? What did he mean by that? It hit me a moment later. I had forgotten that he thought that Shane had been bitten. He had only seen him when he'd come back as a walker. We were going to have to explain to him that Shane hadn't been bitten; that we'd had to kill him. We would have to explain to him that we'd been forced to do it. And that we had no idea how he had come back. Him or Randall for that matter.

Rick paused for a moment when he finally responded, "No."

"Shane was." Carl sighed and looked down at his shoes. I knew that Carl had been close to Shane and losing him would most likely take a huge toll on Carl. I just hoped that we could figure out what was going on here before it was too late.

"That wasn't Shane. You know that," Rick sighed at his young son.

"Used to be," Carl mumbled. I flinched slightly at his words. He hadn't been Shane in a long time. "What happened? You guys attacked? I mean, I- I heard a gunshot, but I didn't see any walkers nearby. How did Shane die?" Carl asked us softly.

This was it. Even though it would probably hurt to hear the truth, he needed to hear it. He needed to know that this world changes people. A lot of people became brasher and harsher. Many became even more violent than they used to be. Shane was one of the people that had changed. I could just pray that the day never came that the rest of us changed. We couldn't. We had to stay the way that we were. It was the only way that we would be able to rebuild the world.

Rick seemed to have no idea what to say. When he finally started to talk, it didn't seem to come out easily. Putting a hand on his shoulder, I tried to say something. "Carl he wasn't-" I was cut off by a panicking Rick placing an arm on my shoulder. I looked at him to see what the problem was. It seemed like he could barely breathe.

"Oh my God!" He hissed and I turned to look behind us. I nearly dropped my gun when I saw it. Today could not get any worse.

Only about two hundred feet from us was a gigantic hoard of walkers. They were all headed right toward us. I looked at Rick with panic written clearly in my eyes. How in God's name would we get of this one? "Oh what the hell? What did I do to deserve this?" I mumbled, looking up to the sky.

"Go-go-go-go-go-go-go-go-go," Rick said quietly, ducking down and pushing Carl and myself towards the barn.

We had to get away from the walkers as fast as we possibly could. Before they could smell us, hear us, or see us. Thankfully the hoard were all focused on the lit up house. It would keep them away from us until we could warn everyone back at the house what was coming. We sprinted as fast as we could, staying as low to the ground as we could. We were a few yards from the barn when Carl and Rick stopped and I stood behind them.

The hoard was still coming over towards the house. How the hell did they get here? "We we gotta get to the house, tell the others," Carl tried. Oh I'm pretty sure that they'll see this coming.

Rick looked to his son before looking over to the hoard of walkers. They were starting to pass by us and head to the house. "We'll never get through that," Rick said.

He was right. If we wanted to warn someone we were going to have to get past the hoard. But there were too many walkers that were bunched too tightly together. "We can make a diversion?" I whispered. "Distract them long enough to evacuate everyone?" I answered.

It might work or it might now. We really wouldn't know. The only thing that we could do was try. Maybe we wouldn't be able to get to the house, but we could at least draw their attention to the field. The people back in the house would see what was going on and know to get the hell out of here. Hopefully they wouldn't wait for us. Chances were, we wouldn't make it there in time. We would have to get out on our own.

A light bulb seemed to go off in Rick's head. "I've got an idea. Besides we can't go around. Carl, Rain, stay close," Rick said before leading us with him. We were running straight to the barn.

As we ran I narrowly avoided a female walker. I jumped away and took off in a dead sprint to the barn, leading slightly ahead of Rick and Carl. I was trying to clear a path. So far we'd gotten lucky with the walkers. Most of them were still focused on the lights and noise coming from the house. We were just going to have to see how long that luck ran for.

We ran into the barn and quickly lifted up a wooden block, sealing off the door from any of the walkers outside. I turned to look at Rick, giving him a 'what now' look. I jumped back with Carl as I heard the walkers banging on the doors to the barn. God damn it. What did we do now? We were stuck in here with no way out. And it wouldn't take long for the herd to rip those barn doors apart.

Back in the House...

Andrea, Glenn, and I had walked outside to see hundreds of walkers headed this way. I couldn't help but think of the one thing that I wished that I hadn't. Had they gotten to Rain? Was that why she hadn't gotten back yet? I shook those thoughts from my head. I couldn't jump to the worst conclusion. She was stronger than that. She knew how to fight the walkers. She would make it back to me. She said that she would be safe.

I called out to Hershel and a moment later he came outside. He walked onto the porch and let out a small gasp when he saw the walkers out in the yard. He turned back to the house and hissed, "Go! Patricia, kill the lights." The woman turned off the lights as quickly as possible when I heard Andrea speak up.

"I'll get the guns," she said, before rushing back into the house, squeezing past Maggie who had come out to see what was happening.

"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Glenn asked hurriedly. I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head.

I looked out towards the yard and shook my head again. "Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about. A herd that size would rip the house down," I told them. It was time for us to leave. God, please let me find Rain before we left. I'd never be able to live with myself if I lost her out here.

There was a loud thumping inside as someone ran down the stairs. "Carl's gone," Lori called, running out to the small group of us. Of course he was. You couldn't look after your kid for one damn second could you? Now we just had one more missing person.

"What?" I asked, looking to her.

She was grabbing her chest to steady her breathing and quickly babbled out to us, "He- he was upstairs. I can't find him anymore," Lori stated. She looked to be on the verge of tears.

Wonderful. Could this night get any better? "Maybe he's hiding," Glenn suggested. Somehow I really doubted that that was the case here. Kid probably went to go find his dad. Snuck out when no one was watching.

It was what I would have done if I was him. "He's supposed to be upstairs. I'm not leaving without my boy," Lori cried out to us.

"We're not. We're gonna look again. We're gonna find him," Carol told Lori before grabbing her hand and pulling her inside. I turned back to the remaining members of the group as Andrea came out dragging the bag of guns. We all went rifling through the guns when Maggie pulled out a rifle and handed another to Glenn.

The young Asian looked at her with a confused look. "Maggie?" He asked, slightly out of breath.

"You grow up country, you pick up a thing or two," she said to him.

I turned to look at the rest of the group and shook my head. No amount of guns was going to be able to solve this. "I got the number it's no use," I told the group.

"You can go if you want," Hershel said, loading his gun.

I cocked my eyebrows and looked at the older man. "You gonna take 'em all on?" I asked him. There was no way, we would all make it out of this. I knew that we could. We just had to keep together and get the hell off of this farm as fast as we could.

"We have guns. We have cars," Hershel said, cocking his gun.

Andrea, who was leaning up against the railing, looked up to us. "Kill as many as we can, and we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm," she said.

What the hell? We could draw as many of them off as we wanted with the gunfire. But there was no way that we'd be able to take them all of off the farm. It would be hard even with twenty walkers. There were ten times that amount out here. Even with as many as we could draw off there would still be too many. No matter what, this farm was bound to fall tonight.

Hershel seemed to be thinking it over. I gave Hershel a skeptical look and asked, "Are you serious?"

He nodded. "This is my farm. I'll die here," the older man told me. Well fine then. It seemed that we would be defending the farm, even though I was pretty sure almost everyone knew it wouldn't work.

"All right. It's as good a night as any," I said, hopping over the railing and heading to Merle's old bike. I needed something that would be able to weave in and out of the field. I revved the engine and headed off into the yard, bound and determined to find Rain.

At the Barn...

We burst through the small doors inside the barn that held all of the supplies. As we came out Rick and I held gas canisters in each hand. With a quick nod Rick and I dumped them on the hay. He hadn't told me the plan but I had figured it out easily enough. He was going to light the bastards on fire. The ones that didn't light would be drawn over by the commotion.

It was a pretty neat plan but there was one problem. How the hell would we get out of here? I guess we would cross that bridge when we came to it. "All right, here we go. Come on. Hurry. Oh shit. All right. Okay." Rick said dumping his canisters as I dropped mine on the other side of the barn. He grabbed onto my arm and pointed Carl up the ladder to the second floor of the barn. "Up there. Hurry."

He stopped and turned back to look at us. "Well, what about you two?" Carl asked, extending his arms.

"We'll be right there. Drop the lighter when I say. We'll stop some of them from reaching the house and distract the others, so at least we'll have a chance," Rick said as he handed Carl the lighter.

I bent down to eye level with the boy. "Carl, it'll be okay. You just keep the lighter steady and drop it when we say," I told him, grabbing his shoulder and moving slightly back.

He took in a deep breath and nodded. "Hey-hey-hey, look at me. You can do this. Carl I love you," Rick told his son.

Carl looked no less concerned. "You'll be fine buddy, we're gonna be right up there okay? Be strong," I told him and Carl nodded. I heard the wood on the doors beginning to stretch and break when Rick turned back to Carl.

"All right, go-go-go," he pushed him up the stairs. I went up to the doors with Rick and waited as Carl ran up the ladder. Once Carl was safely out of range we threw the wooden block off the doors. As the walkers began to pour in, we shook our arms and yelled at them. "Hey! Hey! You want some?! Come and get it! Come on! Come on! Come on! Over here! Come on, over here. Come on, over here! Carl, now! Keep it steady!" Rick shouted to his son.

He was holding the lighter and about ready to drop it. We ran up the stairs just in time to avoid being burnt to a crisp. "I'm trying!" Carl yelled to his father.

"Damn it," Rick sighed as Carl dropped it. It hit the hay and I watched as it didn't light. Oh God. We needed it to light. Instead it went out and I realized we had seriously screwed up. After a moment, however, we saw the small embers light.

Just before the small explosion came I yelled out, "Move!" to the Grimes men. Not taking care to be gentle I pushed us out of the way of the flames. The flames heated the wood that we were sitting on and I glanced down to see that the walkers were collapsing in the flames. It was working. Just as I stood up I heard the sound of gunfire outside the barn. So they must have understood the warning. Or perhaps they'd already seen them.

Backing out of the barn to an open spot in the roof, we stopped short when we saw that the barn was surrounded. There was no way down without having to head right into the walkers. I heard Rick shouting and I turned to look at what he was shouting to. It was Jimmy. He was driving the Winnebago over to us. "Jimmy!" I shrieked, waving my hands around. He pulled up to the roof overhang so that we would all be able to jump onto the top of it.

Rick jumped over first and extended his hand. He helped Carl and I over to the top of the RV. I cringed when I saw that Carl barely made it. We quickly hopped onto the roof of the RV and I walked to the ladder to try to get into the door. I almost shrieked when I saw how many walkers were down by the door. I was about to warn Jimmy to stay in the RV when he popped his head out. We didn't get time to warn him before they broke through the door and pushed in. Judging by the screams from Jimmy I guessed that they had gotten to him.

Trying to push out the thoughts that we had just lost another member I ran over to the other end of the RV. Rick had already helped Carl down to the ground. He turned back to me and ushered me down the ladder. I looked around and saw that the walkers were scrambled now and cars were weaving in and out, taking down the walkers. Daryl. He was out there somewhere. I had to find him, but I couldn't risk Rick and Carl in the process.

Slowly I made my way down the ladder and took Rick's hand as I hit the grass. My eyes were darting back and forth to try and find Daryl. Rick noticed my hesitation. "Rain! We have to go!" Rick shouted, trying to pull me away. I ripped my arm out of his grip and pushed him away from me.

"Rick you need to go! Take Carl and go! Get to the cars! I need to find Daryl," I told him, pushing him away. He looked at me and tried to argue that they could help; that we would find him together. "No way Rick! I'm not risking the both of your lives just so that I can find him. Get out of here, find Lori Get the hell off of the farm. We've lost it!" Rick tried to come back to me but I moved away slightly.

Turning to shoot a walker, I pulled off my bow and nocked an arrow, aiming quickly before shooting the arrow into a walker's head that had gotten slightly too close. Rick walked up and hugged me, telling me to be careful, and Carl quickly joined in. Breaking apart the hug, I shoved them away and yelled one last, "Go!" Rick and Carl headed back to the house and I silently wished them luck before turning away, and darting from the barn.

I was about ten feet away from the fence that separated the field and barn from the yard that led to the house. Leaping over the fence, I took a moment to look around. After a few moments I spotted it. A blue truck. Just the one that I was looking for. It was Daryl. I went to run after it but I stopped dead in my tracks. I saw the arm leaning out of the window. It wasn't the arm that I was looking for. It was black. Damn it, it was T-Dog. At least I knew that T was safe. I looked into the window and saw that Lori was in the truck with him. Thank God, Rick's wife was safe.

A hand grabbed my shoulder and I gasped before turning around swinging the arrow I had in my hand blindly at the walker. I swiped at it a few times before I finally severed its head from its body. The head fell towards my torso and I let out a small scream before running toward the middle of the field. I needed to get away from the walkers that were surrounding me. Thankfully there was a small break in the walkers that I slipped through easily enough.

Once I was past the immediate danger I looked around at the cars. They were swerving in and out all over the field. It was already almost impossible to see who was who from how fast they were going, but it was night out and the only light was coming from the fire on the barn. I stopped and caught my breath for a moment before hearing the growling of walkers again, too close for comfort.

Quickly whipping my head around, I saw that there were about five walkers headed directly for me. Nocking an arrow I shot down the first walker and another arrow to the second behind it. Stumbling back slightly as they advanced on me, I realized that there wasn't enough time to shoot down the others. So I took off my knife and drove it into the third walkers skull. Not wanting to wait any longer I jumped at the chance to take out the fourth and fifth walkers. They must have turned towards the beginning of the outbreak, as their skulls were pretty soft. As the last of them fell, I turned and continued to run.

It was no use trying to figure out which car Daryl was in. I needed to get back to the house and get to a car. As I ran towards the house my breaths came in short pants. I was quickly tiring. And it wasn't helpful that I was still getting over the bullet through the thigh. As I ran through the thick of the walkers I fired arrow after arrow. It didn't make a difference. Still more and more walkers came up to me. I nearly screamed when I saw that no matter how many arrows I fired, or how many bullets they were letting fly, we weren't even making a dent in this.

Fuck, we were so outnumbered that it was almost funny. Had I not been about to die, I would have laughed. Reaching back to my quiver I went to grab an arrow to fend off a walker not too far from me. Unfortunately I was met with empty air. Damn it! I panicked and dropped my bow, reaching into my thigh holster to grab my gun. Pulling it out as fast as I could I switched off the safety as I raised my gun, but I was too late. The walker bowled into me and knocked me off balance.

I screamed as I went down and fired blindly. Luckily, I had hit the walker in the brain. It dropped on top of me and I struggled to throw it off. Whoever this had been was damned heavy. I hissed in pain as I looked down at my arms. They were covered in blood and my jeans were torn. I was covered in small cuts and my body was quickly forming bruises. Reaching over to my side I threw my bow back onto me and let out a few grunts of pain.

As fast as possible I needed to get back to the house. There were too many walkers out here. I was going to die before long. I let out a long sigh at my close call with the walker and dropped my head back. However, it quickly snapped up at the sound of another walker in front of me. When I looked back up I gasped loudly. It was closer to me then I had expected. I knew that if I tried to get up I would end up only an inch from it's face, so I decided to wait it out. Praying that I'd made the right call, I prepared to make my move.

When the walker was only a few inches from me, and about to fall onto me, I swept my leg up, catching it in the legs and made it fall backwards. The weight of the walker brought it down easily. To my utter surprise though, the walker twisted as it fell and it caught my foot underneath it. All of the weight went right down onto my fragile ankle. The snap was louder than my scream.

Shrieking in pain, I yanked my foot out from under it and bit my lip to prevent the ear splitting scream that threatened to force its way out of my throat. I must have popped my foot out of place, or maybe even broken it, judging from the crack that I'd heard. Oh shit that hurt. Not wanting to lose the advantage I had, I jumped up on the walker, ignoring the sharp pains that shot through my leg. Raising my knife, I stabbed into the walker's skull and fell to the side when I felt the walker's resistance stop.

The pain was still radiating through my legs as I leaned over the walker. I let the tears rise to my eyes at the pain in my ankle. Just for a moment I had to rest. But things couldn't stay calm forever. It wasn't very long before I heard the unforgiving growl of the walkers. "Please no," I cried out before hauling myself to my feet. I looked around frantically. This time, to my horror, there was nowhere to run.

Walkers were surrounding me on all sides. I fired the rest of my bullets, replacing the magazine once, but that didn't even make a dent in the group that was slowly closing in on me. They were all drawn to me now from the noise. They could also smell the blood dripping off of me. I re-holstered my Beretta and pulled out my Springfield but my efforts were futile. I fired two more bullets before dropping the gun to my side. There was no use. I was surrounded, with no way out. I took a deep breath and looked to the sky, "I'm so sorry Daryl, I love you."

I cringed as a female walker went to bite my arm. She nearly had her jaws around my arm when a gunshot brought her down. The gunfire continued until it had cleared a path for me. A voice called out to me, snapping me out of my daze. "Rain! Get the hell outta there!"

I took off in an awkward sprint from the pain in my legs. Just as I cleared the circle of walkers, I saw it. Daryl. And on the back of his bike was Carol. Thank God, at least the two of them were safe as well. "Rain!" Both Carol and Daryl shouted at the same time. This time I did let the tears flow. Daryl had Carol hold up the bike, and he jumped off of it, running to me. He opened his arms and pulled me into a tight hug. I let myself settle into his warmth, soaking it in.

As much as I would have loved to stay like that, we had to keep on our toes. "What are you doing here?" I asked. I would have thought that they would be trying to get off of the farm. Like everyone else was doing. "Go with the others! You need to get back to them!" I yelled at Daryl.

He shook his head at me. "Rain, we stayed to find you. When I heard gunshots coming from that circle I figured someone was in it. I prayed that that someone was you. Now c'mon, we have to get out of here!" I smiled at Daryl and stayed planted where I was.

This wasn't going to work out for all of us. "Daryl, that bike is made for one person, Carol barely fits on there. You have my stuff with you," I said, taking note of my bags. "Take my bow and the arrow sheath. I'll go through the woods, meet you guys. Where is everyone meeting up?" I asked him, handing over my bow to Carol. She took it and was about to argue with me when I shook my head at her. "I'm faster, even injured. I'll figure it out and I'll make it back. I swear."

"On the highway where we broke down, but Rain no. It's too dangerous. You could get killed out there and I can't lose you. I won't. We can make room on the bike," Daryl pleaded to me.

I gave Daryl a sad look and put my hand to his cheek. "I'm sorry Daryl, but you have to leave. I won't risk three people's safety just to maybe not even guarantee my own. I'll find you guys," I leaned in close to him and sighed. Hell I'd probably die, so I might as well say it. "I love you Daryl Dixon." I pulled back from him and kissed him hard, like it was the last time, which it probably was. I felt a little drop of water hit my cheek and I knew that he was crying. I pulled away from him and shoved him to the bike.

He wiped the one tear off of his face and stood staring at me for a moment, before calling to me, "Rain I uh- you know that I- I mean-" I cut Daryl off, sending him a bitter smile. I knew what he wanted to say. It was such a Daryl thing. He refused to cry and he couldn't say it back. But I knew that he did, I knew that he meant it.

"I know Daryl," I told him.

"We'll draw as many of them off of you as we can," Carol told me, giving me a sympathetic stare. I nodded a thanks to her before slowly pulling my hands out of Daryl's. I turned and bounded off towards the woods, letting the tears flow freely from my eyes. I heard them shouting behind me and I knew that they were trying to get the walkers off of my tail.

I had barely made it ten yards before I saw a decent sized pack of walkers after me. Damn it. I only had my two throwing knives and about fifteen bullets left. There were at least twenty on me and I didn't want to let off any gun fire at them, not with the risk of attracting more of them. I simply didn't have the resources to fight off more.

Picking up the pace slightly, I let out a small yelp of pain every time I stepped down on my right ankle. It might not have been broken but it sure as hell hurt. This entire run was miserable and I didn't know how much longer I could do it for. My leg would give out and I'd become just another meal for those walkers. There had to be somewhere that I could go and hide. Not up in a tree. There was no way that I was going to be able to make it up it. As I was running, some cruel part of me thought back to when I was a little kid and I had gone camping in the woods. The odd part was that it was these exact woods, and I knew that there was a river in these woods that would lead me to the highway.

If I was fast enough I would be able to make it there. I didn't have to die. I didn't know if walkers could swim or not, but I figured that I should at least try. Couldn't hurt my chances of surviving right now, could it? I decided to take a chance and I veered off to the side of the path. I tried to make it to a sprint, as I could feel the walkers right on my tail and gaining with each passing moment. I let out a bitter laugh as I ran. The woods that I had loved when I was little were the same woods that I would die in.

Grunting through the pain, I finally broke through the trees and saw the river. It was right there. Just a few feet away from me. I practically broke down right there, but I knew that I had to keep going. As I came up to the water I slammed to a halt. The water was a problem. God, it was was even rougher than it used to be. It could kill me at this rate. Oh well. There were no big drops in the river and I was a pretty strong swimmer.

Turning, I just barely ducked out of the way of a walker who had snuck up on me. I kicked it in the stomach roughly. The walker went toppling over and I heard more crunches in my ankle. Damn me. Bad idea. Crying out in pain I figured, what the hell? Might as well give it a shot. What's the worst that could happen? I drown? Wouldn't that be the way to go in a world like this? Leaping into the water, I was quickly sucked under and thrown over myself a few times by the current.

As I finally popped back up to the surface I found myself grateful that I'd taken a deep breath. Had I not, I very likely would have just drowned. I was sure that I had been underwater for well over a minute. Looking back up the river while I could, I saw that the walkers hadn't jumped in after me. Thank God, they couldn't swim. However, my relief was short lived when I heard snarling directly behind me. It was the same walker that I had kicked a minute ago. Shrieking, I tried to whip around but the current was too strong.

Neither myself or the walker had any chance of moving. The walker was having trouble staying afloat but it wasn't a problem for it. They couldn't drown, I could. The current was keeping me facing forward and I felt the walker grab onto me from behind. I could tell that it couldn't swim, as all of its weight was on me, using me as a floating device. Feeling its putrid breath on my shoulder, I managed to fight the current long enough to do something. Kicking the walker off of me, I swam around it.

Once I was at its side I raised the gun up to its face and stupidly pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Damn it Rain, what were you thinking? Of course it wouldn't fire, it was soaking wet. Guns weren't designed to be able to fire when they were soaking wet. I shook my head and grudgingly dropped the gun, letting the current sweep it away. I tried to reach for the knife that was tucked into my pants but it was no use. I was using one hand to keep the walker at bay, and the other to make sure that I wasn't drowning. I had no spare hands. It was either reach for the knife, or risk drowning.

This was not going to work out in my favor no matter what I did. I was fighting a losing battle with the walker when I felt a searing pain on my side. I let out a loud scream and looked to see that it was a rock jutting out of the water. And it was not the only one. I saw the water staining a dark red behind me and I knew from the stinging agony in my side that the cut was bad. I managed to raise my head above the waves for a minute to see more rocks coming up. They were sharper and larger than the one that had just cut me.

Oh my God. They'd cut me in half if I wasn't careful. I quickly thought of a plan. Maybe a stupid one but I was on my last leg. Literally. If this didn't work there was no way I would make it out of this. Grabbing the walker by the little hair it had left, I pushed with all my might toward the other bank, using its hair to keep its head back from my arm. I struggled to hold him there when I saw that the rocks were coming up. I pushed myself so that I would be directly beside the rock and squinted when the rock was within spitting distance.

The walker's head smashing into mush and its body being pulled from my grip was the first thing that I felt. A moment later I also felt a smashing in my fingers. "Fuck!" I bellowed out at the top of my lungs. I floated away from the body of the walker that was stuck messily to the rock. My tears once again began to fall as I cradled my shattered hand. I could see all of the bones jutting at awkward angles and poking up into my skin.

Crying softly, I looked up at the last minute to see the rapids begin. Damn it. I thought I had already passed them. Without getting a chance to take in a breath I was dragged under, swallowing a lungful of water instead of air. Trying to push my way back to the surface, I could slowly feel myself fading in and out. Just as I felt like my lungs were about to burst the water leveled out and I sprung to the surface, vomiting almost immediately. I looked down to see that the vomit had blood in it. Not good. I most likely had some type of internal bleeding. It was probably from the impact of the rocks.

I coughed up the rest of whatever was in my stomach when the currents started up again. Having not been paying attention I was startled when I was pulled back down quickly. It felt like I was fighting for hours to be able to pop back up to the air, when I finally managed to come above the surface again. I went to look forward and see where the rapids ended when something smashed into the side of my head. I let out an ear-piercing scream, which was muffled by the water. I looked back, and through blurry vision, I saw that there was an insane amount of blood on a rock a ways back.

Also not good. I was going to die out here. It had come to the point that I couldn't fight anymore. The currents were quickly sucking me under, and I tried to fight them, but I couldn't. My body was being battered my the rocks that I could no longer avoid, I was losing too much blood, and I couldn't even see anymore. My vision was completely fuzzed from hitting my head on the rock.

As the water rocked me back and forth I let my body tip back to the sky and felt the water trying to pull me down. I took a deep breath feeling a sharp, shooting, pain and opened my eyes to see the blurry sky. "I'm so sorry Daryl. Fight on for me. I really do love you." I coughed a few times and saw red blotches on my skin. Finally giving up and readying myself for death I surrendered myself to the river, shut my eyes, and let the water pull me under.

Out On The Road...

I'd just pulled up to Rick, Carl, and Hershel when everyone began jumping out of their vehicles to reunite with loved ones. I gave Rick a tight handshake and let a nasty expression cross my face. My loved one wasn't here, she was back there someone. Hell, maybe she was dead. "Oh thank God!" Lori shouted, pulling her son into a hug.

All of the others were getting out of their cars behind me. "Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked.

"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road figured he had to be Asian, driving like that," I joked around. I was trying to keep from breaking down by making any jokes I could think of.

Glenn smiled and laughed slightly."Good one," he mumbled to me.

It seemed that Rain wasn't the only one that was missing. Andrea, Patricia, and Shane were all missing too. "Where's the rest of us?" I asked, praying that someone had seen some of the others. Or if anyone had seen anything of Rain after Carol and I had driven off.

Rick looked at me and shook his head, with his hands on his hips. "We're the only ones who made it so far."

"Shane?" Lori asked. Rick stood there for a moment before shaking his head. I saw the look of horror cross her face but I couldn't help but think that it was probably better this way.

"Andrea?" Glenn asked after a moment.

Carol spoke up this time, "She saved me, then I lost her."

T-Dog, who was hanging on the door to my old truck shook his head and told us the bad news. "We saw her go down." I shook my head at the news. I knew that Rain had hated her, and she'd shot me, but still. She didn't deserve that death.

"Patricia?" Hershel asked.

His youngest daughter, Beth, spoke up from next to her father. She looked up at him and said, "They got her, too. Took her right in front of me. I was- I was holdin' onto her, daddy. She just- What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?" She asked, crying.

I knew that he had been in the RV to get to the barn when it had been burning. I thought that I'd seen it get overrun. "He was in the RV. It got overrun," Rick said, looking down at the pavement.

Beth let out a little sob at the news. Rain had told me that Jimmy was her boyfriend. "You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol, who was leaning on the car next to me, asked.

Lori gave an unsure look and said, "There were walkers everywhere."

"Did you see her?" Carol asked.

I cut in, wanting to know if anyone had seen Rain. If anyone knew for sure that she was dead, I had to know. Before I could ask though, Rick beat me to it. "What about Rain, where is she?"

"She said for us to go, wasn't room. She said that she'd either try to find someone else, or keep to the woods and make it back. No one's seen her?" I asked. I prayed to whatever God was out there that she had made it out of there. I heard T-Dog clear his throat and I looked up to him.

I nearly lost it at the guilt ridden face he had. "I saw her right before we pulled out. She ran into the woods." That one I knew. "Had about twenty of 'em on her. She looked injured too, real bad. I have no idea if she made it out. Even if she did, she's probably up in a tree somewhere. But that's not likely," T-Dog told us. "I'm so sorry Daryl, I couldn't get out there to her."

I had to know. I had to see it, I needed to go back. Either find her hiding somewhere, or go to retrieve her body. "I'm gonna go back," I said, turning to walk off.

"No," Rick said, extending his arm to stop me.

A hint of anger creeped up on me. "We can't just leave her!" I yelled. There was no way, I had to go back for her. She was the first person I'd ever loved and I needed to get her back. I couldn't lose her.

"We don't even know if she's there. She might not be Daryl. We all care for her, but it's too dangerous right now to check. She isn't there. She isn't. She's somewhere else or she's dead. There's no way to find her," Rick told me, looking at me with sorrow filled eyes.

"So we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asked, stepping up to my side.

Rick shook his head at us. "We gotta keep moving. There have been walkers crawling all over here," he said.

T-Dog spoke up, his hand still on the door handle. "I say head east." I agreed, we needed to stay off of the roads. We would leave, but tomorrow morning, after I woke up, I was gonna head back to the farm and go check around the area for any signs of Rain.

"Stay off the main roads," I said as I looked over at the walker that was hobbling over to us. "The bigger the road, the more walkers, mo' assholes like this one. I got him," I quickly walked up to the walker and raised my crossbow, firing it into the walker's left eye.

We all headed back to our vehicles, and I went to my bike, latching my crossbow securely onto it. I gave the bike a quick once over and checked that mine and Rain's things were all still there. Once I was sure that they were I motioned for Carol to join me. I supposed that she would be riding with me for now. Rick and the others called for us to move on and I nodded. We wouldn't be moving far. Just far enough from the farm that we were out of the immediate danger of the walker herd.

We had been driving for only a few minutes when I heard the horn to signal the caravan to stop. I put my legs down on each side of the bike and turned to Rick, looking from around Carol. "You out?" I asked him, referring to gas for the car.

He nodded at me. "Running on fumes," Rick said, walking past me and beginning to head up the road.

Maggie went to follow him and called out, "We can't stay here."

"We can't all fit in one car," Glenn added. He was right, we only had one other functioning car and my bike could only hold two people.

It meant that we would be staying here for the night. "We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning," Rick said, coming to a halt and motioning everyone to set up camp.

Carol asked skeptically, "Spend the night here?"

"I'm freezing," Carl chattered. His mother was holding onto him, trying to warm the young boy up.

Lori looked down to the boy and rubbed against his arms. "We'll build a fire, yeah?" Lori asked.

I sighed, knowing that looking for firewood could prove to be dangerous no matter how close we stayed. And I was pretty sure that we were almost out of ammo. "You go out looking for firewood, stay close. Only got so many arrows. How you doing on ammo?" I asked Rick as he walked past me.

He sighed at me and answered, "Not enough." That's what I thought.

"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out," Maggie said from behind.

"Watch your mouth," Hershel said to his daughter. I couldn't help but to let a bitter smile cross my face. It was a fatherly answer. Rain's language must have terrified him. After all, the two were the same age. I felt a sudden pang shoot through my chest at the thought of her. I wished this night would go by faster. I needed to see what had become of her. "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick," Hershel added at the last minute.

"All right, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on," our leader tried to calm us down with a plan. I nodded slightly to him, it didn't sound too bad.

Once we had Rain back we could move on. "Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas," Maggie offered, walking up to Rick. Not a bad idea, but it was probably best if we all stuck together for now.

Rick seemed to agree. "No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car," Rick told her.

Glenn added in a very unhelpful thought right after. "Rick, we're stranded now."

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure. I really wasn't but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."

"Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something," Glenn said. Yeah. With no food in the cities anymore, they were heading out into the country trying to find some.

"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it," he said. I knew that he was saying that in hopes of finding a safe place for Lori to have her baby. And hell, I didn't blame him for wanting that. We all wanted a place to settle down.

Maggie began to speak and I saw the venomous look he shot her. "Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe."

"We won't make that mistake again," Hershel assured his oldest daughter.

Rick looked over and found a somewhat secure looking place right off the side of the road. It was large enough for all of us to hide in there. He turned back and pointed it out to us. "We'll make camp tonight over there, get on the road at the break of day."

I could feel Carol walking over to me. I turned to her and nodded. "Does this feel right to you?" She asked me.

Nothing felt right to me. Ever since this had happened everything seemed wrong. Beth went walking up to Rick and asked him a very valid question. "What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?"

We were just going to have to take a chance. "You know I found Randall, right? He had turned, but he wasn't bit," I said, looking to Rick. I wanted to know how the hell that that was even possible.

"How's that possible?" Beth asked.

Lori gave Rick an odd look and she asked her husband, "Rick, what the hell happened?"

Rick shuffled nervously for a moment. "Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted to." I looked to Rick to see if he was going to explain to us what had happened. There was no way that any part of the story Shane had told us back at the farm was true, and now we only had Rick to tell us the truth.

"And then the herd got him?" Lori asked her husband.

Rick stood in silence for a moment before uttering three words that would change our lives forever. "We're all infected." What the hell did that mean? Not just myself, but everyone in the group stared at Rick like he had grown two extra heads.

Not understanding, I finally broke the silence and asked, "What?"

"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it," Rick answered. Well God damn it. If that was true then that meant that no matter how you die, you would come back as one of those things. Even if you die of old age, perfectly healthy, you'd return as a walker. Unless someone shot you in the head.

Everyone stood in silence trying to take it in when Carol finally spoke up. "And you never said anything?" She asked Rick, with an accusing bite in her voice.

"Would it have made a difference?" Rick asked her.

No. "You knew this whole time?" Glenn asked, obviously angry with Rick for keeping it a secret. I could understand why he did though. There was no need to cause panic when he didn't really know for sure. Randall must have sealed the deal for him.

"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo-" Rick started before Glenn cut him off.

Glenn began to advance on Rick when Carol pushed him back slightly. "That is not your call," the younger man snapped. "Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone," Glenn quickly recalled. Yeah, well that had actually been a matter of life and death and it was absolute fact. Rick hadn't know if that was absolute fact.

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know," Rick told him before stalking off. After a moment, Lori faithfully followed her husband to the campsite. I turned around and headed to the wood line to clear my head. As I walked farther up the woods I happened to overhear the conversation between Rick and Lori.

He was standing with Lori near the woods. I managed to hide behind a brick wall so that I could listen in on the conversation. "I killed him. I killed Shane. He came at me. He killed Randall to get me into the woods. He planned it. I had- I had no choice. I gave him every chance and he kept leading me further out. He pushed me, and I let him. And after awhile, I knew I knew what he was doing, what he was up to. And I kept going. I didn't stop. I could have, but I just wanted it over. Dogging me every step of the way. Acting like I stole you and Carl, like- Like I was in the way. I just wanted it over.

"Rain was there too, she was in front of me so that if he shot, he would have hit her. But I couldn't let her die for me, so I pushed her out of the way." Huh, so that was what had happened, that was why I didn't see her back at the house after that. She had been stupid and stepped into a fight that she was destined to lose. Clearly things had worked out just fine for her though, she had still been alive after the fight. "But at that point, after threatening her, I wanted him dead. I killed him. He turned. That's how I knew Jenner Jenner was right. Carl put him down," Rick continued. Damn, that little kid had to put him down. How the hell had that worked out?

What the hell? What was Rick talking about? He had killed Shane? God damn. I sighed and walked off, back into the woods. The rest of that conversation was their business, not mine. At least I knew the entire story now. Not that I was going to repeat it to anyone else. It was Rick's choice if he wanted to tell them everything that had happened. Stepping back into the woods through the break in the trees, I went back to picking up wood for a fire.

Rain, she was there too. With Shane and Rick. I knew that she would do something stupid. I should have made her stay. I should have brought her back to the house with us. Left her there and had her get in a car. At least I knew that Rick was willing to die, rather than let an innocent woman get shot. Sighing, I picked up the last of the wooden branches around me and moved over to where everyone was setting up camp.

We had all been sitting in mostly silence for the next few hours. I had my sleeping bag rolled out in the corner of our small campsite and I was standing over the fire, feeding it more wood to try and keep it going. It was freezing out and I knew that if we didn't try to keep warm, someone would end up getting sick from the cold. I had just thrown in another log when Carol, who was sitting next to where I was kneeling, spoke to me.

She looked up at me and I just barely looked her in the eye. "We're not safe with him. Keeping something like that from us. Why do you need him? He's just gonna pull you down."

I shook my head at her. "No. Rick's done all right by me."

"You're his henchman and I'm a burden. You deserve better," she told me.

I looked at her, narrowing my eyes and gave her a small glare. "What do you want?" No one was perfect in this world anymore. Rick was trying his hardest to keep everyone happy.

"A man of honor," she told me.

"Rick has honor," I argued back to her.

"I think we should take our chances," Maggie said. Out there? By ourselves? No way. Numbers meant strength and these people, all of them, were good. And I had to stay. In the morning I had to go out there and find her. One way or another, I had to know what had happened to her.

Hershel was one of the few that were siding with me. "Don't be foolish. There's no food, no fuel, no ammo," Hershel told his older daughter.

I cut in and stood up. "Besides, Rain is out there somewhere and I'm not leaving. I'm searchin' for her in the mornin'. I ain't leavin' without her. She ain't dead either. She's way too damn stubborn for that." I heard a crack out in the woods and I saw everyone jump, clearly worried what was out there.

"What was that?" Beth asked, clinging to her father's arm.

I stood up and looked around. "Could be anything. Could be a raccoon, could be a possum. Walker."

"We need to leave. I mean what are we waiting for?" Carol spoke up.

Maggie stood and asked, "Which way?" I knew that she meant the noise we'd just heard.

"It came from back there. Back the way we came," Carol answered her.

Rick, who had been doing a patrol of the area walked up and looked at us. He shook his head when he realized what we had all been talking about. "The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark. We don't have the vehicles. No one's traveling on foot. Don't panic," he told us.

"I'm not- I'm not sitting here, waiting for another herd to blow through," Carol said.

Maggie stepped up towards Rick and told him, "We need to move, now."

He took a step in front of her, cutting her off from moving any farther. "No one is going anywhere," Rick snapped at her. I saw Maggie recoil slightly from him.

Carol looked at him and told him lightly, "Do something."

"I am doing something!" He shouted. "I'm keeping this group together, alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake! You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice. He was my friend, but he came after me. My hands are clean. Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard. Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get. No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight, you're staying. This isn't a democracy anymore," Rick snarled the last part.

Shaking his head, he stormed out of the little area we had all barricaded ourselves in. With nothing else left to say, and the group left in an awkward silence I laid out on my sleeping bag and stared up at the sky. For how long, probably hours. It was well into the night and all I could hear was the wind blowing through the trees, and the snoring of the group. Finally, out of exhaustion, I fell asleep with nothing in my mind but the burning desire to find her. I had to, even if it was the last thing I did.

The next morning I yawned and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. It felt like I was hungover. It was the worst that I'd felt in a long time. Unlike the other mornings when I would walk out to breakfast and there would be friendly chatter, the group was dead silent today. Usually I liked the silence, but after last night I would do anything to hear the chatter. I wasn't very hungry so when I grabbed a protein bar from a small pile I merely gnawed on it for a while before tossing it to the side.

Sighing, I stood to tell Rick that I was gonna take a car and head back to the house. I had to check for our own and scavenge for any supplies we had left that we could salvage. We were running dangerously low. In a few days we would have nothing and we would be forced to hunt something down. I picked up my crossbow and felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning to see who it was, I noticed that it was Rick.

He sighed and whispered to me, "I already asked Glenn. There's a river not to far from here, maybe about half a mile. We have no water. Would you mind going with him? Bring a few jugs, get some? We can boil it before we leave," he told me. He had been looking down the entire time, probably feeling very attacked.

Despite the fact that I wanted to find Rain I knew that water was the priority. I placed my hand on Rick's shoulder and gave him a small, reassuring look. "No problem, we'll head out now," I told the leader who gave me a grateful nod. Shouldering my crossbow, I walked over to where Glenn was sitting. "Ya ready?" I asked him. He nodded at me and picked up his gun, placing it in his strap and standing up to join me.

"River's that way, about half a mile," Glenn told me. I nodded and we got to walking. The walk had been in silence. With nothing much that anyone had to say after last night, there really was no talking. We'd been walking for about ten minutes when I heard the trickling of a stream. Looking over to Glenn, I called him to me.

He was a few yards away from me and heading in the other direction. "It's over here, I can hear it," I told him. Glenn nodded at me and the two of us made our way toward the river. I was ecstatic when I saw the river. I was dying of thirst. I just hadn't realized it until now. Walking down to the riverbank I looked down at the water and grabbed one of my bins, standing next to Glenn.

My bucket was filled up about halfway. I looked over towards the trees and saw something black and shiny. What the hell? "Glenn," I whispered, nodding to the other side of the river. I looked at it and jumped in the water, making my way to the other side. It wasn't much of a big deal, the water only came up to about mid-shin.

Making my way to other side of the riverbank I came up on the object slowly. I was sure that it wasn't dangerous but that didn't mean that I couldn't be careful. I looked at the object closer and leaned over it. I would know that shape anywhere. It was a gun. Picking it up, I gave it a once over and read the imprint on the side. "Springfield... Rain," I breathed out.

She was the only person that I knew that carried one. This exact one. Glenn called out to me from the other side, "Daryl! What is it?"

I turned back to him, raising the gun up so that he could see. "It's a gun, Rain's gun! She's gotta be around here somewhere," I said, walking back across the bank.

Glenn clearly wanted to take this one step at a time. "C'mon, finish filling up these buckets and then we'll go out looking for her," he told me. I nodded at him slightly, and just before I moved off, Glenn caught me by my arm. "We'll find her," he told me.

I knew that we would. We had to. I nodded again and moved upstream a bit, leaning down in front of the water. I'd turned around to get my other bucket. However I looked down and saw a tiny pinkish glint to the water. What the hell? Was that blood? If it was, then whoever it was coming from had to be alive. Walker blood was black. "Glenn! There's blood," I called to the Asian. He ran up to me and I quickly moved upstream. Running out there as fast as I could, I saw a body up a ways.

It looked like the person was dead. Could it have been a walker? If it was it would have just been changed. The thing didn't have any features of a walker. I walked over to it slowly. As I got closer I realized that it really wasn't a walker. It would have looked over at us from the noise. As I got closer its features became more pronounced. It was a girl, judging from the hair, which was tangled in knots and matted with blood.

It wasn't her. It couldn't be her. She had to be okay. She couldn't be like this. My thoughts proved false when I saw that the hair that wasn't covered in blood was a light blonde. And that shirt- that beige shirt that was peeking out from under a black jacket that was torn to shreds. I knew that shirt. I knew that hair. I knew her. "Rain... Rain!" I screamed, sprinting over to her.

Darting over to her and slipping on the rocks, I leaned over her, nearly breaking down at the sight of her. Her clothes were torn to shreds and they were soaked in blood. Her blood. Her hair was knotted beyond belief and it was almost black from the amount if dried blood in it. Thankfully all of it was hers. I didn't see anything that appeared to be related to a walker. I saw the gashes on her body; they were deep and large. They looked like they were most likely from rocks that had been in her way.

I cringed softly when I saw that they were still bleeding. I could only imagine how much blood she'd lost. I picked up her head softly and saw that there was a tiny dent in her skull when I pushed her hair back. It was almost imperceptible and you had to really look for it, but it was there. She most likely had hit her head pretty hard on a rock or the bank. I looked down and saw that her hand was smashed; most likely she broke a few bones in it.

Cradling her battered and bruised body I leaned my ear down to her chest. I could hear Glenn screaming to me as he ran up and I shushed him. Glenn fell next to me after a moment and I listened. I could just barely hear a heartbeat. It was slow and weak, but it was there. I knew that she didn't have much time left. Glenn looked up to me and muttered, "We gotta get back to them. We gotta get her to Hershel." I was sitting there in shock, and Glenn pulled on my shoulder. "Daryl! Get the hell up! She's almost dead! If you want any chance of her living, we gotta go, now!" He shouted.

Jolting out of my shocked haze I jumped up with Rain in my arms and sprinted back to camp. "Glenn, run ahead, get them ready. Now!" I yelled to him. The younger man nodded and tore out to the camp. "Hang on Rain. Don't you dare die on me," I mumbled to her. Finally making it within eyesight of the camp, I saw all of the members of the group running out to us, yelling out her name.

"Get her to the tents! There's a blanket laid out in T-Dog's tent for her. Hershel's ready!" Rick yelled to me as I ran up to the group. Meeting Hershel in the tent I laid her down gently on the blankets and took a small step back. I watched as he put a stethoscope on, and placed it on her chest. Before he did though, he looked up to me.

"Daryl, you may not want to be here for this," he told me looking up. I nodded and took a step out of the tent, standing back and watching them work on her. The flap was open, thankfully. I could see everything that was happening, along with everyone else.

Hershel kept the stethoscope at her chest for a moment before furrowing his brows and looking up. "Maggie! Get in here! Help me out. CPR now. I lost her heartbeat," He told his oldest daughter. What?

"Rain!" I cried out, trying to run to the tent.

Rick was faster than me. "Daryl, no!" Rick yelled, catching me and throwing me back. We both hit the dirt roughly. "Don't, they need all the space they can get. They'll tell you if something happens."

I sat, staring at the tent, and watched Maggie and Hershel try to save her. It didn't matter. I knew. I knew that she was as good as dead. They need a defibrillator at this point and she'd lost too much blood; hardly anything was getting to her brain and heart. I fell back against Rick, who had managed to pull me away from the group, and I did something that I hadn't done since I was a kid - and I'd never done around people. I cried.


	22. Keeping Hope

Daryl's P.O.V.

Rick had a hand on my shoulder, gently squeezing it. "Daryl. I'm so sorry about Rain. Maybe if I hadn't been such a dick, if I had let you go looking for her last night then-" Rick had been trying to apologize to me when I heard shouting from the tent that Hershel was trying to save Rain in.

I turned and jumped up, rushing towards the tent, Rick following close behind. I looked into the tent and saw that Hershel had a tight grip on Rain, who was sitting up and vomiting what looked like water, and a hell of a lot of blood. Made sense though, she hadn't eaten anything. She had nothing but water to get rid of. I glanced up at her face and saw that her eyes were barely open, rolling into the back of her head.

She looked like she was about to die. Panicking, I ran to try and get to her when Hershel stopped me. "No, Daryl. I need space here, her body is just restarting itself. Trying to expel everything that is blocking her airways or stuck in her lungs. She's okay for the moment, but she won't be for long. Her body is focusing on healing itself, closing off the wounds. It's not making more blood. She needs blood desperately, probably a few transfusions. You wouldn't happen to know her blood type, would you?" The older man asked me.

I shook my head and told him, "I have no idea. She never needed a transfusion before this, not that she told me about. Is there anything you can do?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"Not until I know her blood type. I could risk it with someone but that could end up making it worse if I guess wrong. Would she maybe have anything in her stuff that would tell us? Maybe a recent hospital visit slip or an insurance card?" He asked. I wasn't sure what she had with her, I'd never really seen her pull anything out of her bags except for clothes.

Perhaps but we needed her to show us where it would be. Suddenly, a thought hit me. I had her stuff beside my sleeping bag. Without saying a word I ran over to my area and dropped next to our things. I grabbed her bag and went rifling through it. I began tossing aside the extra stuff she had. There were a few extra gun magazines that were loaded, a knife, a small writing pad, a few feminine products- a slight blush crept across my cheeks as I threw them to the side- a few extra clothes, a whetstone, a picture of herself and a dog, and then at the very bottom; her wallet.

It was the one thing that I was looking for. I grabbed it and flipped it open, displaying the contents. There were plenty of cards, all of which I tossed aside. There was nothing with her blood types. Damn it. I was about to throw the wallet to the side when a folded up piece of paper fell out. Grabbing it off of the ground, I looked and saw that it was a hospital receipt, and it was recent. Only from a few weeks before the breakout. Unfolding it, I read off the list when I finally caught what I was looking for, her blood type. It was AB.

Jumping up and running to Hershel I yelled into the tent. "AB! It's AB," I told him, slightly out of breath.

"Good, good. You wouldn't happen to know your blood type would you?" Hershel asked me. I shook my head, I had absolutely no idea. "Damn. Well we don't have time to get to a blood bank. I suppose we could wait it out. Or maybe we could just chance it, besides there's no way that she will wake up with the amount of blood she's lost."

Just then Beth stepped forward, rolling up her sleeve. "Daddy, you know that I have AB. I'll do it, let me give her blood. I'll be fine," Beth said, stepping past me. I nodded a thank you to her and she gave me a small smile. Hershel sighed, but nodded anyways. Obviously he didn't want his youngest daughter to have to sacrifice any of her own health.

"Alright. Maggie, set Beth up. I'll get an IV for Rain," he said. I watched as Maggie pulled out the IV and slid it into Beth's arm. The younger girl cringed but watched as the blood ran from her body. Maggie pulled out the IV after a few minutes and handed the bag of blood over to Hershel.

He took the bag from her and nodded. "Two pints," Maggie told her father. He nodded, taking the bag and hooking Rain up to it. I watched as the blood ran into Rain's body slowly. The bag was drained after about thirty seconds. I was surprised to see that a tiny bit of color, almost unnoticeable, came to Rain's face.

She already looked better. Although she did still look half-dead. "We really should clean her up. I need to get some buckets of water to clean her up with. If someone can give me some loser clothes to put on her, that would be helpful too," Hershel instructed. Glenn nodded and ran off to get the buckets of water that we had brought back earlier.

Carol moved forward and brushed by me to look at Hershel. "I have some clothes that will probably be big on her. I'll get them," she said before brushing back by me and running off to go get them.

Hershel brushed some hair back from Rain's forehead and held his hand to her chest. "Beth go sit down for a while, get your strength back. I might need you to give her more blood later." The young girl nodded and walked out of the tent to lay down on her sleeping bag.

Carol came back with a bundle of clothes in her hand. "You can look through some of these. I'm sure that something will fit her. They should all be a little too big on her," Carol told us.

"Good. Alright, Lori and Carol, could I get some help from you both? I have to get all of her cleaned off. I need to see all of the damage that was done," Hershel told them. The two women nodded and walked into the tent, joining Maggie, while Hershel walked out. He walked up to Rick and I and told us, "I need to get her cleaned off and do a thorough check of her. I'll come out and let you both know what's going on with her after. We'll be gentle with her."

I nodded at him and turned slightly. With nothing more to say to us and a girl to take care of Hershel turned away. He walked back into the tent, this time zipping up the flap. I tried to see if I could see into the tent but the material was too thick to see past. So instead I sat down on the grass and listened. I could hear Hershel giving instruction and I could hear Maggie, Lori, and Carol following his orders. The instructions and confirmations were the only thing that they were saying. Only caring about what happened to Rain, I continued to stare at the tent. I didn't know how long had passed and I didn't care, all I wanted to do was wait until I knew what exactly was going on with Rain.

Nothing that they were saying was giving me a clue as to whether or not she was actually alright. "Daryl," I heard Glenn call. I didn't bother turning to look at him. "You've been out here for almost four hours, don't you want to get something to eat or move at all? They'll tell you if something happens," Glenn told me. I was about to snap at the younger man when the tent unzipped and Carol popped her head out.

"Daryl? Rick? If you two could come in here?" Carol asked. I shoved past Glenn and slipped into the tent. Rick was right behind me. I walked in and saw Rain laying in the middle of the tent. There was almost no blood on her now. They'd done a good job cleaning her up. I guess that was why it had taken them four hours.

Those already in the tent let Rick and I look over her for a moment. "So? What's going on with her?" Rick asked, looking up at Hershel.

He let out a soft sigh. "Well there's good news and bad. The good news is I'm confident that she'll wake up. The bad news is I don't know how much damage she did to herself out there," Hershel said, shaking his head.

"Damage? Isn't that what you were just checkin' for?" I asked him.

Hershel nodded. "Outward damage. Of the body. Of the mind is another thing. She seems to have hit her head incredibly hard on something. A rock, presumably. She may have some memory damage and it could be permanent. But that's just a guess. If we're lucky she may not have anything. As far as the actual injuries; plenty of cuts, scrapes, and bruises, as you can see.

"Her hand is terribly broken. I did reset the bones and they're on the way to healing. It will take a while for the hand to go back to normal. If anyone moves her be careful of the hand. She has some deep gashes on her body, legs and arms; I put some bandaging on them. I'm going to change em' three times a day until they start to scab over. That'll probably be a while though.

"Her skull has a tiny dent in it. I don't believe that it is anything to worry about though. I was cleaning her head wound and she didn't flinch. That's a good thing, it means there's no serious damage. She might have some tiny fracture in the skull but I'm hoping that there's no serious damage done there.

"That, we may have to wait to find out. She's also pulled her foot out of it's socket, pretty far too. I reset it and I'm glad that she was asleep when I did it. It would have been incredibly painful for her. Besides that, I believe that she has a small fracture in her foot. She's pretty banged up but I reckon I did a pretty good job fixing her up." Hershel gave me a small smile and motioned that I could come up to her.

I dropped beside her and put my hand on her arm. She was ice cold. "So this is good, right? She's on her way to healing. It might take a while, but we'll have her back with us?" Rick asked. Hershel sighed and looked down at the ground. What the hell was the problem now?

"Well that's the problem. I'm not sure if she will wake up." My eye gave a slight twitch at his words. She had to wake up. It wasn't an option. We had fought so hard to get her back to us. "She's a strong girl. Anyone could see that. But with these wounds... She should have been dead. Hell, had you not found her when you did I'm inclined to think that she would have been dead in the next hour. She may wake, or she may not. I'm not sure, only time will tell," Hershel said, shooting me a sympathetic glance.

"For now, we should move her into the car. I want someone with her at all times, just in case. Daryl would you mind bringing her there and laying her out?" Of course I was going to help her. I'd always be there to help her. I nodded at the man and he sighed. "Good, now we need to find a house. Lori can rest up there and it'll give Rain the chance to heal herself without being constantly moved around."

Rick nodded his consent to the new plan. "All right. Daryl, go bring her to the car. We need to be gone in the next ten minutes. We went through almost all of our supplies to save her and it won't be for naught. We will save her, but she needs a place to rest." I nodded and went to scoop Rain up. "I'll go tell everyone what's going on," Rick said. he backed out of the tent and went to walk over to where the rest of the group was waiting.

I pulled Rain into my arms and stepped out of the tent, walking to the cars. I could see the worried looks of everyone around me but I ignored them. They weren't the priority right now. She was. In a minute I was over at our hatchback. I popped the trunk open and let her gently slip from my arms. Behind me I could barely hear Rick telling everyone what was going on. I ignored him, having already known the plan. I picked up Rain's head gently and hopped into the car, letting her head rest on my lap.

After a minute I turned to stare down at her. It finally gave me a good look at what was going on with her. Her hair had been well washed out. Other than the bit of dried blood around her head wound her hair had been washed clean. Hershel had put a thin bandage over her head, to keep any fresh blood from seeping out. It was already soaked with her deep maroon blood.

Her face was pale, extremely pale. She had always had a nice tan to her but now her face was a pale white. It was ashy looking too. She looked like she'd been dragged through sand. Her arms and legs were completely covered in bandages. They would take an hour to do every day until they were closed. I'd volunteered for that duty every day. It felt better to know that I was the one looking after her.

I lightly picked up her arm, being cautious with the wound. I looked at the broken hand. The fingers and joints had been realigned but I could tell that they weren't anywhere close to being fixed, they would probably take months to heal. Her ankle as well, I thought as I looked down. There was a large lump on the side of her foot and I could tell that it was swelling from where Hershel had pushed it back into place.

Sighing, I let my hand trace over the side of her face, and slowly brushed her hair back behind her ear. "I'm sorry Rain. I should have given you the bike to take. Let you and Carol get out and let me deal with the walkers. But I didn't, I let you convince me that you would be okay. You were wrong. I don't know what I'll do if you don't come back. Hell, I gotta have someone to pick on. The group is still broken Rain. It's like I said, you're the heart of it. Without you this group is pointless. We're all fighting with each other and Rick is- Rick is going downhill fast. Come back, damn it," I whispered, keeping a strong grip on her.

She didn't move in the slightest. "Daryl?" I heard Maggie call. I glanced up to see her standing a few feet away. "We're leaving now. I'll take care of her, I promise," Maggie told me. I nodded and shifted Rain's weight, jumping out from under her and allowing Maggie to slide in. I carefully closed the trunk once Maggie was seated and saw everyone else was loading their stuff.

I walked over to my bike and saw that Carol was hooking some of our stuff onto it. She placed the last bag onto the bike and walked up to me, "I'm so sorry about Rain, Daryl. I want you to know that we're all praying for her recovery. Hershel did say that he's more inclined to think she'll make it. I suppose that means it's just a waiting game for now. Just remember; we all care for her, we all want her to be okay."

I nodded to Carol and jumped onto the bike. She slid on behind me. "So what now?" I called to Rick, who was inside of his car with the engine running. He sighed and looked down at his map before looking back up.

"We keep to these side roads," Rick told us. I nodded. It was going to be our best chance. The walkers were still too heavily populating the cities and highways. Plus I was sure that we'd all had our fills of highways for now. "I took a look at the maps before we got ready to leave. About two miles from here there's a road that doesn't go too far back. Looks like there might be a house there. Think you can find it? Road name's Gordon," Rick asked me.

I nodded to him. I had always been good with directions. I would be able to find it. I revved my engine and took off, ready to get Rain into a house. Carol hung on loosely behind me. I knew that she was trying to keep a slight distance from me. Everyone was, considering what had happened with Rain. The drive was slow as we tried to find the house that Rick thought we would come up on. We had to be careful since this house was in the thick of the woods. There was barely enough room for the cars to get through.

Thankfully the drive was not a long one. Not even five minutes after we had left the clearing where we'd stayed last night I saw the road that we were looking for. It was extremely narrow and paved in nothing more than dirt. Half-dead trees littered the side of the road. Making a sharp turn onto the narrow road, I took it slow into the property. Glancing past the trees I saw what I was looking for; the roof of a house.

Pulling up through the trees I looked at the house. It looked something like Hershel's house. Or it looked like Hershel's house would if it was ten years from now. It was obvious that whoever had lived here was long gone. Long before the outbreak. There were vines growing on the side of the house and I could see the paint chipping off. The windows were about to fall off of their hinges and the door had chunks of its paneling gone.

I stopped a few yards from the front of the house and let Rick drive up to me. His car came next to mine and I glanced back to see that the hatchback was behind him. I could see Maggie looking down at Rain. Rick was looking at the house in curiosity and I nodded. It wasn't great but it was enough to stay at least until Rain woke up. It would work for a few days.

We turned our engines off and walked up to the doorstep. "Alright, Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog, and myself will go check the house. We'll yell if we need everyone to get back to the cars. Got it?" Rick asked. Everyone nodded and the men walked up to the door together.

Slowly pushing it open I stepped through. The house was musty smelling and dark but it would work if we could clear it out. As we walked in everyone took different areas of the house. T-Dog and Glenn stayed near the front. Rick went upstairs. For a moment I debated on going with him to make sure that he would be alright. But I wanted to get through it faster. So I decided to check the back of the house first. There was a large living room in the back of the house, but no walkers. The same went for the kitchen, dining room, and two bathrooms that I had checked. Everything was empty. This house had been empty for a long time.

Once I was sure that there was nothing to be found I walked back into the foyer and met up with everyone else. Glenn was just coming from the bathroom. "Anything?" Rick asked. Everyone shook their heads no. "Good, Daryl go call everyone in," Rick instructed. I nodded and walked outside.

Everyone was standing around the cars. No one was saying anything. Just waiting. They looked up as I walked out and I nodded to them to come inside. As we walked in I heard choruses of how it wasn't that bad, how we would be able to make due. I ignored the multiple thanks and went down to the car where Maggie and Hershel were still watching Rain. They looked up at me and I watched as Maggie slowly slid out from under Rain.

"House isn't great but it's going to be enough to keep Rain here for a few days. Everyone is setting up inside," I told the father and daughter pair.

The girl in question didn't budge at all as Maggie shifted her slightly. "Oh good. Can you bring her with us? I want to find a room for her to rest in," Hershel told me. I nodded and gently picked her up, making my way into the house. "Where are the bedrooms?" Hershel asked Rick.

Rick motioned up the stairs. "They're in the back of the house, upstairs. Do you need any help?" Rick answered, looking concerned at the limp figure in my arms.

Hershel shook his head as he walked with me towards the stairs. "No, thank you. At this point, with the exception of changing the bandages and maybe one more blood transfusion- I'll check if she needs that in the morning- it's up to her to wake up. I hate to say it but there is almost nothing else we can do for her. Her body will have to heal itself," Hershel told us.

It was horrible knowing that I couldn't do anything but I knew that we were going to do everything in our power to try and save her. Rick nodded and led us upstairs into the first bedroom. It looked like it had been used a guest bedroom once upon a time. It had plain, light purple sheets and a white dresser in the corner of the room. I smiled slightly; purple. Rain's favorite color. God damn, when had I become so sentimental? Probably since I thought that she was going to die. I shook the smile from my lips as I walked farther into the room.

"Alright Daryl, just put her down and tuck her into the sheets." Maggie and Rick pulled down the sheets and I placed her gently in them, letting Maggie roll them back up around her. "I want someone to watch her all the time, everyday until she wakes. Who'd like to volunteer first?" Hershel asked.

"I will," I said without hesitating.

Hershel laughed, patting me on the back. "Yeah, I figured you would. All right, just look for any sudden movements, any sign that she'll throw up, or if she starts seizing. Got it?" I nodded at him and he patted me on the back again. "Good, we'll keep quiet downstairs so if there are any changes, call down." I nodded at him again, and took the chair that was up in the corner in the room, bringing it to her bed.

"We'll bring you up dinner soon. Let us know if you're getting tired. We'll change off roles," Maggie told me before walking out of the room, leaving me to my thoughts. I stared at Rain for a while before sighing and leaning back into my chair. It was gonna be a long few days.

Four Days Later...

I had never appreciated true boredom until now. There was nothing more that I could do other than twiddle my thumbs and kick my legs back and forth. It had been four days since we had found Rain and she still hadn't shown any signs of walking up. I was slowly starting to lose faith that she ever would. Every day, just as I had said I would, I cleaned out her wounds. That was, sadly, probably the most exciting part of my day.

Needless to say the group hardly ever said anything to each other, except to ask if Rain was okay or if there were any changes. I'd hardly left my post by her. I only left for three hours a day to sleep, much to the displeasure of Hershel and Carol, who thought that I should be sleeping. They thought that it was dangerous for me to barely be sleeping with the stress on me. They thought that it would be detrimental to my health. I didn't care. I had to watch over her. So far, Maggie, Carol, Glenn, and Hershel had also taken turns watching over Rain.

I was staring at the knots in the wood of the floor thinking about what little had happened these past few days. We'd had to take out a few walkers, but besides that there weren't many problems with the house. This area was good and secluded. But that meant that there was almost no place for us to scavenge. It wasn't just that. This house was old and falling apart. We would have to leave soon. We were just trying to stick it out. We wanted to stay and see if Rain would wake before we had to leave.

Traveling with her was not easy. We needed her to wake up before we left. In the past few days I had taken it upon myself to fix Rain's gun. Somehow I had gotten it working once more. You'd be amazed what you could do when you're bored out of your mind. I had cleaned her other guns too and sharpened all of her arrows and knives. I'd even fashioned some homemade arrows for her to use if she woke up. When she woke up.

As for her health, besides the bandages Beth had given Rain more blood, and her color was slowly returning. It wasn't normal yet but it was getting close. That was the only reason I hadn't completely given up on her waking up. That and Hershel still seemed pretty sure that she would wake up. Her breathing was apparently still short but she wasn't struggling as much anymore to get the air into her lungs.

I pushed my chair onto its back legs and started humming some old tune to myself. Here for a good time. I'd gotten through the first course when I heard a hissing noise. I looked back down and settled the legs of my chair onto the floor. Looking over at Rain I could see that her eyes were moving behind her lids. That was good, right? I was about to call down to Hershel when I heard her let out a pathetic sounding groan. Her eyes started to open a moment later. I called her name over and over, but she still wouldn't respond.

Rain's P.O.V.

Black. If I could describe death in one word, that was it. Black. There was nothing; no feeling, no thoughts, no memories, no nothing. It was like being permanently unconscious. I didn't know what had happened but it was like all at once the lights had come on in my mind. It went from being a blank pit of nothing to a flash of memories and feelings.

Well shit, was there a chance that I going to Heaven? Hah, that's funny. Hell more like it. I tried moving my eyes around but I saw nothing. No shadows and no noises. It was still blank. Black. Okay, maybe more like a gray. There seemed to be some light, somewhere. But everything seemed different. It seemed like something was out there. I tried thinking back to the last thing I remembered. It was all a blur.

Focusing as hard as I could, it all came back to me like I'd been shot. For a third time. Randall getting free, going into the woods with Daryl and Glenn, leaving them and going after Rick and Shane. Seeing them facing off, stepping in, Rick stabbing Shane, Shane coming back, and Carl putting him down. A huge herd had come through after that, we'd set the barn on fire, escaped, and I went to find Daryl. I had almost been killed, Daryl had saved me, with Carol, I'd made them leave, I had run into the woods with walkers on my tail, jumped into the river, fought off the walker and then my mind went blank.

There was nothing after that. Not until now. Now I had memories and some feeling, but that was it. So maybe I wasn't dead? Was it possible that I was still alive? I was sure that I'd drowned, or bled out, or something. I hadn't thought that I would live. I tried to speak but it just came out as barely anything more than a pathetic hiss. So I was not having much progress.

Instead I tried to move so that I could get out of here. Again, not much. I tried to wiggle my fingers but I nearly screamed in agony. So that was it. I was feeling pain. I was alive. I had to leave, I had to find everyone. I was here! I had to get to Daryl. Daryl. What would he think when he saw me alive and, well, not well? The last time that I had seen him I had made my peace with him. Just in case I had died.

I tried to move to get to my group but the pain was ungodly, like nothing I'd ever felt. I felt a hand push me down and I tried to fight, but I was far too weak. I heard the voice, of what I assumed was a person, trying to speak to me, but my ears felt like I was still underwater. It sounded like a man but it was too distorted to tell.

I tried a new tactic, opening my eyes. I tried as hard as possible but I could barely get them past slits before I was assaulted with light. I squeaked but fought to keep them open. Not that I could see much, my eyes were covered in crust and I couldn't move to clear them. Good God, is this how newborns feel? Now I see why they always cry. I could just barely hear the man, and after clearing my throat a few times, I prepared to speak to him.

However, it wasn't words that came out. I vomited over the side of the bed and even through my vision, I could tell that it was clear. There wasn't a bit of yellow or green. What the hell? It must have been a while since I'd eaten if there was absolutely nothing solid in the vomit. Fuck. How long had I been out for? Where had my group gone? Were they still out there looking for me or had they moved on, thinking that I was dead?

As I tried to speak to the man again it all hit me at once. The pain, the emotions, and the hunger. My eyes, which I could already barely see out of, filled with tears at the thought that I may never see any of my old group again. They could think I was dead, and they'd never know that I wasn't. They were my family. I needed to get to them. I tried to focus and this time I could actually make out his words. "Do you know your name?" The man asked me, still sounding like he was underwater.

I took in a deep breath and let out a few empty hisses before my voice became scratchy, "R-Ra-ai-i-n," I stuttered, not quite sure if he had been able to understand me.

"Good," the man muttered.

Good? Did he know me? Was he with my group? God, what I would do to be able to see. I tried to raise my arm, but I couldn't, so I settled for trying to speak again. "T-t-t-ow-w-w-el-l, m-m-y eye-es," I stuttered to him. I was making a bit of progress at least with speaking. I noticed when the man's footsteps faded quickly and were back almost instantaneously. I could tell that he was leaning down to me, and I jumped slightly when I felt the wet towel over my eyes.

He slowly pushed the towel over my eyes and I let the water seep into my eyes. It burned slightly and I groaned but the man kept the towel pressed against my eyes anyways. He kept it there until all of the water had been wrung out of it and into my eyes. After a few minutes he turned the water-logged towel over and dried the area around my eyes, trying to wipe off any residue. I tried to open my eyes again, and I saw that while they were clean, the light was too painful for me to open my eyes just yet.

Beside me I could hear some shuffling. "Here, it's water. You need it." I let him tip my head up and I quickly drained the cup, clearing my throat once more. We went through this process two more times before I gave him a small nod that I was okay. He stayed quiet before asking, "How old are you?"

I thought for a moment and answered, "Tw-Twen-nty-two, I-I thi-ink," I told him. My throat was still scratchy but it was slowly getting better. So was my hearing. I still couldn't tell who it was but I could tell that he was most likely southern. He had a thick southern accent. I tried to smile, it reminded me of Daryl.

"Good. Where was the last place you were staying before you got injured?" He asked me. I tried to blink past the light, and it was slowly working, but I still couldn't really see. I blinked a few more times before answering him.

"Farm," I hissed.

A beat passed. "Who were you with?" The man asked me. I hesitated for a moment before answering. He wouldn't know who they were just by their names. So I decided to play along.

"Rick, Lori, and Carl Grimes. Andrea, Carol, T-Dog. Glenn Rhee. Hershel, Maggie, and Beth Greene. Patricia. Daryl. Daryl Dixon. I need to get to him. I need to get back to them all," I said, panicking again. The man pushed me into the bed as soon as I tried to get up and I fell back to the bed. The man tightened his hold on my shoulder and he cleared his throat.

Nerves began to build in my chest as I wondered whether or not this man was dangerous. "Rain, open your eyes. Look at me," the man ordered. I blinked, trying to adjust my eyes to the light. I wasn't sure if I'd blinked twenty or two-hundred times, but my vision was finally coming back to me. As the world came into focus, a sudden dizzy spell hit me and I leaned over, dry heaving. "It's alright, you're okay," the man told me.

His hand was gentle as it rubbed my back. I retched a few more times before the sickness ceased. Groaning, I looked up at the man and squinted to avoid the direct blast of the light. The first thing I saw was dark hair that hit the nape of his neck. He wore a dark gray long-sleeved shirt covering him. My eyes traveled up to look at his face; crystal blue eyes that hid something in them. Elation? I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them once more. This time I let the tears rise to my eyes and slip out.

"Daryl..." I breathed. He smiled at me. It was not just a small smile, or a little half smile. It was a full-blown huge smile. He laughed and leaned down over me, giving me a light hug. He was just barely grazing my body. Shaking, I raised my non injured hand to his face and laughed as my hand touched the rough stubble. I laughed like I'd never laugh again. "Oh my God, you-you found me. But how? I was dying, I-I-I was dead. Oh my God."

I was shaking to the point that I probably looked like I was having a seizure, but I didn't care. Daryl was here, he was here. Right beside me. And I'd never let go. I thought that it was going to be the last time that I would ever see him. I thought that it was the last time that I would kiss him. But now I knew that I would get one more chance. Pulling his head with the little strength I had left, I let him lead the rest of the way down to my lips.

He needed no more guiding. He pushed his lips hard against mine and I could feel him shaking against me. I smiled and let the tears run down my face. I couldn't believe it, he had found me. I still didn't know how. I supposed that the river must have carried me down to the calm part and somehow I hadn't drowned, or had my skull split open by a rock. I didn't know how long I had been glued to Daryl and I didn't care, until I heard a cough at the doorway. Breaking away from Daryl he jumped up bright red, but I merely looked that way and smiled.

I didn't care. These were the people that I never thought that I'd get the chance to see again. Rick walked into the room first, coming to the side of the bed and grabbing my non-injured hand, squeezing it. Lori and Carl followed him, Lori giving my shoulder a squeeze and Carl giving me a light hug. The Grimes family moved away as T-Dog stepped up, giving me a smile and patting my shoulder. Beth followed, giving me a soft smile and moving away. Glenn and Maggie stepped up next, both giving me huge smiles, and hugs. Carol walked up as they left my side and she gave me a guilty smile to which I merely shook my head. She had nothing to be guilty for. I had told the both of them to leave, I was at fault for what had happened to me. Hershel was the last to walk in and he gave me a happy smile, motioning to the chair Daryl had been in. Daryl nodded at him.

All of the men and women in the room took a step back as Hershel stood at the side of the bed. "Well Rain, obviously we're all extremely happy to see you alive. Some more so than others." Hershel sent a look to Daryl, which the hunter scoffed at. I laughed along with the rest of the group and immediately coughed. "Don't strain yourself, you've got some pretty bad injuries. May be a few months before you're up and at 'em on your own." I shook my head and went to argue before Hershel cut me off, "There's no arguing me on that one. You were within an inch of death when Daryl found you. Now you tell us what happened and we'll tell you what happened once we found you," Hershel said.

Within an inch of death? Well that wasn't too bad considering I had thought that I was dead. And the rest of them had too. "Well I was with Glenn and Daryl, like you all knew, then I went to find Rick and Shane. There was a- uh-" I went silent, not knowing what to say when Rick looked at me.

"Rain, we know what happened up until you were chased off into the woods. Can you tell us what happened after that?" He asked me. Oh good, that made it a lot easier.

I cleared my throat, "Um I had about twenty on my tail. Not enough ammo and didn't wanna draw more to me. I was running through the woods when I remembered a river was there. I went out there when I was a kid. Ran to the river and jumped in. I didn't know if walkers could swim or not. Turns out they can't. I remember that one fell in after me and I fought with it. I cut my side on a rock and I came up with the idea to smash the walker's head with one of the rocks. I grabbed it by the hair and pushed it into the rock, killed the walker but broke my fucking hand. Anyways, the current pulled me under after that and when I came up I must've hit my head, because it's black after that. Your turn, what happened after you found me?" I asked.

Daryl looked at me and sighed, "Glenn and I went looking for water. Found your gun in the bank; I cleaned it up for you and ran upstream when I saw blood. Found you, laying there, on death's doorstep and picked you up. Brought you back to camp. Hershel fixed you up and Beth gave you blood," Daryl told me.

I looked at Hershel and Beth and smiled, "Thank you. To all of you. How long have I been out? And where's Andrea? Or Patricia for that matter?" I asked.

"Patricia and Andrea didn't make it," Rick told me. I sighed and looked at my lap. Sure I hated Andrea and I hardly knew Patricia, but that was no way for anyone to go. "But anyways, before we found you my guess is that you were out for five days, since Daryl found you it's been four. That doesn't matter anymore, you're awake now," Rick said, smiling at me.

We were all silent for a moment as everyone found a place to get comfortable. "Alright, I know you may not want to hear this Rain, but I think you should. Your injuries. It's a long list, some worse than others. Obviously you've got a number of small cuts and bruises. Those we're not concerned with. You do, however, have some bad, deep wounds all over your body. Daryl has been cleaning and dressing them three times a day for you. I want you to let him to continue to do that," he told me.

I nodded, knowing that I had to heal. "You must have hit your head on a rock coming up, and damn hard too. There's tiny dent in your skull. Not to worry, it's almost not even visible. There is I believe, a hairline fracture as well. I was worried about brain damage, but it appears you have none. You're very lucky. Your hand is, as you said earlier, shattered. I've reset all the bones and your hand will heal, but you need to leave it be. Most likely for a few months. Maybe four or five." I groaned but I knew that it was for the best. "There's your ankle too, I reset the bone and I'm glad you weren't awake for it. You wouldn't have enjoyed it. There's a few fractures in the bones so we have crutches for you when you can get up. All in all Rain, I'd say that you're one of the luckiest people I think that I've ever met. That should have killed you, but you made it."

I laughed and looked at the older man, "I'm far too stubborn to die. I haven't had all my fun yet." Everyone laughed and smiled at me. I smiled back and just took in the group.

Carol stepped forward and handed me a plastic bag, which I took with my non-injured hand. "It's food that we've been saving. You haven't eaten for almost five days and you expelled everything we tried to get you to drink. Be careful and take it slow," she warned me like the way a mother wound warn her daughter.

"Thank you," I said softly as I began to pull the food out.

"Well, it seemed like we intruded on something, so I think we'll let you two catch up," Rick said, winking at me. The group began to leave, all murmuring how glad they were that I'd made it to me on their way out. "And Daryl, just call if you need anything." Daryl mumbled a few choice profanities as Rick left the room, which naturally made myself and Rick laugh softly.

As Rick exited the room last he gently closed the door behind him. As I heard the boots on the stairs I went to pulling out the food. It was more than enough. There were a few protein bars, two bottles of water, some dried fruit packets, and a bag of Skittles. An odd grouping but it was better than nothing. I smiled and pulled out a protein bar and a bottle of water. Unscrewing the cap proved to be difficult with one hand.

Daryl moved over and pulled the bottle from my hand. I was about to resist but he never gave me the chance. "No Rain. I know you wanna be independent, but you only got one hand. You're gonna need some help for a while," he told me. I muttered curses at him but he just ignored me and unwrapped the protein bar. As much as I wanted to swallow the thing in one bite, I knew that it wasn't smart. My body had barely been accepting water a few minutes ago. I took tiny bites of the bar, and I grumbled, realizing afterwards that it had taken me almost an hour to eat a damn protein bar. Daryl watched me the entire time. "So how you feeling princess?" Daryl asked me.

I looked up at him and smirked. "Like I got chewed on by a lion, run over by a steamroller a few times, stabbed, and then fired out of a cannon," I told him. I saw the smirk cross his face as well.

"Yeah, you look like it too." I laughed and resisted the urge to hit him, not wanting to injure myself any further. "Want another?" Daryl asked, holding up another protein bar. I shook my head, I wanted to make sure that I could keep this one down before I tried another.

We sat in silence for a little while. "So, what now?" I asked Daryl.

He shook his head and looked at me. "We don't know, Rain. We've been here for a few days waiting for you to wake up. Right after I found you we left where we were camping to get you to a place where we wouldn't be having to move you every day," he told me. I was honored. They cared so much that they went to find a house for us to stay in just so I could heal.

"So I can assume that we're leaving soon?" I asked. Daryl nodded. "No offense to your find with this house but it looks like it could fall apart at any minute," I told him looking around the room. There were vines making their way into the room and the wallpaper was peeling. Not to mention there was an odd, lingering, smell. Although that was pretty much anywhere you went anymore.

He laughed and nodded at me. "We're gonna be leaving soon now that you're awake," he told me. "Don't worry about it though, we have a spot for you in the car and I'll carry you out there," he told me.

A small giggle escaped my lips. "My Prince Charming," I told him, smirking. Daryl's face lit up a bright red and I couldn't help but to laugh. He would always be that kind of guy. "Hey Daryl, can you help me sit up? I'm kinda sick of having to look up at you," I told him.

He nodded and put his hands under my arms, pulling me to sit against the headboard. A pain unlike I'd ever felt shot through my body but I was determined to ignore it and sit upright. I was gonna start healing. I didn't like to be weak and I didn't like to be dependent. I guess that came from leaving home at fourteen. I growled through the pain and made a plan. In one month I'd be up and walking, in two months I'd be able to walk without the crutches, in four months I'd get to working back with my bow and be able to strengthen my hand again. By five months I'd be back to normal. I would do it, I would not rely on them to help me forever.

I cried out, not able to stop myself, and Daryl quickly released the pressure. "Rain, I can stop. Are you okay?" He asked me.

"I'm fine, damn it. Just help me sit up," I snapped at him. I saw the hurt briefly flash through his and I felt bad, but I had to do this. It was my first step in healing. I finally had my back up against the headboard and I hissed as the wounds on my back dug into the wood. "Alright, there we go. Thanks," I told him. He nodded and stayed silent.

He went to move away and I put my arm out to stop him, "Daryl wait!" Stupidly I had flailed out my injured hand and hit him in the waist. Flaming pains flew through my pain and up my arm. It felt like the skin was being peeled off. "God fucking damn it!" I screamed. Daryl's face twisted into one of complete horror, and as my curses got quieter, I heard the laughter growing downstairs.

Oh yeah, I hated myself right now. "Uh are you okay?" Daryl asked me. I shook my head at the stupid question and couldn't help but to laugh.

"What a stupid question, Daryl. Yeah, I'll be fine. Just hurt a bit, that's all. I'm fine now," I told him, fighting to keep the grimace off of my face. The truth was, it had hurt like hell. The pain had spread through my hand and was now radiating through my entire body, but I refused to tell him that. I wasn't weak, I would be okay.

Daryl scoffed at me. "Rain. I ain't stupid. You're in pain. We have some medicine or somethin for it. Let me go get it," he said walking out of the room. I scowled to myself.

"No, I don't need them," I called out to him. Daryl ignored me and walked out of the room. I huffed and leaned back against the headboard. We wouldn't always have them and I couldn't rely on them. I didn't need them. I'd be okay. I had made it many years and many hospital visits without the pain medication. I always denied it and I wouldn't need it now. Especially when we didn't have that much. Other people would need it more than me.

A minute later Daryl walked back into the room. "Here," Daryl said, walking into the room and putting his hand out with the pills in them. I refused to acknowledge that he was there. If I pouted long enough maybe he wouldn't make me take them. "Damn it Rain, just take 'em. You need 'em."

I scoffed at him, "No Daryl. Save them for someone who needs them," I told him. I waved his hand off with my non-injured one.

He glared at me and grabbed my hand, prying my fingers open, and shoving the pills into my hand. "Just take the damn things. You do need 'em! You were within a few minutes of death, Rain! You need to learn that every once and a while you need help! I know you don't want it, but right now you need it. I just got you back, and I'm not losing you because you're too stubborn to take a few damn pills."

I stared at Daryl, not knowing what to say. He had all but admitted that he loved me. Although I was never going to force him to say it. I knew that he was not the type of guy to say it and that was okay. I didn't mind. I opened my eyes and cringed. He was right, unfortunately. I had to take them. I couldn't risk infection or a fever. Grabbing my bottle of water, I downed the pills as fast as I could.

"Alright, I did it. Happy? You can stop staring at me now. They're not hidden," I told him. He shook his head and sat back down in the chair beside my bed. He sighed and looked down at his hands.

There was really nothing left to say after that. I was off in my own little world, devising a plan for healing, when his voice startled me back into reality. "Rain, what you said when we were leaving the farm. Why did you say it?" He asked. My heart rate picked up rapidly.

I could feel my heart shattering at the hopeless look that was written clearly across his face. He wasn't angry. He was confused. I shifted so that I was facing him better. He tried to stop me but I pushed his hands away. I would figure this out. Crying out in pain slightly at every little move, Daryl continuously tried to get me to stop, but I kept shoving his hands off of me. Taking a deep breath, and biting down on my lip, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed as fast as I could.

Unwillingly I let out a high pitched shriek, but I shut myself up quickly. Daryl jumped up and kept his arms planted firmly on my shoulders. "Rain are you-"

"No," I grit out, digging my nails on my non injured hand into my thigh. "My turn to talk." I slowly let out my breath, and took a few deep breathes, blinking back the tears that had come to the surface. I had to tell him how I felt and I had to do it now, or else I'd lose my nerve. I was pretty sure that the only reason I had the nerve right now was because the pain was getting to me. I took in a deep breath and looked Daryl in the eyes.

Now or never. "Daryl Dixon, you listen to me right now because I'll probably never get the nerve up to ever say it again. I meant every word that I said to you at the farm before we left. I do love you, and I don't know why or how it happened. I've never loved anyone before, I mean not even friends. It was always like I liked these people but love, I didn't think I was capable of love. Not even my mom or dad. I liked them a lot but I don't know if I ever loved them. Especially toward the end. Shit Daryl, I don't know what you did that was so different, and I mean, I don't expect you to say it back but I just had to get this out. I just don't get it. I didn't even really like you at first and I know you didn't like me either but one day it was just like- bam!- I lo-" I had been rambling on and on when Daryl moved between my legs and kissed me, cutting me off. Good idea, Daryl.

This kiss surprised me though, he usually started a kiss soft and unsure, but this time was different. He held my face between his hands and kept our bodies pressed close together. He was gentle though, in order to avoid my injuries. I felt every nerve ending in my body light on fire, and this time it wasn't from pain. I let a small laugh escape my lips. I had never thought that I would kiss Daryl again, yet here we were. I guess fate isn't as cruel to me as I thought it was. He let one of his hands travel down to my waist, his touch as light as a feather. I could feel the goosebumps rise, and I felt the smile raise onto his lips.

I smiled and let my non-injured hand reach up to his neck, tugging lightly at his hair. It had gotten long. Maybe I'd ask if I could cut it. I felt a tiny bit of air leave his nose and I smiled. He had incredible self control but now I was determined to break it. I let my hand run down his neck and over his shoulder to his torso; I could feel his body tense but he didn't stop it. I grabbed his shirt, balling it around my fist, and pulled his body closer to mine.

I didn't know what had taken over Daryl, but in some sudden spurt of bravery he used his height and strength to push me back onto the bed, using one of his arms to keep me from falling too fast and hurting myself more. I hissed in pain as I felt the wounds stretching but I kept him pressed to me. I wasn't going to let the pain get to me right now. Not when Daryl was acting like he hardly ever did.

With myself now fully on the bed, and with my legs hanging off, Daryl didn't seem to know if he should keep going. The haze in my brain was urging him to keep going. I put my hands on the back of his thighs, hoping to get the message across to him, and it seemed that I had. He put one leg on each side of me and let his body press into mine, lightly though. I smiled into the kiss and let my hands travel down to Daryl's lower back, playing with the hem of his shirt. He had ruffled my clothes slightly; my shirt had risen to just below my bust. Feeling the material rise, I realized that it wasn't mine. Who the hell had changed me?

Ignoring my pointless thoughts I felt Daryl's hand slide up my shirt, dangerously close to my chest. I took in a sharp breath and I felt Daryl smirk. Okay, so he had caught onto me trying to push him, and he was playing back. Growling deep in my throat I ran my hand up his back and let it fall over his shoulder. I ran my hand slowly back down his torso and let it fall at his belt. I felt him tense and his breath catch, but he didn't stop me.

Maybe he would finally let it happen. I pulled the extra belt from the loop and went to work on the buckle. I had just unhooked it when I heard a small, "Oh!" come from the doorway.

Shooting my head up, Daryl flew into the chair by my side and I looked up to see Maggie standing at the door with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. "Well, I'm very sorry to interrupt what looked like fun but it's time to go. Rick wants us to leave. I'll give you two a minute to collect yourselves," she told us. She shook her head and laughed as she left the room.

Damn her. Daryl was a color red that I had never seen before, and his clothes were ruffled. I knew that I must have been flushed too. Even without a mirror I knew that my clothes were all messed up. I smoothed down my shirt and looked at Daryl, who seemed to be standing there, waiting for me to tell him I was ready to go. "Uh just a suggestion Daryl, but you may want to fix that," I told him, motioning down to his pants. He blushed and mumbled a few choice profanities as he re buckled his belt. "Hey can I ask you something?" I looked up to Daryl who nodded. "Would you have- uh- you know?" I awkwardly asked him.

Why the hell had I asked that? God I was such an idiot. He looked down at me and shook his head. "Of all the things you could have asked," he sighed.

It was the only thing that I really wanted the answer to. "I just wanna know Daryl. I mean, I guess I'm more curious, what are we? Friends that occasionally have too much fun, or just friends? Do you not want anything from me? Just throw me a bone here, you're a hard man to read," I told him. I regretted saying it as soon as I had, but I needed to know. It was driving me insane not knowing what he considered us.

Daryl sighed and paced for a few moments, running his hand through his hair. I prepared for him to tell me that we had been a mistake, not something that he wanted to explore more. He finally stopped in front of me and dropped into the chair, burying his head in his hands. Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have said anything. He finally looked up at me and sighed. "I don't know Rain. You're an odd one. I was never very uh- into anyone growin' up. Never loved anyone either. Guess we're in the same boat there, huh? I suppose Merle was the closest to love I ever had. But I don't know, I just- you're- I don't know. I don't know what this is," he told me, motioning between us. "I mean, I don't want you leavin' anytime soon." My head popped up at that, so he did have some feelings for me.

Maybe he had the same feelings for me that I did for him. "So, I guess you could say that we're um, together?" I asked him, my face, neck, and chest turning a bright red.

He laughed and nodded at me. "Yeah, I suppose that's the best way to put it," he told me. I smiled and let out a deep breath. Well that was probably the most awkward way I'd ever began a relationship. "Alright, try to keep your muscles tight. I'm gonna pick you up and bring you downstairs. We're leaving now. And don't worry about your shit, I got it. It's on the back of my bike."

Oh good, someone had my things. My gaze brightened when he said that. He grabbed me and lightly pulled me up. "Bike? Can I ride with you?" I asked. The hope was painfully evident in my voice. But hey, I always liked guys with bikes.

Daryl smiled and laughed. "Sorry girl, but not while you're like that. Once you're healed you can ride with me. Carol will be with me until you get better." I huffed but nodded anyways. Naturally, I'd get injured right before he started using the bike. I grunted as Daryl walked down the stairs, every jolt sent waves of pain through my body. Granted the pain wasn't as bad as it was. "Almost there, hang on," Daryl said as he came to the landing. He walked around a corner and went into the living room of the old house.

Everyone was sitting around the ugly living room. I noticed that everyone in the group was giving me odd looks, but they weren't really odd. It was more like they were smirking at me. "What are you all-" realization dawned on me and I grit my teeth. "As soon as I can walk, you're the first one I'm coming after Maggie." The girl in question laughed and grabbed Glenn's arm.

The entire group was smiling at me and I felt a little awkward. I knew that it was because they were all happy to see me alive but I still didn't like it. I had never liked it. Especially not being in someone else's arms. Not only was I the center of attention, I was dependent on other people now. Two things that I had never been good with in the past. Wanting to get the attention off of me, I looked to our leader. "So, where to now Rick?" I asked.

Rick looked down at his map and shook his head. "I'm not really sure. I think we're best off doing what T-Dog said. Head East, to the water, to the coast. Don't know what's out there but it won't hurt anyone to find out. Besides, we can't be moving around that much for a while. Between you being badly injured and Lori, we need a place to hunker down. Even if just for a few weeks."

T-Dog cut in and asked, "We'd need somewhere that has fences, good security. Where would that be?"

I thought about the question, along with everyone else, and finally spoke up. "A bank? School? Hell, maybe even a prison? Not very comfy or homey, but it'd be secure at least. They've always got fences and lots of security. It would definitely take a while to clear out but it could make a good place to make a life."

"Not a bad idea, but I'm not sure I like the idea of living in a prison. What about finding another farmhouse? That worked pretty well for a while," Carol said.

Rick shook his head. "It's a good idea but I have no idea where we could find one. We have the map of this area that Hershel gave us and we're tracking hoards on it," Rick told me. Damn, that was actually a really good idea. "That's really gonna decide where we go. And as far as the farmhouse, they're all falling apart with no one to take care of them. Even if we can fix it up, it's just wood. We can stay there, but just like this one it'll eventually start to fall apart and walkers will be able to tear it down. I think Rain is right. We need to find a concrete, solid building. One that walkers wouldn't be able to get into."

I nodded at Rick and we all began to file out of the old farmhouse. Daryl walked out of the house with me wrapped tightly in his arms. He led me over to the hatchback and laid me into the trunk area. "Well, at least I get to lay down," I joked with Daryl.

He smirked at me and laid his hand on my head, where I hadn't hit it. He smoothed the hair there and moved it out of my face. "I'll come get you when we stop, try to get some rest while we're driving," he told me, brushing my hair behind my ears. I nodded to him and let my eyes slip shut.

"Hey Daryl?" I called to him before he could walk away. He hummed back to me in response. "Do you really think we'll make it out here, through winter?" I asked him, opening one eye.

He seemed to think about it for a minute before looking at me, "I know we will," he told me before moving off to his bike. Carol hopped on behind him and she flashed me a small smile. I smiled back to her before Maggie hopped into the trunk, closing the door. I sighed and closed my eyes as I felt the engine roar to life. This was just a new start, a new life for us to build. This wasn't the end, it was our new beginning.


	23. I Told You So

7 Months Later

I silently moved up to the door of the house, knocking an arrow, and pulling the bow string so that it was taunt. I watched Rick kick down the doors, and immediately take down a walker, T-Dog killing the other. Daryl, Carl, and myself followed in after, ready to check the house. I scanned the room quickly with my eyes and sighed seeing that there were no other walkers in sight. I moved into the room, keeping my arrow aimed in front of me, just in case one was still hiding somewhere. Daryl tapped me on the shoulder, nodding his head to the back of the house. I nodded back to him and kept close behind him as we checked the back of the house. I noticed that Carl and Rick were going off to the sides, and T-Dog was staying up in the front. Daryl and I quickly moved into the back of the house, where it looked like there was a small office and living room. Looking around for anything useful, or even any type of food I growled, there was absolutely nothing useful in this damn house. Daryl tapped me on the shoulder, motioning to a garage attachment in the back corner. I nodded and let him in through first. We slowly moved through the area, not seeing any walkers. I jumped as I heard a thumping up ahead, and looking up, I saw that it was a door that led back into the house. Daryl motioned to the door and I nodded. He had been about to open the door when it flew open from the other side. I prepared to loose my arrow when I noticed that the figure that had thrown open the door, was Rick.

I sighed and released my grip on the arrow, re-sheathing it. I threw my bow back over my shoulder and nodded at Rick. Grimacing, I loosened my arm guard that I'd gotten a few months back on a trip to a hunting store Daryl and I had taken. Hershel had insisted that if I was going to pick up the bow again, that I get an arm/hand guard to protect my hand. Looking back, it was probably a good idea, it did a good job at keeping all of the bones from badly stretching.

Over the past 7 months though, I'd gone almost back to normal. It had taken me about a month and a half, but I was finally allowed to get up from the beds that I would be stuck in. Hershel had allowed me to get up and use the crutches they had found, but only with someone watching me. What a drag that next month had been. Finally, I was allowed to walk around on my own after almost 3 months, and after the 4th, I was walking without the crutches. It had taken me a few months to get used to the slight limp with my weaker foot, but the limp had gradually gone away, and I was now able to walk around normally. My hand had taken a long time to heal as well, Hershel hadn't even let me hold anything until the 3rd month of winter. When I had finally begun to use the crutches on my own, I had had to learn to use my hand again. Not long after that, I had insisted in picking up my knives, gun, and bow again to re-learn how to use them. Naturally, Daryl had thought that it was a bad idea, and it wasn't just him; Hershel, Beth, T-Dog, and even Rick for a while had agreed with him. I had fought everyone tooth and nail on it, and finally I got everyone to cave- well everyone but Daryl that was. Needless to say, that had led to quite the magnificent fight between the 2 of us. And not long after that fight, we'd had to leave, retreating from the hoard we'd drawn to us. Besides the 2 worst injuries, my cuts and bruises had quickly disappeared. I had headed to a stream we had been by a few months after my accident and washed myself off and sure as shit, there was a tiny dent in my skull, but like Hershel had said, it was barely noticeable. It had taken me almost all of the last 7 months to heal, but I had tried to be patient, I had been on the brink of death, I wasn't gonna heal overnight.

I sighed and turned away from Rick, heading with Daryl to go upstairs, calling to T to come check with us. I slowly walked into the middle room on the floor, which ended up being a small bedroom that had been torn to bits, most likely other survivors. I shook my head and walked into the hall again, running into Daryl, who had a dead owl in his hands. "I always thought that owls were beautiful," I told him.

"Yeah, well I hope they taste good," Daryl grumbled, pulling the feet off of the bird. I gagged at the sight, and followed him down the flight of stairs. I dropped my bow on the floor and heard Rick whistle a call to tell the rest of the group that the house was safe now. I took my bag from Carol and gave her a small smile, setting the bag down next to my bow and turning back around to the group.

I walked over to a very pregnant Lori and helped her set her stuff down, "here ya go. No need for you to do it on your own," I smiled at the older woman who thanked had just dropped all of our stuff off and sat down when T nudged my leg, forcing me to look out the window. I cocked my eyebrow at him and followed his gaze to the window. Shit. It was walkers, a bunch of them headed right for the house. Rolling my eyes, I and the rest of the group, jumped up, grabbed my stuff and led the group, with Daryl, out of the house and back to the safety of the cars. I followed close behind Daryl and jumped onto his bike as he revved the engine. Not even a moment later, he was tearing down the road, with the rest of the group on our tails.

As much as I hated being on the road, I loved being on the bike. It had been about 5 months after my accident that Hershel had told me that I was finally OK to ride with Daryl, needless to say, I wasn't too heartbroken when we got chased out of the house by walkers a few hours later. I jumped slightly as I heard the horn sound from Rick's truck, Daryl stopped the engine of his bike and I got off, allowing him room to move off as well. I walked over to the hood of the hatchback where Maggie and Glenn had rolled out the map we had been tracking the herds on. I stared at the map for a moment, and my heart sank, we were probably only a day or so away from being cut off by 2 huge hoards of walkers.

"We got no place left to go," T-Dog groaned. I hated to say it, but he was right, we were running out of places to run and Lori was ready to give birth any day now it seemed.

Maggie pointed onto the map, pointing out what I had just been thinking. "When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off. We'll never make it south."

"She's right, there's no way we can make it through either. They were way too big to fight our way through, we'd get caught in the herds," I spoke up.

Daryl walked over to the car and leaned onto the hood, his arm brushing against mine. "What would you say? That was about 150 head?" He asked.

"That was last week. It could be twice that by now," Glenn said. He was right, the herds seemed to pick up more walkers day by day.

Hershel turned to Glenn saying, "this river could have delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through there." I shook my head, we could go as fast as we wanted, there was no way we'd make it through in time. That herd was gonna make it there before us no matter what.

"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way," T-Dog said pointing onto the map.

Maggie sighed and shifted on one foot, "so we're blocked."

Rick pointed out a town that we'd already gone through and told us "only thing to do is double back at 27 and swing towards Greenville."

T scratched his head and scoffed. "Yeah, we picked through that already. It's like we spent the winter going in circles." That's probably because we have, every time we start to get somewhere, another herd chases us back.

"Yeah, I know. I know. At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet. We can't keep going house to house. Need to find someplace to hole up for a few weeks," Rick said, looking to Lori, who was waiting in the car for us to make a decision.

T-Dog nodded and started to back off, along with everyone else but Hershel and Rick, while Daryl and myself stood a little off to the side. "All right. It cool if we get to the creek before we head out? Won't take long. We got to fill up on water. We can boil it later."

"Knock yourself out," Rick called to T-Dog.

"She can't take much more of this moving about," Hershel told Rick.

"What else can we do? Let her give birth on the run?" Rick asked, obviously upset that we had still yet to find a place to settle down for more than a few nights.

"Do you see a way around that?" Hershel asked, putting his hand on Rick's shoulder.

I saw Hershel walk away from Rick and I shook my head. Grabbing the rag from Daryl to wipe the bike down, I saw him look up at Rick, and I stopped to watch the 2. "Hey, while the others wash their panties, let's go hunt. That owl didn't exactly hit the spot," Daryl said. I smiled at him as Rick nodded and went for the woods. I turned back to the bike when I felt Daryl's hand on my shoulder. "Ya comin girl? Or ya gonna play housewife?" I smacked Daryl's hand away from me and stood up, shouldering my bow and motioning for him to lead the way.

Daryl scowled at me and I scoffed. "Well? Ladies first," I told him, an arrogant smirk on my face. He scoffed and shoved me ahead of him, growling obscenities behind me. I smiled, and as I caught up with Rick, I saw that he was trying hard to fight back a smile. The 3 of us headed into the woods, carefully avoiding branches that would crack under our weight. We hadn't been walking long when we caught sight of railroad tracks. "Should we follow em?" I asked.

"Might lead us somewhere," Rick said, jumping down onto the tracks. Daryl followed and turned back, grabbing my waist and helping me jump down. I was mostly healed but I still got a shooting pain whenever I took too much weight on my ankle. I thanked Daryl and the 2 of us sped up to catch up with Rick.

Following the tracks for about half a mile, we still didn't see anything. Well, that was, until we did. There was a break in the trees, and I could see what looked like a massive building. I jogged slightly ahead and smirked at what I saw. A prison. Well God damn, I was right. It was perfect, fenced in, heavy doors, probably an armory and infirmary, maybe even a kitchen. I felt my stomach growl at the thought of real food, rather then whatever we could manage to scrounge up. The only issue was that the courtyard was filled with walkers.

"That's a shame," Daryl said, looking at the walkers in the yard.

Rick however, seemed to have a different idea. "No, we can take the walkers down, take the yard. This would be a perfect place to call home. Settle down here, clear it out little by little."

I nodded at Rick and grabbed his arm, "Rick, there are usually infirmaries in prisons. We could get something to help Lori when the time comes, she would have somewhere private. She won't have to worry about keeping quiet since we barely have any type of pain medication that won't jeopardize the pregnancy. This could be where we settle down. Where we make a life," I told him. I couldn't help but to look over to Daryl at the last part, and I saw that he was looking at me as well. I smiled at him and looked back to Rick.

Our leader nodded and looked at the two of us, pulling us together. "I have a plan, but we need everyone, we have to go back and get them." I nodded and broke off into a sprint. Despite the severely messed up ankle I had, it had almost healed back to the way it had been. I wasn't quite as fast as I had been, but I was still faster than everyone else, with the exception of Glenn. I cut through the trees and a few minutes later, I burst into our small clearing.

I had my hands on my knees, I was desperately trying to regain my breath. "W-we, we f-f-found a place, a p-place for us t-to st-stay." I took a few more deep breaths and stood up. I noticed that everyone looked extremely concerned for my health, and I shook away the hand that Maggie placed on my shoulder. I took one more deep breath and spat out, "a prison. Not far from here. Gates, everything. We have to clear the yard and most likely the cell blocks. But it'll be secure. A place to actually build a life." I noticed the smiles forming on everyone's faces and I smiled myself. I jumped at the sight of Rick and Daryl crashing through the trees after me and I laughed at the surprise on their faces.

"Did- did ya-?" I cut Daryl off and laughed.

"Yes Daryl, I told them. Now Rick, as soon as you're feeling better, how about telling us this magnificent plan of yours?" I asked, looking at our leader, who looked as if he was about to vomit. Both men dropped on their knees and I laughed at the looks on their faces. "Ya know, we are in the apocalypse, just a suggestion- you may wanna stay fit because at the rate y'all are goin-" I had been making fun of them when Daryl put his arm on the back of my knee and pulled, knocking me off balance. "Gah!" I yelled as I fell into Daryl's lap. I hit him over the head and jumped back up. He laughed and stood up beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

Rick laughed and stood as well, "alright you two, knock it off for a few minutes. Look, we can make it to the gates of the prison. We have wire cutters and we can make it into the first of the two fences. I have a wire to re-wrap the gate as well, so that will keep the walkers away while we figure it out."

"Sounds good so far, but we can't stay in that gravel filled walkway all night. We need to actually get in there," I told Rick.

He nodded at me and sighed. "Yeah but I've gotta get up close to see how we can clear the field. I'd only be making guesses from far away. Now, we get the cars and drive over to the prison. We stay about a mile out, later, when we've cleared the yard we can go back for them. But the engine's draw them to us and we can't afford that. So we'll go up to the fence, cut it open, get in and reseal it. And everyone make sure to grab a partner, someone to watch after you and vice versa." I looked up at Daryl who was next to me, and he nodded.

"So we ready to go?" I asked. Rick, and everyone else nodded. I began to make my way to Daryl's bike before turning back, "oh, and follow Daryl and I. We'll get us there through the back roads." The rest of the group nodded once more and went to their respective vehicles. I walked over to Daryl's bike and hopped on behind him. I settled my chin onto his back and sighed. "So what do you think? Think we can make this an actual life?" I asked him, keeping my arms loose around his waist.

He revved the engine and started the bike off. I rolled my eyes thinking he was ignoring me, however, he surprised me when he spoke up. "I actually think that this one might just work," he said. I smiled and nuzzled into his back. The first time I'd ever done it a few months ago, I thought that it had bothered him, but I happened to look over his shoulder and into the mirror. I had smirked when I noticed that he had a small smile on his face. Daryl wasn't exactly affectionate in public, but he did little things. Placing a hand on my shoulder as he walked past, letting his hand slide across my back, nudging me, or playing little pranks on me. The only time he would really be affectionate is when we were on hunting trips, or late at night when neither of us could sleep- and we knew that no one would come over. None of it bothered me though, I wasn't overly fond of PDA either. I suppose that had always been the way I was, I was sad to say that I wasn't a stranger to one night stands- not that I'd had a new guy every night, but I'd had a few- but those were in private. The times I had a steady boyfriend, I never even liked to hold their hands in public. That was the good thing with Daryl, he didn't like that stuff at all, probably even less than me. I knew that Daryl, unlike me, had never been fond of a one night stand, that wasn't the type of guy he was. But I liked that, that might have been the reason that it was love and not lust with him.

I glanced back and saw that Maggie had her head resting on Glenn's shoulder. I smiled. The two had become very close over the winter, and it was no secret that every time they went on a supply run they got a little, well let's say closer. I turned back, resting my head and letting a sour look cross my features. That, Daryl and I had yet to do. And shit, we'd been physically close for almost 8 months. I wondered if he was maybe a virgin. He didn't give me that vibe, but it was possible. He always did say that he was never very close to anyone. I mean, neither was I, but still, it was possible. Maybe if I ever grew the balls, I'd ask him. After all, we'd never go past serious kissing, and some clothes where they weren't supposed to be, before he'd stop us.

I was jerked from my thoughts when Daryl poked my shoulder to get me to stand up. I looked around and noticed that we were outside the woods where the prison was located. Whoa, how did I not even notice? Shaking my head, I stood up and walked behind Daryl and Rick. We gathered around in a circle and Rick spoke up. "Alright, I've got the wire cutters so I'll open the fence. Women through first. After that, we'll head up to the gate, we move fast, just in case. No one brings the stuff just in case, we'll come back for it after we clear the yards. Everyone ready?" Rick asked. Everyone nodded in response.

Rick ran through the woods as silently as possible, with Daryl and I right behind him. We broke the tree line and ran over to the fence. I, along with T-Dog, Glenn, Maggie, and Daryl watched the yard to make sure none of the walkers that were outside the fence were getting too close. I turned to check Rick's progress as I noticed that more and more walkers were headed toward us. My heart rate picked up, and I released my breath as I saw that he finally got a gap open big enough for us to fit through. Glenn and Maggie killed two walkers that had gotten too close and I released an arrow when one had gotten a little too close to Lori. Rick and Daryl went through, holding the gate open, so it wouldn't cut anyone. Quickly, everyone shuffled in, with me running in last, moving out of the way so that Daryl and Glenn could tie it up and secure the broken fence. Glenn had been about to secure the top of the broken fence tighter when a female walker came dangerously close to scratching him through the fence. He jumped back and we ran through the open area, myself and Daryl leading the pack. I grimaced as I saw that walkers were coming up to the fence on both sides of the fence, it felt like we were trapped. Reaching another fence, Daryl pried it open, and we continued our run through the prison yard. Coming up to the final fence, I stared into the yard, it was great, but still, it was covered in walkers.

Rick stared into the yard and smiled. "It's perfect. If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight." Rick pointed up to the gate at the top of the yard. He was right, if we could close that, we could close off the field. And between all of us, we could pick off these walkers in the yard. The only thing is, someone would have to run, and risk their own life to shut the gate.

"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel voiced my thoughts.

After a beat of silence, Glenn stepped up. "I'll do it. You guys cover me."

"No. It's a suicide run. I'm the fastest. I might ask Rain to do it, but I'm faster after she hurt her ankle," Glenn pointed to my foot.

I nodded, "Maggie, I'd go if I could, but Glenn's right, he has the best chance to make it over there."

Rick walked over to Glenn and put his hand on the young man's shoulder. "No, you, Maggie, and Beth draw as many as you can over there. Pop 'em through the fence. Daryl, go back to the other tower. Rain, you're as good, go with him, help keep any that are getting too close to me away. Carol, you've become a pretty good shot," Rick nodded and motioned for her to go to the tower as well. "Take your time. We don't have a lot of ammo to waste," I heard him tell Carol, as I bounded up the stairs behind Daryl.

"Hershel, you and Carl take this tower. I'll run for the gate," I could hear Rick say as we made our way up the stairs. As I made it onto the top landing, Daryl nodded me to take the far corner and he took the closest, since he was the best with long range shots. Carol made it up to the top a moment later, and Daryl motioned her to take the middle of the tower. I glanced off to the side hearing Glenn, Maggie, T-Dog, and Beth calling to the walkers through the fence. Damn, they were actually taking out a lot of them. I smiled, this just might work, by tonight we may have a home. An actual home. I looked right down below us and saw that Lori had opened the fence to let Rick out. Just as she did, I pulled out an arrow and nocked it, ready to shoot at anything that got too close to Rick. Daryl fired an arrow at a walker that had been dangerously close to Rick, and at that, everyone else in the towers began to fire as well.

I shot at a small group of walkers, trying to catch up to Rick, one after the other. I let out a breath as I realized that Rick was making it up the yard faster than expected. I took down 2 more walkers, and turned when I heard Carol yell out a sorry. I realized that she had almost shot Rick and I called to her, "hey Carol. Might wanna let Daryl and I take care of the ones that are that close to Rick." She nodded and started to shooting at the ones loitering in the middle of the yard. I sighed as Rick latched the gate, and shot at the group that was closing in on him.I let out a deep breath when he ran into the room, now God hope that nothing is waiting for him in there.

"He did it," Carol said smiling.

I laughed and turned to the both of them, "make the call Daryl. Rick is up there. We got it," I waved to Rick, who was now at the top of the third watch tower.

Daryl turned to the field and yelled out to the other group members. "Light it up!" And with that, we all turned on the field and took down the remaining walkers. I fired shot after shot, saving my arrows, and took down walker after walker. As the last walker fell I brought Carol into a hug and turned to Daryl smiling.

"Welcome home guys," I smiled.

Carol stared into the yard and laughed, "I'll be damned, we're making our home a prison, Rain." I stared at her, confused as to what she was talking about, when I remembered. I had told her about making a prison as a home as a possibility. She had laughed it off then, but now it was a reality.

I poked at her shoulder and said to her, "I told you so." She laughed and nudged me away from her. As we took to the stairs, I muttered, "damn it. I should have made a bet." At that, even Daryl snorted.

"Fantastic," Carol called as we walked around the side of the first guard tower. I smiled at her excitement.

"Nice shooting," Daryl told her as he followed.

Carol smiled, not looking back and said, '"yeah." As we walked through the open gate, I patted Lori on the shoulder and smiled at her. "You okay?" I heard Carol ask.

"I haven't felt this good in weeks," Lori replied, holding her stomach.

"Good. Oh! Oh! We haven't had this much space since we left the farm," Carol yelled, stretching her arms out.

"Whoooo!" T-Dog yelled after Glenn killed a walker that hadn't been shot, but was laying on the ground. I smiled and took a step away from Daryl. I let out a loud whoop and did a walkover. Yea, I still remembered some stuff from gymnastics. Daryl laughed and wrapped an arm around my waist. The rest of the group were laughing and clapping as well.

"Watch it girl, just fixed ya up," Daryl told me. I laughed and squeezed his waist before pulling away from him. We made our way up to the field when Rick called us all into a circle.

"Alright, so we have the field now. We need to get the cars and pull them up here. Daryl, T, you come with me to get the cars. Rain, Maggie, Carol, and Beth can you girls set up camp out here in the yard?" Rick asked us. I nodded, along with the other 3. Daryl and T moved off to the edge of the fence. "Hershel and Glenn, can you two check on Lori?" Both nodded and went to go check on said woman who was sitting a ways off. "Good, we'll be back. We'll honk when we get here, Rain will you be able to open the gate for us?" Rick asked me. I nodded at him. He smiled at me and patted me on the shoulder before moving to the gate.

I ran over to Daryl before the 3 of them left and I grabbed his arm. "Hey Daryl, be careful out there OK?" I told him. I didn't know why I had done that, but something had come over me in that moment.

He laughed and smiled at me. "Ain't I always?" I glared at him and he put his hands on my arms. "Rain, I'll be careful OK?" I nodded at him and went to walk away when he called back to me. "Why ya suddenly so worried, like a little girl?" He teased, knowing that I hated when he said anything like that.

I turned back to him and growled, "just don't need to clean your damn blood off of me when you get back here," I sneered at him. I turned away and heard his scoff. I rolled my eyes knowing that he had been trying to get the best of me, which he had. I walked back over to where the women had started setting up camp and I grabbed the stakes for what I thought was Hershel and Beth's tent.

Carol moved next to me, helping me run stake through the material of the tent. "So Rain, you and Daryl disappeared for a while the other day," Carol wiggled her eyebrows at me. I scoffed at her insinuation and saw that Maggie was stifling a laugh and Beth's eyebrows had shot to her hairline. I turned to the older woman and rolled my eyes.

"I wish Carol, but it was just a hunting trip. I don't know what the hell it is with Daryl but he just won't! I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or he doesn't want to but he- he just won't get physical!" I yelled exasperated. I sighed and dropped to the ground tying the tent down before pushing the stake into the ground.

I looked up and saw that Maggie had come over to me and offered me a hand up. I took it and saw that Carol was narrowing her eyes at me and Beth's face was bright red. " I dunno Rain, I've walked in on you guys twice and neither time looked like he wasn't getting physical," she told me. Well, she was right about that.

"It's just that Maggie! Once we get past that, there is no past that! That's when he cuts it off," I scoffed.

Beth moved over to me and looked me in the eyes, "that seemed pretty intimate. You want more than that?" She asked me. I smiled at Beth's innocence and shook my head.

"Not trying to make myself look bad Beth, but yeah, I want more. I want- you know. I don't even need it, but I want a damn reason that he won't! It's not like there aren't condoms! I know we have them! It's just, it seems like he wants to do it and then we get there and he just stops. Like I hit him or something."

The younger girl blushed and Carol stepped in. "Rain, that man loves you so much. Anyone can see that, and we're all thrilled for you. For you both. The two of you deserve happiness. Maybe he's afraid of hurting you? Or getting a little too close?"

I sighed. She was right. Daryl had been severely damaged by his father and it was still with him to this day. I nodded at Carol as we started on her tent. I heard Beth clear her throat and I looked up at the younger girl. "Is it possible he's a um. Well you know. A virgin?" She asked, shuffling her feet. I smiled at her innocence and shook my head.

"Ya know, I had thought that at one point but I really doubt it. He knows what he's doing, and at least some of it is from experience. I dunno, maybe he's just afraid like you said Carol. Beth, you don't have to answer, but are you?" I asked the younger girl as we finished on Carol's tent. We moved over to the Grimes family tent and I saw that it was the last to be pitched. Glenn had gotten his own and Maggie's as well as T's and the one that Daryl and I would share.

I didn't miss the young Greene daughter's eyes bug out for a moment. "Well yeah, I think you're supposed to wait for the right guy." I smiled at her and nodded my head. It was good that she thought that way.

Maggie immediately cut in and said, "good. Keep it that way." We all laughed at Maggie playing the older sister role well. I squeezed Maggie's shoulder and went to the other side of the tent. I was caught up in tying off the broken end of the tent when Beth spoke up again.

"Did I wait too long? Are you supposed to lose it earlier?" She asked. I let a surprised look cross my face and I looked around to see that Maggie and Carol wore a face similar to mine.

Knowing that Maggie was too stunned to say anything, I decided to speak up. "Beth, it's something that everyone has their own ideals on. Some people wait until marriage, some people wait until they're in love, and others well they don't really wait for anything. It doesn't say anything about you other than the fact that you were strong enough to say no and wait. And I respect you for that," I told the younger Greene girl. I looked up and saw Carol give me a small nod and Maggie giving me an appreciative smile.

Beth seemed to soak that in before looking over to me and asking, "how long did you wait?"

I sighed, figuring that she would eventually ask that. I could answer truthfully, or I could lie. But I was trying to give advice, I might as well be truthful. "In all honesty Beth, not long. Not as long as I should have waited. I had only been dating the guy that I was with a few weeks, and I was young. Way too young to be doing something like that. If I could take it back I would. I would have waited much longer. After that, I kind of lost respect for that. It wasn't as serious as it had been, and I was being too careless, and doing it way too much with the wrong people."

"What stopped you?" Carol asked.

I sighed again, I would give her the answer but nothing more. That was a story that I wasn't in the mood to share. "I came close to being a victim of something unforgivable. Carol, when did you do it?" I asked, trying to deflect the attention from me.

The older woman wore a stunned face for a moment before clearing her throat and gathering her thoughts. "Well, I was older. I think I was 22. First guy I ever loved. Mitchell. In his damn basement while we were supposed to be clearing his basement out. His parents were right upstairs." I couldn't help it, the shock was evident on all of our faces. Mild mannered Carol doing something like that. I burst out laughing and was soon joined by the others. As our laughter calmed down, I turned to Maggie and asked her the same thing.

"Ugh, he was a moron. John. Bad lover too. It was in the stables outside the house while Dad was out with the rest of the family, I had volunteered to clean the house while they were gone," she told us. I smiled, thinking that that was exactly something that Maggie would do.

"Wait a minute! I remember that day! Is that why you were doing the laundry when we came back?" Beth asked her sister. That time, there was absolutely no controlling the laughter. As we finished pitching the tent, we were dying from laughter. I smiled as the laughter died down, and I went to walk over where Glenn and Hershel were making a fire pit. Just as I began to make my way there I heard a honk of a car horn. Turning and sprinting to the gate, I waited until I saw the headlight of Daryl's motorcycle. As I saw him, I let out a small relieved sigh. I opened the gate and allowed him, Rick, and T-Dog to come into the prison again before I closed the gate and locked it.

I turned and saw that Daryl was waiting right behind me and he nodded for me to get onto the bike. I smiled and hopped on, watching as he followed Rick and T to the edge of the field where they parked the vehicles. He turned the ignition off and allowed me to slide off first. "So everything was fine?" I asked him.

He nodded and told me, "yeah, a few walkers but we were in and out of there." I nodded back to him and we returned to camp where dinner was being prepared. Now that we could have a full fire, everything would actually be cooked properly. I sighed and went to helping skin the few fresh squirrels we had left.

About an hour later, after the sun had set, I was eating the rest of my dinner with the group. Well besides Rick and Daryl, they were on watch. I sighed, knowing full well that Daryl hadn't eaten yet. I stood up, grabbing what was left and I walked to the bus that Daryl had situated himself on top of. He was pacing as I approached, still having not noticed me. I was crawling up the bus when Daryl finally spotted me. He reached into the bus and grabbed my waist, easily hoisting me onto the roof. I handed him the small plate of food which he just stared at. "It's not much, but if I don't bring you something, you won't eat at all. And hell, you need to eat. We all do."

Daryl scoffed and threw his head toward the groups fire. "I guess Little Shane over there has got quite the appetite," he said, taking a piece of the meat. I couldn't help but laugh, hey he might be right after all.

"Don't be mean," I said, not really meaning it. "Rick's gotten us a lot farther than I ever thought he would, I'll give him that. I didn't expect us to make it through half the winter at the rate we were going there for a while."

"Mm-hmm," Daryl nodded.

"Shane could never have done that," I told him. A quick shot of pain went through my shoulder. I had been using a rifle for the first time in a long time today and I'd forgotten how powerful the kick on those were. I rolled it a few times hoping that the pain would go away. Another shot of pain went through me and I grimaced.

Daryl gave me a concerned look and I couldn't help but be slightly happy. I liked when he showed that he cared. "What's wrong?"

I shrugged my shoulders at him. "It's that rifle. The kickback. I'm just not used to it. I haven't used a rifle in years."

"Hold on," he told me positioning himself behind me. I tensed slightly when I felt his hands on my shoulder but relaxed when I realized that he was trying to work the knots out. He was good at it, hard but not so hard that it hurt. I let out a small groan at how good it felt, and I could practically feel his smirk at my small noise. Far too soon he dropped his hands and turned me around. "Better get back," he said.

I turned back to the yard and rolled my eyes. OK then, how about the blunt approach? "It's pretty romantic. Want to screw around?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"Pfft," he blew out some air and laughed slightly, thinking that I was joking. I grit my teeth and went to leave, however, something stopped me. I whipped back around to him and stood face to face with him. He gave me an odd look and opened his mouth but I cut him off.

"Why Daryl, why? I don't get it," I asked him. Even though I knew that he had no idea what I was asking him. He went to say something again before I cut him off once more. "No. I just- why don't you ever want to do anything? And even the few times that you have done something, it ends just like that. Why don't you want to do anything more than kiss? Is it something I did? Was I not what you wanted? Was I doing something wrong? Or are you embarrassed? Because I won't judge you no matter what it is. I don't care if you're a-" I was cut off by Daryl smashing his mouth into mine. I sighed and melted into him, pressing my body against his. I was pretty sure that I would have fallen over had he not been clinging to me like I was a second skin. I smiled into the kiss, and I felt Daryl give a small smirk.

He broke away from me and I was sure that I had a stupid grin plastered on my face. I smiled at him and he scoffed, "ya meant like that?" He asked me. The smile dropped off of my face and I scowled.

"No Daryl. Not like that." He gave me a confused look and I sighed. "Daryl, it's just that. You just- you stop after a few minutes." He opened up his mouth to talk but I cut him off before he could speak. "And don't give me that bullshit that you don't want to hurt me or we never have time alone or we'll be caught by walkers. You won't hurt me, trust me. And yes we do, we go out hunting together and it's not exactly like we have a time limit to be back by. And as far as walkers, it's not like we can't lock a door if we find a house or something. So I don't get it. Why won't you do anything?" I asked, clearly upset.

He sighed and made a few paces on the bus. "Rain. I don't know why, I just. I never did that kinda stuff. I mean I did, but hardly ever. I never felt close enough. But- I guess..." he trailed off and I stared at his back for a second.

I looked at him, and just stared for a while before the answer that I had been searching for all winter dawned on me. "Oh my God. You're afraid that if we do, I'll leave you. I'll have gotten what I wanted and I'll give up on you," I whispered. I wasn't really sure if I wanted him to hear that or not. Judging by how stiff he was, I figured that he knew. Normally I would have been upset, I would have been mad. But the way he looked broke my heart. He had been so damaged as a kid that it had carried over well into his adult life. I walked slowly up to him, and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Isn't it?" I whispered to him.

He stood silent for so long that even I had forgotten my question. I had been about to turn around when I heard him utter a tiny. "Mm-hmm." I sighed but said no more on the matter. I went to turn away from Daryl, but I felt like I couldn't just leave him like that. Walking around to stand in front of him, I curled my hand around his and leaned my head on his chest. He didn't wrap his arms around me, but he wasn't tense either.

I moved my lips up to his ear and whispered to him. "I won't you know. I don't know why, but I won't." I stood on my tip toes and give him a light kiss on the lips. Settling back on the balls of my feet, I felt him squeeze my hand and I smiled. "Let someone else take guard duty for a while Daryl, get some sleep tonight. The tent is pitched if you plan on sleeping in it tonight." He nodded at me and I sat down on the edge of the bus before pushing off. Landing in a crouch, I hissed quietly at the sharp pain that went through my leg, before standing up and going to move to the rest of the group.

"Gonna break that damn ankle again if ya keep doin shit like that. Then I'm gonna have to carry your ass again," Daryl called to me from on top of the bus. My eyes slit a little and I had to resist picking up a rock to throw at him.

"Shut the hell up, Dixon," I sneered. Not really meaning it of course. He snorted and I rolled my eyes, making my way to camp. I walked up to the fire hearing Hershel prodded at Beth. Something about singing some song or another. Ugh, I miss my music.

Hershel nudged his youngest daughter and I looked over at the pair. "Bethy, sing Paddy Reilly for me. I haven't heard that, I think, since your mother was alive." God no, that was an awful song. I scrunched up my nose and Beth saw, laughing at me.

"Daddy, not that one, please," Beth begged her father.

He looked to be in deep thought before speaking up again. "How about 'Parting Glass'?" He asked her.

"No one wants to hear," Beth said looking embarrassed.

Hershel looked slightly disappointed. "Why not?" He asked her.

She sighed but nodded. "Okay." She took a deep breath and started. "Of all the money e'er I had, I spent it in good company. And all the harm e'er I've ever done alas it was to none but me and all I've done for want of wit to memory now I can't recall so fill to me the parting glass good night and joy be with you all oh, all the comrades that e'er I had were sorry for my going away and all the sweethearts that e'er I had would wish me- one more day to stay- I had some." I smiled as Maggie joined in with her sister. "But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise and you should not I'll gently rise and I'll softly call good night and joy be with you all good night and joy be with you all." The two sisters finished and I started a small round of applause for them. They both had pretty voices.

"Beautiful," Hershel said smiling at his daughters. Clearly proud.

Carol smiled and stood up. "Better all turn in."

T-Dog stood as well and said, "I'll take watch over there." He pointed up to the top of the fences, opposite where Daryl was keeping watch on top of the bus.

Rick stood as well and I followed suit. "Got a big day tomorrow," he told us. Myself and the rest of the group gave him odd looks, wondering why he was saying that it would be a big day.

"What do you mean?" Lori asked.

Rick sighed and turned, motioning to the prison. "Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we've got to push just a little bit more. Most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners. Looks like this place fell pretty early. It could mean the supplies may be intact. They'd have an infirmary, a commissary." He seemed so happy, and he was right, we would probably find all that stuff here. The only thing was, would it mean someone dying in the process?

"An armory?" Hershel asked.

Prison's have armories, but they normally are off to the side and slightly hidden. That might take a while to find. I'd focus on the other stuff." I was sad to say that I knew this stuff from experience. Well that, and the fact that I had majored in construction in college. "Warden's offices would have info on the location. Maybe a map." I noticed the curious looks I was getting, and I blushed, looking down at my lap.

"Rain's right. Weapons, food, medicine. This place could be a gold mine," Rick pointed out, drawing the attention away from me.

Maggie shook her head at Rick. "We're dangerously low on ammo. We'd run out before we make a dent." She was right, we barely had any bullets left, winter had taken almost all of our ammo with it.

Rick nodded at her, and I sighed, knowing where he was going with this. "That's why we have to go in there hand to hand. After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it. These assholes don't stand a chance," Rick said. He turned and stormed off, Lori following close behind him. I shook my head and turned back to my tent.

"Well on that note. I'm going to bed. Night y'all." I received a small chorus of goodnight's as I walked back to my tent. Turning once I had entered, I saw that everyone else had retreated to their tent as well. Zipping up the tent, I pulled my shirt and pants off, it was far too hot for me to still be wearing long sleeves and pants anymore. Figuring that Daryl would ignore my advice and stay out there, I climbed onto the cot we'd come to share and turned onto my back staring at the fabric ceiling of the tent. I'd have to wear my warmer weather clothes tomorrow, who knew how hot it was in the prison now? I started to doze off, perfectly comfortable in my underwear with the sheets wrapped around me.

I shot up, startled from my sleep, feeling the cot shift. Fearing that a walker had made its way into my tent, I threw my hand out and punched it, feeling like I'd hit its face. Damn it, if I had to run out there in my underwear, well that would be quite the show. I was about to punch again when a hand grabbed mine. "Damn it girl! Fuck that hurt. What's wrong with you?!" Daryl yelled at me.

Oh my God, it wasn't a walker. It was Daryl. "Damn it Daryl, I thought you were a God damn walker! I could've killed you!" I hissed at him. I moved over, allowing him to slip onto the cot, trying to calm my heart rate. My eyes finally adjusted to the dark and I saw that he was staring at me. Well not me, my... chest. What? I looked down and remembered that I was in my underwear. I let out a small squeak and tried to jump over him. "I uh- I forgot that I. I thought that you would be on watch all night," I muttered, glad that it was dark so he couldn't see my burning face. I went to jump over him and grab some clothes when he grabbed my arm.

"Don't bother. It's fine," he told me. I knew that he was slightly uncomfortable but I settled into bed anyways. I laid down and felt him snake an arm under my head, pulling me into him, like he had done all winter. Then, it had just been too cold not to cuddle. Now he was doing it because he wanted to. I smiled to myself, laying my head down on his chest. He laid the blankets over me and I couldn't help but think that he was making an effort. It warmed my heart to see him trying. This was all I wanted, to know that he cared. I fell asleep quickly, not caring in the slightest that I'd been woken up.

"Mmmm, 5 more minutes," I groaned as I felt someone trying to shake me awake. "What? Leave me alone, go away," I muttered, with my face buried in the pillows. I could feel the cot vibrate from Daryl's laughter and I pulled my head up to see what was so funny.

"I would if I could get my leg outta there." He pointed down and I saw that my legs were wrapped around his, holding them in place. I laughed too and untangled my legs from his. I sat up, running my fingers through my long blonde hair. God it was longer than I remembered. It felt like now it came down to mid back. I was going to have to cut it soon. My body shook with a shiver and I looked down to see why I was so cold. I was met with my half naked body and I blushed, I had forgotten about last night. I went to stand up to retrieve my clothes when I remembered what exactly I was wearing. Quickly sitting back down, Daryl looked over to me and cocked his eyebrow. "The hell is wrong with you?" He asked me.

I jumped at his voice and I had to shake my head to clear my thoughts. I heard him mutter a few curses while he was tinkering with his crossbow. "Uh, do you think you can hand me my clothes?" I asked him.

He scoffed at me and motioned to his crossbow, "I'm a little busy here girl." I groaned and stood up, carefully making sure that he wouldn't be able to see my backside. When I'd left home, I'd just grabbed underwear out of the drawer. I hadn't really checked if they were appropriate or not. And these most certainly were not. I jumped over his stuff and grabbed my clothes, jumping back into the center of the tent and turning to him. To my utter horror, I realized that he had seen them. I blushed and looked down, pulling on my shorts. "Planning on someone seein ya like that?"

I blushed and pulled my tank top over my head. "No, I just didn't have anything clean." I huffed at him and he laughed in response.

"C'mon, Rick probably wants to get goin as son as possible." I nodded and grabbed my bow, walking out of the tent with Daryl trailing behind me. I walked up to Rick and saw who he had gathered so far. Himself, T-Dog, Maggie, and Glenn. He patted me on the shoulder and said a quick good morning.

"Alright, Daryl, Rain? Would you two help clear things out as well?" Rick asked us. We both nodded and he said a thanks. "OK, now I need to close that gate up there, keep more walkers from piling in. We stay in a tight circle, someone watching from every direction. Once we close that gate and clear that part of the compound, we move into that cell block. Cell Block C I believe it is. We clear it out and bam. We have our new home. Bars and locks everywhere, we'll be safe. Everyone got it?" We all nodded and moved up to the fence where we got into formation.

Rick was at the front, wielding a machete. Glenn was on his side with a sharpened metal pipe. Maggie was next to him with a hatchet. I was next to her with my bow and arrows shouldered, my grandfathers knife in hand. Daryl was next to me, his crossbow also shouldered, holding his hunting knife at his side. T-Dog was next to him, closing the circle of us holding a metal pipe similar to the one Glenn had.

"Ready?" Rick asked. We all nodded and he opened the gate. As we all quickly made our way in, I nodded to Lori to latch the gate behind us. Daryl jumped out of the circle to take down a walker that was headed his way. When he didn't immediately get back in formation Rick hissed at him. "Daryl." Hearing our leader, he came back and regained his place between T-Dog and myself.

"Come on," Rick said, trying to attract the walkers that still hadn't noticed us.

"Hey! Come on!" Maggie started to yell, Glenn chorusing after her.

"Over here! Come on! Hey, come on!" T started yelling as well. A walker came charging at me and I easily drove my knife through its skull. As we made our way up, our formation became loser and loser, with us having to move around to take out the walkers now. I had separated from the group and taken out a few walkers that were prisoners before this.

"Back there Daryl!" I heard Rick shout. I turned around and saw that there were walkers pouring into the yard now. Oh God, they were in some sort of riot gear. Daryl moved to one and pulled off his crossbow, shooting an arrow. It merely bounced off of the glass. The only good thing was that these walkers wouldn't be able to bite or scratch us. I turned to the group and saw that Maggie drover her hatchet through a walkers skull. She turned to Glenn, smiling ecstatically.

"Seen that?" She asked him. He yelled for her to pay attention and she went after one of the riot gear walkers. I sighed and ran after one myself. It quickly latched onto my shoulders and I yelped. Pulling my arm up, I took the knife and jammed the blade through the walkers chin and into its head. Thank God it was a long blade or else that never would have worked.

I looked around and realized that if we didn't shut this gate soon, we would be overrun. "Rick, get the gate!" I shouted. He ran over to the gate and pulled it shut, closing off the stream of walkers. I ran to the few prisoner walkers that were left and took down one after the other. I jumped over the body of a fallen riot walker and stabbed the final prisoner. I looked around and smiled, the courtyard was ours now. Now we just had the cell block to go through.

Daryl went to move to the cell block when Rick stuck out his arm. "Stop." He looked around, making sure that everything was secure and that we would all go in together. "Well, it looks secure. Nothing will lead to that courtyard over there." Rick pointed to the courtyard that we had just closed off.

"And that's a civilian." Daryl pointed to a walker in front of him. He was right, it was a woman in a dress. Well, let's hope that she was just here for visiting day. "So the interior could be over run by walkers from outside the prison," Daryl added. He was right, we could not only have to deal with the prisoners but also civilians inside.

Glenn spoke up. "Well, if there's walls down, then what are we gonna do? We can't rebuild this whole place." He was right, we could rewire fences and I had been a construction major but still. With what little technology and manpower we had, there was no way that we could replace walls here.

Rick sighed and shook his head. "We can't risk a blind spot. We have to push in."

We all nodded and stood at the door to the cell block. Rick slowly pushed it open, he and Daryl stepping through first. I followed, and noticed that there was no walker growling like I'd expected. None were loitering around either. Maybe the prison had cleared the cell blocks and cordoned them off. Fantastic, that made it easier for us. We were standing in what looked to be a sitting area, with tables and benches bolted to the floors. Rick nudged my shoulder as we walked in, and pointed up to a watch tower, where I could see blood on the window. He jingled his hands like he was holding keys, and I nodded. He was looking for keys to the prison doors. I watched as Rick went up the stairs, and I readied an arrow. After a few beats, Rick stepped out of the room and held out a pair of keys, tossing an identical set down to Daryl, who easily caught them.

Rick walked over to the gate and slowly twisted the key, opening the gate. I cringed at the noise of the gate opening. It was loud and high pitched. Walking into the cell area, I saw that there were two floors, both holding cells. Rick nodded for Daryl and I to check the upstairs, while the other 3 checked the downstairs. In most of the cells, there were no walkers, or they were actually dead. We had gotten about halfway through when a walker jumped out at us, but the bars refrained it from getting out. Grimacing, I took out my knife and jammed it into the walkers skull. Rick and Daryl did the same with the walkers in the next cells. I nodded to the men and we walked back downstairs, seeing that Maggie, Glenn, and T-Dog hadn't found anything.

I laughed and called out. "Welcome home y'all. Nice and cozy," I said, nudging up on Daryl. He smirked and shoved me off.

Rick smiled at me and walked in front of me. "Rain, can you bring in the rest of the group? We'll clear out the 3 bodies upstairs." I smiled and nodded, dropping my weapons, except my knife, and ran out to the yard. I made it out and called out to the group, who were staring at the gate. "C'mon guys!" They all ran up and immediately the questions started flying. Is everyone else OK? Is it safe? Was anyone hurt? Were there walkers? Blah blah blah.

"Hey, everyone's fine! I just came to get y'all. Wanna see our new home?" Everyone nodded and I led the rest of our group back to the cell block and into the gate. Holding my arms out I asked, "what do you think?"

"Home, sweet, home. For the time being," Carol said. I smiled at her mouthing 'I told you so' again at her. She rolled her eyes and laughed at my childish antics.

Lori looked concerned, checking every corner of the cell block, even though we already had. "It's secure?" She asked.

Rick looked at her and nodded. "This cell block is."

"What about the rest of the prison?" Hershel asked.

Rick shrugged his shoulders and looked at the older man. "In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria and infirmary." Oh fantastic, another day of me busting my ass in a place I didn't really enjoy. No matter how much I liked the security of this place, I would always hold a special hatred in my heart for prisons.

Beth looked slightly disgusted and I laughed at her. "We'll sleep in the cells?" She asked. She had a good point there, I wasn't sure how much I liked the idea of sleeping in a cell.

"I found keys on some guards. Daryl has a set too," Rick said and Daryl nodded.

After a beat Daryl spoke up. "I ain't sleeping in no cage. I'll take the perch," he said as he bounded up the stairs to the second level perch. Looking around I nodded at his idea.

"Ya know, I think I'll join you," I said. I bounded up the stairs and plopped my stuff down next to his. He looked at me and gave a small smirk. I scoffed at him knowing that he was about to tease me.

"Afraid of a little cell?" He asked. I punched his shoulder and he laughed, knowing that I hadn't meant to do any real damage. "Hey, wanna go in the spare cells they ain't usin? Grab 2 cots, put em together." I nodded at him and walked over into the cells closest to the edge of the perch. I walked into the first of the cells and checked the mattress. I looked the mattress over and didn't see anything that we couldn't risk sleeping on. Pulling it off of the bunk, I dragged it out of the cell and into the hall. I repeated the same thing with the top bunk and I pushed the two over to the perch. Laying them straight together, I walked over to our stuff and pulled the blankets up bringing them to the cots. I laid down the blankets and spread them out. I had straightened out the blankets when I looked down and saw that Rick was about to leave, presumably to continue patrolling.

I sighed and turned around to face Daryl. "He's still patrolling, he's gonna kill himself."

He looked at me and pulled me away from the railing. I spun and tripped over the cots that he was sitting on. I let out a small squeak as I fell, and I could hear his laughter. I looked at him and went to slap him, when he caught my hand. "Hey, just let him. He'll get better once the kid's here. He'll sleep when he needs it. Don't worry about him right now," he told me. I groaned and flopped down onto my back. He followed suit and fell besides me. I smiled at him and rolled towards him, while he looked over at me. Rolling onto his side as well, he brought a hand to my arm and let it rest there. I smiled at him and gave him a small kiss on the lips. He wrapped one arm around me and pulled me as tight as he could into me. The kiss didn't last long, but it was amazing. I wanted to roll my eyes at the thought but fireworks were going off all throughout my body. A loud clang downstairs made us jump apart and sit up to see what had made the commotion. I looked down and saw that Rick had thrown a few suits of riot gear.

I saw that he turned and started calling to everyone. "Naturally. Thanks a lot Rick," I rolled my eyes and stood up. I leaned down and grabbed my bow, shouldering it. Daryl walked in front of me and tugged on my arm. We walked downstairs and over to the group who were looking over whatever it was that Rick had found.

Rick held up a few weapons and gave them a once over. "Not bad. Flashbangs, CS Triple-Chasers. Not sure how they'd work on walkers, but we'll take it." Hmm, probably not weapons for a walker, but maybe a person.

Daryl held up a helmet and I gagged as I saw all of the walker goo that was falling out of it. I groaned and looked away from the table. "I ain't wearing this shit," Daryl said, tossing it back onto the table. Yeah I second that.

"We could boil 'em," T-Dog suggested. No way.

I scoffed and looked over at him. "I think I'll risk getting bit."

"Ain't enough firewood in the whole forest," Daryl said, referring to T-Dog's suggestion of boiling them. He was right, besides what if we accidentally get some of it in our eyes or mouth?

Rick looked and shook his head. I could tell that he was disappointed that the riot gear hadn't worked, but he quickly put himself back together. "No. Besides, we made it this far without 'em, right?" He was right, besides they would only make us slower. If we needed to make a quick getaway, there was no way that we would be able to get out fast enough.

"So? Let's get the hell outta here. Which way boss?" I asked Rick. He nodded for the small group of us to leave. Myself, Daryl, Rick, Maggie, Glenn, T-Dog, and Hershel all went out of C and headed through the dark halls to what I assumed was Cell Block A.

Rick turned to us clearly wanting to know if we were all ready. Everyone nodded and Rick nodded back. "Let's go," he told us before opening the doors. Everyone was shining around their flashlights and I couldn't see a damn thing. But I suppose that was a good thing. We walked in and I let out a breath not hearing any of the growling that would signify a walker was near. We made it into a narrow passageway and I slipped into step behind Daryl who was behind Rick. I nearly screamed when I felt a sharp poke behind my shin, but I bit onto my tongue and realized that it had just been the point of Glenn's metal bar.

I turned and glared at him. "Ouch, damn it Glenn."

The Asian looked up and me and gave me a guilty look. "Sorry," he whispered. I turned back and followed closely behind Daryl. I could hear Glenn every time that we turned a corner drawing an arrow to mark where we had come from. It was a good idea, with no lights in these halls, it was pitch black and almost impossible to find your way around. We went to turn another corner and suddenly I slammed into Daryl, who was as stiff as a board. A moment later I felt Glenn smack into me, and I was sure that I was just as stiff as Daryl. Looking ahead, I saw that there was a huge pile of walkers down the hallway, blocking the way, and our lights had just caught their attention.

"Go back. Go back! Move!" Rick was shouting at us. No point in being quiet now. Turning around and sprinting as fast as I could behind Glenn. I shouted and ran behind him, making sure that we were following the arrows as Glenn had drawn them. Turning another corner I slammed into Glenn, who had stopped ahead of me. What the hell people?! Go!

"Walkers!" T-Dog shouted. Oh God, we were cut off. I looked around and saw that there was no way out except for straight ahead. Gritting my teeth, I followed back to the first hoard, hoping that we could make it to the fork in the hall before the first hoard reached us.

I turned around and heard Glenn call out. "This way." I tried to find him but he was out of my sight, so was Maggie. Turning around and dashing down an unknown corridor taking a few twists and turns, we seemed to have lost the walkers. I couldn't hear any growling behind us, so I prayed that they had left down a different hall, and were being taken to a different part of the prison. I let out a few deep breaths before Daryl pulled me into him, looking me over.

I pushed him slightly off, "Daryl, nothing was even near me. I'm fine, are you?" I asked. He nodded and I wrapped my hand around his arm, even though it barely fit.

I heard Hershel's voice behind me, and I gave a small smile, glad that the old man was OK. "Where's Glenn and Maggie?" I turned, seeing that they weren't with us. They must have found somewhere to hide out in.

"We have to go back. We need to find them," I said.

"But which way?" T asked me.

"Maggie? Glenn?" Rick called quietly. We started to walk ahead and I grimaced seeing all of the dead bodies littering the floor. I was careful stepping over all of the bodies, keeping away from their torso's. Just in case. Stepping over another body I heard a small call down the corridor.

It was Glenn and Maggie's voices. "Rick? Dad? Daddy?" I smiled at them, glad that they had somehow managed to avoid the walkers. They must have ducked out when we had all been distracted by the walkers.

Hershel began to step forward, calling his oldest daughters name. "Mag? Mag?" I began to move to the side, allowing Hershel to pass me so that he could get to his daughter, when I heard a strangled cry come from behind. Whipping around, I saw that there was a walker, who wasn't apparently dead that had it's jaws locked around Hershel's shin. I felt my heart drop, and I was pushed out of the way as Rick ran past me. He pulled out his gun to shoot the walker who had now lost a hold of Hershel's leg.

"No! No!" Maggie screeched as she went to run to her dying father.

I jumped in front of her and managed to hold her back. "Maggie don't!" I held her back from her father as Rick shot the walker and picked Hershel up by his arms.

"Daryl!" He yelled to the archer, who ran over and grabbed Hershel's leg to drag him out of the hallway. We started to run back to the cell block with Hershel's pain filled cries echoing off the walls.

"Oh, God, help me! Oh, God!" He cried, obviously in extreme pain.

I lead the group back to the cell block and I nearly cried when I saw that once more the walker hoard was blocking our path. Daryl pulled me to a halt and forced me to turn back. As we turned, I heard Rick shouting to everyone else. "Go! Go! Back."

Running the other way, we were once more cut off by the other hoard of walkers. No, we had nowhere to run now. And we would get overpowered by them within seconds. With my heart pounding out of my chest, I heard T-Dog call out. "We're blocked!"

"We have to go back!" Maggie shouted. Turning, I saw a door that led to God knows where. I didn't know what else to do, so I shoved Rick's shoulder and pointed at the door. We turned and ran into the room, with Rick screaming at us, still holding onto Hershel's weak body. The man was fading fast. "Go! Go! Get in!" He yelled to us as we all piled in. I turned away from the door and saw that Rick had put Hershel's body on what looked like a metal table. "Shut the door!" He yelled as T-Dog ran back and secured the door. Rick stared at us and yelled to Maggie and Glenn. "Hold him down." I kept my back to them, positioned, staring at the door just in case. T-Dog was standing next to me, doing the same. Although we both we watching what was happening on the table behind us. "All right. Only one way to keep you alive," Rick said to Hershel, grabbing an axe on the floor and tying his belt around the older mans leg, above where he had been bitten. Oh God, he was gonna cut the limb off. I grimaced as I saw him bring the axe down. Once. Twice. The sound of separating the limb from his body was sickening. I was glad I hadn't eaten today, or else I might've hurled. I turned back to the table and saw that the leg had finally been separated and Hershel had passed out. Probably from blood loss and pain.

I walked over to the table and heard Maggie crying. "Oh. He's bleeding out." She was right, we were going to have to move him soon and get him where we could do something more than just chop off the limb.

"Rick, we have to get him back-" I was cut off by Daryl, who swung his crossbow up and yelled to us.

"Duck," he told us, pointing his crossbow right by us. We all moved to the ground and I looked at what he was pointing his crossbow at. I nearly screamed as I saw that it was 5 prisoners, and these men were actually alive. They were all watching with wide eyes, behind a counter. Good God, had they been hiding in here this whole time?

"Holy shit," one of them muttered. Yeah buddy, the feeling's mutual.


	24. The Prisoners

I looked up as I heard the man and stared straight at the group of men. It looked like these men had once been prisoners, and not just by the prisoner jumpsuits they were wearing. These men looked like bad news. Except for the white man with a handlebar mustache. He just looked like he was trying to get by. There was a skinny black kid, that didn't look to be much older than me. A huge black man that looked actually pretty afraid of us, I didn't really know what to think of him. There was a slightly smaller black man that looked like he could rip your head off, and wouldn't feel a tiny but of remorse. He was the only one that scared me. The last of them only creeped me out. It was a Hispanic man that looked to be in his late 20's, and he looked like no good news. He was holding a gun, with long pulled back black hair. His eyes moved over all of us and stopped on my own body for far too long.

Growling, I stood up and pointed my bow at the man, who merely smirked at me. I went to make a nasty remark to the man but Daryl beat me to it. "Who the hell are you?"

"Who the hell are you?" The Hispanic man shot back almost instantly. I gave a dark glare to the greasy haired man. He was looking the group over and his beady eyes stopped when they hit Hershel.

I could hear Maggie's sobs turn into breaths of struggle, so I finally looked over to see what was happening. Hershel was no longer awake, he had obviously passed out. "He's bleeding out," she cried. She was right, we didn't have the tools with us to do the procedure if need be. And no one knew if this would even save his life.

"Rick. We gotta go back. He might not be alive much longer if we don't get him proper care," I told our leader. He looked over at me and nodded, quickly shooting his eyes to the prisoners. I nodded my head, knowing that he wanted me to keep a close eye on them. I gave him a small nod and turned back to the 5 men with a taunt bow.

I could hear Rick besides me giving instructions but I kept my stare firmly on the men behind the counter. The Hispanic man's eyes had once more met my own body and I had to take every ounce of strength I had, not to shoot him right then and there. "Come around here. Put pressure on the knee. Hard, hard! Push, push." They were clearly trying to stem the bleeding.

I noticed that Daryl had opened his mouth and was about to speak to the men. "Why don't you come on out of there? Slow and steady," he told them. To my surprise, they actually listened to him and began to make their way out of the hiding spot. Knowing that these men could have some type of hidden weapons on them, I prepared myself to shoot any of them at any given second. As the group walked out, the Hispanic man took the lead and pointed to Hershel. I narrowed my eyes, as I spotted a small pistol in his hands. I nudged Daryl, and motioned to it, to which he nodded.

Coming to stand in front of us, it seemed like the men had finally gotten their voices back. "What happened to him?" The Hispanic man asked, pointing his gun to Hershel. He appeared to have decided to no longer hide it, rather flaunt it. Maybe to scare us, but hey, it was him against our entire group. The odds were not in his favor.

"He got bit," Daryl said. Oh God Daryl, what a marvelous way of putting things you have.

That put the men on edge, as they all stepped back. Well that is, except for the Hispanic man, who raised his gun and pointed it at Hershel. I stepped forward, with my arrow aimed directly between his eyes. Daryl had done the same. "Bit?" He asked, motioning his gun, to a very weak Hershel. I gave a small nod, knowing Daryl wouldn't say it again. I saw the fear seep into the white man's eyes. Well, at least one of them didn't seem like much of a threat.

Rick finally checked back into reality and stepped between Daryl and I and the prisoners. He pushed down everyone's weapons and gave me a sharp look to which I merely rolled my eyes. They started it. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy now. Nobody needs to get hurt." I nodded and turned back to see how Hershel was doing. Rick walked back over to the table he was laying on and handed a cloth to Maggie who was obviously still in shock. "I need you to hold this," he said as he handed her the cloth.

She nodded and stood over what remained of her fathers leg. "OK," she just barely squeaked out placing the cloth over the stump of Hershel's leg. I grimaced as I saw the red flesh get pulled and pushed apart at the pressure. There was a reason I wasn't a nursing major. It wasn't like I was terrified of blood and guts, but it definitely wasn't something I wanted to gawk at all day.

I looked at Rick who was shaking his head, he obviously could see that Hershel wasn't going to make it much longer. I sighed and nodded at the inevitable. Without the proper medical supplies, there was no way that the older man was going to make it. Even if we got him back to our part of the prison, we only had the supplies to keep him alive for so long. We needed the infirmary which I only had an inkling of its location. I hated to think what would happen if we couldn't find it. Rick once more placed his hand on top of Maggie's and I saw the blood rush out of the wound on Hershel's leg. "As hard as you can," he told her in the authoritative tone I'd grown so used to hearing from him. Like the rest of us, Rick had grown a thick skin over the long winter.

She nodded at him, and to her credit, her hands had stopped shaking. She looked at him briefly and muttered a small "yes." I wanted to hug her, but I knew that she wasn't our priority right now. It was Hershel, and the group of prisoners who had been silently watching on. I knew though, the silence wouldn't last much longer with the initial shock having worn off from everyone.

The greasy looking Spanish prisoner was the first to move, however Daryl was faster, aiming his bolt between the mans eyes. Smarter than I thought he would be, he stopped moving and smirked at us. "You have medical supplies?" Rick asked them, surprising me. I would have thought that one of the prisoners would have been the first to initiate communication between our two groups.

The same prisoner who was smirking at us turned his mean look to Rick. "Wow," he laughed. I snarled and moved my bow to his heart, knowing that it would be a fatal shot if I got a little trigger happy. The man looked down my arrow and let his eyes travel up my body, this time coming to rest on my eyes. "Easy there, sweetheart. If ya wanna play a little rough, my cell ain't too far of a walk," he told me, giving me a quick wink.

I felt Daryl stiffen, however, I grabbed his arm before he could shoot the man. I shook my head at him and turned back to the man. "Go fuck yourself. Or actually, I wouldn't mind a comedy show," I told him, smirking and shooting my gaze down to his crotch. I heard the snorts of Glenn and T-Dog who were both standing off to the side and I couldn't help but feel a bit proud of myself.

The Spanish man growled at me and went to take a step forward but decided better of it, and stayed put. "Aye darling, what I'd do to you ain't nothin you'd be laughing at. Screaming maybe," he told me with a nasty grin crossing his features. Clearly feeling a little more brave, the Spanish man took a step out from behind the fenced in area and went out to join us. As usual though, Daryl was prepared to keep them at bay.

"Where do you think you're going?" He hissed at the man. The greasy haired man scoffed and looked over the rest of the group, his eyes knitting together. In confusion or anger, I couldn't tell.

The man glared once more at Daryl and let out a humorless laugh. "Who the hell are you people, anyway? Don't look like no rescue team," he snarled at us. A rescue team? Dude you need to get out more, no one's left, and anyone that is left doesn't give two shits about some prisoners that somehow have survived so long. I wonder how they've survived this long? Must be a lot of food. And besides, the prison seemed to fall pretty early, so how did they manage to keep themselves away from the carnage that must have ensued here? There was something that didn't sit well with me about these men, and it wasn't just because they were prisoners.

Daryl snarled at the men and gave them a funny look. Clearly he was thinking the same thing that I was. That there was nothing left. "If a rescue team is what you're waiting for, don't," he snapped at them. It wasn't hard to see the looks of disappointment that crossed over their faces.

I looked back at the table Hershel was resting on and I could tell that Rick was getting restless. He was right in that aspect. We needed to get Hershel to a place where we could just let him rest and not have to worry about something happening where there was nothing we could do about it. I saw that Rick was shouldering his supplies and he turned to the rest of the group. "Come on, we gotta go! Now! Come on! I need a hand here," Rick pulled at T-Dog's arm, bringing him to the door. I stood back with T ready to defend the rest of our group from the walkers. I looked back and saw that everyone else was helping Hershel, well except for Daryl, who still had his crossbow locked onto the prisoners. Rick looked to T and I, silently asking if we were ready for him to open the door. We both nodded and Rick left his hand on the board, ready to push it out and let the doors open.

Rick looked to us one more time and we both nodded. "One, two, three, go!" Rick said before pulling out the board and hanging onto the doors, not ready to open them yet.

"Holy Jesus!" I heard the white prisoner with the handlebar mustache yell. Oh yeah, they were in for quite the surprise when they saw what was about to happen.

T-Dog looked back to see what was happening and Rick yelled out to catch his attention and bring it back to the door. "T, the door," Rick called to him. T-Dog turned back to the door and nodded.

The Spanish man looked over at us and raised the gun he had in his hand. Daryl yelled at him and raised his crossbow to his eyes, making the prisoner reluctantly drop his gun to his side. Although it seemed that he wasn't catching on to what we were preparing to do. "Are you crazy? Don't open that!" Oh come on dude. Do you think we're going to open that door without any plan? Just open the door and let the walkers come in here and kill us. Yea, we wouldn't have made it that long if we had done shit like that. Common sense asshole.

"We got this," Rick growled at the man without turning his gaze away from the doors. With one last deep breath, he raised his hand to the door and let one swing open. I jumped but made myself relax as I let an arrow go through the skull of the first walker to make its way into the room. For a few moments, we continued to swing at the walkers that were making their way into the room, and as the last of them fell, I turned to look at the prisoners. I smirked at the Spanish man who was giving me an incredulous look. Rick's voice calling out to us snapped me out of my reverie though.

"Rain." He called to me. I snapped out of it and followed the group out of the room and back into the hallway that was now clear of walkers. "Daryl. Daryl! Let's go," I heard Rick call. I turned back to see Daryl run out of the room and quickly pull up behind me. I jumped as his hand caught my back and pushed me to run after the group. Easily catching up, we came to a short stop, and stared ahead of us, down the two hallways wondering which way it was that we should go.

I glanced quickly around the halls and just down the left corridor I saw the shadow of kicked up dust. We had walked that way before. Just as I was about to make the call, Rick made the same one. "This way. This way, this way," our leader told us. He ran ahead of us and made it about halfway down the hall before coming to a short stop. I heard the deep growl of walkers and I let out a deep breath. We had to make it back and these things were blocking off our path. "No, no, no. Back, back! Daryl. Come on! Go, go, go." Everyone was shouting to go one way, and with myself now in the lead with my flashlight shining, I made the call to turn right at the next fork in the hallways. I sighed a deep breath when Rick caught my shoulder. "Stop, stop. Follow the flashlight. Come on, let's go," he told me, shining his flashlight ahead of me. I ran ahead of the group and finally came across the familiar arrows that Glenn had been drawing earlier. Oh thank God, we were almost back.

I smiled and ran as fast as my body could carry me. "Go, go. Go, go, go," I shouted. Sprinting ahead, I was nearly back at the cell block when Rick called out from behind me.

"Rain slow down a bit!" At that, I came to a stop and waited for the rest of the group to catch up. "Easy, easy," Rick was saying as the group tried to keep the table that Hershel was laying on steady. I could see the blood coating the table, and I felt my hope for him drop. He needed a blood transfusion, or to just be damn lucky.

Maggie seemed to voice my fears for Hershel, although her voice was laced with pain at the thought of losing her father. I couldn't blame her. While I might not feel anything if I lost my father, hers was a wonderful man, and even I would be devastated if we lost Hershel. He meant too much to the entire group. "He's losing too much blood," Maggie squeaked out as the group caught up to me.

Running ahead once more, Rick and I made it to the door where Carl was standing guard. I paicked and motioned for Carl to open the door, but my motion went unnoticed. "Open the door!" Rick shouted to his son as the rest of the group rounded the corner. I saw Carl's eyes go wide and he went over to the gate to open it up for us.

Just as he was finishing on the lock, he turned back and shouted to the group members who had stayed behind, "it's Hershel!" Not even a minute later, I saw the rest of the group running out of their cells.

"Carl!" Rick shouted for his son to finish opening the door.

Just as the latch finally opened, I helped Rick push the door back and heard him yell to the group. "Come on," he told them. Watching on, I saw them wheel Hershel into the cell block and I pushed the door closed behind Daryl who stood by the door with me. Clearly we had the same thought. We'd be getting a visit from the prisoners pretty soon. There were enough people ready to help Hershel, someone needed to be out here, ready to defend the group from our new threat.

I could hear the group running up to the injured man. "Oh, my God," Lori breathed out running to see the man. Turning back, I could see the fear in her eyes. I didn't blame her. Hershel needed to be there when she had the baby, he was to assist with the birth. After all, he was the only one who had any experience delivering any type of infant.

I saw Beth run up last to the table, and the tears seemed to form in her eyes almost immediately. "Daddy!" She screamed running up to the side of the table and leaning over her dying father. Maggie was smart though, pulling Beth away and into herself.

Rick pushed the table ahead and into one of the cells. "Go, go, go, go, go. In there," he ordered the table into one of the unused cells. I sighed and shook my head. Praying to whatever spirit it was that had kept me alive this long, I prayed that I would keep Hershel alive as well. Looking over to Daryl, I saw the hope fading from his eyes as well.

I sighed and looked over at Daryl. "Do you think he's gonna make it?" I asked him. Daryl stayed silent and I knew his answer. No. I didn't blame him. After all, Hershel had been bitten, had his leg chopped off, lost a lot of blood, and we didn't have the proper medical care to take care of the wound. Although if Merle had made it after sawing off his own hand, Hershel would be able to make it with losing a leg. The only question is, did we get to the leg before the infection had spread through the rest of his body? God I hoped so.

Like clockwork, the five prisoners walked around the corner and came to a stop in front of the bars. "That's far enough," Daryl snarled at the men. Like I'd anticipated, the Spanish prisoner didn't take being told no very well.

He pointed his gun back through our cell and motioned to one of the empty cells halfway down the line. Well, at least no one was residing in there right now. "Cell block C. Cell 4- that's mine, gringo. Let me in." Yeah right, like we'd let you in where we have women and children, and now a severely injured older man. "Come on doll, put up a sheet and we can roll around. See how fierce you are in the sheets?" He asked me, giving me a slimy look.

I flicked the man off, but it was Daryl who really got at him. "You say one more word to her and this arrow's goin up your ass." I smiled at Daryl's obvious protective state that came out when he was around me. I couldn't help but find it endearing. At the odd look of the Spanish man though, I let it slip off of my face. Now was not the time to be grinning like an idiot.

"Oh didn't know the piece of ass was yours. As sweet in the sheets as she looks?" He asked Daryl, knowing that he was digging at Daryl's nerves. Alright, now he's in for it.

Getting pushed to the limits myself, I raised my bow and snapped at the man. "Hey fuck off. You and your friends."

He laughed and looked me in the eye. "Now we're on the same page darling. That's what I've been offering this entire time. Before I could step in, Rick came up and pushed me to the side. Well in reality what would I have done? That guy probably has at least 60 pounds of muscle on me.

"Alright, that's enough. All of you. Today's your lucky days, fellas. You've been pardoned by the State of Georgia. You're free to go." The men all looked around, but as I'd expected, they didn't like that answer. They looked back into the cell block with curiosity clear across their face. I stepped in between Rick and Daryl doing my best to block off what was happening in the cell.

The Spanish man looked over at us with a curious look. I couldn't help but notice that the grip he had on his pistol tightened unconsciously. "What you got going on in there?" He asked. What business of it is yours?

Unsurprisingly, Rick spoke my thoughts. "It ain't none of your concern."

The man snapped and stepped as close to the bars as he could. "Don't be telling me what's my concern," he growled while pulling his gun up. Immediately, myself, Daryl, Rick, and T-Dog who had come up behind us raised our weapons as well. We'd all four of us die before we let these men around the people we love, our family.

To my surprise, the taller black man put his hand on the Spanish man's arm, pushing the gun back down to his side. "Chill, man. Dude's leg is messed up. Besides, we're free now. Why are we still in here?" Hmm… I was impressed. I thought he might have been a problem, but it seemed like he was one of the few that wanted to avoid a conflict. Perhaps we could manage to trust him. But not while the ring leader was around. He would have to go. How, though, was the issue.

The white man spoke up next and I was unsurprised that he agreed with the huge prisoner. "The man's got a point." Good, you all have heard each other. Now leave us in peace and try your luck on the road just like the rest of us. Even though these men had been in prison, they had been a lot better off than all of us had been over these past few months. As I finally got a good chance to see the rest of the men in the light, I saw something familiar about the white man. It was like I had known him a while back. Staring for a while, the recognition finally hit me, and it was not a feeling that I liked. I tensed up, realizing where I had known him from, and the movement had not gone unnoticed by Daryl. He gave me a questioning look and I merely shrugged my shoulders. However by the look I received, I knew that he wasn't going to drop it that easily.

Luckily, before Daryl could actually question me, the other black man stepped in. "Yeah, and I gotta check on my old lady." Ouch, hate to tell you buddy, but she most likely ain't around anymore.

I heard a scoff come from the corner and it was naturally the Spanish prisoner. Would he ever shut the hell up and just let us get shit taken care of? "A group of civilians breaking in to a prison you got no business being in- got me thinking there ain't no place for us to go." You're sure as hell right be we weren't gonna tell him that. I glared at him, but saw the long look from the white prisoner. What was his name? Andy? Aaron? Alex? Axel? Axel! That was it. At the same time that I'd remembered his name, the recognition apparently struck him as well. His eyes went wide as he looked at me and I felt the fear sink into me. Freaking out, I jumped slightly behind Daryl and let my hair fall into my face.

The curious look once more crossed his face and I gave an awkward cough. I blushed deeply and mumbled a small, "there was a rat. Or I thought it was a rat. Sorry." I knew he didn't believe me, and I knew that I would hear about this later. Damn it.

Rick, as sarcastic as ever, stepped in. He pointed his gun toward the door and gave the Spanish man a dark look. "Why don't you go find out?" He asked him. The man matched Rick's dark gaze.

"Maybe we'll just be going now," Axel tried to smooth the situation over. I remembered that about him, he wasn't a bad man, he just made some bad choices. From what I remembered actually, Axel had been one of the nicest people I had ever known. Not that I had really known him for very long.

Of course, the Spanish man pushed Axel to the side and came as close to the bars as he possibly could. "Hey, we ain't leaving," he snapped at us. I raised my bow to him, giving a silent warning that he'd best back off before I put an arrow through his skull. That wouldn't bother me one bit.

Rick growled at the man. "You aren't coming in either."

Naturally this whole argument was getting worse and worse. "Hey, this is my house, my rules. I go where I damn well please." Yeah? Well that was before the dead got up and started chewing on the living.

"There ain't nothing for you here," Rick told him. He was right though, everything that these men had once known, was gone. Although, there wasn't much waiting for them outside either.

The man scoffed and nodded his head to the door. "Why don't you go back to your own sandbox? How many of you are in there?" He asked before straining his neck to see if he could catch a glimpse at the rest of the group. I resumed my space in front of the cell and glared at the man. We had the numbers, but he didn't need to know that the rest of the people we had were women and children. Well, besides Glenn, but he was currently busy taking care of Hershel.

"Too many for you to handle," Rick growled. Sort of true.

The smaller Spanish man spoke then for the first time, motioning to the cell that Hershel was now resting in. "You guys rob a bank or something? Why don't you take him to a hospital?" Seriously dude? The only hospitals left are crawling with walkers. Just ask Rick.

Rick gave the men a funny look. "How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?"

The Spanish man once more resumed his placed as the "leader" of his group. "Going on like 10 months. A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it. Attica on speed, man. Ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy. One guard looked out for us, locked us up in the cafeteria. Told us sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back. Yeah, and that was 292 days ago," he told us admiring his gun.

Axel turned to him and interrupted. "94 according to my calcula-" he began to correct before the man cut him off. Typical Axel.

"Shut up! We were thinking that the army or the National Guard should be showing up any day now." Now wouldn't that be nice? But trapped in here for ten months and you're still expecting a rescue team? Way to have wishful thinking.

Rick gave the men a blank faced stare and broke the bad news to the men. "There is no army." In twenty three(ish) years, I had never seen hope deflate from someone's eyes so quickly. Not that I could blame them, they had no idea what was going on out there. This was all a shock for them to be hearing.

"What do you mean?" One of the black men asked.

I stared at them and decided to get it over with. "There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone. There's nothing left. It's survival of the fittest. There's literally nothing left anywhere, go try a phone somewhere in here, see if you can get it to work."

"For real?" He asked me.

I stared at him with an unforgiving gaze. "I'm serious."

They all sat in silence for a moment before the man walked up to the bars with a pleading glance. Sensing no ill will from him, I let my bow drop. "What about my moms? My kids? And my old lady? Yo, you got a cell phone or something that we can call our families?" They just don't get it, they need to see it before they understand just how bad this is.

This time, Rick stepped in, obviously annoyed that he was stuck in this discussion, rather than being in the cell, helping with the care of Hershel. "You just don't get it, do you? No phones, no computers. As far as we can see, at least half the population has been wiped out. Probably more." He was right, there was probably only about a quarter of the population left at this point.

"Ain't no way," the Spanish man growled.

Rick stared at him and opened the gate. "See for yourself," he told them, motioning to the yard. I followed behind them with my bow out, ready to shoot if need be.

I could feel Daryl standing at my side and I glanced over to look at him. "What the hell was that about in there? Looked like ya seen a damn ghost." I stared at the ground, not ready to tell Daryl why I freaked out. Not ready to tell him the whole story of how I came to know Axel all those years ago.

I coughed slightly and shook my head as we stepped out the door. "It was nothing Daryl. One of the men looked like someone I knew, a bad person, but they weren't. I was mistaken. That's all."

I knew that Daryl didn't believe me but I was still surprised when he grabbed my arm. "We ain't done talkin about this. You may be able to fool them but you've always been a shit liar when it came to me." I gulped and nodded at him, and with that, he gently released my arm allowing me to step out into the yard. "Ya know, I think you'd look good in one of those jumpsuits," he told me, poking at my shoulder. I laughed and shoved him away from me. Gathering ourselves, we walked up to where the prisoners were.

One of the black men laughed as he caught what was probably his first ray of sunlight in months. "Damn, the sun feels good," he smiled as he let the sun shine on his face. Looking up though, he caught the horrors of what now roamed the Earth. "Good lord. They're all dead," he breathed, looking into the yard, where all of the walkers that we had taken down were laid.

"Never thought I'd be so happy to see these fences," the Spanish man said. He took a moment before looking around and whirling back around to us. "You never said- how the hell did you get in here in the first place?"

Rick pointed over to the fence, where the thick wire held the pieces of fence together. "Cut a hole in that fence over there by that guard tower," he told them.

The Spanish man gave an incredulous look before turning back to Rick. "That easy, huh?"

Rick nodded at him and shrugged his shoulders. "Where there's a will there's a way."

"Easy for you to say," he scoffed.

After a beat of silence, the smaller Spanish man stepped into the conversation. "So what is this, like a disease?" Well pretty much, not like any of us really know exactly what this thing is.

Rick, never one to hesitate, immediately stepped in. "Yeah, and we're all infected." Well shit, way to be blunt Rick.

The man gave an odd look and turned to Rick. "What do you mean infected? Like AIDS or something?" Sure, except once AIDS kills you, you're gone and you aren't ever coming back.

Daryl looked at the man and pointed his crossbow at his chest. I saw the fear immediately cross the man's face. "If I was to kill you, shoot an arrow in your chest, you'd come back as one of these things. It's gonna happen to all of us." The man relaxed, but the fear eventually slid across his face.

I heard the scoff come from their leaders mouth and I turned to glare at him. "Ain't no way this Robin Hood casts responsible for killing all these freaks. Must be 50 bodies out here. Where'd you come from?" I scoffed back at him.

Rick answered simply, "Atlanta."

The man nodded and looked over the fenced area before turning back to us. "Where are you headed?"

Rick shrugged his shoulders. "For now, nowhere."

The man nodded and for a moment I thought that they would surrender their claim on the cell block. "I guess you can take that area down there near the water. Should be comfortable." Or maybe not, figures he would be an asshole about it. Well too damn bad, the cell block was ours, they would have to find somewhere else to go.

Rick shook his head a motioned out to the field. "We're using that field for crops."

The man shrugged his shoulders as if he hadn't even cared what Rick had just told him. "We'll help you move your gear out," he told Rick. Did he not just hear us? This prison, the cell block, it was ours. We had fought hard for this place and we sure as hell weren't giving it up after all that had happened. And not with Lori being actually overdue for the baby.

Rick shook his head at their leader. "That won't be necessary. We took out these walkers. This prison is ours," he growled. This didn't look good to me, I could tell that a fight was about to break out.

"Slow down, cowboy. You snatched the locks off our doors," he tried to argue. Oh please, we set you free and killed the walkers that were trying to get at you. We helped you, assholes.

Rick shrugged his shoulders. "We'll give you new locks, if that's how you want it." Leave it to Rick to make matters even worse without even meaning to. It was evident that their leader was contemplating doing something stupid if he didn't get his way real soon. Well too bad, we were the ones with more guns.

He glared at Rick and seemed to give us the look that told us this was our last warning. "This is our prison. We were here first."

Rick scoffed and motioned back up to the prison. "Locked in a broom closet? We took it, set you free. It's ours. We spilled blood." It was true, we may have lost our closest thing we had to a doctor.

The Spanish man shook his head and pointed back up to C. "We're moving back into our cell block."

"You'll have to get your own," Rick snarled at him.

"It is mine. I've still got personal artifacts in there. That's about as mine as it gets." Oh gross, I didn't even want to imagine what he meant by "personal artifacts". Let's hope that no one wants to make that cell their home.

Axel, who always had been the peacekeeper, tried to step in and dissolve the tension. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Maybe let's try to make this work out so everybody wins."

"I don't see that happening," Rick said in an eerily calm tone.

For once, the prisoners leader agreed with Rick. "Neither do I," he said, still not having removed his glare from Rick. The two were locked in a deep battle for dominance. "I ain't going back in that cafeteria for one more minute."

"There are other cell blocks. You could leave. Try your luck out on the road," Rick gave the men a few options.

The smaller Spanish man seemed to suddenly grow a pair as he stepped up to defend his leader. "If these three pussies and a bitch can do all this, the least we can do is take out another cell block." Hey fuck you, I guarantee that I've got more balls then you'll ever have.

The slightly smaller black man scoffed and looked at his group. "With what?" Good question, it wasn't exactly like they were well stocked in the weapons department. Now that, we were. It was food that we were running low on.

The taller Spanish man wore a devious grin as he turned to Rick. "Atlanta here will spot us some real weapons. Won't you, boss?" He asked with a sickeningly sweet voice.

Rick seemed to think about it for a moment before deciding on striking a deal. "How stocked is that cafeteria? It must have plenty of food. Five guys lasting almost a year? It sure as hell don't look like anybody's been starving," he said looking over at the largest black man who had a decent gut on him. And here we are, having been starving.

Their leader was quick to jump in. "There's only a little left." Hmm... Why do I not believe that?

Rick nodded at him, without taking the bait. "We'll take half. In exchange, we'll help clear out a cell block." Not a bad deal, but I couldn't help wonder if the men would actually take it.

The smaller Spanish man jumped in and snapped at Rick. "Didn't you hear him? There's only a little left." Big words from a little man. He wasn't very tall, I was just a few inches shorter than him.

Rick gave the men a sick glance, with a tiny shrug. "Bet you got more food than you got choices. You pay, we'll play. We'll clear out a block for you, then you keep to it." It was a good option, but it was up to these men to take it.

The leader seemed to stop and think about it for a while before finally nodding to Rick. "All right."

Just as I thought it was over, Rick surprised me with his vici0us threat. "Well, let's be clear. If we see you out here anywhere near our people, if I so much as even catch a whiff of your scent, I will kill you." Well damn Rick, way to be blunt. Again.

The man gave a long smirk and nodded to Rick. "Deal." With a quick nod, the group of us decided to walk back to where the men had been trapped in the cafeteria to retrieve the food that we were promised. I was consumed with thoughts of how in hell, of anyone in the world, Axel was the one man that I had to run into. Sighing, I realized that we didn't know the names of any of the other prisoners. Turning around, I saw the Spanish man give me a slimy look and I scoffed.

Awkwardly, I turned around in the other direction and cleared my throat. "So, what are your names?" I asked, causing the rest of the group to turn to me in surprise. The Spanish man looked at me with a smile.

"Thought we'd be going by nicknames forever. Name's Tomas, fat ass over there is Big Tiny." I scowled at the insult he sent his friend but the man in question simply nodded. Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Tomas. "Little man over there is Andrew," he said pointing to the smaller Spanish man. He glared at Tomas but was clearly intimidated, as he said nothing to the man. "That's Oscar," he told us pointing to the slightly shorter black man, who had given us almost no sign of emotion since we had met the prisoners. I had to admit, he unnerved me a little bit. "And that's Axel," he told us pointing to the only white man among them. So it was Axel, I wasn't going crazy. "How about you chica? You all have names too?"

I glared at him and debated for a minute giving them a fake name, but that would be pretty hard to explain to my group later. So I sucked it up and prayed that Axel wouldn't say anything when I told them my name. After all, Rain wasn't a very common name. "I'm Rain. That's Rick, T-Dog, and Daryl."

Tomas gave me a nod of approval and gave me a sideways smile. "Rain huh? I like it." I nodded and grunted out a small thanks as we made it back to the cafeteria we had been in a few hours earlier. I let Tomas pass me, and he turned back, motioning for us to follow him into the room. "Pantry's back here," he told us. I nodded and walked into the large pantry after him.

"You never tried to break out of here?" T-Dog asked the men. I had been thinking the same thing. They had had a perfect chance to escape, why not take it?

Tomas shook his head and looked back at us. "Yeah, we tried to take the doors off. But if you make one peep in here, then those freaks'll be lined up outside the door growling, trying to get in. Windows got bars on there that he couldn't get through," Tomas told us pointing at Big Tiny. I wasn't surprised, the man was a damn giant. He reminded me of a less friendly version of Hagrid.

Andrew scoffed and shoved Big Tiny slightly, although it did absolutely nothing. "Bigger than a 5x8."

Big Tiny glared down at him, crossing his arms. "You won't find me complaining. Doing 15." For what? "My left leg can barely fit on one of those bunks."

"Yeah, they don't call him Big Tiny for nothing," Axel said.

I couldn't help but wonder why they called him that so I spoke up. "Big Tiny, isn't that sort of an oxymoron?" I asked. He immediately let a sour look cross his face and I couldn't help but wonder why he looked so perturbed.

"Did you just call me a moron?" He growled at me.

What? Oh my God, come on man, did you go to school at all? "No, an oxymoron is like a paradox. Like jumbo shrimp. You know? Like shrimp are really small but they say that they're jumbo." I could see that I was getting absolutely nowhere so I sighed and shook my head. "Ya know, never mind. Didn't mean to offend you buddy."

I heard Tomas scoff ahead of us and I grit my teeth, turning to look at him. "You done jerking each other off? Sick of waiting back here." I growled and walked back into the pantry. Jesus, this was a little bit of food? The place was stacked from floor to ceiling with different types of non perishable foods.

Apparently Rick was thinking the same thing as me when he turned to meet Tomas, eye for eye. "This what you call a little bit of food?"

Tomas shrugged, "goes fast." Rick scoffed and hummed back at the man. Tomas walked into the food and started to point to a few items in the food area. "You can have a bag of corn, some tuna fish-" Tomas was trying to argue before Rick cut him off.

"We said half. That's the deal," Rick told him with an attitude that left no room for any debating on the issue. "What's in there?" He asked before walking over to a closed closet. Tomas warned Rick about walking in but he ignored the warning. I went to follow him after he opened the door before he fell out gagging. I ran to his side, but he merely grabbed onto my arm to have me help him stand up.

Tomas was laughing and I almost went to punch him in the throat. "He wanted to know. Can't wait for my own pot to piss in," he said with a nasty grin. I sneered at him before pulling Rick up and grabbing the bags of food we were owed. I helped throw the bags to T and Daryl before we were settled with our agreement.

I stood in front of Tomas and glared at him. "You can wait in the yard. We'll be dropping off this food with our group and then we'll be back to help you clear out Cell Block A. That's the easiest for us to do." Tomas nodded at me and we walked out of the cafeteria, making our way back to the cell block. We made it to the gate, after separating from the prisoners and T-Dog called to the group.

The man laughed and dropped the food on the table, grabbing my bags from me. "Food's here," he yelled to the group. I smiled as the rest of our people walked out of the cell that I had last seen Hershel get wheeled into.

"What you got?" Glenn asked as he came out of the cell with Maggie wrapped in his arms. Judging by the fact that she was no longer crying, I assumed that Hershel was still alive and hopefully on the road to recovery.

Rick motioned to the food and gave Lori a long look. "Canned beef, canned corn, canned cans. There's a lot more where this came from," he told the group that all were celebrating the fact that we now had the food to keep us sustained for a few more weeks. Hopefully through the first few weeks of the baby's life. I smiled at Carol, giving her shoulder a squeeze before walking off to the perch and sitting down on the makeshift bed I shared with Daryl. A few minutes later, I heard the thumping of boots on the stairs and I knew that it would be Daryl trying to get some more information out of me.

I gave him a small smile as he walked up to the bed and plopped himself down besides me. "They're gettin ready to go clear out the cell block for the prisoners. You ready?" He asked me. I nodded and allowed him to pull me up. "Rain, what was it down there? Ya know ya can tell me girl."

I smiled at Daryl and gave him a light hug. "I know Daryl but it's nothing. I thought that Axel was someone I knew but it was just someone that looked like him. A bad memory of my past but that's it. Nothing to worry about, just me being paranoid." I gave him a smile, but he didn't seem to buy it. Still, he nodded and we went to catch up with Rick and T-Dog. "Ready guys?" I asked.

They nodded and Rick handed me a machete. "Give it to Oscar when we meet up with them. If we're gonna clear out the cell block, we need to be as quiet as possible. Hopefully they understand that." I nodded and followed the men out of the cell block and to the yard, where the prisoners were standing around talking. They turned to us when they saw us, and met up with us at the entrance to Cell Block A. Rick turned to the men and handed Tomas a small machete, as I handed Oscar the full sized machete Rick had given me earlier.

Tomas scoffed and shoved the machete back at Rick. "Why do I need this when I got this?" He asked Rick, bringing up his pistol and admiring it. I snorted and Tomas gave me a nasty look. Rick took the machete and shoved it back at Tomas, who this time took it, albeit reluctantly.

"You don't fire guns, not unless your back's up against a wall. Noise attracts them. It really riles them up. We'll go in two by two. Rain will lead. Daryl will run point with T. I'll bring up the rear with you. Stay tight, hold formation no matter how close the walkers get anyone breaks ranks, we could all go down. Anyone runs off, they could get mistaken for a walker, end up with an axe to the head. And that's where you aim. These things only go down with a head shot," Rick instructed the prisoner. Naturally I'd go first, wonderful.

Tomas snorted and got ready to go in, positioning himself next to Rick. "Ain't gotta tell us how to take out a man," Tomas said. I couldn't help but let a shiver run up my spine at his words. Although I didn't think he was stupid enough to attack any of us right now, I still got a bad vibe from Tomas.

Rick turned to look at Tomas and sent him a dark glare. "They ain't men. They're something else. Just remember to go for the brain. Rain, open the door." I nodded at Rick and slid the door open, using the light from my group behind me to guide my path. We hadn't even made it five paces before the men started to complain.

Andrew, who was right behind me, was clearly afraid. I could practically feel him shaking behind me. "Man, it's too damn dark in here." Well maybe if you'd hold up the flashlight it wouldn't be so dark you idiot.

"Gotta hold it up high out in front of you. You're gonna hear them before you see them," Rick told him. He was right, the growls and hisses always came long before you saw the first of them.

I heard the groans of the walkers and knew that we were about to come across a herd. I tensed my muscles, waiting for the herd to actually come into view. "It's coming!" Andrew hissed in fear. The rest of us all hissed at him to be quiet before turning back around to the oncoming herd of walkers. I looked hard, and saw it. It wasn't a huge herd but it was big enough that we were going to have to be careful.

I was just about to fire my first arrow when I heard the shout of Tomas behind me. "You wanna taste me?" He yelled before sprinting past us, into the front of the herd, the rest of the prisoners all following suit. Well except for Oscar, I couldn't see him. The men were all swiping at the walkers, with no actual aim. With the rate that they were going, it was only a matter of time before one of them got bit. With no other choice, I ran to the prisoners and joined in the fight. With our half of the group, the remaining walkers fell quickly. I was panting when Rick angrily stormed up to Tomas, who had a few specks of walker blood on his face.

He walked up and pointed to Tomas' head. "It's gotta be the brain. Not the stomach, not the heart- the brain," Rick growled at man. Tomas glared hard at Rick.

"I hear you," he growled through gritted teeth.

"The brain," Rick repeated.

Tomas nodded and walked over to a walker that wasn't dead and shoved his machete through the skull, killing the walker for the last time. "Like that?" He asked Rick.

Rick nodded, clearly steaming from what had just happened. "Uh-huh. Stay in tight formation. No more prison riot crap," he growled at all of the prisoners.

"All right," Tomas nodded. I was about to walk off with the rest of the group when I saw a slow trickle of blood running down Big Tiny's arm. I slowly let myself fall to the back of the group and when I fell into step with Big Tiny, I pulled down the collar of his jumpsuit and saw it. A perfect walker bite. He panicked, pushing me away from him and I shook my head at him knowing that it was right on the shoulder. There was no way to save him from this bite.

He started to back up into the corner as Rick approached him. "I'm telling you, I don't feel anything. It's just a scratch." Yeah for now, but I've seen it, the infection will spread faster than you can believe.

Rick shook his head and actually looked genuinely sorry for the man. I couldn't blame him, it was no way for anyone to die. Even a prioner that had done nothing good in their life. "I'm sorry, man," Rick told Big Tiny.

Big Tiny panicked and jumped away from us. "I can keep fighting!"

"You cut that old guy's leg off to save his life," Andrew pointed out motioning to Big Tiny's shoulder, where the bite was. Exactly, who can take off the leg, not the entire shoulder. There was no way that the operation would work.

Rick shook his head at the men and motioned to the bite. "Look at where the bite is."

Big Tiny was still panicking and shaking his head doing his best to justify that he wasn't going to become a walker. "Guys, I'm fine! Just- I'm fine. Look at me- I'm not changing into one of those things."

Oscar spoke up and turned to Rick. "Look, man, there has to be something we can do."

Axel looked at Rick, trying to come up with a viable solution to keeping Big Tiny alive. "We could just lock him up." And let him turn into a walker in a cage. Nope.

"Quarantine him. We gotta do something. Why you just standing there?" Andrew asked, obviously angry that Rick seemed to be just giving up on Big Tiny. Well too bad, at this point there's nothing that we can do to save him.

Axel looked back at us and pleaded, "we gotta save him."

Rick shook his head and looked at the men. "There's nothing we can do." He was right, we should just put him down to spare him the pain of the infection. Have a peaceful death here.

Andrew growled and pointing his machete at Rick. "You son of a bitch."

Big Tiny once more started to plead, "I'm all ri—" but just before he could finish, Tomas jumped up and drove his machete through Big Tiny's head. With no warning, he continued to destroy the body that had once belonged to Big Tiny. I grimaced and looked away from the sight. How could Tomas do that to his own friend? I could tell that it had affected the other prisoners as well when I caught the looks of fear and disgust spread on their faces. Finally, Tomas stood up from the body and I nearly gagged at the sight of blood running down his face.

Wordlessly, Tomas walked ahead and we all followed. Falling into step with Rick and Daryl, I heard Rick mumble to Daryl. "You see the look on his face?" Rick asked to which he nodded. "He makes one move, just give me a signal." Daryl nodded again and we all walked through the generator room for A to a set of double doors where we could hear a herd of walkers on the other side of the doors. Rick looked at Tomas and told him, "open the door."

Tomas gave Rick an incredulous look before snorting. "I ain't opening that."

Rick glared at Tomas and nodded to him. "Yes, you are. If you want this cell block, you're gonna open that door. Just the one, not both of them. Because we need to control this." He was right, if we opened both we would be overtaken by the walkers.

Tomas stood by the door and looked back at us. "You bitches ready? I got this." I scowled but nodded anyways, nocking my arrow and preparing for the flood of walkers that was bound to come. Just as I thought that they would be able to do one thing right, Tomas swung both doors open before jumping away, letting far too many walkers into the room. Fucking idiot!

"I said one door!" Rick screamed before launching his machete into the forehead of a walker that had gotten dangerously close to him, at the same time that I released an arrow, killing a walker at the back of the pack.

Tomas growled and took out two walkers. "Shit happens," he grunted back to Rick as he fought off a particularly strong walker. Good, I hope it gets you. I released arrow after arrow, finally seeing that we were making a dent.

I saw that there was a large gap in the middle of the floor that was causing the walkers to all crowd into it, but before I could do anything I heard Rick call out, "T, mind the gap." Just as I took out another walker, I saw Tomas swing a walker on top of Rick. I shrieked as the walker came dangerously close to biting Rick, but luckily Daryl was there. He pulled the walker off, killing it, and helped Rick up. Shooting the last of my arrows, I turned to Tomas, ready to scream at him, but the calm look on Rick's face made me back down. It terrified me, I would have thought that he was angry, but he looked completely level headed.

Tomas walked up to Rick, panting and gave a small shrug. "It was coming at me, bro," he said to our leader. I glared but kept a clamp down on my tongue.

Rick nodded and gave the tiniest of smiles. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I get it. Shit happens." What? That's it? We all sat in utter surprise, even Tomas until Rick did the unthinkable. Pulling his machete up, he swung it down onto Tomas' head, killing him immediately. I gasped in shock as Tomas fell to the ground, dead.

"No!" The prisoners screamed before Andrew went tearing off into the distance. I went to run off after him but Rick held out a hand to stop me. "Easy, now. I got him."

I nodded to him and turned back to Oscar and Axel who were staring at Tomas in shock. "Man, get down on your knees," T-Dog growled at the men with his and Daryl's weapons pointed at the two men. With them taking care of that situation, I went walking around the room, going to collect both mine and Daryl's arrows. When I was done, I walked back over to where the two men were on the ground. Oscar was as calm as can be while Axel was a blubbering mess.

Axel shook his head at the weapons aimed at them. "We don't have no affiliation to what just happened. Tell him, Oscar," he said prodding at the huge man.

Oscar shook his head but continued to stare at us. "Stop talking, man," he told Axel.

Daryl nocked an arrow, as I did as well, and it clearly sent Axel into a fit of fear at the prospect of losing his life to us. "No! We didn't have nothing to do with that." Somehow I believed that Axel wasn't a part of it, Oscar though I wasn't too sure about.

"You didn't know? You knew," Daryl growled before poking Axel in the shoulder with his crossbow. The man in question was now crying harder than he had been.

T-Dog seemed to be getting antsy with the prisoners when he looked over at us. "Daryl, Rain, let's end this now." I was about to nod my consent, at least I wouldn't have to fear Axel getting loose lipped, when he spoke up from the floor.

He was crying, but somehow he managed to make coherent thoughts. "Sir, please, please, listen to me! It was them that was bad. It wasn't us." Oh of course it wasn't.

"Oh, that's convenient," Daryl sneered.

Axel shook his head and looked over to me. "You saw what he did to Tiny. He was my friend. Please, we ain't like that. I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer. Oscar here, he's a B and E, and he ain't very good at it neither. We ain't the violent kind, they were! Please, I swear to God! I wanna live!" He was begging us to spare him now. Good God, how had Tomas never gotten to the point of killing Axel? He was incredibly weak and whiny compared to the rest of them.

Daryl leaned down and looked at Oscar. "What about you?" He asked him.

Oscar finally looked at Daryl and answered him with a straight face. "I ain't never pleaded for my life. And I ain't about to start now. So you do what you gotta do." I stared at the two for a moment before making my decision.

"Daryl, let them go. We have the cell block cleared for them. Let them have it and lets call it a day." Daryl nodded and motioned to the two men to stand up as we led them into the cell block seeing the dead bodies littering the floor. It was sickening knowing that most likely Oscar and Axel had once been friends with these men. Rick caught up with us, and judging by the look on his face, Andrew had been taken care of.

Axel let out a deep sigh as he saw the mess. "Oh, man. I knew these guys. They were good men." Just as I had thought.

I shook my head and Daryl turned around. "Let's go," he told us before leading myself and T-Dog out of the cell block.

Oscar turned to us with an incrediluous look on his face. "So you're just gonna leave us in here?" Pretty much buddy, we agreed that we wouldn't be seeing anything of each other. That deal still stands.

"Man, this is sick," Axel cried.

Rick shook his head and turned to look at the prisoners. "We're locking down this cell block. From now on, this part of the prison is yours. Take it or leave it. That was the deal."

Daryl turned to the men and muttered, "you think this is sick? You don't wanna know what's outside. Consider yourselves the lucky ones." He was right, this was nothing compared to the carnage that was going on outside.

We began to walk out when T-Dog turned around and looked at the men. "Sorry about your friends, man. A word of advice- take those bodies outside and burn them." T-Dog turned back to us and I put a hand on his back, leading him out of Cell Block A and back to C. As we walked in, Rick threw open the gate and everyone came up to crowd us.

Carol walked up to me and I smiled. "They're dealt with, they should be keeping to their side of the prison now. How's Hershel doing?" I asked her hoping that the old man's condition hadn't worsened over the day.

"He's not good but we're thinking that he's gonna make it. Now come on, it's time for dinner." I smiled at her and went to the living area where we all crowded around for a silent dinner, not nearly like the celebratory dinner we had had the night before. I sighed and finished my rice before standing up and making my way to the perch, only to be joined by Daryl a few minutes later.

"Hey there," I muttered to him hoping that he would stay quiet.

He looked at me and sat down next to me. "You OK? Some pretty bad shit went down today." I looked up at him and after hesitating for a moment I nodded at him.

"I'm OK. It got pretty bad today but it's all good. Just been a long day and had some surprises along the way." He nodded at me and we stared each other in the eyes for a moment. I leaned in a gave him a long kiss, to which he responded to. He pulled me in deeper before he pulled away and poked me in the side. I laughed and shoved his hand away from me.

After a pause Daryl looked back at me and cleared his throat. "So gonna tell me what's been making you so quiet today?" He asked me. I knew he'd ask but I had hoped that he wouldn't.

I smiled at him and shook my head at him. "I will, but not today. I'm tired, it's been a long day." He nodded at me and pulled me into his chest where I settled in and listened to his steady heartbeat. He may not be a man of many words but he knew how to make me feel comforted and safe. He kissed my forehead and I smiled at his warmth and snuggled in, happily falling asleep, exhausted from the day.


	25. Good Night Love

I yawned, feeling the bright rays of sun on my face and groaned slightly. It had been a restless night's sleep, all night I had been thinking about Axel and what had happened in the prison yesterday. With only two prisoners remaining, their group had dwindled fast. Hearing rustling downstairs I went to roll to the side of the bed and was surprised when I hit the cold metal floor. Letting out a quick shriek, I rubbed my ass that had made a nice cushion. Rolling my eyes, I went to stand up when I heard a small snicker coming from behind me. I turned around and saw that it was none other than Daryl. "Something funny, Dixon?" I asked, shooting him a sharp glare. He began to laugh full out and I couldn't help but scowl at him. I reached onto the cot and pulled off an old pillow, chucking it at his face. It hit him, and immediately wiped the smile from his face.

I laughed at my perfect aim and pulled myself back onto the bed, reaching for my boots. Just as I had gotten within arm's reach of them, I felt a heavy force hit my chest and topple me over. I looked up and saw that it was Daryl, who was straddling me and pressing me into the mattress. I growled and tried to heave him off, but he was too heavy for me. I grunted and thrashed around, but it did nothing, he wouldn't budge. "Ya got a little somethin," he told me before flicking my nose. I laughed and continuously bucked my hips, trying to get him off, but he did nothing but laugh at my futile attempts. I went to raise my hips again, but this time I felt myself hit a bump. I looked down and my face immediately lit up like a Christmas tree, along with Daryl's. I was sure that he had gotten hard with me before, but I'd never... Felt it. He launched himself off of me in a stuttering, bumbling, mess. I laughed awkwardly and swiped my hand through my hair. Well, at least if it was any consolation to him, he seemed to be pretty big. "Uh, well. It's kinda late. Maybe we should go down? Um downstairs!" I stopped myself from making it any more awkward by yanking my boots on and flying down the stairs.

I had made it to the landing and was about to head to the sitting area when I ran headfirst into Rick. "Whoa, girl. Slow down there. What's got you in a frenzy?" He seemed to look over my fluffed hair, wrinkled clothes, and red face and his own turned slightly red. However, it was the devious smile on his face that made it ten times worse. "Ah, I gotcha. No need to explain," he told me before winking and turning away.

I stared after him with my mouth hanging wide open. "Wait! No Rick that didn't happen!" I yelled to him. I sighed and looked back to see the entire group staring at me as if I'd lost my marbles. Maybe I had. Since when did I freak out so much when I saw that a guy was hard for me? Oh yeah, since it was Daryl!

I jumped as a hand was placed on my lower back and I let out a sigh when I saw that it was the very man that was consuming my thoughts right now. "C'mon, batsy. Let's go, gonna be a long day." I gave him a sidelong look as we walked to the table and he smiled at me. "Batsy. Like bat shit crazy." I laughed and shoved him away from me. I finally made it to the table where everyone was standing and Rick gave me a teasing grin to which I rolled my eyes and flicked him off. I received a small snort from Lori's direction and I smiled at the older woman. I felt like she needed all the niceness that she could get right now, seeing that her and Rick obviously weren't on the best of terms right now.

"Alright guys, let's head outside. We've got quite the cleanup job to do today," he told us and we all sighed. Despite my reluctance to do anything today though, I sucked it up and followed the group to the yard where Rick, Carol, T-Dog, Daryl, and I separated to the yard from the rest of the group to figure out what to do with the bodies. As we came to a stop I couldn't help but to wonder where Glenn and Maggie were. I hadn't seen them all day. Rick turned back to us and we all gathered around him. "Okay, let's get the other cars in," he told us and we all nodded.

Daryl pulled out the keys to his bike and nodded to the other side of the prison. "We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard," he told Rick. That meant that myself, him, and one other person would have to move the cars.

Rick nodded and looked to where Daryl had suggested. "Good, our vehicles camped out there look like a giant "vacancy" sign." He was right, it made the prison look like a safe haven to anyone that happened to be passing by. "After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn 'em," he said motioning out to the yard, where there had to be at least fifty walker bodies. Oh yeah, that was gonna be fun.

I heard T-Dog sigh on my side. "Gonna be a long day," he moaned. I nodded, this work was back breaking and the hundred degree heat didn't help matters at all.

"What's a matter buddy? Getting old? Can't do all that young fellow stuff anymore?" I asked him, prodding at his sides. He shoved me away and laughed, the rest of the group also laughing at his expense.

"Shut the hell up Rain," T said laughing at me. He looked around and seemed to also notice that two of our members were missing at the moment.

Daryl was finally the one to ask when he turned around to Rick. "Where's Glenn and Maggie? We could use some help." Seriously, we were all the true able bodied workers and we needed all the help we could get. We were even taking a risk having Carol out here, she was the only one who knew how to do a C section if Lori were to go into labor. Hopefully Lori can hold it until we can get this job done and Carol can get cleaned up.

Carol nodded behind us and looked over at Daryl. "Up in the guard tower," she told him. I let a small smile slip onto my lips. Sly guys, but not quite sly enough. We all knew what they were doing.

Daryl glared at the tower and let a confused look grace his features. Oh come on Daryl, I know you're a little oblivious to the ways of the naughty, but I know you can figure this one out. "Guard tower? They were just up there last night," he said to no one in particular. Yes, very good Daryl. Now what does a couple do when they are alone together in a room with no one to interrupt? They have sex! Well except for you because I'm pretty sure you think I have cooties. Oh come on Rain, this is not the time to be talking to yourself. And especially about yours and Daryl's not existent sex life. "Glenn! Maggie!" Daryl called up to the tower, and I jumped at the sudden volume of his voice. Way to be gentle sweetheart.

I heard the door click and I laughed when I saw it open to reveal a shirtless Glenn, who was buttoning and zipping his pants. Well damn Glenn, taking every last moments opportunity to do something aren't we? "Hey, what's up, guys?" Glenn asked with an awkward laugh. Oh come on man, we all know what was just going on. No need to try to hide it or look innocent.

"You coming?" Daryl called up to him. I couldn't help it. That time I burst out laughing, along with everyone else in our small group. Even from this distance I could see Glenn turning a bright red. The laughter got even worse when Maggie walked out with ruffled clothes and messed up hair, looking confused as ever. Well as least this time it was someone else who was getting the awkward, "oh, what were you two just doing?" look.

Glenn stared at us all dumbfounded for a moment before stupidly asking us, "what?" Damn, the two of them must have really been caught up in the moment. Well hey, at least someone's been getting in on around here. Alright, damn it hormonal teenage part of me. You stop that shit right now. I smiled as the laughter got even louder. It was good, it wasn't too often anymore that we all got to laugh. The world was too serious to have any fun anymore.

I looked over at Daryl and saw that he was wearing one of his rare, genuine smiles. "You comin'?" He called to the two. We all laughed and I leaned over to him.

"Aw Daryl I think we interrupted them before they could get there," I told him just loud enough for the couple to hear. At that, it wasn't just giggles anymore, Everyone in the group was in complete hysterics. Serves them right for every time they've made some awkward comment to Daryl and I.

Daryl laughed and smiled at me for a moment before looking back up to the guard tower where I could see the deep blush that both Glenn and Maggie were wearing. I glanced over to Maggie and saw that she was flipping me the bird so I gave her a sassy wink. The brunette rolled her eyes but smiled at me anyways. "Come on, we could use a hand," Daryl called to the couple. The two began to make their way down and I sighed. It had been fun but there was always more work to be done.

"Yeah, we'll be right down," Glenn called to us as they went back into the tower.

I smiled as I turned back to the group. It had been a long time since we had all had smiles on our faces. Glenn and Maggie had made their way out of the tower and come to stand next to us, Maggie taking a spot next to me. She shoved me and gave me a friendly glare. "I shrugged my shoulders at her and leaned over. "Sisters pick on each other right?" I asked her. She smiled and nodded at me, pulling me in for a quick side hug.

Rick was opening his mouth ready to give us the orders for the day when T-Dog cut him off. "Hey, Rick," he said, pointing out into the yard. I looked in the direction he was pointing, trying to figure out what he was talking about when I saw it. The two remaining prisoners, Axel and Oscar. They were standing at the fence staring at us. I felt my stomach leap into my throat and knew that my skin had turned a pale white. Daryl looked at me, knowing that I would have some sort of reaction to them. I gave him a weak smile, but he shook his head and scowled at me. He looked like he was about to chew me out, but Rick opened his mouth first.

Rick turned and stiffened when he saw the prisoners. Obviously angry, he turned back to face myself, T-Dog, and Daryl. "Come with me," he mumbled to us, and we all followed him up the yard. We were walking towards the prisoners, who were trying to meet up with us. As we got within a few feet of us, Rick put his hand up to them. "That's close enough. We had an agreement," he told them. Well, at least he was trying to be civil at first.

Axel nodded at Rick and stopped alongside Oscar. He was shaking, that much I could tell. "Please, mister. We know that. We made a deal. But you've gotta understand we can't live in that place another minute. You follow me? All the bodies- people we knew. Blood, brains everywhere. There's ghosts." Even though I wished that Axel had never shown up here, I couldn't help but feel bad for the man. He knew, as well as we did, that if he went out on the road he wouldn't survive. And a death by the walkers is something that I wouldn't even wish upon my worst enemy.

Rick stared at them for a moment and shook his head, not wanting to fall for the pity routine. I was sure that since he had been a Sheriff, he had seen that one time and time again. "Why don't you move the bodies out?" He asked them.

"You should be burning them," T-Dog put in. He was right, the smell of the walker bodies would just attract more. And leaving the bodies there only produced an awful smell. One that I could only imagine was most likely toxic. They needed to be taking the bodies out and burning them like T had suggested to them yesterday.

Axel nodded and at T and then shook his head. "We tried. We did." Uh huh, you tried but yet I don't see any pile of burning bodies over in the courtyard.

Oscar snorted and looked over at T-Dog. "The fence is down on the far side of the prison. Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. So hump in a body and just running back inside." I nodded. He made sense, we hadn't secured that side of the prison, so of course walkers were getting in. And they were way too scared to come over to our side to burn the bodies. Hell, Rick had threatened to kill them if he ever saw them again. Must have taken a lot of guts to even come out here.

"Look, we had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew. Nothing," Axel cried out without warning. I knew that they most likely had nothing to do with the attack, but it was better safe than sorry. There was no way that Rick would let these men in a place where his pregnant wife and son were living.

Daryl sneered at the man and spit out, "you trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro." I looked over at him and wondered what had gotten into him. I supposed that he really didn't like the idea of someone groveling for a way to survive. Daryl wasn't that type of person, and I suppose people like that bothered him.

Axel looked over at Daryl, and I could have sworn that he was about ready to drop down onto his knees and plead at Rick's feet. "We'll do whatever it takes to be part of your group. Just, please, please. Don't make us live in that place." I knew that he was tugging at Rick's heartstrings, but he stayed strong.

Rick shook his head and kept a blank face looking at the men. "Our deal is not negotiable. You either live in your cell block, or you leave." I knew that it was a tough thing to do, but Rick was forced into a narrow spot. He was stuck with the memories of what had happened with Andrew and Tomas. He didn't want to take the same risk with these men.

Oscar snorted again and turned away from us. "I told you this was a waste of time. They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out, like. Humph," Oscar huffed again and I glared at him. I knew that he was upset, but we were at least giving them a choice, there was no need to be a dick about it. They had pushed our hand after all. We had been willing to play nice.

Axel shook his head at his friend and turned to look at us. "These were good guys. Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint, like Thomas and Andrew. We've all made mistakes to get in here, chief. And I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me we've paid our due- enough that we would rather hit that road than to go back into that shithole." He waited for a moment to see if any of us would stick up for him, but we all remained silent. He could beg as much as he wanted, there was no way right now that we had the trust to let them live around us.

"C'mon, dude," Oscar huffed pulling Axel with him.

The two men retreated back into their cell and we all sighed. As we made the walk back up the our own cell block, Rick turned over to T-Dog and stared incredulously at him. "Are you serious? You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons. You want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?" He asked.

"I never stopped," T immediately growled at Rick. "Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves." I sighed, feeling like this was turning into another Randall situation. And we all saw how well that one worked out. We lost a few group members, and the farm.

Carol sighed and shuffled a little bit, as she, Maggie, and Glenn caught up with us. "I don't know. Axel seems a little unstable. After all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it? It's just been us for so long. They're strangers." She was right, even if we did put our trust in these men and they turned out to be good, we didn't know them. We had all been together for months and there was a bond between us. It would be weird to bring in someone new. We made it up to the gates of the cell block and made our way inside. I smiled as I saw Hershel sitting at the table. It was the first time that I'd seen the old man since the accident. He was one tough son of a bitch if he was already up. Now walking would be another matter, but I had seen this morning that Carl had found him a pair of crutches to use. I was ecstatic that the older man had made it, and now was on the road to recovery.

Maggie looked around and shook her head. "I don't- It feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around." She was right, at the moment there was no room for new people in our grup dynamic. Especially prisoners whose friends had tried to kill our leader.

T-Dog shook his head and looked over at Hershel. "You brought us in."

The older man smiled, but shook his head. "Yeah, but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms. Didn't give us a choice," he told the younger man. I nodded, Hershel's own man had shot one of our kids, of course they had to take us in. With Hershel being a Christian, his thing was that it had been the right thing to do.

"They can't even kill walkers," Glenn put in.

I smiled sadly and looked at T. "Don't you remember the shit that they pulled trying to kill the walkers like a mad man? T-Dog, they might not be dangerous but I don't think they're exactly helpful. I mean, look at Axel. The man barely looks like he could figure out how to open the gates. And Oscar, he's obviously upset with us, and I would hate to do something to make him snap. It's just not worth it, letting them live here with us." I saw the dejected look on T's face and I felt horrible, but someone had to make him see that letting these people in was a bad idea.

Rick nodded at me and let out a small sigh. "They're convicts, bottom line." Rick was right, no matter what, these men had done something to land them here. And none of what they did was exactly noble.

Daryl, who had been silent all of the conversation, finally spoke up. "Those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do. I get guys like this. Hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I am out here with you, guys." I gave him a sidelong glance. I supposed he meant because of Merle, but that just wasn't who Daryl was. He was a kind spirited man with a tough shell. But did he mean that he was for letting them in with us?

T-Dog looked surprised and turned towards Daryl. "So are you with me?" He asked.

Daryl stayed silent for a minute before shaking his head. "Hell, no. Let 'em take their chances out on the road, just like we did." I nodded at him, he had just been defending the fact that they weren't these horrible people, that anyone could have been them. Any single one of us.

"What I'm saying, Daryl-" T-Dog started before he was cut off by Rick.

"When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid. Wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during the interrogation, during the trial- suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence, and in 2 weeks later shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands." And with that, Rick stalked off and I sighed. I looked back and remembered that. I had been younger, still in high school, but I still remembered it. Good looking kid got all upset with his girlfriend for talking to another guy or something and he stabbed her. Turned out he liked it, so after he got off, he went and did it to another girl. This one, he had had absolutely no connection with. The whole thing had been this huge deal.

I had been so caught up in my own thoughts that I hadn't even noticed Daryl come up from behind me. He placed his hand on my shoulder and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I felt the vibrations from his laugh on my back and I quickly calmed down, allowing myself to smile at the warmth of his touch. "Whoa girl, just me. C'mon, I'm gonna go do a little repair on the bike. Could use an extra set of hands?" He subtly asked me to go out into the yard with him. I smiled and nodded, grabbing a few rags and tailing Daryl out of the cell block. We walked into the yard and I smiled as we came onto the bike. "Alright, I gotta put in a new brake pedal, so can you clean up the front?" He asked me. I nodded and decided to tease him a bit.

I pulled off my thin jacket, leaving me in my white shorts- from having been bleached so much- and grey vest. I wasn't normally one to tease like that, but it was Daryl, who I knew would be uncomfortable with it, so I figured why the hell not? "So you're gonna make me do a woman's job huh?" I asked him with a smarmy tone, grabbing a rag and leaning over the bike to start wiping it down. Daryl looked over at me, and I saw his eyes immediately bulge. I knew that he was trying as hard as he could not to stare, and I tried as hard as I could not to laugh. He huffed and went back to what he was doing and I let out a small laugh. For a while, we just worked on the bike in silence, I was now tightening the screws. As I worked though, I watched out of the corner of my eye and let a small smile slip across my lips every time he looked over and thought I wasn't looked. Curiosity finally hit me and I looked over at Daryl. "Hey Daryl, what's the story behind the bike anyways?" I asked him.

He looked surprised that I'd asked but he shrugged and went back to his work. "It was Merle's actually." That part I had known, I remembered back while we were on the road, before we'd reached the farm, that he would always get mad when people touched his brothers bike. "He got it when he was sixteen. I was really young at the time. Not much that I remember from that age but I still remember that stupid grin on his face bringing it up the driveway. I'm pretty sure he stole it though, cuz he went away to juvie for a while after that. He put the bike away, hid it well out in the shed. He told me before he left that people would come around looking for the bike because they wanted it, and if they asked, to tell them that we didn't have a bike. A few people came by, but I was always loyal to him, told them that we didn't have one. After a while they stopped coming around and Merle came back a few weeks later. I suppose that was one of the crimes he actually got away with." I stayed silent for a moment and then got up and hugged Daryl.

He seemed shocked but he loosened up and hugged me back. He gave me a questioning look, and I smiled at him. "Always were loyal weren't you?" I asked him. He nodded and I let go. I went back to work but turned back to him, "hey, that was a cute story about the bike. I knew that Merle wasn't all sex and drugs and illegal shit." Daryl smiled and we went back to work.

I had finished tightening the bolts and was about to ask Daryl what else he wanted me to do when I heard the car engines start. I turned around and saw that the group was moving the cars. I also saw that Axel was walking up, with a grin on his face as he looked at the bike. I couldn't help but to stiffen, there was no one to hide behind now. He came up and stood right behind Daryl, luckily avoiding me. "Twin cylinder. Is that a Triumph?" He asked Daryl.

Without even looking back, he snorted. "Don't even look at it," he snapped at Axel. I knew it wasn't just because it was Merle's bike, it was just because he wanted no part of the fight between Rick and the prisoners for letting the stay with us. I didn't blame him, I hoped that by giving him the cold shoulder Axel would give up and leave us alone.

Axel shuffled around for a minute, and I knew that he wasn't going to give up that easily. "Didn't want it bored out?" Axel asked as Daryl revved the engine. "Sounds like it could use a tune-up," Axel tried again. I could tell by the tightening of his hands that Daryl was beginning to get annoyed with Axel. "I'm pretty handy with the grind. Heads are leakin'," Axel said once more.

Daryl seemed to finally have enough as he stood up and threw down the rag. "I know my bikes!" He yelled at Axel, who jumped at the sudden volume change. "Man, will you just stop? Have some balls," Daryl grumbled at Axel.

The other man looked very dejected before stalking off in the other direction. "Just sayin'," he grumbled as he walked away.

I turned back to Daryl and rolled my eyes. "You know, he's scared. He doesn't want to stay in the cell block because it haunts him and he doesn't want to leave because he's scared of what's out there. I was scared like that once too. You can't blame him, he's trying to do everything in his power to stay with us." I sat for a moment waiting for a response, but all I got was a small huff. Scoffing, I went back to the bike and wiped down the wheels as Daryl went to looking at the gears.

I turned around as I heard the squeak of the cell block door and I smiled when I saw that it was Hershel, who seemed to be learning how to walk on the crutches. From the look of it, he was doing pretty well, being led by Lori and Beth. I poked at Daryl, who looked up at me and I pointed to the older man. He chuckled slightly and let a small smirk grace his lips. "All right. Just take your time," Lori told Hershel, who was working on getting down the stairs.

I smiled as I saw that Beth was fretting over her father. "Daddy, don't push yourself," the younger girl pleaded with her father. I laughed, Hershel was like me. Stubborn to a T. There was no way that he was going to take it easy. He didn't care if it meant potentially falling or tripping a few times. At least he was trying and not devastated at the loss of his leg.

Hershel seemed to find the same thing as funny as I had when he started to laugh. "What else am I going to do? I can't stand looking up at the bottom of that bunk," he told his daughter as he attempted to take the stairs on his own. "Whoa," he cried as he started to tip over, but luckily Lori and Beth were there to help him. He slowly took the rest of the steps and smiled proudly at himself. He tapped the crutch on the ground a few times and looked at the two females. "You know? I can go pretty steady," he assured them. Even with his assurance though, they were still reluctant to release their grip on him.

The two women finally moved away and Lori was smiling happily at him. It was the first genuine smile I'd seen from her in a while. "That's a good start. Want to take a rest?" She asked him. Yeah right Lori, he's just getting started.

Hershel smiled at her and gave her a devious glance. "Rest?" He asked her while laughing. "Let's go for a little stroll," he told her while starting ahead on the crutches. I smiled at him as he went around in circles.

Calling out to Hershel, I told him "Hey Hershel! You're a natural on those!"

He smiled back at me and laughed while hopping in circles with them. "That I am, Rain. I suppose I was always meant to only have one leg!" I laughed and turned back to the bike. However, not even a moment had gone by before Rick called a few of us over. I sat by and watched as Rick gave the prisoners some provisions that would last them about a week if they were careful with their rations.

Rick stood in front of Axel and handed him a box full of food and a few bottles of water. "There's enough food in there to last you guys a week. Cut you loose when we get back," Rick said. He was referring to the fact that we had to move the cars around and finish clearing the yard of the walkers before we could let the men out there.

Axel nodded and took the box of food from Rick's hands. I could tell that he was disappointed, but he knew at this rate there was nothing that could be done for them. "Thank you, bro," he told Rick who nodded at him. Oh well, at least Axel was being a gracious loser. He's doing a better job than I would have done.

Rick nodded at him and managed to keep a straight face. "Sit tight," he told the two men before walking away.

I was walking away as well when I heard Oscar ask Axel, "Thank you, bro"? I laughed, they may have been prisoners, but they treated each other like family, just the way that we all treated each other. As I followed Rick out of the top of the yard, I looped around and went to the cars, standing besides Rick and Glenn.

We were down by the fences and there was a walker growling across the fence. Glenn pulled out his gun and turned to Rick. "Should I take her out?" He asked.

Rick shook his head and pushed Glenn's gun down. "No. If that armory hadn't been picked clean, we could spare the ammo." He was right, throughtout the winter, our ammo supply had dwindled to a near zero. I only had two full magazines left and that was it. We had about a half of a box of additional ammo, but after we go through that, we'll be completely out.

Glenn nodded and placed his gun back into its holster. "I'll start making runs," he told Rick and I nodded. We needed to start going on runs. That food wouldn't last us forever, we needed bullets, and we had absolutely no baby food. That was the top priority for our group right now. Making sure that the baby would be able to make it through infancy.

"I'll go with you and I'm sure Maggie and Daryl will help too. We need to check a weapons store, and food supply stores. That food we have in there will last us a couple of weeks but I'm sure it will go fast. And baby powder, the baby won't make it very long without any. I'm sure there's a daycare around somewhere. Maybe I can find a Yellow Pages? See if I can find any nurseries around here?" I asked.

Rick nodded to me gratefully and ran a hand through his hair. I could tell that the poor guy was absolutely exhausted. "The sooner the better. And thank you Rain, you're right. The baby won't survive more than a few hours without it. Maybe you and Daryl could make that run?" He asked me. I nodded and he mumbled a small thank you before walking away. I followed in his footsteps and made my way over to Daryl, who was giving the bike a good wash.

I laughed and walked up to him, grabbing a washcloth and beginning to help him with cleaning the bike. I smiled at him and prodded his arm. "You know, I think you would make a good dad. You treat that thing better than most parents treat their kinds," I told him, nudging him. He smiled at me and gave a small snort.

"Yeah, well it doesn't talk back. A lot less of a pain in my ass than you." I laughed but punched him, throwing the wet cloth onto him. I grunted and he laughed, pulling it off of his face, shining the front of the bike. I had been washing off the bike for a few minutes when I saw a small engraving in the side of the bike. However, it wasn't an actual engraving. It looked like they had done it with a knife. Looking a little closer, I saw that it was a name. "Merle Dixon" it read. I smiled at the bike an snorted. Naturally Merle would do that, ward off any unwelcome visitors for his bike. The is thing must have meant more than anything to Merle.

I turned around to get more water on the rag when I saw that Hershel had actually gotten pretty far on his own. Lori and Beth were still standing off to his sides just in case though. "I got you here if you need it. Just take your time on these steps," she told him. Of course though, he was going to manage to do it on his own.

Hershel was tilting slightly toward Carl who whooped when Hershel caught himself. Hershel took a look around and saw the yard and gave an approving nod. "You cleared all those bodies out? It's starting to look like a place we could really live in," he told Rick. I nodded my agreement. The place was almost cozy. Well if you counted a fenced in, dark, barred prison as it cozy it is. But still, it kept us safe, and we were building a life here. Our family was all here. We were home.

Hershel stumbled a bit and Rick walked over to him. "Hey, you watch your step. Last thing we need is you falling," Rick cautioned the older man who merely waved our leader off.

Daryl laughed lowly next to me and stood up, myself following suit. "Looky here. He is one tough son of a bitch," Daryl called out. I laughed and Hershel gave a small smile. I gave him an adoring look, I loved it when Daryl interacted with the group like that. They might never know it but Daryl was actually a huge goofball, I'd learned that in our late night talks.

Glenn looked up from his work and laughed at Daryl's comment. "All right, Hershel!" He cried out. I laughed at his enthusiasm but grimaced when I realized how loud his yell had actually been. Even though we were fenced in, we didn't want to risk drawing more walkers over to the prison. We wanted to keep as low of a profile as we could.

It seemed that Rick was thinking the same thing as he glared at the young Asian man. "Shh! Keep your cheers down," Rick hissed at me. I saw the heartbroken look on Glenn's face and I walked over to him placing my hands on his shoulder. He looked at me with a sad smile and shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, man. Can't we just have one good day?" He asked me.

I sighed and squeezed his shoulders. "He's just stressed out Glenn. He's got the prison to worry about, getting rid of the prisoners, the walkers, getting this place ready, and on top of all that he has a pregnant wife. And if you hadn't noticed, things aren't exactly going very well between the two of them."

He nodded at me and let out a long breath. "I know that Rain, but still. Couldn't he just let us have a little fun?" He asked me. I had no answer so I just stood there while Glenn walked away. I sighed and turned around to see Carl standing besides me. I smiled at him and he gave me a smile back. At least he was doing better than his mom and dad.

We turned around to where Beth was standing beside her father. "You're doing great, Daddy," Beth told him to which the older man smiled. She was right, he was making amazing progress for having just gotten up earlier today. It wasn't exactly very easy learning how to live on one leg.

Carl watched the older man figure out how to walk arund and he smirked at him. "Ready to race, Hershel?" He called out. I smiled at the challenge, pulling Carl into my side, giving him a side hug to which he gave me a small hug back.

Hershel smirked back the young boy. "Give me another day. I'll take you on," he told Carl. Both myself and Carl laughed as we turned back to the rest of the group. I looked around and noticed that there was even a small smile on Rick's face. I knew that he still had some happiness in there, he wasn't completely gone.

Rick turned back around and grabbed the shoulders of a dead walker by his feet. "Grab the rest of the bodies," he told the rest of us while still attempting to control his laughs. I turned looking for a body when I heard a small snarl. I turned to yell at Daryl for trying to scare me and I saw it. "Walkers!" Rick yelled at the smae time I had been about to. "Look out!" He yelled facing me, and I ducked out of the way just in time to avoid a walker. Pulling out my knife I drove it into the walkers skull and grabbed Carl by the hand pulling him with me. "No!" I heard Rick yell and I risked a glance to see what was happening. There were walkers everywhere, and the growling was so loud that I could hardly hear the screams of anyone around us. There were guns firing left, right, and center, so I moved into an open space, hoping that by being there no one would mistake us for walkers. "Get out! Get out of there! No! Lori!" I could still hear Rick yelling. Lori had been dangerously close to being bit, but luckily Maggie had come to her rescue at the last moment, pulling her towards Carl and I.

I watched them hit a gate, and I fired round after round, alongside Carl, at the walkers to try to get to the cage that Maggie and Lori were going into. "Carl! Rain! Come in here!" She screamed to us. I started to make a mad dash to the cage, but three walkers cut us off. With no more ammo and no time to put in the other magazine, I took my knife to the first one's forehead while Carl shot the other two. Turning back once more I saw Beth and Hershel manage to lock themselves in a cage and watch the carnage.

"That gate is open!" Rick screamed, pointing to the gate that had been preventing walkers from getting into the concrete patio. How the hell had someone gotten that off? Someone had to have somehow gotten in there and cut the wires.

I stood staring for a moment praying that I would be able to find Daryl but I had no such luck, until I finally heard his voice call out. "Come on, come on! Rain!" I smiled at the knowledge that he was still alive and I waved out to him, screaming his name. I could tell that he was trying to find me but there was too much chaos, he would never be able to see me with all this going on. I sighed and turned back to the fence, running to it and managing to make it into the gate with Carl. I grabbed onto Maggie and slammed the door closed, with Lori clinging onto her son behind us.

I jumped as an alarm went off, and walkers hit the cage at all sides. I grabbed Maggie's arm and dragged her through the cage, pushing Lori and Carl ahead of us. With my bow drawn, I held in, nocked and ready, waiting to see if any walkers were on the inside. I took the lead, with Maggie ahead of me and we started through the hallway. I heard Lori grunt and her footsteps slowed before I turned around to see if she was OK. "Can you keep up?" Maggie asked her.

Lori was now bent over, and I felt my heart race go up as I prayed that I wasn't right about what I thought was about to happen. She stood for a moment before looking at Maggie and I. "Something's not right," she told us while clutching her stomach. Oh God, please not now. Anytime, but not right now.

Carl stared at his mother and grabbed her arms. "Are you bit?" He asked.

She took her arms away and went back to holding her stomach. She grunted and squeezed her eyes shut. "No, no, no. I think the baby's coming," she moaned. Oh my God, no way.

"Lori are you sure?" I asked her. She nodded and let out a small scream to which I grimaced. I knew that if there were any walkers around, we had just alerted them to where we were.

"Mom?" Carl asked, and it was just then that I heard the snarling of the walkers. Damn it! We took off running and headed in the other direction from the snarling.

We had made it a few yards when Lori bent over. It was obvious that she couldn't go very much longer. She would have to stop soon. I ran over to her and pulled on her arms, trying to get her to move. "No, there's no time!" Maggie yelled as she finally got Lori to move. The snarling of the walkers was getting closer and closer with every step and I knew that they must have been almost right behind us. I turned around to fight when I heard Maggie yell and she pulled me to a stop. "In here!" Lori was grunting and couching behind us so I was thankful that we could get a place to stop. Hopefully a safe one. We ran inside the room and I quickly threw the door, bolting it. "Okay," Maggie sighed breathing heavily.

I leaned back on the door, trying to ignore the alarms and calm my breathing down. I was almost back to normal when a bang on the door from the walkers nearly gave me a heart attack. Lori was leaning back against a pipe, breathing in and out heavily. She looked up at the ceiling and asked, "what are those alarms?"

"Don't worry about it," Maggie told her.

Carl looked around for a while and held his gun out, ready to shoot in case the walkers broke through. But there was no way, those doors were bulletproof. This was a prison for a reason after all. "What if it attracts them?" He asked. I hated to think it but that was probably why someone had set them off in the first place.

Lori was staring to pant a little too much for my comfort and it seemed that Maggie felt the same way. "Lori, let's lay you down," she told the older woman. I walked over to help Lori lay down on the cold stone floor. Considering that she was burning up, the cold floors probably felt great to her.

Lori tried to fight us but I knew that she was far too weak to fight off either one of us. "No, the baby's coming now. We have to get back to our cell block to have Hershel help," Lori tried to reason.

I was about to tell Lori that we couldn't risk it out there. That we could get lost, or she could go into labor right out there, or we could get surrounded but Maggie beat me to it. "We can't risk getting caught out there. You're gonna need to give birth to this baby here," she told Lori and I nodded. It wasn't worth the risk to try to make it back to our cell block right now.

"Great," Lori panted as she settled into the floor.

Her panting got heavier and Carl ran over, running between myself and Maggie. "What is she doing? Can't she breathe?" He asked us in a hurry, clearly worried about his mother.

Maggie pushed him back and she leaned down by Lori's hips. "She's fine. Come here, let's get your pants off." She helped Lori wiggle off her pants. I stood to the side dumbfounded. I had never planned on having children so I had never really paid any attention to the sex ed classes in school, I ignored people talking about their children, and I hadn't been in the room when my sister had been born. I'd never even seen a birth on TV.

"Okay. Okay," Lori tried to assure herself. I could tell that she was in a lot of pain from the winces that were crossing her face.

Maggie turned to Carl and pulled him up besides her. "You're gonna need to help deliver your brother or sister. You up for it?" She asked Carl. Not really having a choice, he nodded with a scared look on his face.

Lori looked surprised as she glanced at Maggie. "Do you know how?" She asked.

Maggie let out a grunt as she sat in front of Lori feet, spreading her legs a little bit. "Dad taught me, but trust me, it's my first time." I could see the confused look on Maggie's face and I knew that something was wrong. "I can't tell," Maggie said, coming back up to look at Lori. Oh yeah, I was getting a really bad feeling about this.

Lori nodded at Maggie and took a few deep breaths. "I gotta push," Lori told Maggie who just nodded in response with a small OK. "I gotta push," Lori repeated as she pushed. She grunted and made small sounds of effort as she pushed but it seemed like no matter how much she pushed, we were getting nowhere in the labor process.

"Somebody!" Maggie screamed out, startling me from Lori's body. It didn't matter how loud Maggie screamed though, no one was on this side of the prison and they most likely wouldn't be for a while. Until they were able to get a search party together, and I had no idea who had even made it besides us, Beth, and Hershel.

"I'm okay, I'm okay. I'm okay," Lori tried to console Maggie.

Maggie nodded and stared at Lori as she tried to push as hard as she could. "You're doing great, Lori. Just keep doing it. Your body knows what to do. Let it do all the work." I watched for a moment and winced when Lori gave a small yelp of pain. Yeah, this whole thing had to hurt like a bitch. "You're doing great. Lori, don't push- stop. Something's wrong." I looked up and went to Lori's feet. I saw that there was a lot of blood. More than I thought was supposed to come out.

Carl shook his mom as her eyes started to roll into the back of her skull. She was losing too much blood too fast. "Mom? Mom, look at me, look at me. Keep your eyes open. We have to get you back to Dad," Carl told his mother. I could hear his voice breaking and my heart broke for him. He knew what was happening and so did I. One of them wasn't going to make it and Lori was going to make sure it was her baby.

Lori confirmed my thought when she opened her eyes and looked up at her son with a tiny smile. "I'm not gonna make it," she told him and I felt my heart shatter in two. Rick needed to be here.

"Lori, with all this blood, I don't even think you're fully dilated yet. No amount of pushing is gonna help," Maggie told her.

Lori nodded and I could tell that she was coming to terms with what was about to happen. She nodded and coughed. "I know what it means, and I'm not losing my baby. You've gotta cut me open," she told Maggie. I looked at Maggie and saw the fear in her eyes. She didn't want to be the one to have to do that.

"No. I can't," Maggie cried.

Lori looked at her and shook her head grabbing Maggie's hands. "You don't have a choice," Lori told her. She was right, it wasn't Maggie's choice whether or not to save Lori. It was her own and she had made the decision. And that was to save the baby. That would be our last grant of Lori's wishes.

Maggie shook her head and started to get up. "I'll go for help."

"No!" Lori cried, grabbing Maggie's arm and pulled her back down to the floor.

Maggie sighed and stared at Lori. "Look, Carol is the one that practiced that. Dad only taught me the steps, Lori. If I-" Maggie tried to argue, but Lori cut her off.

Lori began to cry while looking at Maggie and I felt the tears rise to my own eyes. "Please," Lori begged. I could see Maggie's resolve start to die but I knew that she was going to try a little longer to not get Lori to give up.

"I have no anesthetic, no equipment-" Maggie tried, but once more Lori cut her off.

Lori shook her head and motioned to Carl's waistline. "Carl has a knife. So does Rain. Use hers. It's sharper. Actually, Rain, will you do it?" I stared in utter shock. What the hell did she ask me? I didn't know how to deliver a damn baby. I started to stutter but Lori cut me off. "Rain, you have the hunting experience. You know how to skin animals and you know where the vital organs are. You know how to do this Rain. You are a hunter, you know how to gut the animals," Lori told me.

"Animals Lori! You are a human. I have less experience than Maggie! You won't survive. There's no way. I can't do it, I won't do it," I told her. I hated to do it, but I didn't want to be responsible for the death of Lori.

She looked at me and grabbed my hand. "Have Maggie stand over you and instruct you on what to do. My baby has to survive. Please. My baby for all of us. Please, Rain! Please!" Lori took a few gasps and I patted her on the chest. "Please," she begged. I stared at her for a moment before nodding. "You see my old C-section scar?" Lori asked. I looked and say the long scar on her stomach.

Oh God, what if I do it and I cut into the baby? "I can't," I somehow managed to rasp out. I was way too afraid to do this. What if I ended up killing both of them? Then Lori will have died for nothing.

Lori shook her head and grabbed my hands. "You can. You have to," I nodded to her. It was her last wish and I had to respect that she knew that there was no way she would survive this. "Carl? Baby, I don't want you to be scared, okay? This is what I want. This is right. Now you- you take care of your daddy for me, all right? And your little brother or sister, you take care-" She stared before being interrupted by Carl.

"You don't have to do this," he told her. I looked over and I saw that the boy was on the verge of tears. Watching the exchange between the two of them, I felt my eyes start to water too but I blinked the tears back. I needed to be able to see to do the operation.

Lori smiled at her son and pulled him down next to her. "You're gonna be fine. You are gonna beat this world. I know you will. You are smart, and you are strong, and you are so brave, and I love you."

"I love you too," he choked out.

Lori looked at her son and put her hand on the side of his face. "You gotta do what's right, baby. You promise me, you'll always do what's right. It's so easy to do the wrong thing in this world. So don't- so if it feels wrong, don't do it, all right? If it feels easy don't do it. Don't let the world spoil you. You're so good. You're my sweet boy. The best thing I ever did. I love you. I love you. You're my sweet, sweet boy. I love you. Okay- okay, now. Okay." Lori was by now full out crying, saying her final goodbye to her son. "Rain, when this is over, you're gonna have to-" Lori started before I cut her off.

"Shh-" I hushed her. I knew that we would have to shoot her in the head to prevent her from coming back. When she went from this life, I wanted her to go for good. Never have to stay here in the shell of what she had once been.

She looked at me and took my hand. "You have to do it. It can't be Rick. All right all right. It's all right. It's all right. Whew, whew Good night, love," she told me before closing her eyes. I knew at that point, she was ready.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my knife. I clicked it open and held it at the base of Lori's stomach, right on top of the scar. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Lori. I didn't want this to happen. I'll watch after Rick and Carl," I promised her. I saw the smile on her face and I knew that now she would die content. Knowing that people were there to watch after her family for her. I dug the knife in, not even an inch and Lori let out an Earth shattering scream. I tried to squeeze my eyes shut, but I forced myself to keep them open, I had to pay attention to what I was doing. Her screams stopped and Carl nearly threw himself on top of me.

"What are you doing to her?" He asked me. I ignored him and felt Lori shudder, then stop. With that, I knew that she had passed on. I panicked and started to move the knife faster. I didn't want Lori to come back while I was still doing the procedure.

When I had finally finished the cut, I let Maggie take over, while I pulled the skin apart slightly. I looked down and saw that I was completely drenched in blood. Lori's blood. "Okay, come on I see it. I see the ears," Maggie told me while she grabbed one of the appendages. "I'm gonna pull it out. I can't tell if this is the arm or the leg," she said taking a long look at the infant.

"Pull the baby out. Doesn't matter, we'll figure it out when we get it out," I told her. I was still panicking that Lori wouldn't come back, but was still trying to be careful so we didn't accidentally kill the baby. I reached into her stomach and felt what I thought was the torso. I wrapped my hand around it and looked at Maggie. "Okay," I told her before giving it a big yank. The baby pulled free and a disgusting squelching sound came out, along with a lot of blood. If I hadn't been drenched in blood before, I sure was now. Carl gasped at the sight of his new sister from the looks at it, who was crying, thank God. We would have to get her to Hershel to see if she was actually OK. I handed the baby to Maggie, who wrapped her up and stood up, myself following suit. "We have to go," I told the two of them.

Carl stood there and I was about to tell him that he had to go when he motioned to his mother. "We can't just leave her here. She'll turn," Carl said. I looked at her and knew that we had to do it. I raised my knife and went over to Lori's corpse.

I had only taken a few steps when I was stopped by Carl. "No," he told me.

"Carl-" I started, before he cut me off.

He looked at me and shook his head. "She's my mom," he told me, tears running down his face, and Maggie sobbing behind us. "No more kids' stuff. People are gonna die. I'm gonna die. Mom. There's no way you can ever be ready for it," he told me. He pulled out his gun and I nodded. I walked over to the corner and stood with Maggie. I held her to me, being mindful of the baby when I turned back. Carl was standing over his mother, and even when I knew he was going to pull the trigger, it still surprised me. The gunshot seemed louder than it normally was and now, I finally let my tears fall. As Carl walked up to us, I opened the door and listened to Carl shoot the walkers that still remained. With my body on autopilot, I walked out to the yard, with the tunnels seeming to close in, and the world felt like it was spinning. We had finally made it to the door that led outside, and I could hear our group talking right outside them.

I heard Rick's voice first and my sobs came even harder. "We're going back. Daryl and Glenn, you come with-" I heard as I opened the door. Oh thank God, at least Daryl was alive. I walked out first, I had been a few feet ahead of Maggie and Carl. I saw the look of utter shock on my group member's face when I walked out into light, probably looking like one of the walkers.

"Oh my God. Rain. What the hell happened to you?" Daryl asked me as he and Rick started to approach me. My tears were now unstoppable as Rick came within a few feet of me. It wasn't even a heartbeat later, when Maggie and Carl walked out of the tunnels. I heard the baby crying and I looked Rick dead in the eyes. I knew that he was putting two and two together and he had figured out that his wife was no longer with us.

His eyes started to water as he looked at me. "Where- where is she? Where is she?" He asked me as the first tear started to fall. I shook my head and he burst into tears, and went to run past me.

"No Rick, no!" I called after him, trying to grab onto him, but he ripped his arm from me.

He walked over to Carl and bent down beside his son. "Oh, no. No! No! No!" With all of the energy gone from him, he dropped to his knees, falling to the ground and crying. I dropped down and Daryl pulled me into him. The silence was deafening, the only cries being Rick and the baby's cries, reminding us all of what had just happened. I staggered to my feet with the help of Daryl, and I watched as Rick picked up and axe, running into the area we had just come out of. I knew what he was doing, he was going to go take his anger out on the walkers. I let myself fall to my knees as my vision faded out. Daryl caught me before I fell and dragged my limp body into the cell block. I could have been attacked by walkers as this point and I wouldn't have cared. I had done it. I had killed Lori. She was dead and it was my fault. Me. Rick was devastated because of me. I felt myself being thrown down and I registered that I had dropped onto the cot that we shared.

I let my head fall into my hands, and I tensed when I felt Daryl's arms wrap around me. "Shh Rain. It'll be OK. You didn't do anything. It wasn't you," he tried to console me.

I didn't know what had come over me, but I let my sadness over Lori turn into anger, and I was about to turn it on Daryl. "What the hell do you know?!" I shrieked at him. I immediately felt a twinge of guilt when I saw the look on his face, but I shook it off. The anger was coming out and I couldn't stop it now. "It was my fault! Lori's death was my fault!" Daryl tried to ask me what had happened, but I cut him off. I knew what he wanted to know. "We were running through the tunnels. We were doing OK, looking for a way away from the walkers when all of a sudden Lori bent over. She was going into labor, so we ran into a boiler room. She was pushing and everything was going fine until she started bleeding. Real bad too. Maggie told her to stop pushing and after a while Lori knew that she would have to have a C section. She knew she wouldn't survive. Maggie was gonna do it but Lori stopped her. Told me to do it. I had more experience skinning and gutting an animal. I did it, and I tried to keep her alive Daryl, I tried. But I couldn't. She died. And we got the baby. But Carl- He- he had to shoot his own mother. He didn't want her to come back as a walker. I was gonna do it, but he said that it had to be him. She told me to do it but still. I killed her Daryl. I killed Lori!" I shrieked the last part at him, angry for everything, even though I knew that he hadn't done anything. I was no longer crying, and my normal vision had returned, but it felt like there was nothing left in me.

Daryl sighed and pulled me into him. I knew that he was trying to process what I had just told him, since he was silent. After a few minutes, he pushed me forward and grabbed my hands. "Rain, what happened to Lori wasn't your fault. She wanted it Rain. She wanted her baby to live, and she knew that she had to die in order for that to happen." I shook my head at him and dropped my face. He quickly grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. "Do you know why she asked you to do it, and not Maggie? Really why she asked you?" I shook my head at him, my curiosity now piqued. "Because she knew that you were strong. Maggie is strong too, but not like you. You've been through so much. You've seen so much that no person has ever had to see, and you've come back from it all. Lori knew that. Rain, it wasn't a secret that when you joined us, you didn't trust us and that you didn't like us. We all knew that. But somehow, you let yourself in to us. And we all grew to love you. We saw that you were more than the tough girl with a rough childhood. That you were a kind, loving, amazing woman. That was why Lori picked you. That's why I love you."

I stared blankly at Daryl for a moment before leaning in and giving him a quick kiss. He had just said one of the hardest things for him to say. "I love you too," I told him attempting at a smile. I sighed though, I should tell him. He should know why I was so scared of being in this prison. "You asked what was wrong with me when I saw Axel. Do you still want to know?" I asked him. He nodded his head and dropped my hands. I sighed and crossed my legs. This was gonna be a long story.

I had been about to start my story when Daryl cut me off. "Rain, if you don't want to tell me, you don't have to. Not today at least." I smiled at him but shook my head.

"No Daryl, I need to tell you this. It's only fair that you know absolutely everything important about me that there is to know. And this is important." He nodded and I took a few deep breaths preparing myself to tell a story that I had never told anyone. "I knew Axel once. A long time ago. When I was 16 I met him. Not for a long time, but I briefly knew him." Daryl nodded and I sighed, I had started the story and now I had to finish it. "Anyways, I told you that I left the house when I was 14 right?" I asked him. He nodded at me. "Well, my uncle actually let me stay with him. Not that he really took care of me, it was just a place to go. But he told me when I first moved in that I could stay until I was 16. And that's what I did. The day after my 16th birthday, true to his word, my uncle kicked me out. I had hoped that he would let me stay, but I knew that he wouldn't. So I left, with no place to go. I had been working, so I saved up enough for a cheap, sleazy hotel. Stayed there for a few weeks but I was running out of money, so I was forced to leave. My first night out on the streets I was walking down some barely lit road. Huge guy came walking down from the other side. I was terrified but I wasn't gonna let him see that, so I stood tall and kept walking. Although at 16, I was barely 5 feet. Guy knew I would be no match so he walked over to me. Tried a few times to get me to talk, but I stayed silent. I was just looking for a place to duck inside but everywhere was closed. Guy figured I had something on me so he jumped me. I tried to fight him off but he was winning. He had a gun, I had no choice. I pulled out my pocket knife, and I stabbed. I tried to get him somewhere non vital, so I hit him in the leg. He fell off of me and I went to run, but I saw all of the blood. More than there should have been. I realized it then, I had hit his femoral artery," I told Daryl.

He was still silent, so I took that as a sign that I could continue. "Anyways, the guy freaked out. He was crying and screaming. Didn't take long for the cops to come. Four of 'em came, surrounded us. He was putting on a real show for them, screaming and crying that I had a knife, I was some delinquent that had attacked him. With a knife in my hand and blood all over me it was an easy story for them to buy. Wasn't a minute after that that he went into some sort of shock and died right there. They tried, believe me they tried to save him but they couldn't. He had lost too much blood and he wasn't coming back. They grabbed me by the shoulders. I tried to tell them that I was just a homeless kid and that he had jumped me but they didn't buy that story. I got thrown in the back of the cop car and brought into custody. The next morning, I was brought to the county jail. It still wasn't real to me though, I had killed a man. It may have been in self-defense and an accident, but still. I was a murderer now." I stopped my story and looked over to gauge a reaction from Daryl.

He was staring at his hands intently. He was obviously trying to process the entire story. It was a lot of information to take in, and there was about to be a lot more. "Anyways, I spent three months there until they finally cleared the crime as self-defense. It wasn't too bad just to be there in prison, it was a place to stay, but the shit that happened to me there was fucked up. I hadn't even been there a few days before the looks started, from all of the male prisoners. It wasn't like they got many female inmates, and most of those men hadn't had any in quite a while. I knew what they wanted, so I tried to stay away as best as I could. But I was the young, fresh, meat and most of the female prisoners were either coked out or probably a man."

"It had been a few weeks and I'd done pretty well avoiding the men, but one night, they managed to break into my cell. It wasn't like the guards cared. They got paid and the prisoners weren't trying to break out. Anyways, three men broke into my cell and they grabbed me. Two ripped the uniform off while the other just sat there laughing. He unbuckled his pants and let them drop. I tried to fight them off, but they were fully grown men that were good fighters. There was no way I could get out. The only thing I could say was that I left quite a few nasty scars on them. Anyways, they got my uniform off and threw me down to the ground. Their leader just grabbed me by my hair and pulled me around. He grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me up to him. He asked why I wasn't crying, but I stayed silent. He didn't deserve to hear me beg for mercy, or to see me cry. With no mercy, he just did it. No warning, no nothing. Hurt like hell, and was the most embarrassing ting to ever happen to me. He finished and pulled out. Blood was everywhere. I'll never forget his words to me. 'Don't cry, you're a woman. Take it like one.' They treated me like an animal, passing me between the three of them all night. They didn't leave until the sun was rising. It wasn't the first time that I had ever expected to happen."

I looked at Daryl's face, and I saw everything. Anger, horror, pity, and pure fury. I knew that he was about to crack, but my story wasn't done. "I didn't sleep that night. Just grabbed the uniform, pulled it on with a blanket, and laid in my bed. The guard walked in the next morning and laughed. 'Sounded like you had a fun night.' He saw the blood on the floor and cracked up. Let me out and I tried to walk, but I couldn't. Just fell back down. He brought me my food, and I laid there, all day. Didn't move. Finally at night, the men came back in. It was the same first guy, just with a new sidekick. I tried to fight again that night, but once more I lost. It became a nightly thing, and after a while, I just stopped fighting. It wasn't worth the beatings. I got into the habit of smoking, cigarettes at first. Every day, all day long. Soon, they weren't enough, I needed something stronger. That was when I turned to the alcohol. I drank every night, and they eventually just became drunk fucks. I was so used to them that they were nothing anymore. I just took them. Not long after that, the marijuana use started, and then the heavier shit. Ecstasy, shrooms, cocaine. It was hard to come by, but the nights in my cell were what paid my debts off. They were coming in anyways so why not get something out of it? It was mostly just to become numb to the whole thing. I couldn't take it, so I wanted a way to pretend that it didn't exist."

Daryl's look broke my heart. I had never seen him look so disappointed in me. Tears rose to my eyes, but I needed to finish the story, I couldn't leave it there. "It went like that for a little over a month before I finally met Axel. He had been transferred into the prison, and I met him right as he moved in. We had the same guard that came to retrieve us, so I met him on his first day there. Turned out he already knew who I was. He came up to me one day asking if I was Rain. I nodded and told him I was, thinking he was gonna try to make an exchange with me, but that wasn't what he wanted. Instead, he asked me if he wanted to stay in his cell. I asked him why and he told me something that I'd never forget. 'You're a beautiful young woman. Don't do this to yourself, you are so much more than this. Don't let these men bring you down to their level. They have nowhere to go in life, you only can go up. And I know that you can. Looking at you I can tell, this isn't you. You only do this to numb the pain. I used to do it too. Stay in my cell tonight, you'll be under protection with me, the guard in my area won't let those men anywhere near you. If you don't like it, you can leave in the morning and never come back. Just give it a shot.' I agreed with him and stayed the night. We stayed up all night and nothing happened. We talked, I told him about my life and he told me about mine. And when we went to bed, it was the first night that I hadn't slept in fear, or coming down from a high. I spent the next few nights there and it quickly became my new home." I stopped my story to take a deep breath.

I wanted to finish it and get to hear what Daryl had to say. By the look on his face, I could tell that it was nothing good. It was now just a blank stare, one that shattered my hopes that he would still love me. "Anyways, that was when the withdrawals started. It was the worst pain that I'd ever felt. Well maybe not all that shit that happened after the farm but you get the point. They were horrible and I just wanted more. I wanted to be high, and I wanted to be numb. Axel was there for me though, he was with me every step of the way. Whenever I was getting weak, he was always there to remind me of why I was giving it up. He was the reason that I quit on the drugs. But anyways, right after I was detoxed, I got the news that the death of the man who mugged me was deemed self-defense. I was free. It was also that day that I learned that Axel was going to be transferred to another Georgia prison. I guess this was it. But anyways, I got out and I stayed at a home for troubled youth until I graduated and saved up enough money to get an apartment. I started college and I got my life together. The only thing was, sex was nothing for me anymore. The special feeling that I was supposed to get the first time was stolen from me, so it's never really meant anything to me. And the alcohol use never stopped either. I drank all the way until the shit hit the fan, I wasn't drunk to the point that I had been in prison, but it was still bad. There are plenty of nights that I don't remember. That was what I wanted, to forget everything. To forget my family, and everything after losing them. I owe Axel a thank you, he saved my life and I never got to thank him."

I stared up at Daryl, hoping that there would be some type of reaction, but I saw nothing. He had a blank stare on his face and was looking down at his hands. My eyes started watering as I realized that he had no idea what to say, and he looked like he wasn't going to say anything for the foreseeable future. "Daryl, please say something. Anything. Scream if you have to, just say something," I pleaded with him. I had to hear his voice, I had to know if he still felt the same way that he had before I had told him all of this.

He looked at me and opened his mouth, however a call came up to us. "Daryl. Rain. The baby needs some type of nourishment and Rick is nowhere to be found right now. I'm sorry to ask, but can you both come down here and give us a hand?" I stared at Daryl, who shook his head, stood up and turned to the staircase.

"We'll be right down," he called to Hershel. Looking back at me, he shook his head again and walked to the edge of the perch to grab his crossbow. I sat in silence for a moment wishing that I had never said anything. He hated me. He hated what I had done and now I was paying for it. He would never speak to me again. He thought I was disgusting. I let my head drop into my arms and silently wished that one of those walkers had gotten me today. I didn't deserve to have these people in my life and I sure as hell didn't deserve to be alive.


	26. Reunited

I watched as Daryl walked off of the perch, and I let my head drop. I had lost him, I cared about everyone in this group, but I had lost the one I cared the most about. The one person that I couldn't lose. I sat, letting the tears run down my face for a few minutes, wallowing in my own self-pity. I heard footsteps clunking on the stairs, and for a moment, I prayed that it was Daryl. However, I could tell by the uneven thumping that it was Hershel on his crutches. I looked up at him and wiped my eyes as he came to stand in front of me. He offered me his hand, and I tugged on it lightly to pull myself up, not knowing how strong, or steady, he was with only one leg. I leaned back against the railing for a minute collecting my thoughts before I turned to him. "I'm sorry, I'll be there in just a second to help with the baby." Hershel nodded to me and I ran my hands through my hair.

Taking a deep breath, I went to go downstairs when Hershel put his arm out to stop me. "Rain, I thought you'd like to know that I heard everything." I gave him an incredulous look and he nodded at me. "Every last word of your story. I didn't mean to, but I have two daughters. I may be old, but I got a lot of practice hearing quiet conversations. Even if I didn't mean to," he told me, giving me an apologetic look. "No one else heard it, I was the only one close enough to hear." I nodded at him, relieved that no one else knew my story. I supposed that if someone had to know besides Daryl, I was glad that it was Hershel. Besides Maggie, he was probably the only other person I trusted with that story. "Rain. Don't hate yourself. Daryl doesn't, and I don't. You did what you did, but that was in the past. Your past does not define your future. I've never seen anything to give me a bad impression of you. You're caring and kind, more than I've ever seen from anyone. You may not see it, but the rest of us do. We love you Rain, every last one of us. Come back to us sweetheart," he told me.

I sat staring at him for a moment, not believing what he had just said, but I actually felt a small smile cross my face. It made me feel slightly better, I knew now that I just had to talk to Daryl. I had to know what he thought of what I'd done. Good or bad, I had to know. It was eating me alive. "Thank you Hershel. That means more to me then you could ever imagine." The old man smiled at me and nudged me towards the staircase. I laughed and walked slowly down, making sure that he was able to keep his balance. We got downstairs and I saw that Daryl was asking the group about our new addition.

"We need to feed her. Is there anything that the baby can eat?" He asked. I shook my head, right now she was too young. The only thing that she would be able to digest is baby formula, and we didn't have any. If we didn't get some soon, the baby would be dead in a matter of hours, it was a race against the clock now.

Hershel pushed lightly past me and went to stand in front of Daryl, keeping his eyes locked on the baby. "The good news is that it looks healthy. But she needs milk. And soon, or not survive." I saw the worried looks cross the group member's face, and I knew that I was sharing the same look. I wasn't a fan of children, but we had not fought this hard, and Lori had not died for this baby to not survive. Something had to be done.

It seemed that Daryl shared my thoughts, as he grabbed his crossbow and turned to the exit of the cell block. "No. No way. Not her. We will not lose anyone else. I will run." I watched him leave, and I stepped in front of him, shouldering my bow and grabbing my arm guard, hoisting them both on as fast as I could.

"I'll cover. I am going," I told him.

He nodded at me and stepped around, turning back to me. He hadn't really looked happy or upset, so I did my best to look like the indifference hadn't affected me. "Well then come on. Losing daylight by the second," he told me and I nodded. It was still only the morning, but runs could take all day, and we were trying to make this one as fast as possible. I knew too, that he said that more for the group, what he really meant was that the baby was growing weaker and weaker by the minute. In less than two hours, the baby girl would likely be dead if we couldn't get her formula.

We were headed to the door when I heard Maggie call out behind us. "There is a Piggly Wiggly in the 85th," she told us. I nodded and went to leave the building when Glenn tugged on my arm.

I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow and he shook his head at me. "No, the babies section was emptied. Lori told me to keep an eye out. I haven't had much luck," he told me. I sighed but nodded at him. We would most likely have more luck trying a nursery, although we had to be prepared for what we would see in there. Most likely nothing good.

Daryl scoffed and shook his head. "Is there a place that hasn't been completely looted?" He asked them. I was glad that he asked, we needed some indication of where to start our hunt. We were fighting against the clock today.

Maggie nodded at us and laid out a map of the county. "We saw signs of a mall north of here," she told us, pointing to the spot on the map. I shook my head, we'd tried those roads before, and none of the cars would fit down those roads. Too much debris. We would have to take the bike and I didn't know if there was enough room on it to keep the supplies that we would find.

"Yes, but there are too many road debris. The car never go that far," Glenn voiced my thoughts and I nodded. I turned to Daryl to see what he wanted to do. After all, he would most likely be the one driving.

He seemed like he knew what he was getting into though as he brushed off Glenn and turned to Hershel. "I'll take my bike, the two of us can fit on that and it should be able to get through those roads." He was right, we had been through those roads before, and though it had barely gotten through, we'd made it. We would just have to be careful maneuvering through the streets.

I nodded and secured my arm brace. "We'll head out now," I told our group before grabbing my sheath and slinging it over my shoulder. I had been about to walk out of the room when Maggie grabbed my arm.

She shook her head at me and tried to pull me back. "No, Rain. After all you've been through. Well, I'll go," she told me. I pushed on her shoulder though and shook my head.

"I want to go. For Lori, I have to," I told Maggie, doing my best to keep a straight face. Lori and I hadn't been the best of friends, but I had felt for the woman. She was pregnant, didn't know who the father was, and her husband practically hated her when she died. She had gone with only the hope that her baby would survive the C section.

Maggie sighed but nodded anyways. I knew that she didn't want me to go, but she also knew that she wouldn't be able to stop me. "Alright. Be safe. Both of you," she told me. Bringing me in for a hug, I smiled and wrapped my arms around her. I knew that the blow of losing Lori had taken a huge toll on her, and it would take a while for her to come back to us.

I smiled at her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Don't worry. We will." Over the winter, Maggie and I had grown to be great friends. We usually went on runs together when Glenn or Daryl were out doing something else, so the two of us frequently got to have our girl talks. There were also plenty of nights back then where we would be on watch throughout the night and we would exchange stories of our old lives or talk about Glenn and Daryl. Clearly, I omitted quite a few parts about my own life. Although, in the group, she probably knew me the best. Well, besides Daryl, Hershel, and Carol. Over the winter, Carol and I had had a few heart to hearts about living with some form of abusive relationships. For me it had been my father, for her it had been her late husband, Ed.

I smiled at the rest of the group and waved a quick goodbye to everyone before heading out the door, Daryl right on my tail. I pushed open the door with my foot and heard Daryl throw it closed behind us. Stepping out into the yard, I gagged slightly at the sight of the walker bodies, and I felt a rush of grief hit me as I realized just how stuck I was. I had killed Lori, and Daryl now hated me because I had been stupid enough to tell him a horrible story about my old life. I sighed and carefully made my way around the bodies, heading towards his bike.

I was only a few feet away when I felt his hand wrap around my wrist and pull me back. I looked up at him to ask what he was doing, but I quickly found myself caught in his blue eyes, at a complete loss for words. I could feel him shaking slightly, and I wondered what he was so nervous about. "I-I'm sorry Rain. I shouldn't have walked out of there without saying anything. I don't hate you, and don't try to deny it, I know that's what you're thinking. You're the most amazing person I've ever met Rain. No one knows me like ya do girl. And it don't seem like anyone knows you the way that I do." I shook my head at him knowing that he was right. He was the only person that knew everything about me. The few other people I had been close to in my life, had only known a few things about me. "Rain, you're the strongest person I've ever seen, no one else would have the guts to tell that story. I know that you're ashamed of it, but I won't judge you for what you did in the past. I judge you for what you're doing now, and you've only ever shown me reasons to love you. You did what you did there because you had to. And when you came out, you didn't know anything else. You did what you had been trained to do in there. What matters is that you came back from it, and now you're the wonderful woman that holds this group together."

I let a small smile cross my face, he didn't hate me. He still loved me. Well, at least I was pretty sure he loved me. I wanted to celebrate, but there was still one thing that was bothering me. "Why did you walk away without saying anything? Without even looking from me?" I asked him. I had to know why he hadn't even tried to console me then.

He seemed to be at a loss for words, as he sat there in silence. He finally took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes. "Ya surprised me girl. Of all the things for you to say, I knew that they wouldn't be good, but I had never expected them to be that bad. I had no time to even process what ya had said before Hershel came upstairs to get us. I thought that it might be better to walk away for a minute and collect my thoughts, rather than let you sit there, watching me in silence. I was wrong for that, and I'm sorry." He stood there, and I saw the remorse in his eyes.

I smiled at him and gave him a hug, thrilled that he didn't think as lowly of me as I had thought. "Apology accepted. And I suppose that wasn't the best way to spring it on you," I told him with a small laugh. He agreed, and leaned down, planting a small kiss on my lips. Smiling into the kiss, I eventually broke it and pushed him towards the bike. "Let's go, the baby doesn't have a lot of time to spare." Daryl nodded at me and slid onto the bike, allowing myself to climb on behind him. We drove out to the gate, and I jumped off, opening the gate and closing it behind us. Luckily there were no walkers that were close to us, so I was able to get in and out in a matter of seconds.

I held tightly onto Daryl's waist as we drove out of the trail that led to the prison, and I smiled at the feel of the breeze in my hair and on my face. As fantastic as it was having a place to call home, I sometimes missed the freedom of being out on the road. The feeling of the wind flying through my hair, and the smell of the leather vest Daryl wore, it was home to me. That was what I had realized over these past few months that we didn't need an actual place to have home. Wherever our group was, that we could all be together. That was home. Where I had Daryl, Maggie, Hershel, Rick, Beth, Carl, Glenn, and Carol. Well no longer Carol. Apparently we had lost her in the attack. It hit me hard, I had lost Carol, Lori, and T-Dog in the attack. Granted, I hadn't been that close to Lori, but her death had taken a major toll on Rick, and we couldn't afford the loss of our leader right now. We needed him. I came back to reality when I noticed a colorful gate on the side of the road. I poked Daryl on the shoulder and he nodded at me, evidently having seen the sign as well.

We turned in and I noticed that it had once been a preschool. Daryl stopped the bike right outside the doors and I hopped off, waiting for him to get off behind me. I grabbed my bow and nocked an arrow, allowing Daryl to come up beside me. "Think we'll find something in there?" I asked him. He stared at me and shook his head.

"I don't know Rain, but if we do, I doubt it's gonna be something you'll like." I gulped hard, and stood in front of the door looking over to Daryl. I stared at him and he nodded. I grabbed the knob and twisted it, throwing the door open. He ran through and immediately rose up his crossbow. I walked in behind him and saw that, at least the main room, was empty. Walking in, I saw that there were a few piles of clothing, most of it looked small enough to fit the new baby. Picking it up, I shuffled through it, and found a few dresses and shirts, and leggings that should all fit her. Putting them by the door, I walked back over and saw that Daryl had found a few boxes of powdered baby formula. "Gonna look for some more. Maybe check the back room?" He asked me. I nodded, trying to keep the room as quiet as possible. Following behind him, he threw the door open and I jumped in. I could tell that there were no adult walkers in the room, but I felt my heart sink when I saw the cribs lined up around the room. I heard a low hissing noise and I braved myself for what I may find. Walking over to a light pink crib in the corner of the room, I steeled my nerves and looked in.

There was a tiny baby in the crib. Well, what had been a baby girl. I could see a perfectly defined bite mark on her abdomen and I cringed at her. Decaying skin, black gums, and blood covering the crib. I pulled out a small hunting knife of mine, and went to end the infants, cruelly short life. However, just before I reached down to the baby, Daryl caught my arm. "Don't. I got it. I found some more formula. Bring it up to the front room?" He asked me. I nodded and picked up the boxes, ready to bring them over to the door. I heard the zip of his crossbow and I swallowed the small amount of bile that had risen in my throat.

Daryl came out a moment later and asked if I was ready to go. I nodded and the two of us made our way to the door. Picking up a few bottles and diaper boxes as we went, I opened the door when I heard a hissing noise. Jumping, I turned back and I saw that it was merely a possum hanging out by the window. "Hello, dinner," Daryl mumbled as he shot the poor thing. I grimaced, the thing looked like a horrible dinner. I think I'd rather take the baby formula.

Daryl held it out to me and I shook my head at him, moving my pack away from him. "I will not put it in my backpack. I think we need to go hunting when we get back," I told him. He nodded his head at me and grabbed some of the supplies, making our way to the bike. I let him get on first, propping the two boxes of diapers we had grabbed between himself and the handlebars. I slid on behind him, awkwardly balancing the formula on one leg, propping it up with my arm, and letting the clothes drape over me. Daryl looked back at me and laughed as he revved the engine. I was sure that I looked ridiculous, but I didn't like being laughed at. I smacked him in the back of the head, and was pretty sure I heard a "bitch" somewhere in his mutterings as we took off. I laughed and let my head drop back, enjoying the warm summer breeze on the ride back to the prison.

As we drove up the yard at the prison, I saw that Oscar was there waiting to open the gates for us. He quickly did so and I called back a thanks. Daryl swung the bike around back and the two of us jumped off the bike, running the supplies inside. We could only hope that we weren't too late. As we ran in, I saw that only Beth, Glenn, and Hershel were in the main room. As we walked up, Daryl unlocked the gate and I dropped everything but a bottle of formula on the table. "Guys, they're back," Glenn called as we walked in. I handed the bottle off to Daryl, who grabbed the baby from Beth and began to feed her. I smiled when I saw how well he took care of her. Rocking her back and forth, supporting the neck, and gazing at her with loving eyes. It was one of the sweetest things I'd ever seen. I had known that Daryl would be an amazing father, and I wasn't wrong.

Staring at Carl as he walked in, I went over to him and took a seat beside him. "Do you have a name yet?" I asked him. He looked at me and gave me a small shrug. He seemed to be trying not to care, but I could tell that he did. It brought me some faith for the boy, at least he hadn't been totally destroyed. He may have lost one family member, but he had gained another.

He shook his head at me and gave his baby sister a quick glance. "No. But I was thinking, maybe Sophia. Or Carol. Andrea. Amy, Jacqui. Patricia." I stared at him for a moment and felt a cold rush over me. The thought was sweet but it still brought back bad memories. We could honor one of our fallen members by naming the baby after them.

With nothing else to say, I stared at him before dumbly mumbling, "Oh."

He shrugged at me and looked back over to his sister. "Lori. I don't know," he told me. I gave him a sad smile. I thought that that was sweet. To name her after her fallen mother. Although I wasn't sure how much he would like that. And judging by the look on Carl's face, I think he knew it too. Though I liked the idea of a name as a memorial, I was pretty sure that the baby girl would end up with an original name. Who knew, maybe at this rate we'd never name her.

I looked over at the baby and saw that Daryl was rocking her, she had finished her bottle by now. "Like that? Huh? Lil' Asskicker. Well? It's a good name right? Lil' Asskicker. Like that? Yeah? You like that, baby? Lil' Asskicker. Yeah." I smiled at Daryl and laughed, along with everyone else. We were all wearing loving smiles on our faces, the tough guy was absolutely in love with the baby girl. I've never exactly liked children, but I love seeing how parents interact with them. And even though he wasn't her father, he treated her just like a father should treat his own daughter.

"Alright guys, I know it's not the best but we did get a possum. Daryl, wanna help me skin it?" He nodded and handed the baby off to Beth who went back to rocking her to sleep. The conversations started softly as everyone went to doing their own thing. With such a small animal, and two people working on it, we quickly got the skin off and pulled out the good meat. I was about to go out and cook the meat when the door to the cell block banged open. I jumped out of my seat but quickly relaxed when I saw that it was only Rick. He was covered in blood, and had a blank face, but other than that he looked OK.

We all stared at him and after a moment of silence, he finally spoke up. "Everybody okay?" He asked the group, who were all staring at him like he was the craziest person we'd ever met.

Hershel made his way through the group though and stood in front of Rick. "Yeah, we are. What about you?" He asked our leader.

Rick shrugged his shoulders and motioned back to where he had come from with his head. "I cleared out the boiler block," he told us. Oh my God, he had seen Lori. Why would he have gone back there? Maybe if we were lucky he hadn't found her. I didn't want him to see the mess that I had made of his wife.

"How many were there?" Hershel asked him.

Once more Rick shrugged his shoulders before leaning in to Hershel slightly. "I don't know. A dozen, two dozen. I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl," he said. I glared at him, knowing that not once since he had walked in had he looked at Carl. It seemed that Carl felt the same way as he gave his father an odd look.

As Rick went to head back into the boiler area, Hershel stepped in front of him, trying to get our leader to take a break. He couldn't keep going like this. "Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to," he told Rick.

Rick shook his head and let out a humorless laugh. "No, I do. Everyone have a gun and a knife?" He asked, looking over a few of the group members. I noticed that his eyes lingered on my knife for a little while longer and I felt my eyes drop. He knew that I had killed her, and he was blaming me for it.

"Yeah," Hershel told Rick, who was nodding.

Glenn stepped towards the two men and looked at Rick. "We're running low on ammo, though. Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon. Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula," he told Rick. I nodded at the plan and thought that I would try to redeem myself in that moment.

I walked over to the men and looked over at Glenn. "Hey, you guys mind if I tag along? I thought that I might be able to help, and well. I feel like I'm in a debt to Lori. I need to help her child," I told them and I saw that Rick gave me a small nod. However, I knew that he didn't really care. He was still upset with me, and always would be.

Glenn nodded at me but I saw the disappointment in his eyes. "Rain, you're not. But if you want to help, that'd be great. We'll be leaving around 3. Can you be ready by then?" He asked me.

I nodded at him and swung my bow around my shoulders. It was only about noon now. I could go hunting for a while and then be back for the trip out into town. "Sure thing. Daryl and I are gonna go hunting first, so after we get back I'll get ready to leave. Trip shouldn't take too long, the game is out again." Glenn nodded at me and looked back over to Rick.

"We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well," Glenn told him. "And Rain, before you and Daryl go out, can you both help Carl and Oscar do a quick check on the lower levels of the prison. Gotta clear it of any walkers or other threats." I nodded and walked back over to finish up the possum, wanting to get it out of the way as soon as I could.

Rick nodded and paced for a moment. "Good, good," he sighed before turning back to return to the prison.

"Rick," I called trying to catch his arm to get him to stay with us, but he got away from me first. He pulled away from me and ran off into the boiler area, with no one bothering to run after him. I sighed but I knew that there was nothing more that I could do. I sat down at the table and went back to my work on the possum before Maggie sat down next to me, taking my knife.

She pushed Daryl and I away from the table and we both gave her odd looks. "Go you two. I got this. Clear out the lower levels and then go on your hunt. I got nothing better to do so I figured I'd let you do this. That way y'all can get back earlier, and we can head into town earlier," she told us. We both nodded at her and gave her a small thanks before walking over to where Carl and Oscar were standing.

"Alright guys, you ready to go?" I asked the two men. Both nodded to me and I gave a small nod back. "Then let's go," I said before walking out of the cell block and into the lower levels of the prison. I stayed back with Daryl, waiting for him to lock the door and join up with us again. We slowly made our way through the halls and I couldn't help but remember what had happened the last time that I was in these halls. I shook my head clear of those thoughts. I couldn't afford to be thinking of that right now. Walking a little farther down the hall, I saw the littering of bodies along the walls and covering the floor. I scowled at the once-walkers knowing that it had been Rick to put them down. He must have ran into a lot more than he had told us about.

I heard the distinctive hiss of a walker and I turned with my bow raised, but I saw nothing. Daryl walked over to e and pointed to what I had heard with his knife. It seemed that it was just a few walkers that hadn't been properly put down. Rick must have missed them as he had seemed to be in a drunken stupor-like state. "Must have missed it last night," I mumbled as we carefully stepped over the bodies that were fighting to reach us. I kept my distance from all of the bodies, having learned my lesson from what happened to Hershel.

I was panicking slightly, not being able to tell which walkers were still alive. Daryl must have sensed this as he put his arm onto my shoulder. "It's probably just one or two of 'em. Don't look they got much fight. They ain't going nowhere. We'll take care of it on the way back. Come on," he told me, pushing my back slightly. I took a few more steps forward, and finally left the maze of walker bodies. We all made our way back into a line formation and I let a small smile cross my face. We looked like a rag tag team of kick ass heroes.

I was imagining us, saving the world from the dead and being able to live happily ever after with each member of the group, and bring back the ones we had lost, when Daryl's voice brought me back to reality. I looked over, thinking that he was talking to me, but it turned out that he was talking to Carl. "You know, my mom, she liked her wine. She liked to smoke in bed. Virginia Slims." I smiled, that was what Daryl smoked on occasion. Like mother, like son. "I was playing out with the kids in the neighborhood. I could do that with Merle gone. They had bikes, I didn't. We heard sirens getting louder. They jumped on their bikes, ran after it, you know, hoping to see something worth seeing. I ran after them, but I couldn't keep up. I ran around a corner and saw my friends looking at me. Hell, I saw everybody looking at me. Fire trucks everywhere. People from the neighborhood. It was my house they were there for. It was my mom in bed burnt down to nothing." Oh my God, he had never told me that. He had always made it seem like his parents had gotten a divorce and he had just been stuck with his father. "That was the hard part. You know, she was just gone. Erased. Nothing left of her. People said it was better that way. I don't know. Just made it seem like it wasn't real, you know?" He asked Carl. I sighed, knowing that I would end up asking him about this later, when we were on our hunting trip. I wanted to know why he had never told me.

Carl nodded to Daryl and kept on walking. After a beat of silence, he finally looked up at Daryl. "I shot my mom. Rain tried to but it had to be me. She was out. Hadn't turned yet. I ended it. It was real," he told Daryl. I had told him what had happened, but hearing it from Carl must have been so much different. Daryl was good at concealing his emotions, but still I saw the surprise and sorrow cross his face. I grimaced at Carl's blunt honesty at the while situation. It was making things ten times worse that Carl seemed to be hardly affected by the loss of his mother. This world was making him too cold.

After another beat of silence, Daryl finally spoke up and looked at Carl. "Sorry about your mom," he told the young boy.

Carl looked up at Daryl and nodded to him. "I'm sorry about yours," he responded. I was glad that the two at least had somewhat similar upbringings. I wondered if Oscar would say anything about his own, but when I looked over to the black man, his head was hung and he was glaring at the ground. I knew that he was going to stay silent on this matter.

I felt like these two had shared their childhoods with each other, so maybe I should say my own. After all, they say releasing pent up anger is good for the body. "Hey Carl. I understand having to grow up too early. I did too. My parents were great to me when I was younger, just like yours, but then my younger sister came along. My mom started to ignore me and my dad... Well my younger sister was the light of his life. I had always liked boy things too much for him. Anyways, he treated her like a princess, and me like his slave. He would drink his heart out, and come home and take out all of his anger from the day on me. They were never too bad, just a slap or small kick. But then my mom died. I was fighting with her about something, and then she went out to the store. Got in a crash on the way. My father always said that she wasn't paying attention because of me, and that caused her to crash. I was the reason she died. Anyways, the beatings got worse. He sent me to the hospital a few times. When I was 14, I moved out and lived with my uncle for two years. After that, I got in some serious trouble and got in with the wrong crowd. I got my act together a few years later, but it wasn't until I met you all that my life really came together. I understand having to grow up too soon. It's not fair. But then again, neither is life," I told him. I didn't want to scare him, but that was just the way that it was. Life wasn't fair. It was also in that moment that I realized that the three of us, no longer had a mother in our lives.

Carl came up beside me and grabbed my hand. I looked over at the young boy, realizing that he was actually now eye-to-eye with me. I hadn't realized that before. "I'm sorry that you were forced to grow up too early too, Rain," he told me.

I laughed and shook my head at him. "No Carl, what I got was just a shitty hand in the game of life. I made the decisions that caused me to have to grow up too early. My father, I had nothing to do with that. But what happened after, that was my fault. As for you though, that's unfair. You never deserved any of this. You had a family that loved you. Mine never really wanted me, they only wanted me until something better came along. And that was what they got." I huffed and stormed ahead. I knew that I had no reason to be mad, I had told the story on my own free will, but talking about my family and my past always seemed to make me boil. I hated them. They were supposed to be my protectors, and they were supposed to care for me. But when something better came along, they dropped me like I was the plague. It was like some twisted version of Harry Potter and the Dursley's. I turned the corner that led us back to the cell block and I stomped up the stairs to the perch. Dropping down on the mattress at the top, I let my head fall onto my knees. I wanted to have Lori back, I wanted Rick to be in the right state of mind, I wanted Carol and T to have survived the attack. I wanted a family that loved me. Just like that I shook my head and snapped myself out of it. Those people that I was blood related to, they were guardians, and horrible ones at that. These people that I was with now, they were my family. We may have lost some of them along the way, but they would always live on inside of us.

Sighing, I looked up and noticed that Daryl was standing in front of me. He offered me his hand and I used it to pull myself up. He let his hand rest on my hip and I gave him a small smile. "Do you wanna go hunting?" He asked me. I nodded and grabbed my hunting knife walking ahead of him, and down the stairs. We were about to walk out when Hershel called out to us. "We're goin hunting Hershel! We'll get her back before three," he told the old man. He gave us a quick good luck and be safe and just like that we were off. As we made it down to the yard, I noticed something small and white out of the corner of my eyes. It was a white flower. A Cherokee Rose that was growing over by the graves. I smiled and poked Daryl's arm. He looked over at it and nodded.

We made our way over to the small patch and I plucked the delicate flower, handing it off to Daryl. Turning back, we stood in front of Carol's grave and placed the small flower over it. "Rest in peace, Carol. Be with Sophia. We love you, and we'll fight on for you," I mumbled to her grave and Daryl wrapped his arm around me. I smiled at him and pulled off my bow, heading out to the fence where Axel was currently patrolling. "Thanks," I told Axel as we walked out of the gate. I nodded my head to the south and Daryl agreed.

Carefully stepping around the plants that had the thorns on them I managed to nock an arrow, ready for the first thing that moved in front of me. I smiled slightly as I heard the crack of a branch not far from me. Raising my arrow, I realized that Daryl had heard it too as his arrow was also aimed at the sky. "Competition Dixon?" He gave me a nasty smirk and nodded. "Stakes?" I asked him, still straining my ears for the animal.

He seemed to think about it for a moment before giving me a greasy smile. "Whoever gets the most animals while we're out," he told me. I had figured that that would be the bet so I nodded at him. "Loser jumps in the lake a few miles from here." I gave him a confused look, he had seemed so confident in his condition, but it was lame. And I knew that he knew that. "But-" he began. I knew that wasn't it. "You do it buck ass naked, and you make the rest of the walk back without clothes." I smiled at him, that was more like it. It wasn't like I was embarrassed at the bet, but I had to admit that I was nervous that Daryl would see me completely naked. Oh! Who was I kidding? I was winning this bet.

I smiled at him and heard another crack directly above us. Raising my bow, I fired the arrow blindly and was surprised when a squirrel fell directly in front of me. I had only gotten the foot, which wasn't a kill shot, but I had still hit it. I bent down to it, and slit the throat. Standing back up, I nocked my arrow once more, hooked the squirrel to my belt loop and turned to Daryl with a sly grin on my face. It was a total lucky shot, but I still made it, and I had made sure not to let the surprise show on my face. "Better loosen that belt Dixon," I told Daryl with a small wink. I laughed as I saw the stunned look on his face and I let myself think, 'this is gonna be easy.'

It turned out that it wasn't. After my amazing squirrel catch, it took us a while before we found anything else, and that was a rabbit. Daryl had gotten to that one first. After that had been a few more squirrels, Daryl had gotten one and I'd gotten two. Then there had been two quails, Daryl had gotten both. Another squirrel had gone to me after that, and we'd been tied once more. We had then decided to turn back, making a wide arc to clear a new section of the woods. On the way back I had immediately caught two squirrels, and then Daryl had caught one. We were now almost at the prison with a tie on our hands. At this point, I didn't know what we'd do if we ended up tying. Maybe try again next time? Or see who got more meat? Turning to Daryl, I gave him a small smile, intent on distracting him from the hunt so I could pull ahead. There was no way that I was losing this one. "For the off season, we didn't do too bad," I told Daryl, hoping that he would buy the bait.

He nodded at me and looked down at his belt. "Nah we didn't. Wanna head back? Just call this one a draw? Do it again when there's more out, make it less of a challenge for you?" He asked me. I laughed and shoved him glad that he was playing into my trap.

"Sure," I told him. But just as I did, he swung his crossbow towards me and I ducked. I heard the arrow fire and the indistinct sound of an animal in pain. Damn it. I turned back and saw that it was a rabbit, lying in a pool of its own blood.

Daryl smirked at me and walked past me, grabbing his prize. I glared at him as he walked back at me and waved the animal in my face. I pushed it away and had to restrain myself from slapping him across the face. "Well, well sweetheart. Let's head to the lake shall we?" He asked me. Now, I could have run or I could have tried to plead my way out of it, but I decided to lose with dignity. I nodded at him and made my way to the lake with my head held high. The lake was only about a five minute walk from where we were, and the entire walk over there, I had been fighting to keep my heart rate normal but it was no use. It was pounding out of my chest, I was so terrified for Daryl to see all of me. We made it to the lake and I stood by the edge, watching as the water rippled. "Well? Come on now, you've only got until three," Daryl told me with a laugh. I gritted my teeth but nodded.

I turned back to the lake and sucked in a few deep breaths. "Better enjoy the show," I growled at him. I heard his laughter behind me, but it was different. This laughter was deeper, and it got my heart racing more than it already was. I pulled my tank top off easily, and as it hit the grass, I realized that I should probably get rid of it anyways, it was covered in blood. Reaching down to my pants, I undid the button and let them slide down my legs. I could feel Daryl's stare burning a hole through my back, and I smirked when I realized that the underwear covered everything, but it was a sheer lace. At least it would make my ass be a little less of a shock. I hesitated for a moment before I undid the fasten on my bra and threw it off to the side. After catching my breath again, I finally let my underwear slide down as well, and with that, I was now completely naked. I blushed, but took a few steps toward the water. Taking one last deep breath, I jumped in and felt all my muscles tighten when I hit the water. It was cold, still icy from the winter. With Daryl not specifying how long I had to stay in, I swam over to the bank and pulled myself up onto the grass. Laying there for a moment, I shook myself off and stood up. I met Daryl eye-to-eye and I had to give him credit, his eyes never dropped from mine. "Well? Come on, let's head back," I told him before grabbing my clothes and belt of game and strutting away.

I could hear his soft footsteps behind me, and I turned back to him expecting to find his eyes glued to my legs or ass. It turned out that he was watching around the woods. I smiled and decided to fall into step with him. It was a peaceful walk until I began to replay the events of the last few days. I sighed and looked over at Daryl. "You know, there's too much sadness in the world. We rarely get to have fun like we did just now," I told him.

He seemed to be thinking about it, as I saw that his eyebrows were knitting together. "Yeah, there is. And ya were right about Carl's life being unfair. But this is unfair to all of us. Not any one of us deserved to have this happen to us. But ya know what?" He asked me. I shook my head at him. "We have each other, and for some of us, this is the first real family that we've ever had. These people, they are always what we needed. It's just too bad that we all had to come into each other's lives like this." I looked at Daryl and smiled. Leave it to the redneck to give the best advice and say the right things at the best times.

I nodded to him and began to drop down the hill that led us back to the prison. We had been walking down the hill for a few minutes before we hit an even area of the grass. I stopped and pulled Daryl back. There was a question lingering in the back of my mind, and I needed the answer now. He gave me an odd look and went to ask what I was doing, but I cut him off. "Do you really love me?" I threw out before I could lose my nerve.

I could tell that I had surprised Daryl as he stood, staring at me blankly for a moment. He shook his head and grabbed my hand. I blushed, knowing that he was seeing me in all my glory. Well, my dirty and bloody glory. "Rain, I've never said that to anyone. Do you think I'd say it to ya if I didn't mean it?" He asked me. I was shocked that he had never said it to anyone, but I suppose it explained his emotional distance to everyone. I shook my head and dropped it to the ground, but he caught my chin and forced me to look at him. "Rain. I love ya more than anything, and I'll never let anything happen to ya. I swear, even if it gets me killed, I'll protect ya til the end." I stared at him for a moment before I let a smile cross my lips. No one had ever cared about me that much before. Stepping forward and closing the space between us, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed me. I had expected that he would push me away and ask me to get changed, but he didn't. Instead, he pulled me closer. I smiled into the kiss and ran my hands through his hair. He turned and placed me softly into the grass, climbing on top of me. Before he could come back down to my lips though, I pulled his shirt off of him and tossed it to the side.

I had expected him to stop me at some point but I knew in the back of my mind that he wouldn't. We had both suffered too much heartache these past few days, and we needed to be near each other. To feel and to be loved. I let my tongue run along his bottom lip, and he let me in, tugging at my bottom lip with his teeth. I laughed and smacked his back lightly. I felt his hands run down my body and I knew that every muscle in my body was as tense as can be. Every little touch of his fingertips left a trail of fire, and electricity was flying through my veins. I smiled at him when he pulled away, and tested the waters with his pants. I undid the button and slid them off. Surprisingly, this time he didn't stop it. He kicked them off to the side and went to kiss me. Right before he did though, I saw a flicker of gold in the grass. Pushing Daryl away, I sat up and grabbed it. The thing looked familiar, a square shaped packet, and I laughed when I saw that it was a condom. Pulling it up, Daryl snatched it from me. "So you thought you'd get some huh?" I asked Daryl, with a mischievous glint in my eyes.

He smiled at me and hooked his hands in his boxer lining. I glanced down at them and when I looked back up, his face had gone deathly serious. "Rain, you don't have to, I'm not gonna make you," he told me with a bashful look. I shook my head at him and broke open the wrapper of the condom. I pushed Daryl onto his back and positioned myself over him.

I smiled at him and hooked my hands into his boxers. "I want to," I told him. I leaned down to kiss him, and the rest was something that I had never experienced before. I had sex with someone that I actually loved for the first time ever.

Afterwards...

I laid on my back next to Daryl, the both of us trying to catch our breath. It had been wonderful. First off, I hadn't gotten some in way too long, and I assumed neither had he. That showed by the fact that neither of us lasted very long. But that didn't matter. It had been the best thing that had happened to me in a long time. I turned to look at Daryl, and I saw that he was already looking at me. There was no emotion on his face, but I saw it all in his eyes. The love, the passion, everything that he didn't vocalize, but that I knew was there. He pushed the hair out of my eyes and gave me a small peck on the lips. "We should head back now, I think it's getting close to three," he told me. I nodded and stood up on shaky legs. As fast as I could, I pulled on my bra, shirt, underwear, and pants. As I turned back, I saw that Daryl was already dressed and currently grabbing his weapons. Following suit, I grabbed my knife, re-sheathing it, and pulled my arrows and my bow onto my back. As I straightened my hair out, Daryl looked at me and smiled. "You ready?" I nodded at him and we made our way back down the hill, towards the prison.

The walk was silent, but not awkward. Every few seconds we would look over at each other and laugh, or make a funny face. Or something of the sort. I smiled at him and jabbed him in the ribs. "Maybe we need to make those bets more often, if they make you like that," I told him with a wink. He laughed and shoved me as we made our way to the wood line. I waved my bow to catch Hershel's attention, who was standing by the gate. He took out the few walkers that were in front of us and gave us a quick nod, telling us that we could go through. I nodded to Daryl and the two of us made a mad dash for the gate, narrowly missing the jaws of a few walkers. I sighed as Hershel closed the gate, and I looked over at Hershel. "Got a bunch of game for us. Daryl ya wanna go skin and clean 'em?" I asked. He nodded at me, and I threw the belt of animals at him.

"Ya going out now?" He asked me. I nodded at him and he sighed. "Be careful girl," he told me.

I smiled at him and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "You know me, I'm always careful," I told him. He rolled his eyes but nodded at me anyways. I watched as he walked up the drive and I turned back to Hershel. "So are Maggie and Glenn ready to go?" He nodded at me and I went to walk away before another thought hit me. "Hey Hershel, have you seen Rick since he left?" I asked the older man. He sighed and shook his head at me.

I gave him an odd look and he merely pointed towards the area that the boiler room was in. "He hasn't left since you saw him. I went to check on him and he said that he was waiting on a call," Hershel told me. What? The phones didn't work anymore, how was Rick waiting on a call? "He said that they promised that they were in a safe place. The people on the phone. I picked up the receiver, and it was dead. There was nothing. The line isn't in operation, Rick is hearing things Rain, and that's not good."

I sighed and shook my head. "I get it. He's in a state of post-traumatic stress disorder. He just lost his wife, and in his eyes, one of the people he trusted killed her. I hurt him and I sent him over the edge. Maybe when we get back I'll talk to him. Hopefully he'll listen to reason when I bring up his daughter," I told the older man.

He nodded at me and looked me in the eye. ""Rain, you need to know that it wasn't your fault. What happened to Lori was unfortunate, but she chose to die, to save her child."

I smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "I know that Hershel. I promise that I do. Lori asked me to do what I did, and while I may have taken one member of his family away, I did everything to ensure that I gave him another one. And I did, we have a new baby around here. And I gotta say, the innocence is refreshing," I told him. Hershel gave me a small smile and squeezed my hand. "Anyways, thanks Hershel. I should go find Glenn and Maggie now. Get going on that run. Have you seen them?"

"Over by the cars dear. They're waiting for you." I nodded my head and ran over to the cars, bounding over to our decent sized hatchback. We were all hoping that this run would be a plentiful one. I smiled at the pair as I came up and the two gave me a quick greeting. I pulled my bow from my shoulders and tossed it into the back of the car, throwing down the hood right after.

I walked around to the side of the car and stood in front of the two lovers. "So we ready to go?" I asked them. The two nodded at me and I jumped in the back seat, stretching myself out across the seat. I let my hair fall over my face, and I tried to calm down as I heard the car engine rumble to life. My thoughts wouldn't stop rolling. I had done it. I had wanted it so bad. I had finally had sex with Daryl, and it was everything that I could have ever imagined. It had meant more to me than he could ever understand. Sensing eyes on me, I looked up to see Glenn smirking at me from the rear-view mirror, and Maggie looking back at me with a sly grin on her face. I stared at the two for a moment before narrowing my eyes. "OK I give up, what's on my face?" I asked as we flew down the road. Both laughed and Maggie jumped over the center console, coming to sit next to me. I stared at the brunette in confusion for a moment before I poked her in the face. "Earth to Maggie. What is it? Do you need some mental health care?" I asked her.

She smiled and shoved me. "No dummy! What happened out on that hunting trip?" I tried not to look too startled, so I merely cocked my eyebrow at her. "Oh come on Rain, you're my best friend. I know when something happens to you. And I know that something good happened out there. That smile on your face says it all," she told me with a devious grin. I tried to let my grin casually slip from my face, but it was pointless, I was too happy.

Instead of trying to fight her about it, I just came up with a plausible lie. "It's off season right now and you should have seen all the game that we brought back. It should keep us for about a week or two," I told her. She seemed to think it over for a moment. I let out a slow breath. I could only hope that she buys the lie.

It turned out that it was Glenn who didn't believe me. "Yeah, yeah Rain. That's great but that's not it. Now are you gonna tell us what it really is or are we gonna have to force it out of you?" He asked me. I shrugged my shoulders, acting like I had no idea what they were talking about, but they both saw right through it. To my shock, Glenn stomped on the brakes and sent both Maggie and myself into the seats in front of us.

I hit my shoulder hard on the seat and reached over to thump Glenn on the back of the head. "Glenn you idiot! What the hell?! You could've killed us!" I screeched at him.

Maggie managed to catch me on the shoulders before I jumped up to Glenn. "Rain stop! Glenn isn't gonna move this car until you tell us. And don't give us some bullshit lie. We'll know the truth when you say it. We'll stay here all day if we have to sweetheart, so you better get to talking." I stared at her in utter shock. I couldn't believe that they were doing this to me!

"Glenn! Don't let her do this!" The young Asian man simply shrugged his shoulders and I glared at him. I tried to wait it out, hoping that they would eventually get bored and leave, but they didn't. I figured that it may embarrass me, but I might as well just tell them the truth. I was sure at some point the two of them would find out anyways. "Alright, if I tell you guys can we go?" I asked them. They both nodded enthusiastically at me and kept their school girl like gazes on me. I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. "Well Daryl and I were out hunting and we made a bet that whoever got the least amount of animals at the end had to jump in the lake naked and have to walk back that way. So I lost by one and I had to do it. So I jumped in and we made it to this clearing afterwards, nothing really happened. We talked for a minute and had some fun and then we kissed and well... You know," I mumbled the last part sure that I was as bright as a Christmas tree.

I could tell that the pair was still processing what I had told them, and I nearly screamed when Maggie grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Oh my God! You and Daryl had sex! You two actually did it!" She screamed at me. I groaned and tried to shove her off of me but it wasn't working. She had too tight of a grip on me.

I could hear Glenn laughing in the front seat and I managed to rip myself away from Maggie long enough to slap him and shove her into the front seat. "Damn it, get up there!" I yelled at her. She finally moved up, but the questions were still flying at me. How was it? How'd he do it? Was it good? Was it rough? How did he like it? Did it last long? Did you have protection? I rolled my eyes at them and sighed into my lap. "Ugh, alright shut up! Just stop with the questions and I'll tell you!" They both immediately stopped talking and I rolled my eyes once more. "Glenn, start driving." He nodded and threw the car back into drive, and we went roaring back down the highway. "Well where do I start? I guess of course we used protection Maggie!" I yelled at the girl. She visibly relaxed and I huffed to myself. How stupid did she think I was? "Umm... It was great. Maybe the best ever," I said with a deep blush. I could see the Cheshire grins on the couple and I nearly slapped it off of the both of them. "It was just natural, like we both knew what the other wanted. It started out slow, but by the end we were both covered in sweat, we needed the release so bad from each other. I think he liked it, I mean he gave no indication that it was bad. It uh, it lasted a while. But I mean, come on, it's been probably about a year for me and maybe even longer for him. We had so much pent up sexual frustration with each other too that we got to get out," I told them.

They both smiled at me and poked and prodded me. "Our little girl is grown up!" Glenn shouted. I rolled my eyes at the two as they picked on me, and when the car finally rolled to a stop outside of the supermarket, I launched myself out.

I went to the back of my car and grabbed my bow and arrows, nocking an arrow and slinging the rest over my shoulder. I quietly stalked into the store with Maggie and Glenn right on my tail. I motioned to Maggie to go up the middle, Glenn to take the right side, and I would take the left. I walked off and made quick work of the isles. There wasn't much on my side that we could use. I picked up a few cartons of powdered eggs and the few canned vegetables that were left, but even that was hardly anything. I began to make my way back to the front, picking up some feminine hygiene products and a box of condoms just in case. Searching through the rest of the area, I picked up three cases of arrows for myself and Daryl, and a tiny pocket knife. I made my way up to the front then, with nothing else to pick up. The bullets had been wiped clean and there was only a little bit of hunting gear left. I hoped that the other two had had better luck. I looked around and noticed that there was also no sign of walkers. There was nothing, anywhere. I was shocked, the run seemed way too easy. I walked back up to the front of the store where Maggie and Glenn already were. "How'd you guys do?" I asked them, seeing the arm loads of junk.

Glenn walked over to the doors and dropped his load, myself and Maggie following suit. "Not bad, actually. Looks like you didn't do too badly either?" I shook my head and motioned to my pile. He nodded at me and turned to us. "So I'll bring out my pile first, you both have my back OK?" We both nodded at him and prepared to make our way back out to the car.

We were about to walk outside when I turned back and saw a plastic duck that would normally be used for shooting. I smiled and thought that it might make a good toy for the baby. It wasn't much but hey, we were still trying to give that little girl the best life that we could with the little we had. I nudged Maggie and when she looked over at me, I pointed to the duck. I saw the smile cross her face as she looked over towards Glenn who had just picked up his pile.

Maggie nudged him in the shoulder and pointed to the plastic animal. "Glenn, get that duck," she told him. I nearly laughed at the incredulous look he gave her.

He stared at her like she had gone mad and looked around the supermarket. "What?" He asked her, clearly not seeing the duck. The duck that was literally only two feet in front of him. Glenn you idiot, its right there. I slapped him and forced his face to look directly at the duck. I heard him hum as he realized what Maggie had been talking about.

Maggie groaned and pointed over to the plastic animal. "Get that duck," she told him. The look on his face was absolutely priceless. He looked as if she had just asked him to kiss a walker.

He stared at her for a moment before giving her a look like she was the most insane person he'd ever met. "Are you serious?" He asked her. Maggie nodded and Glenn looked over to me if I agreed with her. I nodded and he gave me a look that was obviously meant to tell me that I was a traitor. I snorted and motioned over to the duck.

Maggie rolled her eyes and walked over to the duck, following behind Glenn. "Yeah. A kid growing up in a prison could use some toys," Maggie told him. I nodded at her, she was right. The new baby wouldn't have that many happy childhood memories of Christmas's or toys, so even something as simple as a plastic duck meant for hunting would do her some good.

Glenn looked back at us one more time to see if we were serious, and the two of us both nodded at him. He rolled his eyes but grabbed the duck anyways, placing it on top of his box. The three of us turned around and made our way out of the store, myself walking out first, followed by Glenn with Maggie taking up the rear. I walked over to the car and watched as Glenn sat the box down by the edge of the car. I looked into the box and noticed that it was stock-piled full of baby formula. I smiled and patted Glenn on the shoulder. "We just hit the powdered formula jackpot," Glenn told me and I smiled at him.

"Oh, thank God," Maggie breathed out. She was right, Daryl and I hadn't had much luck on grabbing formula from the daycare. What we had found would most likely only last us a few days. This should be able to last us two months if the baby had a small stomach. Here's hoping for that. I noticed that there was also a variety of foods that we could eat in the box as well.

Glenn shuffled the stuff around as the three of us bent down to look through the box. See what exactly Glenn had found. "I also got beans, batteries, cocktail wieners, many mustards." I smiled at Glenn, he had found a lot of stuff that we desperately needed. The ammo was number one though, and there had been none of that left.

I looked around and saw that the sun was setting now. We needed to hurry back if we wanted to make it to the prison for a dinner with the fresh meat Daryl and I had caught. "It's a straight shot back to the prison from here. Probably make it in time for dinner," Maggie said. I smiled at her, for once I'd be able to sleep through the night with a stomach full of food.

I nudged Maggie in the shoulder and gave her a sly smirk. "Oh yeah, and you can enjoy knowing exactly what that meat was around," I told her with a wink. Maggie shrieked and pretended to gag. I laughed and slapped her over the head. "That's what you get for laughing at me in the car you bitch!" I yelled at her, laughing like a maniac.

Glenn rolled his eyes and the two of us finally settled down. We all sat in silence for a moment and I reveled in the sound. We were going to have to get used to the sound of a baby crying for a while. "I like the quiet. Back there, back home, you can always hear them outside the fence no matter where you are," Glenn told us. I knew that he meant the walkers, and he was right. We always heard them growling, all hours of the night. It was freaky knowing that they were so close to getting into our home.

"And where is it y'all good people are calling home?" I heard a scratchy voice call. I panicked immediately, knowing that it was not one of us. My mind wandered back to Dave and Tony and I felt my heart speed up. I didn't want to have to kill another living man. But as the man let out a low laugh, I recognized the guttural sound. It was a deep southern accent, and one that I hadn't heard in months. It was one that I had never thought I'd hear again.

I turned back, the first of us to turn back and I nearly fainted when I really got a look at him. "Merle?" I asked. I looked at Daryl's older brother for a moment and let it sink in. He was still here, alive. He looked pretty similar to the way we had left him too, except a little stronger and he had this odd contraption on his hand. It was like a metal stump with a bayonet attached to the end. I'd never seen anything like it. My assumption was that he had made it himself.

I could see the shock written plain and clear across the older Dixon's face. "Wow!" He shouted at us, lingering on Maggie for a moment. I remembered, Merle had no idea who Maggie was, he had never gotten to meet her. "Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite little girl. Rain. How 'bout ya come give ole' Merle a hug?" He asked me before taking a few steps forward.

Just like that, both Maggie and I pulled out our guns, aiming them towards him. "Hey, back the hell up!" Maggie shouted at him. I looked back at her and saw that she was putting the pieces together. I was sure that she would realize who exactly this was soon enough.

Merle raised both hands and laughed at her. "Okay, okay, honey." He back off a few steps, but I kept my gun raised. I didn't trust Merle, I never had but he had been away from us for too long. And I had no idea if he blamed Glenn or I for what had happened to him back on the roof in Atlanta all those months ago.

"Jesus. You made it," Glenn breathed out to Merle. I could tell that he, just like me, was having a huge problem with realizing that Merle was still here and standing right in front of us.

He gave us a huge smile and looked over at Glenn and I. "Can you tell me, is my brother alive?" Merle asked us. He seemed sincere, and I felt a twang of sympathy. He wanted to know if his brother was alive. And I couldn't blame the man for that. I felt like he at least deserved to know that Daryl is alive and well.

Maggie and Glenn were silent for a moment before I stepped forward. "Yes Merle, he's alive and he's doing well. He's actually become a valuable member of the group," I told him.

Merle seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding his head. "Hey, you take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?" I thought about it for a moment, but I still didn't trust him. If anything, we would bring Daryl out here. We didn't need Merle knowing where we were sleeping at night. He noticed that Glenn was eying up the metal contraption on his arm so he turned over to the Asian man. "You like that? Yeah. Well, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Well, pretty cool, huh?" He asked us. I tried to glare at Merle but I was impressed. That must have taken a hell of a toll on his body to make something like that after losing so much blood.

I shook my head at Merle and back away, never letting my guard down. "We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you," I told Merle, hoping that he would be OK with our deal.

As I had suspected though, he wasn't. Merle glared at us and walked forward. "Hold on. Just hold up," he told us coming dangerously close to us. Both Maggie, Glenn and I all cocked our weapons at the former group member.

Merle laughed and held his hands up once more as Glenn stepped level with me and yelled out at Merle. "Whoa. Whoa. Hold up here. Hold up," he told the older man. I noticed that Merle was making a short circle around us, and he was now incredibly close to where I was standing.

The older man gave us an even look, but I could tell that he was getting angry. I knew that it wouldn't be long before he snapped on us. "Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me," Merle told us. As if it made it better, he dropped the hand that had the huge ass knife on it. Right buddy, like that makes it so much better. We all know that it's still there. And that you could pull it out at any second if you wanted to.

Glenn nodded and began to back away, holding his hands up to Merle. "You trust us. You stay here," he told the eldest Dixon brother before backing away.

I moved back as well when I saw Merle jump from behind us. "No!" Merle yelled before grabbing me by the throat. I gasped and jabbed my elbow into his sternum. I heard the air leave his lungs, but to his credit he didn't let go. I felt my heart almost stop when Merle held his gun up to my temple. I knew that Glenn had been about to take a shot, but with me in the way, he wouldn't risk it now. "Hey, hey, hold up, buddy, hold up," Merle told Glenn. I thought about bringing Daryl into it, but I felt that silence was my best option here.

Glenn tightened his grip on the gun and gritted his teeth at Merle. "Let go of her. Let go of her!" He yelled at Merle as the older man walked mo over to the car. With their guns up, Maggie and Glenn followed us. "Come on Merle, let her go. Daryl will never forgive you if you do that," Glenn told him. I could feel Merle tense, but it seemed like he would let that comment go for now.

Merle laughed and corralled Glenn to the hatchback area of the car. "Put it in the car, son." Glenn slowly let his gun into the back seat followed by Maggie. "There you go," Merle said before grabbing Maggie by the hair. "Now we're gonna go for a little drive," Merle growled as he threw her into the front passenger seat, and me into the back driver seat.

Glenn glared at Merle, who laughed at the Asian man. "We're not going back to our camp," Glenn growled at Merle.

Merle smiled at him and gave him a small nod. "No, we're going somewhere else. Get in the car, Glenn! You're driving! Move!" He yelled at the younger man. I felt my heart stop, but I knew deep down, that Merle wasn't going to risk killing any of us out here. If anything, he would wait until we got to wherever it was that we were going.

Glenn put his hands up and moved into the driver's seat as Merle raised his gun to Glenn's head. "Don't. Okay," he reasoned with the older man. He was clearly hoping to keep the Dixon man as calm as he could.

Merle smiled and pushed Glenn into the driver's seat with the barrel of his gun. "Get up. That's it. Oh, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, buddy," Merle laughed as Glenn started the ignition. I swallowed hard as he started the car and we sped out of the lot. As we hit the exit of the mini mall, Merle pointed to the left and Glenn took a sharp left, in the opposite direction of the prison.

I sat next to Merle, hoping that if I might distract him, I could buy Maggie and Glenn some time to make a plan. "Merle," I called to the older man. He cocked his eyebrows and I gave him the best pleading look I could. Maybe if I told him our story, I could weasel my way out of this with the sympathy card. "You know, you've missed a lot since you've been gone," I told him. He laughed but nodded his head.

"So ya gonna tell me what's been happening since I've been gone princess?" I growled at the use of his old nickname for me, but I knew I had to play nice. It would most likely be my only way out of this.

I glared at the man but took a deep breath. It was gonna be a long story. "Look, when we came back, we went right back out looking for you. Or they did anyways. Daryl, T-Dog, Rick, and Glenn. They went to find you. Apparently they only found your hand, but they saw that you had taken out two walkers and managed to cauterize your wounds. They went to come back to camp, but the van wasn't there, you took it." He laughed and nodded, and I put together that it really had been Merle who had taken the van. "Anyways, you drew walkers up to our campsite and we lost a lot of that people in that attack. Over half of the camp, Ed, and Amy," I told the older man. He nodded at me once more, this time with a solemn look on his face. "Anyways, turned out that Jim had gotten bit too. Oh and you never knew that Lori, well she is Rick's wife and Carl is their son. They're together now. So we headed to the CDC and we got a few answers there. Nothing too good though, we almost got killed by the suicidal man that had once worked there. Dr. Jenner. Daryl and I actually became friends there." I saw the surprise on Merle's face, but I managed to ignore it.

I went to continue my story but Merle cut me off. "Wait there princess. You and Daryl, actually friends? Or is he puttin' the grind to ya?" I ignored Merle and rolled my eyes. He may be right, but I wasn't gonna sit here and listen to him. "Well how 'bout you and I take a few rounds to show ya what a real man is like in the sack?" I gagged slightly and Merle let out a hearty laugh at my reaction.

"Anyways," I growled at Merle, "we managed to make it out of there. Jacqui stayed behind and Andrea tried too but Dale managed to talk her out of it. We all got back on the road and we were attacked by walkers. Sophia got separated from us and that sent us on the hunt for her. Shane, Rick, myself and Carl stayed out one day looking for her. Carl and I got shot in the process, him much worse than me. Shane and the man that shot us, Otis went to go get a respirator to help Carl breathe during surgery, and Shane killed Otis on that run. But anyways, we went to this farm where we met Maggie and her family. Hershel and Beth, her father and sister are still with us. Anyways, we found out the barn was full of walkers, and Sophia had been in there all along, then we had to go out and find Hershel who was-" I tried to continue my story but Merle cut me off.

"Girl, I appreciate the story but it's gettin a little confusing. Who else did y'all lose? Tell me that," he told me.

I nodded at Merle and I thought about it. "We lost Dale, a walker got him. Shane too, he tried to kill Rick, but Rick got to him first. During the attack on the farm we lost Andrea too," I told him. I saw the slight smirk on his face and I narrowed my eyes at him. He had to know something that I didn't know. "After that it was Hershel who got bit, but we cut off the leg and saved him from dying. Then it was T-Dog and Carol, both from walkers." I noticed the smile on Merle's face at the thought of T-Dog's death, and I nearly slapped the shit out of him. "Anyways, the last of the deaths was Lori. She was pregnant and had to have an emergency C section. I had to do it, I killed her. But I did save the baby. It's a baby girl. She's only a day old. Daryl is good with her," I told Merle. I saw a brief flash of emotion in his eyes but it quickly vanished. I was out of things to stall with, so I looked over at Merle again. "So what's been going on with you?" I asked Merle.

He glanced over at me and smiled. "You're about to find out doll. Welcome to Woodbury," Merle told us. I looked up, and what I saw amazed me. There were walls 20 feet high and covered with tires that were surrounding military vehicles. It seemed to be a town beyond that from what I could see. I looked up the wall and saw that there was some type of patrol team. As they saw us approaching, the people on the wall yelled out orders, and the gate opened to let us in. As soon as we had driven in though, the gate was once more closed. Merle jumped out of the car as Glenn hit the brakes and he pulled the Asian man out of the car, handing him off to a Spanish looking man. Going around to the other side of the car, he pulled Maggie out and handed her over to a brunette woman with long hair. Walking to my door, Merle pulled me out and I expected him to let go of me, but instead he pulled me along with him. "You get to meet our leader," Merle told me. I struggled against him, but it was no use. He was stronger than I was. I looked over at Maggie and Glenn, and saw that the two of them were having no luck against their captors either. As the two of us rounded a corner, I was cut off from my view of my group members and dragged into a warehouse looking building.

I pushed and pulled against Merle but it was no use. I wasn't going anywhere. "Why are you bringing me to the leader Merle? What did I do that makes me so special?" I asked him.

Merle laughed at me and pushed me into what looked like an interrogation room. He threw me into a metal chair and quickly got to tying me up. "Oh the Governor will just love you," he told me with a wink. I gagged in disgust and tried to kick at Merle, but he wasn't standing close enough to me. "And besides girl, ya seem to know the most about Daryl and wherever it is that y'all call home. Makes the most sense for the Governor to talk to you," He told me before walking out of the room.

I could hear his own voice and another deeper one that must belong to this "Governor" character. I tried as hard as I could to free myself from the restraints, but nothing that I was doing was working. I was stuck here. I sat and let my mind wander. What the hell was happening to Maggie and Glenn? I hoped that they were OK seeing as I was the one that had to meet the leader of these people. I wondered if the baby had made it. If she had a name yet. I wondered if Rick was doing better, if he had come out of the boiler room yet or if he was still waiting for his phone call. I wondered how long it would be before our people came to look for us. I wondered if I would die here. I wondered if I could ever get free, with Maggie and Glenn. I wondered if Merle would turn out to be a good guy after all. I wondered what Daryl would be thinking when they all found out that we were gone. I wondered if they would go looking for us. I wondered if they would somehow find us here. I wondered if they would fight for us. I wondered if Daryl would ever see Merle again. I wondered if he really loved me. And I wondered if I would ever see Daryl again.

Just as my thoughts were beginning to come together, I heard the door latch clunk open and I looked over. Merle walked in first giving me a big smirk and I glared at him, letting my gaze fall to the floor. Right after though, he moved, and I saw the feet of the Governor. I saw the strong but lean frame first. The tense way that he carried himself, as an authoritarian leader. I let my eyes travel upward and I saw his dark brown hair. And the last thing I saw were the eyes. Eyes that I knew I had seen before. Dark brown eyes that resembled my own. Eyes that I had sworn to myself I would never see again.

I let a sharp breathe leave my body and I nearly fainted when the complete recognition kicked in. With the quietest voice I could imagine, I uttered one word to a man that I had sworn I would never speak to again. "Dad?"


	27. Deal With The Devil

I sat in utter shock at the fact that my father, the man who had ruined my life, was standing right in front of me. I gave him a good, scrutinizing glance, curious if he had changed at all over the years. After all, it had probably been about nine years since I'd seen the man. His height was the first thing that registered with me. My father had always been tall, six-foot-three to be exact, and I had always felt tiny compared to him. I still did; that was just the effect that he had on people. I supposed that that was why these people had made him like their dictator. His face looked about the same, a few more wrinkles and a little less tanned but still the same. The only difference was that instead of a furious glare directed at me, it was a horrified recognition.

He seemed to still be processing all of this, and after a few glances at me, it finally seemed to kick in with him. I was really here. I was sure that he hadn't recognized me either. After all since I'd left home I'd lost my baby fat, gained muscles and the womanly curves, I had a tattoo slightly visible, and overall I looked stronger now. I wasn't that weak little girl who would take his shit anymore. The man who had once been my father stepped forward to me slightly with disbelief in his eyes. "Rain..." he muttered as he came within a few feet of my chair. I almost let him walk up to me, but I was suddenly filled with the vile memories of who this man really was. I snapped out of my daze and kicked out at him, narrowly missing my target. He backed off and let a small glare cross his face.

He seemed like he was about to try and justify himself to me, but I didn't want to hear any of it. "Don't you dare! Don't you speak to me and don't you touch me. You lost all of those privileges a long time ago." I glared at the man in front of me who actually had the audacity to look hurt. How dare he. He had no right to come anywhere near me, not after everything he had put me through. I managed to tear my line of sight away from my father and glance over at Merle. I saw his horrified expression and I knew that he actually felt some sorrow for what he had done for me. I was pretty sure that he didn't know that I was his leader's daughter, but he did know that we had clearly not been left off on any means of good terms.

I looked back over at my father who turned his back to Merle and motioned him to the door. "Merle, I'd like a moment with my daughter please. Can you perhaps go have a word with your old friend Glenn?" He asked. I saw the utter shock roll over Merle's face, but he quickly wiped it off. He said nothing, but nodded and turned to the door. My father turned back to me, but my attention was firmly locked on Merle. He stood at the door for a few seconds and I could see the emotion plain and simple in his eyes. He was trying to tell me that he was sorry. I shook my head and with that, Merle turned to leave. The door slammed shut and my father walked to the back of my chair, undoing the knots that Merle had done. "Shouldn't have my daughter tied up like this, not when I just want to see what's been going on in your life." I glared at him and shook my hands to get the blood flowing back through.

He turned his back to me and pulled up another chair, placing it directly in front of me. I felt the fear sink into me, but there was no way that I was going to let it take over. As he plopped down into his chair, I crossed my legs and put on my stone cold face. "Hello father, it's been a long time," I told him.

He smirked at me and nodded his head. "Yes it has my dear. Almost nine years. A lot has happened since we last saw each other. Some good and some bad," he told me. I shook my head at him and leaned forward in my chair. "Tell me Rain, what's happened with you? What have I missed?" He asked me as if he actually cared.

I grunted at him and began to pick at the small studs on my boots. "A lot actually. You missed my graduation, my prom, and my first day of high school. Uncle Philip was actually there for that believe it or not, I stayed with him for two years after I left that hellhole that you called home. Anyways, I started college and was about to graduate when this all started. I was majoring in building construction, had a few job offers lined up. No real social life though, I worked and went to school and that was it. The social life I did have didn't last for much more than a night," I told him with a dark look. I wanted him to know that I blamed him for everything that had happened to me. "I guess I really only have one thing to thank you for. You made me tough, you helped me on those cold nights on the street. And you've help me survive this so far. It was all you," I told him.

He actually didn't say anything for a minute. He merely sat there and stared at me with his hands resting in his lap. After a few beats he finally looked at me and gave me a sad smile. "Oh Rain… I never meant for any of that to happen. Sweetheart, I love you. And I always did. Everything that I ever did was out of fear that I would never make you strong enough for the world. When your mother died, I did the wrong thing taking it out on you. But you have to believe me that everything I did wasn't out of hate, it was-"

I had been doing a great job at blocking out what he was saying and telling myself that it was all a lie, but it was getting to the point that I could no longer tolerate it. "No! Everything that you did was because I was never exactly what you wanted! You don't love me! You threw me away as soon as you got Penny. The perfect daughter. You would never have done any of that if you really did love me. I hate you, and I always will. I'm ashamed to call someone like you my father. You may be my family in blood but I have a new family. And just one of them are twenty times the person that you are. Tell me, do these people know who exactly they're dealing with?" I asked him. He needed to know that I wasn't gonna sit here and take it like a dead dog. I'd done that enough, now it was time for me to retaliate.

He merely stared at me for a moment, shocked that I had actually said something like that to him. "Rain, Penny's no longer here." I sat there for a moment in utter shock. Penny was dead. I had always hated her but it really never was her fault what had happened to me, I didn't want her to die. "Anyways, these people just know that I'm here to make sure that they have something worth living for. Something more than just surviving. We're here to give these people a home."

I nodded to him knowing that there was nothing really cruel that I could say back to that. "So why are you really here? I know that it's not to re-conciliate with me. So what is it? What do you want? Let's stop with the formalities and just get to it," I told him. I was sick of the games, I was sick of him. I just wanted to go home, back to my real family, back to Daryl.

My father gave me a sick smile and stood up. I knew that he was trying to make me fell smaller but I was determined to not let him intimidate me. "So Merle tells me that you and your friends are apparently boarded up somewhere. And evidently with more than just the three of you. Must be pretty safe if it's housing all of you," he told me. Oh God, I knew where this was going, and there was no way in hell that I would let him know about the prison. "So how about you tell me where you good people are calling home? We could all be there together? Maybe give me one more chance to be your father?" He asked me.

I glared at him, there was no way that I was giving in to anything he had just told me. "No. You lost the right to be my father the moment that you laid your hands on me. I'll die before telling you where we are. Those people that I'm with right now, they have you outgunned. You'll never win if you try to go to war with them. And trust me, if it's between you and my real family... I will kill you." I could see the absolute shock in face. I mean, I wasn't surprised. The last time he had seen me, I had been on the verge of tears after a beating, knowing that I had no real place to go. I was tough now. I knew how to get what I wanted. There was no way in hell that I would ever to back to the cowardly girl that I had once been. So maybe I had fudged the truth a little bit about how many of us there were, but it wasn't like he needed to know that. He just needed to know that if he tried anything, we would fight back. And we would win.

My father let out a deep breath and moved to sit in front of me. "I must say Rain, I'm both impressed and and ashamed of you." I stared at him in wonder, what the hell was he talking about? "I'm impressed because you're stronger than the last time that we met. I never thought that I would see the day where my daughter fought back. As well as being ashamed, what are you doing? You're abandoning your father. The man that raised you," he told me. I knew that he was trying to pull at my heartstrings, but it wouldn't work. Not after everything that he had put me through.

I glared at him and stood from my chair. "You are not my father. You never were. And I don't give a damn what you think of me. Maybe once upon a time I did, but those days are long gone. Now I have a question for you," I told my father. He gave me a sidelong glance and I took it as a sign to continue. "What happened to Penny? Where is she?" I asked. I had never cared for my sister before, but if she was still here then I would be a sister to her. At some point, my group would come to rescue me, and I would make sure to take her with us. Away from this place and away from the scumbag that called himself a father.

I looked at my father and could tell by the silence and avoidance of eye contact that she was gone. But I still had to hear it from him myself. After a few beats he finally gave me the response that made me wish I had never asked. "She's gone Rain. We were running from home and they just snatched her form me. I tried so hard to save her, but I couldn't. It was either go back and save her, when it was already too late, or try to save myself. I picked the latter, but believe me Rain, I didn't want to." He seemed sincere, but I still just couldn't trust him. I glared at him and backed away a few steps.

I nodded my head and backed away as he stepped toward me. I was hurt that my sister was no longer here, but I was also glad that she was at least away from that monster that was my father. "Right," I said, not knowing what else to say. "So what now?" I asked him. "I won't tell you where my group is and I can tell that you won't let me go without any persuasion. So, what do you want?" I asked him.

I saw that his grin grew tenfold and I felt my heart sink. He knew what my weakness was right now. Maggie and Glenn. What the hell had he done to them? I was about to ask what he had done with them, but he beat me to it. "Don't worry about your friends. They're safe for now. Although I did send Merle in to question the Asian man, so who knows what happened to him," he told me with a grin.

I felt the fury rise in my chest and I jumped towards my father. "What the hell did you tell Merle to do to him?" I screamed as I advanced on my father. Without any warning, my father reeled back on me and slapped me straight across the face. I fell back, absolutely shocked. For a minute I was sent back to my childhood, crying that my father had had the audacity to hit me. I was immediately tempted to revert back to my days of curling in om myself and crying but I was too strong for that now. I would retaliate. I was no longer the weak little girl who took the abuse from a man that was supposed to love her.

I laid on the floor probably looking absolutely stunned as my father towered over me with a dark smirk. "Well it seems that maybe you didn't change as much as I thought you had," he told me. I growled at him and swung my leg up, hitching it around his knee and pulling it down. He was pulled to the ground too fast as he was sent sprawling to the floor. I jumped across the floor and sent a hard punch to his gut, moving back as fast as I could and making a mad dash to the door. I ripped the door open and was shocked when I fell face-first into Merle. I scrambled to my feet, but Merle was faster. He grabbed onto my shoulders, ripping me back into the room.

My father stood up behind me and pulled me from Merle. He made it look gentle for the older Dixon sibling, but I felt that his pressure was a lot harder than he needed to. He pushed me back into my chair and I smiled when I saw that he was obviously having trouble moving me around. That fall must have hurt. Good. My father shook himself off and turned to face Merle, looking astoundingly calm for what had just happened. "Please take care of my daughter will you Merle? Do what you have to do so that we may give the rest of her group a friendly visit," ht told the older man. Merle nodded, clearly freaked out at what had just happened. Merle nodded and my father limped towards the door; I couldn't help but let a smirk cross my face. As my father walked out, though, he grabbed Merle by the shoulders and leaned towards him asking what had happened to Glenn.

I strained my hearing but managed to hear him. "Set a walker on the kid, wouldn't tell me where they were hanging out. I'll go back later to see what happened to him." I had to fight every fiber in my being to not jump up and strangle Merle to death. Daryl would have to forgive me, because I was gonna kill Merle for that. Even if Glenn had made it, there was no way that Merle was gonna get away with doing that. Not to my family. My father nodded and walked out of the building, though not without giving me one nasty look. As the door closed, Merle walked over to me and I prepared to pounce on him. I jumped up to attack him, but the older Dixon had prepared for it. He held his arms up and forced me back into my chair. "Whoa girl! Calm down, the Asian kid's fine!" He told me.

I stood back up, but this time managed to keep myself from lunging at Merle again. "You set a fucking walker on him! How the hell do you know he's fine?!" I shrieked at Merle. The older man smirked at me and pulled around the chair my father had been using, plopping down in front of me.

"'Cuz I ain't stupid girl. I was sure that the duct tape was loose enough that he'd be able to fight back. Shit ain't that hard to get free with. Kid's fine," he told me. I sighed and leaned back in my chair, my gaze fixed firmly on the floor. After a few beats of silence Merle looked up at me and sighed. "Rain... I'm sorry about that. I didn't know. About The Governor..." I looked up at Merle and felt my heart sink. He really had no idea who the man he was working for was and I didn't blame him. From the sound of it, my father had saved him from near death. I shook my head at Merle and put my hand lightly on his leg.

I stood up and faced Merle with a small smile on my face. "Merle, you had no idea. It's OK, don't apologize." The two of us sat in silence for a moment before a thought crossed my mind. I knew what I had to do. I had to get Maggie and Glenn the hell out of here. Send them back to the prison where they can get help and bring it back here. Maybe I could even convince the group to let Merle back with us; he wasn't my favorite guy but hell, the man was Daryl's family. The only blood family he had left. I wonder what Daryl is doing at this very moment. If they've even realized that we were missing.

MEANWHILE AT THE PRISON

The group and the woman that Rick had found outside the gates were all sitting around the tables. The woman had been shot in the leg and probably would've been walker bait had it not been for the leader, who seemed to be back to sanity. While everyone seemed to be focused on the woman, I was focused on what she'd brought here. It was baby formula. She didn't have a baby with her so I couldn't help but wonder if she somehow knew that we had a baby here. But the only way that she would really known that would have been from Rain, Maggie, and Glenn. And speaking of them, why the hell weren't they back yet? Rick was looking at the woman's wound. He nodded at her and motioned over to Hershel. "We can tend to that wound for you, give you a little food and water, and then send you on your way. But you're gonna have to tell us how you found us and why you were carrying formula," Rick told her, motioning over to the box that was full of food.

She was sitting on the bench across from me, and I immediately looked up. So he had realized it too, that there was something odd about the stuff that she was carrying. "The supplies were dropped by a young Asian guy with two pretty girls," she told us. Rain. Why the hell would she drop the supplies? Someone or something would have had to have interrupted them. Maybe it had been walkers? My heart sunk into my stomach as I feared the worst for the young blonde.

Rick stepped up to the woman and leaned down in front of her. "What happened? Were they attacked?" Rick asked as she lurched back. She obviously hadn't been around people in a while. Either that or she was afraid of what people would do to her. Not that it was unreasonable, if she was smart she would be afraid of people. It wasn't just the walkers we had to fear anymore, it was the people as well. They fought back more than walkers did.

The woman looked at us and shook her head, looking down at the floor. "They were taken," she told us. Taken?! What the hell? By who? I knew that as soon as Rick registered what she had just said, we would form a search party and we would get our group back together. There was no way that these people were getting away with this.

Rick let a dumbfound look cross his face before he composed himself. He looked up at her and I noticed that he had a sour look on his face. "Taken? By who?" He asked her. She looked down and rolled her eyes.

She was swinging her hands around in front of her acting as if she wasn't around a group of people that wouldn't hesitate to kill her if she didn't cooperate with us and tell us where the hell our people were. "By the same son of a bitch who shot me," she said with a small shrug of her shoulders. I could tell that Rick was clearly upset with her as she stood up and advanced on her.

He stood over her smaller form and put his hands down on her leg. I saw that she was trying to recoil from his touch, but with the loss of blood, she was no match for Rick. I watched as our leader dug his thumb into her bullet wound and I nearly gagged at the pain that was written clearly across her face. "Hey, these are our people. You tell us what happened now!" He yelled at her as he dug his thumb even harder into her wound. She seemed to finally snap out of the pain as she shoved his hand off of her and tried to jump off of the table. She clearly wasn't strong enough though, as she fell immediately back down onto the table.

She recoiled from Rick and put her hand back on the table. Looking behind her, I noticed that she had a sword strapped to her back, and I knew that if she felt that threatened, she would reach for it. I kept a tight grip on my crossbow just in case I needed to take her down. There was no way that I would let her hurt my people. "Don't you ever touch me again!" She snarled at our leader.

Rick glared at her as he moved backwards slightly. He rubbed his face and looked at her again, seemingly trying to calm his temper down. "You'd better start talking. You're gonna have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound," he told her trying to intimidate her. I stared at her and noticed that even though she looked tough, she was clearly afraid of us. After all, it was five against one. Even if not all of us looked tough, everyone but the baby was armed.

She looked over at Rick and sneered at him. "Find 'em yourself," she told him. I jumped as she went to pull out the sword, but she was still too weak to do anything. I easily pulled the sword away from her and pushed her back down. It might have been a little too harsh, but I needed to get the information out of her. I needed Rain back, she needed to be here with me. And we needed Glenn and Maggie, we needed all the muscle that we had.

I had her pushed down against the table as Rick walked over to her. "Hey, shh, shh, shh. Put it down," he told her. He pushed me away from her lightly and I nodded, releasing her and moving back. She dropped the katana back into its sheath and she turned back to Rick. "You came here for a reason," he told her. She seemed to think about it before she nodded to him. We all backed away from her and waited to see what information she could give us about our missing group members.

She swallowed a few times before looking directly at us. "There's a town. Woodbury. About 75 survivors. I think they were taken there," she told us. A whole town full of survivors? Civilians or military? That would be what made the difference here. We could easily take down civilians, but military was another thing. And they didn't seem too friendly to me right now.

Rick was obviously shocked by the entire thing as he just stood by her side, staring blankly at the wall. "A whole town?" He asked her. I didn't blame him. The damn place must have walls and everything. There was no way that that many people could survive in the woods of even in a few houses together. This place was clearly well armed if they've been able to fight off walkers for this long.

The woman nodded and looked at Rick. "It's run by this guy who calls himself the Governor- pretty boy, charming, Jim Jones type." I shook my head at her. That man had gotten the best of Rain? Glenn and Maggie? I knew that they were all smart enough to be suspicious of anyone. Especially someone that looked like that. Although, if they had been ambushed by someone else, it could mean that this Governor man had some serious guns behind him.

Rick seemed to be thinking the same thing. "He got muscle?" Our leader asked the injured woman. It wasn't exactly the easiest question to answer if she hadn't seen his fighters, but we had to know. If we were going to try to attack his people and his group, we needed to be sure that we could win. Not that we were going to try to ambush them and end up leading ourselves into a death trap.

She nodded her head and seemed to relax as Rick backed slightly off of her. "Paramilitary wannabes. They have armed sentries on every wall," she told us. I shook my head. I had been hoping that this leader would leave something open, but it seemed like he had thought of everything. And he was smart. He knew that if people saw that he had a town with strong walls, someone would eventually try to take it from them. Rick seemed to think it over for a moment, pacing back and forth for a while before turning back to her.

"You know a way in?" He asked her.

She gave what seemed to be the slightest hint of a smile and nodded at Rick. I could tell that she held some special type of hatred for the man in her heart. "The place is secure from walkers, but we could slip our way through." I nodded at her, at least we had some way to get into the place without being detected.

I stared at the woman for a few moments before a question popped into my mind. "How'd you know how to get here?" I asked her. She looked over at me in shock, probably surprised that someone besides Rick had spoken to her. But I was curious. I wanted to know how she had known to come here. It wasn't like we really had a sign saying that we were here. And even if she did see that people were in here, how could she have known that it was the right group?

She nodded at me and drew in a deep breath. "They mentioned a prison, said which direction it was in, that it was a straight shot." I nodded, they must have been talking about getting back here when she had overheard them. Must have been right after that that they had been taken. Hopefully whoever had taken them hadn't overheard them saying where we were. I saw that all of our group was nodding at the woman. Though we didn't know her, it seemed like we could trust her. For now at least.

Hershel started to walk up to the woman who quickly recoiled at him. Rick put a hand on her shoulder and bent down to her level as Hershel approached her. "This is Hershel, the father of the dark haired girl who was taken. He'll take care of that," Rick told her. I noticed that Hershel gave the woman an assuring smile and she relaxed at his presence. That was just the way that Hershel was. He knew how to get people to trust him. Rain was like that too. It gave me some assurance that as soon as the woman's bullet wound was taken care of, we would start to develop a plan to get Rain, Glenn, and Maggie back. And as soon as I had her back in my arms, I'd find this Governor. And as soon as I find that son of a bitch, I'll kill him.

BACK IN WOODBURY

I looked at Merle with a proud smile on my face, glad that I'd managed to come up with a plan to hopefully get Glenn, Maggie, him, and myself out of here. And alive. Alive is the important part. I noticed that Merle was wearing an "Are you insane?" look and I rolled my eyes. I was about to defend my plan of action when Merle stepped in. "So you're gonna bargain yourself for Glenn and Maggie's freedom?" He asked me. I nodded my head, it really wasn't that difficult to understand. "Uh, a little advice girl. He already has you. Why would he make a trade for something he already has?" The older Dixon asked.

I rolled my eyes ready to explain myself once more. "No Merle. I already thought about that. I know he already has me, which is why I need your help here. When he comes back I'm going to propose that he lets go Maggie and Glenn, and if he does I'll tell him anything and everything he wants to know. Now naturally when they get back they'll tell Rick and everyone what's going on and they'll send out a search party for me. I just have to stall my father until then. And as for you, well you're his right hand man. I need you to tell him that you think the trade is a good idea and when the group comes, I'll make sure you get out with me. Back to Daryl. Anyways, I'll also need you to convince him that the best idea is for me to hug them and say goodbye in person. I'll need to give them a slight idea of what's going on. Tell him that you'll be standing right there, making sure nothing funny is going on," I told the older man. I waited for a response as I saw that Merle clearly wasn't very confident that this whole plan would work.

Merle seemed to sit there for a few moments before sighing and nodding at me. "So should I go get the Governor now? Tell him that you've had a change of heart. You have a deal for him?" He asked me. I nodded happily, glad that he was risking his own life just so that we could have a shot at getting the hell out of here. Merle nodded at me and stood up heading for the door. He walked out and I could just barely hear his voice and another speaking on the outside of the door. I figured that it was most likely my father. My thoughts were confirmed when Merle opened the door and my father walked back into the room. I couldn't help but smirk slightly at the bad limp he was using.

My father pulled the chair up in front of me and took a seat, crossing his legs. I glared at him, knowing that he must have believed that he was winning here. We'll see asshole. The tables have turned and this is my game now. "So Rain," my father started. I looked him in the eyes and nodded at him. "I hear that you have a deal for me," he said slowly. I nodded, waiting to see what his next move would be. "Good, good. So let me hear this grand plan of yours," he told me with a small smile on his face.

I took a few deep breaths, praying that he wouldn't know that this entire thing was just a way for all of us to make it out of here. I focused on keeping a straight face when I nodded at him and took one last deep breath. "You let Glenn and Maggie go. You let them go and you can keep me. I won't try to escape, I swear. And once I know that they're safe and away from here I'll tell you everything and anything you want to know about my group or myself," I told him.

I saw the gears grinding in his head and I smiled to myself. He was taking the bait and that was exactly what I had wanted. He seemed to think my offer over for a few moments before he nodded to me. "Alright, we let your little friends go and you tell me everything I need to know. And no funny business." I shook my head hoping that I looked sincere. Apparently it worked as he went to stand up and leave the room. I had been about to let him leave as I remembered a vital part of my plan.

I jumped up and ran to meet up with him. "Wait!" I yelled to him as I met up at his side. "Let me say goodbye to them. Let me sat goodbye at the gate. And I want to watch to make sure that no one is following them and you won't hurt them with their backs to you all," I told him. He smiled at me and nodded once more. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room, and around the many twists and turns of the building that I was in. My father finally pulled me out into the open and I was shocked to see that it was already nightfall. We must have been here for about five hours now.

My father stopped short and I jolted. Glancing up at him, he handed me off to another man who seemed to be Spanish and in his mid thirties. I glared at him and pulled slightly away, but he already had a cast iron grip on me. I glared and watched as my father called for Glenn and Maggie. He seemed to be telling Merle my plan as Merle turned back to me and gave me a look that asked if I really knew what I was doing. I nodded to him and watched as my father ordered the older Dixon to go get Glenn and Maggie. I stood in the open street for a few moments before Merle once more emerged with my two other group members. I smiled at them and the Spanish man allowed me to walk away from him. I went up to Glenn first and gave him a hug. I leaned into his ear and whispered, "It's a trick I'm pulling on them. Find Rick. Get a group. Come back for me," I told him. He gave me two pats on the back and I knew that he had understood me. As he walked back, I smiled at him and hoped that I looked like I would sincerely miss him. "Good luck," I called to him so that the actual Woodbury residents could hear me. Maggie came up next and before she could say anything I whispered to her as well. "Glenn will explain," I told the brunette woman. She patted me on the back as well and I gave her a small smile as she pulled away.

I was pulled to the top of the wall as my two group members were let out onto the street. They were given their weapons back as well but naturally they were empty. I watched from the top of the wall as Glenn and Maggie retreated into the woods, praying to whatever spirit was watching out for me, that they would be able to make it back to the prison. I was ripped off the wall by my father as the pair fled from my view. I glared at the man, but at least he had kept to his word. Now I had to distract him until the search party came for me.

ONE MILE OUT FROM WOODBURY

We had been running as fast as we could away from the cabin owned by man who seemed to not fully grasp what was going on. It was too bad that we had to kill him, but at least it would keep us safe for now. We had just come up on a clearing in the wood and we were now on top of the town that was holding Rain, thanks to the woman that had seen them get taken. I heard cracking footsteps up ahead and I raised my crossbow. Obviously the others had heard as well when they all raised their weapons. I nearly shot an arrow at the two figures that emerged from the wood, but something stopped me. And I was glad it did as the figures turned out to be Glenn and Maggie. I dropped my crossbow, thrilled that we had gotten two of them, but my heart immediately sank. Where was Rain? "Oh my God. You guys, how the hell did you get here? We were just leaving to come get you. To get you back here to rescue Rain," Glenn told us.

So Rain was still in there? Then how the hell had the two of them gotten out? "So she's still there? We got here because of her," I told the pair, pointing back to the woman. "She saw you guys get taken and she brought the formula back to the prison. Told us where you guys were and we got together a search party to go and rescue you. How did you escape?" I asked them.

Maggie stepped forward this time and looked over all of us. "Rain made up some lie apparently. She told the man that runs the place, the Governor that she would tell him everything about us if he let us go. She was hoping that if she did that, he would let us go and she could stall until we got there to rescue her. But she walked into a trap! I had to tell him about us. He would have killed Glenn had I not. I'm so sorry, I held out as long as I could," Maggie told us. I could hear the sigh in her voice and I knew that she was ashamed of herself for telling the Governor about us. But hell, I couldn't blame her, I would have done the same thing if it were Rain in Glenn's spot.

Rick seemed to spot the fault in all of our theories though. "Wait. So if this Governor character knew what was going on, why would he let Maggie and Glenn go? Why not keep them and tell her no?" Rick asked. I sat there in a stunned silence for a moment. He was right. The Governor had all the information that he needed, why let them go and have her tell him as well? He had to have some other reason behind keeping her there with them.

I stepped forward and nudged Rick in the arm, "Rick, we need to get going. We have no idea what's happening to Rain in there while we're all standing out here debating on it." Rick nodded and motioned to everyone to continue walking, with the foreign woman in front. We were blindly following her, so she had better be of some use. I sighed as we came to a stop in front of the fence, fidgeting madly knowing that Rain could be only a few yards from me, but I had no idea. Hang on Rain, I'm coming.

BACK IN WOODBURY

I had been thrown back into the room that I had started in while my father merely smirked at me. I felt the need to tell him what a fatal mistake he had made, but it would only hinder me. Instead I tried to keep a straight face and just pray that Rick and Daryl were quick in getting here. I was running out of options. "I have other business to attend to for a while. I'll return shortly. In the meantime, you'll have Martinez to keep you company," he told me with a smirk. I nodded but felt a lump in my throat form. Why hadn't he sent Merle in to come and talk to me? I hoped to God that he wasn't getting suspicious of everything. My father turned from the room and opened the door, walking out, and letting Martinez in. I growled as I noticed that it was the Spanish man from earlier. I had a terrible feeling about this.

"Well, well sweetheart. Made a deal with the devil huh?" He asked me. I scoffed and looked away from him. At this point, the only two people here that I was willing to talk to were my father and Merle. Not some cocky asshole that thought he was tough shit. "That's fine doll, I've got more important shit to deal with than you anyways. Governor actually sent me to get you and bring you to a new hideaway," Martinez told me with a smirk. I gave him a sidelong look but he ignored it. What the hell was that about? Martinez slipped a blindfold over my eyes and I growled at the feeling. I felt him pull me up from the chair that I had been seated in and out the room. I knew that I was being pulled down the hallways, and judging by the change of air temperature, I was now outside. For a while, we walked straight before we took a turn, and I knew that we were inside once more. "Alright girly. Mind the stairs," he told me. I had been about to make a snarky comeback when my feet hit the first step and I fell. Martinez laughed and pulled me up, walking me slowly up the stairs. I was pretty sure that I was on the third floor when we finally left the staircase and walked down a hall. I heard the lock of a door click and gulped when I felt him guide me through. I was ready to fight back when a last door was opened and I was thrown down onto the bed. I tore off my blindfold, ready to fight, but I was shocked to find that I was alone.

I blinked a few times to clear out my vision, but the room was dark and it was hard to see. After a few minutes, the room finally came into view and I looked around. It only took me about a minute to realize where I had been thrown. A replica of my old room. Well not really a replica, but there were plenty of similarities. A similar sheet set. A few of the same board games. An old Nintendo D.S. An old, small TV in the corner. The same small twin sized bed. The same movie posters. The same books. The same pictures. I walked around my old room and ran my hands over the pictures. The first few were memories of when I was a little kid. A trip to Disney, a day at the park, first day of school, and a day at the gun and bow range. I smiled at the photos and went down the line. The next was of the day that Penny was born. I couldn't help but sigh, knowing that my baby sister was now dead. The last of the photos was only Penny and my father. I rolled my eyes but picked up the photo anyways. I looked at it and noticed that they both actually looked extremely happy. Feeling a sudden surge of anger, I threw the photo across the room and stared at the shattered glass. With nothing left to do, I walked over to the bed and collapsed. I was so exhausted from the day that the moment my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

I must have only been out for a few minutes when a loud bang woke me up. I jumped at the loud noise and flung myself over to the window. I looked out over the street and saw that there wasn't an invasion, but clearly there was some type of disturbance. Running towards the door, I went to kick it down before I realized that it had already been open. God damn it, I should have checked the door first. I flung the door open and was shocked to see that the apartment was empty. Looking both ways, I saw that the front door was only across the main room. Letting out a whoop of happiness I ran across, only to be cut off by voices outside of the door. Gasping, I turned back and walked across the room. I looked around, panicking as to what I could do, I noticed that there was a small crack in the wall. Pushing at it slightly, the wall opened and I stumbled in.

Nothing could have prepared me for what was in the room. Looking over to my left was a huge wall of fish tanks. But it wasn't fish that were in them. I had to cover my mouth to keep from screaming at the sight. It was about 30 walker heads in the tanks and they were all still alive. Sort of. I backed off from the wall trying to find another exit to the room when my eyes caught sight of life sized cages in the back of the room. Walking over to them, I saw that inside one was a person that didn't quite look full grown. From the looks of it, it was a child. I called lightly to the person, who looked over at me and stood up, walking to the cage doors. I gasped as I saw that it was a little girl with a bag over her head and her hands tied behind her back, with a chained collar keeping her at bay. "Penny..." I whispered in disbelief. Upon recognition of my younger sister, I opened the cage door and let Penny walk out to me. It sounded like she was crying and I couldn't blame her, I was tearing up too. "It's OK Penny, I'm gonna get you out of here and you're coming home with me." There was no way that I was leaving this girl here, she was coming back to the prison with me. I couldn't believe that my father had lied to me about her being dead. It seemed that I wasn't the only child that he had turned on. Putting my hand on the top of the bag that covered her face I thought about her for a second. Why she hadn't spoken to me yet. Well she probably is afraid of me. The poor girl has no idea who I am, or that I'm her sister. Hell, if he didn't have any pictures of us up, she might have grown up thinking she was an only child. After all, the last time I'd seen Penny she had only been a few months old. Grabbing the top of the bag, I ripped it off and let out a small shriek. Penny lunged at me, and I was glad that she was restrained this time.

I felt the tears once more rise to my face as I realized that my father hadn't lied to me. Penny really was dead, he had just never finished her off. I didn't want to do it but I knew that I had to. I couldn't leave Penny like this. Grabbing my knife, I looked at my younger sister who was thrashing around now that fresh meat was right in her sight line. "I'm so sorry Penny. If you're out there somewhere, then listen. I love you, and I know that I've never said that. But I could never come back, not with him at home. My name is Rain and I'm your sister. I'm sorry I was too late, but I hope that this will make us even. You should be able to rest in peace, not roam the Earth in an empty shell. I'll end it," I whispered the last part. I brought my knife up to Penny's head, but a click of the door made me stop. Fearing that it was my father coming for me, I shoved the bag sloppily onto Penny's head avoiding her teeth and pushed her back into the cage. Yanking myself up and off of the floor I ran behind the tanks just in time for the door to slide open and a very pretty black woman with dreads walked in. I watched her carefully as she pulled a katana off of her back and sat down in the huge brown armchair off to the side. I knew that my only chance was to carefully slip by her, and somehow I did. Crawling out of the door, I slipped silently through the apartment before making it back into the stair well. Letting a smile slip across my face, I knew that I was almost free.

I dashed down the stairs and noticed that outside, it was chaos. Residents of Woodbury were running back and forth, pulling residents into their homes, arming themselves, and shouting orders to one another. It looked like there had been some sort of invasion, and if I was lucky it hadn't been from the walkers. I hoped that if I walked out, people would be so enamored with each other that they might not recognize me. With no other choice, that was what I was going to have to do. I walked out of the apartment and made it a few feet down the street before a man walked up to me. I felt my heart rate speed up but I kept my face calm. "Hey! You! Why the hell are you walking around here without a gun?!" The man asked me. I tried to answer him but it came out as only a stupid stutter. "Ugh, whatever it doesn't matter. Look, there's another group out there and we've gotta defend this place. Shoot-to-kill orders. Here," he said, handing me a small Glock 9mm. I thanked him and watched as he moved off from me and towards the crowd. I felt my heart deflate as I watched the man move away from me. We were terribly outnumbered and these people had heavier artillery, as far as I knew at least.

Walking away from the spot that the man had caught me at, I hissed as I saw that Martinez was walking around just a few yards from me. I took off around the corner and slowed myself down to a brisk walk, trying not to raise suspicion. I had almost made it to an unmanned gate when I smiled. I had made it, now I just had to find my group and get the hell out of here. I put my foot on the first chain link when strong arms pulled me down from the gate. I let out a shriek and kicked out at the man who had his hands around my waist. He growled at me though and threw me onto the ground. I grunted in pain and cracked my eyes open to see who my attacker was. I groaned when I saw that it was Martinez who was now towering over me. "Well here we are again darling! You should have just stayed in the house," he growled at me as he picked me up and dragged me out of the alleyway. I tried to fight against him, but it was no use, I was in too much pain from the fall. I reached for my gun, but Martinez had already seen it. He pulled to gun from my waist band and laughed at me as he secured it in his belt.

As we walked out of the hallway I heard that there were gunshots echoing in the distance. Daryl. It was my group, I knew it was. I kicked and punched at Martinez but he wasn't loosening his grip. He pulled me past the cell type areas once more and walked me into my old cell. Martinez growled at me and threw me onto the metal table that sat in the middle of the room. I groaned at the sudden sharp pain through my side and tried to roll off of the metal table. Martinez was faster than me though as he pushed my body back into the table. "Gov said that you were all mine for a while. Think he just wanted me to rough you up a bit, scare you, but I think this will do better." The older man growled and pulled his belt buckle to loosen the strap. I jumped up and felt my breath quicken. Not again, no way. I was tougher this time and there was no way that I would ever let a man treat me like that again.

I struggled against Martinez as he grabbed for my belt. I was unfortunately not strong enough to fight him off, the man most likely had about 80 pounds on me, and he continuously shoved my hands away from him. I cried out in pain as his hands tore into my lower thighs, I could feel the skin being torn clean off my body at his force. He moved his hands up my thighs and pulled at the bottom of my shorts. For once I was thrilled that my shorts were made of a faux leather, it made the shorts ten times harder to pull off of me. He did however, get sick of trying to pull the shorts off. My eyes widened as a Martinez pulled out a knife and held it to my thigh. I shrieked and punched him hard in the gut. He groaned at the pain but still brought the knife down onto my leg, the blade slid through the material of my shorts, as he cut one of the legs off of my pants. I screamed as the blade pierced my skin. Determined not to let him get any farther, I kicked out at him and after being hit a few times in the chest, he gave up. I laughed as I thought that I had gotten away, but I was wrong, Martinez instead went up to my chest and easily ripped my tank top. I screamed at him and lashed out with my arm. To my shock, my nails had caught his cheek and left three huge claw marks down the side of his face. Blood immediately started to run down his cheek and I heaved as the pressure was released when he jumped off of me.

I sighed at the relief that he wasn't going to finish me off when a hard hit came on the side of my face. I felt my vision blur for a few moments and I finally saw that Martinez was standing over me with blood dripping down his body. I whimpered as hit after hit came down onto me. "You stupid bitch! Just had to fucking fight me, make it difficult!" He was screaming at me. I cried out in pain when he pulled me up by my hair and dragged me out of the room. He was leading me down a hallway by the scruff of my neck and I was just barely standing. We turned a few corners when we ran into my father. I looked up at him and knew that my eyes had widened drastically. He had a bandage over his left eye. What the hell had happened to him?

I noticed that there was dried blood on his patch and I prayed that Martinez would ask what had happened. I shivered as a cold breeze hit me and I tried to pull my shirt back up, but it was useless. My shirt was torn apart, hanging limply around my waist. My father glared at me and smiled. "Well dear, isn't this a familiar sight?" He asked me. I tried to kick out at him, but I was too weak. My father held my arm and pulled me away from the Spanish man. "I have someone else for you to take care of. Go find Adam, he'll tell you what's going on." I stared at my father as he dragged me outside. "Come on dear, we're going to watch a show," he told me. I growled at him, but I couldn't fight anymore.

He brought me outside and I was in utter shock at all of the people standing around, cheering. My father pushed me into a small circle and pulled me to the edge before throwing me down. I grunted at the pain, but sat there in the dirt. My father came back over after that and pulled my hair, getting me to rise onto my knees. I wanted to cover up, to cry, but I stayed strong. The women in the crowd were screaming at me and the men were whistling. I hadn't been this embarrassed in a long time. I looked up and saw that Merle was watching me in complete horror. I tried to move towards him, but my father ripped my hair back.

After a few minutes of the screaming he hushed the crowd and turned to look at them all. "Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's time I properly introduce you all to my daughter here. Rain Blake! Now, Rain and I have never seen eye to eye. But recently it's gotten worse. I mean, what can I say? Hasn't been a night like this since the walls were completed. And I thought we were past it- past the days when we all sat, huddled, scared in front of the TV during the early days of the outbreak. The fear we all felt then, we felt it again tonight. I failed you. I promised to keep you safe. Hell, look at me." I looked up at him and saw that he was motioning to his eye. I felt my heart rate pick up, I mean hell, I felt like I was at my execution. "You know, I- I should tell you that we'll be okay, that we're safe, that tomorrow we'll bury our dead and endure, but I- I won't, because I can't. Because I'm afraid. That's right. I'm afraid of terrorists who want what we have," he said. I glared at him knowing that this was going nowhere good. "Bad enough that my daughter is one of these terrorists!" He yelled, throwing me onto the ground. I grunted but pulled myself up to look at him. "Want to destroy us! And worse because one of those terrorists is one of our own. Merle the man I counted on, the man I trusted. He led 'em here. And he let 'em in. It was you. You lied, betrayed us all," my father said as his men led Merle into the center of the circle. I felt my heart drop, Merle was a traitor to them, but I had led them here, not him. What was about to happen to him was my fault.

I tried to jump at my father but he pushed me back down "Dad stop! This isn't right! Merle didn't do anything!" I screamed at him. My father looked down at me and laughed, motioning something off to his men. I sat and watched as the men led in a person that seemed to be bound and gagged. I tried to make out the person, but as he was walking past, Martinez kicked me in the head, badly blurring my vision.

My father moved over to the man who had just been brought in, and my vision slowly started to return to normal. I watched as the man was led next to Merle. "This is one of the terrorists," my father started. I felt my chest drop, it was one of my own. "Merle's own brother," my father yelled before ripping the bag off of his head. Oh my God. Daryl. I stared in shock as Daryl stared at his brother. The pair were looking at each other as if they'd never seen each other before. I tried to pull myself up, but I was too weak right now. "What should we do with them, huh?" My father yelled to his followers. I let my heart skip a few beats as I tried to catch their attention.

The crowd started shouting at the Dixon brothers as I moved slightly over to try and grab the two. "Kill them!" The crowd was shouting. I felt myself begin to panic and I knew that in a few minutes it would be too late. I needed to get to them.

"What? What you want?" My father continued to yell to the crowd.

"Kill them! Kill them!" They all continued to scream. I finally managed to stumble forward slightly on my knees closer to the brothers. I was within a few feet but I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it all the way over to them.

Sheking my head, I tried to call to them a few times, but it wasn't working. I wasn't loud enough. I sucked in a huge breath, and hoped that this time I would be able to yell over the crowd. "Daryl!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. The younger Dixon brother finally turned around and I let out a relieved laugh. His eyes locked on mine and I saw the shock, fury, and love in his eyes. He stared at me for a few moments before trying to move over to me. I knew that he wanted to be close to me, but I shook my head no. He couldn't show signs of affection right now. I needed him to stay away from me for a few minutes.

As Daryl and I were looking at each other, I saw that my father was walking up to Merle. He came up to the older Dixon's shoulder before leaning over. "You wanted your brother. Now you got him," my father told him before walking back to the edge of the circle. I felt my heart drop as I looked around. We were surrounded and there was sure as hell no way out of this. We were dead. I had just gotten Daryl back, and now we were dead.


	28. That's What You Get

I stared at Daryl in utter horror. How the hell had he gotten himself into this mess? I tried to get up to move closer to the Dixon brothers, but my father beat me to it. He grabbed my hair and shoved me into the circle. Red-faced, I pulled myself up and did my best to cover myself up. Daryl leaned down to me and handed me a rag that was in his back pocket. It was nothing to use to cover myself up, but if nothing else I could use the thing to wipe off some of the blood and dirt. As I was wiping myself down I saw that my father had slowly moved into the center of the circle and the crowd had actually quieted down for him. I liked the absence of noise but the sudden silence told me that I had nothing to be happy about. My father seemed to find it funny as he backed off of us once more and the crowd began to roar with their death threats once more. "Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em!" The crowd roared. I panicked at the calls for blood and finally realized that there was only one thing that I could do.

I ran up to my father only to see a familiar blonde trying to get to him as well. "Let me go. Let me go," the older woman yelled to Martinez. I stared at her for a moment before I finally knew, it was Andrea. She really hadn't died in the attack on the farm, she'd merely gotten separated. She ran up to my father and I met her there, but her attention was firmly locked on him. "Philip," she tried but my father was not hearing any of this. I cocked my head as well and gave my father a funny look. Why had she called him Philip? His real name was Brian, the only person named Philip that I knew was my uncle. The one that had let me stay with him when I had nowhere else to go. Why had my father taken his brother's name?

Instead of looking at her, his eyes stayed fixed on the two Dixon brothers. "Stay out of this," he growled at Andrea.

She looked at my father like he was absolutely mad before Martinez came back up to her and grabbed her arms, pulling them behind her back. She struggled as the Spanish man pulled her away before she shouted at him. "He's my friend," she told him probably hoping that some part of him would feel bad for her if she said that. I finally ran up to the pair of them and I just heard Andrea breathe out my name. I didn't blame her, she had probably thought that she would never see any of us again after the farm fell.

My father merely kept his eyes dead locked on the crowd before mumbling to her, "it's not up to me anymore. The people have spoken." I stared stupefied at my father before I jumped up to follow him into the circle. The crowd had once more grown quiet, but I didn't care. I was going to fight for Daryl's life. His would always mean more to me than my own would.

Running up to my father, I grabbed his arm and forced him to stumble back, away from the brothers. There were yells at me from every person in the ring and I was sure that I heard Daryl telling me to run and hide, but I ignored them all. "Dad!" I yelled to him to try and get his attention on me. His head finally snapped over to me and the stadium had grown dead silent. I looked back before I began speaking and saw that Daryl had gone pale white. Shaking my head at him, I looked back over to my father. "Please Dad. Don't do this. If you ever harnessed any love for me at all, you won't do this." My father looked like he was about to deny me, so I cut him off before he could. "Think back. Think back to when I was a little girl and you told me that you always wanted me to find someone that I loved and someone that I could spend the rest of my life with?" I asked him. He nodded slowly so I took it as a sign to continue. "Well, that man," I told him pointing over to Daryl. "That man right there is him. I love him. I really do. Please, let him go. Let all of us go and I swear to God that you will never see us again," I pleaded with my father.

He seemed to think it over for a moment before laughing and shaking his head. "I really did love you at some point Rain, but those days are long gone. You deserved everything that I ever gave to you. The rules stand, this is not going unnoticed!" My father yelled. The crowd roared in agreement, and I felt my heart sink. I wasn't going to be able to sway him. With no one in his way now, he made his way over to the two brothers before shushing the crowd. "I asked you where your loyalties lie," he said looking over at Merle. "You said here. Well, prove it. Prove it to us all. Brother against brother. Winner goes free. Fight to the death," he yelled to all of us.

I looked on it horror and sprinted after my father. "No! You can't do this! Let them go!" I screamed at him. I tried to push into my father but a fair haired man caught me and pushed me to the ground. "Shut the hell up, bitch," he growled at me before kicking me in the stomach three times. I saw Daryl try to run over to me, but two of the Woodburian men caught him and forced him to fall back to Merle.

Looking through blurred vision, I saw that Andrea was running over. She helped me up and asked if I was OK, to which I nodded. It had hurt, but I wanted to put all of my focus on the Dixon brothers. "Philip, please. Don't do this. Don't do this," she begged to the man. He merely ignored her and kept his eyes planted firmly on the two men.

Gathering up the last of my strength I ran over to my father and pushed him back. "No Dad! Please don't! For me, don't do this!" I shouted at him. He merely laughed and pushed me back away from him. I screamed as Martinez threw me into the circle and pointed at the two brothers.

Staring Daryl in the face, I felt something cold being pressed to my temple. A gun. The man was holding a gun to my fucking head. Feeling my heart rate pick up, I took in a sharp breath when Martinez tugged on my hair. "Listen up assholes! Y'all fight, and make it a damn good one, or else this little beauty gets her brains blown out." I looked back at my father and saw that he had no emotion on his face. It was like there was none of him in there anymore. Looking back forward, I could tell that Daryl wanted to run over to me, but there was no way that he would risk me getting injured.

I watched in horror as the crowd continued to scream bloody murder. They must be attracting every damn walker within miles. "Let's go, Merle! Come on, Merle! Yeah, Merle! Yeah!" I felt my heart sink as I began to realize that there was no way that I was going to be able to get out of this. I could only pray that Rick was around somewhere and he had something up his sleeve.

Merle seemed to finally snap out of his trance as he moved away from Daryl. With the brothers finally moving, the crowd had shushed to hear what was about to go down. "Y'all know me. I'm gonna do whatever I got to do to prove that my loyalty is to this town!" Merle shouted. I let my eyes narrow at the man, there was no way that he would betray his own brother. Betray me. "Ah!" He yelled before punching Daryl in the stomach. I felt my heart lurch at the look of pain that crossed Daryl's face as he fell. I knew that I was screaming, but what I was screaming I had no idea. My mind was too busy swirling with the fact that Merle had betrayed me. I had trusted him and now he was going to make me look like the biggest ass ever.

My face was surely as white as a ghosts as Merle threw Daryl to the ground, pouncing on him. Luckily Daryl was smart enough to catch the edge of Merle's shirt. "You really think this asshole's gonna let you go?" Daryl growled at his brother. He was right, no matter who came out as the winner of this, there was no way that my father was going to let them go.

Merle smiled at his brother and put his hands over Daryl's. I screamed as Daryl pushed his hands around Merle's throat. As furious as I was with the older Dixon man, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if one of them died here. Especially because of my father. "Just follow my lead, little brother." I stared at the man with wonder, curious what the older Dixon brother meant. "We're getting out of this right now," Merle told his brother before pulling him up and standing back to back.

My father gave Martinez a nod and I was tossed into the ring with the two brothers. "Rules stay the same! Only one walks free! Don't make no exceptions for little girls," Martinez yelled to us. I looked back at my father with horror running through my veins, but he merely looked away from me. I had always thought that my father was a vile man, but was he really going to watch me die? I turned back to Martinez and flicked him off before being picked up by Daryl, and pushed back against him and Merle. In the background, I could hear Andrea pleading with my father, but it was no use. He had made his mind up and in his eyes, none of the three of us were going to make it out of this alive. My mind was whirring a million miles a minute as walkers on poles were pushed towards us. I was trying to think of a plan, but my mind wasn't working hard enough on that. I kicked a female walker away from me and tripped one that was coming too close Merle.

With my faith that we would ever make it out of this alive, I screamed as a loud bang went off directly behind us. More followed, and for a moment I thought it was gunshots. Though when the smoke started, I realized what it was. Smoke bombs. We had found some at the prison. Rick. It was my real family. I felt a hand grab onto my arm and I screamed, shooting my hand out at whatever had grabbed onto me. I felt a crunch and looked up to see that it was Merle who was holding onto me. "Well shit girl! C'mon, we don't have time for this," he told me before dragging me away from the chaos. I scanned the crowd and saw that we were running directly for Daryl. Merle caught up with his younger brother and clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, little brother. Stay close!" He yelled back to the two of us as he took the front of our little group. I ran besides Daryl keeping at an even pace with him.

We were only a few yards from the exit of Woodbury when I saw it. Rick. He was directly in front of us and we were headed towards him. Well him and Maggie. Jesus the two of them had been fast. But if Maggie was here, where the hell was Glenn? "Daryl! Rain!" Rick screamed out to us. I waved my arms out letting our leader know that I could hear and see him.

Merle began to fall back behind us slightly to shoot some oncoming walkers when Daryl grabbed his older brother, pulling him back up to speed with us. "Merle, come on." We picked up the pace once more and ahead of us Rick and Maggie began to run once more.

"Go! Let's go," Rick yelled to us. Yeah right Rick, I think we know that. Trust me, I wasn't planning on staying here for one minute longer then I had to. "Daryl. Rain," Rick breathed to us as we came up to his side. I saw the horror cross his face when he caught sight of me, but I merely smiled. I was sure that I looked ridiculous, but I had seen much worse. Much, much worse. Putting his hand on my arm, Rick pushed me up to the front of them. "Let's go. Go. They're all at the arena. This way," Rick told us. I nodded and pulled in front of our leader. Picking up the pace, I bounded around a corner before I saw Rick slam to a stop behind us. "You're not going anywhere with us," Rick growled at Merle. I rolled my eyes, was now really the best time to be doing this?

Merle seemed to be thinking the same thing as he rolled his eyes as well. "You really want to do this now? Come on, man." Merle blew Rick off as he ran ahead of us, once more forcing the rest of our group to follow behind him.

Rick was dragging behind trying to take care of the walkers behind us when I grabbed his arm. "Rick, come on. We've got to go. Go," I told him pushing him ahead of me. He ran again and I turned my head in all directions. Looking past my left shoulder, I saw a woman that was holding a very familiar bow. My bow. My father must have given her my bow when they had taken it from me. Growling, I ran off to the side, determined to get my damn bow back. I heard my name being called from multiple people, but I ignored them. That bow was mine, not hers. Running up on her, I jumped onto her, knocking her onto the ground and punching her in the face. I snatched the bow from around her shoulders and pulled off the sheath that she had on her. It wasn't mine, but she had no use of it now. I stood back up, but was pulled down by the woman. Struggling away from her swinging arms, I smashed her head with the edge of the bow. Panicking at what I had just done, I pulled myself up and sprinted towards my group.

Leaving the compound, we headed to the road, with a trail of walkers on our tails. Turning back, I fired an arrow and watched as the walker fell. Looking over, I saw that Merle was fighting off 4 or 5 walkers. He looked over at me and rolled his eyes. "A little help would be nice," he told me. I growled but ran to help him anyways.

Taking down the two walkers closest to me, I smiled as we killed the last of the walkers around us. "We ain't got time for this. Let's go," Rick yelled before pulling me behind him.

I began to run after him and smiled as I saw Glenn off in the distance. Picking up the pace, I knew that we were within inches of freedom of this place. "Glenn!" Rick and I yelled. I sped up and smiled at the younger Asian man, but frowned as soon as I saw that his face was bloodied and he was walking with a terrible limp. Turning to Merle, I glared at the older man knowing that he had done more to Glenn then he had led me to believe. Merle merely shrugged at me. Yeah right, don't play all innocent, I know that was you, you asshole.

Glenn moved towards us as he called to us. "Rick. Rick. Rick. Oh, thank God." I smiled at Glenn as I burst past Rick. I ran into the Asian man's arms and he gave me a happy grin. "Rain! Oh thank God you're OK! We were so worried that you had given yourself a death sentence! What the hell happened to you in there?" He asked me.

I looked down and saw that I really was a wreck. My shirt was so torn that it was hanging in pieces, limp around my waist. My entire torso was covered in dirt and blood, and the left leg of my shorts had been torn off. My legs too were slick with blood, and mud covered most of them. I looked at Glenn and ran my thumb over his black eye. "I could ask you the same thing," I told him with a small smirk. He smiled at me, but my attention was broken when I heard angry voices behind me.

"Now we got a problem here. I need you to back up," Rick was telling Merle. The older Dixon merely rolled his eyes, however he did slowly back away from all of us to stand just behind his brother.

Releasing Glenn and turning around to fully face the two men, I jumped as Glenn pushed past me with a furious look burning in his eyes. "What the hell is he doing here?" Glenn screamed as he ran forward with a gun aimed at Merle's head. Starting in fear for Merle, I ran forward and grabbed Glenn, pulling him back. At the same time that I took hold of his arm, Rick cut the Asian off from the front.

Shoving Glenn back, a little too hard, I stumbled back and would have lost my footing had it not been for a dark skinned woman whom I had never seen before. I gave her an odd look but thanked her anyways. I could ask questions later, but right now, my own group was my concern. "Hey, hey, hey! Hey, put it down! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Put it down!" Rick yelled to Glenn as he grabbed the gun from the younger mans hand. I sighed knowing that Glenn was no longer armed, but this fight was nowhere near over.

Glenn moved back from Rick for a moment, but after a few deep breaths he once more tried to break forward past our leader once more to get to Merle. "He tried to kill me!" Glenn screamed, pointing to Merle. I grimaced at the sudden noise knowing that we could be attracting Woodburians or any nearby walkers.

Daryl finally stepped forward in defense of his older brother and pointed back at Merle, who was smirking as if he'd won some type of prize. "If it wasn't for him-" Rick started, but Daryl cut him off.

"He helped us get out of there," the younger Dixon argued with Glenn as he came to a stop by my side. I put my arm on his in an attempt to calm him down, but I knew that it was futile. He was beyond furious and nothing that I could do was going to change that. We needed to settle the whole "Merle situation" before we could get anywhere.

I looked back to Glenn and saw that he was shaking his head. "Yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you," Glenn argued motioning to Daryl's face. I looked up at him and saw that he did, indeed have a dark bruise circling his eye. I must have missed when Merle had hit him there, I'd only seen the one hit to his stomach.

Merle seemed to think that now would be the best time to stick his own two sense into the conversation. "Hey, we both took our licks, man," he told the younger man. I rolled my eyes at the older man. Was now really the best time to start acting like a jack ass? It seemed that Glenn was thinking the same thing as me as he muttered the same word.

Merle rolled his eyes and began to advance on the younger man. "Hey, shut up," he growled at Glenn as he began to advance, not that he really had anything to injure Glenn with. Although, in his state, I was pretty sure that one hit would be able to take Glenn down at the moment.

Glenn once more raised his gun at Merle, and once more Rick and I jumped in to resolve the fight. This time, however, Daryl joined in on pushing Glenn and Merle away from each other. Jesus Christ, what the hell had happened to the two of them while they were in the room together? "Enough! Hey, hey, relax! Put that down now!" Rick yelled at Glenn, shoving the gun in his hand away from Merle. Rick may not have liked the older Dixon, but he wasn't going to stand by and watch one of our own kill him.

Daryl seemed to be just as angry as Glenn by this point, no longer finding this whole situation amusing, as he began to yell at the younger man. "Get that thing out of my face!" He shouted. I noticed that Glenn had a gun pointed at Daryl trying to get him to back off of the fight. Rolling my eyes I dug my nails into Merle's arm. The older man shouted, and let me go. I knew that I had made him even angrier, but at least he had let go of us. And at least I had somewhat ended the fight.

Everyone was now standing close together, panting heavily. Merle finally got his smile back as he began to laugh at his younger brother. Moving towards him, Merle clapped Daryl on the shoulder. "Man, look like you've gone native, brother." I rolled my eyes once more at Merle's incessant babbling and moved towards the younger Dixon, finally handing him his rag back. Had the situation not have been as serious, I would have laughed. I couldn't believe that I had even thought about grabbing it and bringing it with us out of Woodbury. Hey, priorities I guess.

Daryl shook his head and moved in a few short paces as he tucked his rag back into his back pocket. I couldn't help but smile. Some things would never change. "No more than you hanging out with that psycho back there," Daryl growled at his brother. I frowned at him and I saw that Daryl gave me a sidelong look. I shook my head and looked away from the older man. He would let it drop for now, but sooner or later he would force me to talk about this. They all probably would. I didn't know if Rick had heard, but even if he didn't, there was no way that I would be able to hide it forever.

Merle laughed and smiled at his younger brother. "Oh, yeah, man. He is a charmer, I got to tell you that. Been putting the wood to your girlfriend Andrea. Big time, baby." I stared at Merle in horror. What did he just say? Was Andrea really stupid enough to go after my father? I knew that there was a reason that I didn't like her. She got along with my father, and I hated him. Although, I had to say that if you didn't know him, he could be incredibly charming. I'd seen him do it many a times after he beat me, and then a friend would come over. He would charm them as if he wasn't the monster that he only let me see.

It seemed that Rick was surprised that our old group member was surprised by the shocking news of Andrea. Although I had to say that I was as well. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Andrea at the fight ring. We had all been led to believe that she had died in the attack on the farm. "What? Andrea's in Woodbury?" Our leader asked.

Instead of Merle responding to him, the dark skinned woman did instead. "Right next to the Governor," she told us. I snapped my head back at the woman and let my mind wander. Who the hell was she and how did she come by us? I looked to Daryl with a cocked eyebrow, but he shook his head with a look that said he would tell me later. I nodded and looked towards Rick, who was now advancing on the mysterious woman.

I smiled as I saw that the woman was holding a traditional Japanese katana. I was never a fan of the weapons but I respected those who used them. They sure as hell weren't easy to use. They took more control to use than most weapons did. "I told you to drop that!" He growled at Merle, who was once more holding a gun. Starting forward once more, he looked down on the new woman. "You know Andrea? Hey, do you know Andrea?" He asked her, although she completely ignored him. I cocked my head, wondering why she wouldn't respond to him.

Merle laughed and nodded his head. "Yep, she does. Her and blondie spent all winter cuddling up in the forest. Mm-mmm-mmm. Yeah. My Nubian queen here had two pet walkers. No arms, cut off the jaws, kept them in chains. Kind of ironic now that I think about it," Merle told us. Well shit, that's actually a good idea. Keep their scent on you to make you blind to the walkers. It was what Glenn and Rick had done in Atlanta, and what Daryl had done at the farm when he'd been injured. I would have never thought to do that to them though, I supposed it made them dormant, or something like that.

Daryl rolled his eyes and pushed his brother back. "Shut up, bro." I smiled at Daryl, no matter what the situation, he would always be the typical younger brother.

Merle laughed and looked Rick dead in the eye. "Hey, man, we snagged them out of the woods. Andrea was close to dying," he told us. Close to dying? What the hell had happened out there? She looked a little shaken up, but perfectly fine to me when I had seen her.

Rick scowled at the older Dixon, but he seemed to buy his story. "Is that why she's with him?" He asked Merle. The older man merely laughed and threw back his head. I glared at him, angry that he found any of this funny, no one else was laughing.

Merle eventually sobered up and nodded to Rick though. "Yeah. Snug as two little bugs. So what you gonna do now, Sheriff, huh? Surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs, and cowards." I noticed that Merle shot his glance over to Glenn, who looked like he was going to explode if the older Dixon wasn't removed from his sight in the next few seconds.

Daryl walked over to his brother and shoved his shoulder back. "Shut up!" He growled at Merle. I kept my leg tense ready to jump in if need be. The last thing that we needed was an all out war right here in the open. We were already way too susceptible to walkers, we didn't need any additional noise to draw them in.

Merle once more laughed and smiled at the group. "Oh, man, look at this. Pathetic. All these guns and no bullets in them." Hah, right. I've got an empty clip here Merle, but I'm chop full of arrows. And I hear they actually hurt worse than bullets.

Daryl growled and stalked over to his brother once more. "Merle, shut up!" He yelled. Seriously man, we're trying to help you, and here you are making things even worse for yourself.

"Shut up yourself!" Merle yelled back at his younger brother. "Bunch of pussies you roll-" Merle began to rant before Rick smacked him on the back of the head with the butt of his gun. I watched as the consciousness faded from his eyes, and Merle fell heavily and limp to the ground. Once more, I would have laughed at the sight had it not been so serious.

Rick turned away from Merle and stood to face the rest of the group. "Asshole," he muttered about the eldest Dixon. I nodded and looked at Rick dead on giving him the 'we need to talk about what to do now' look. He sighed but nodded at me anyways. Motioning the rest of the group over, I put my head in my hands, and waited for the debate on what to do. Looking back over to the ground, I saw that Merle was now stirring ready to wake back up. I rolled my eyes, praying that he would be out long enough for us to finish talking. "Alright. We all know that something has to be done about Merle. So, what are the thoughts on letting him come back to the prison with us?" Rick asked.

For a moment, everyone was silent, but eventually, Glenn was the first to speak up. "It'll stir things up," he said. I was glad that Glenn hadn't yelled, and I wanted to fight back against him, but Glenn was right. There were only a few people at the prison who actually knew him, but it wouldn't take anyone long to get to know him. Merle wasn't a bad guy, but he would cause way too many problems. Still, he was Daryl's family and he deserved a fair shot.

Rick shook his head and looked over toward Glenn. "Look, the Governor is probably on the way to the prison right now. Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle." I looked over to our leader in shock. Had he really just said that it was OK to have Merle at the prison? I would have thought that after everything that had happened in Atlanta, Rick would have never taken Merle back to the prison with us. I expected that most of it though was wanting to keep Daryl happy. After all, he was really the one that was caught in the hard spot. Although things were starting to look good. Myself, Rick, and Daryl wanted to keep Merle at the prison. That was a majority over Glenn and Maggie. There was also the new, darker skinned woman, but she had been almost silent the entire time. Judging by the slight limp in her step, she had been injured and our group was helping her. So I suppose her opinion didn't really mean anything at all.

Glenn scoffed and looked over at Rick. "I'm not having him at the prison. Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth? How about Rain?" I shot my head over to the young Asian and shook my head. He was not bringing me into this. I wasn't afraid of Merle, and although he's an asshole, he's not a rapist. After all, Merle was half the reason that I had been able to get him and Maggie out of that horrible place.

Daryl shook his head and glared at Glenn. "He ain't a rapist," he growled to the younger man. I could see the regret in Glenn's eyes, but he wasn't going to say anything. He was sticking by what he wanted. He didn't want Merle in the prison and it didn't seem like he was budging any time soon.

Maggie scoffed and looked at the ground. "Well, his buddy is," she growled. I looked up at her in shock, and I could see the horror on her face. She had just realized what she had said. "Rain, I- I didn't mean to-" I shook my head and waved her off to silence her off. I didn't want to hear it. I knew that he was a horrible person. I already had to deal with what he had done to me, I didn't need to hear what he had done to someone else. Especially someone I cared about. I looked up and saw that Rick was giving me an odd look. I merely shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to tell Rick quite yet, who his new enemy really was.

I turned away from the group looking at the ground, sick of the pitying looks that I was getting. Daryl stepped forward and cleared his throat. Luckily, that had taken the attention off of me. "They ain't buddies no more. Not after last night," Daryl growled. He was right, I was sure that Merle was no longer loyal to a man that had tried to kill him. Clearing my throat, I stepped forward to try and defend Merle.

Everyone's head turned to me and I cleared my throat one more time. "Look, yes Merle is an asshole, I know that. We all do. But he's half of the reason that I'm still alive. And that I got the two of you out," I motioned at Glenn and Maggie. "The Governor nearly killed me, and he wasn't going to let you guys out of there. But Merle stopped the fight with him, and he convinced the man that letting you guys go was a good thing. Yes, the plan did sort of backfire on me, but still. Merle proved his loyalty to me, and I would assume to the rest of the group. I think it's safe to say that after what happened, Merle is no longer loyal to The Governor. And I'm sure that he doesn't want to be out on his own. If he's smart, and I think he's smarter than you all think he is, he knows that this is his only chance. If you guys would give him one, I think that all of us together, might work." I looked around, praying that it had worked, but I wasn't sure. Looking behind us, I saw Merle standing a ways back, nodding his head and smiling at me. I was shocked that he had stayed silent this long, but I was thrilled. He was actually helping here.

Looking away I saw that Daryl was giving me a thankful look, but everyone else was giving me a sad look. Rick finally took a deep breath and made the call that I knew he would. "There's no way Merle's gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throats." I sighed, but I knew it would happen. Rick didn't want to do it, but it was the best thing for the group.

I saw that the fury was slowly building in Daryl, and he was about to do something rash. "So you're gonna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?" Daryl growled, motioning over to the strange woman. I gave a sad sigh, knowing that he had Merle right in his reach, but he was dangerously close to losing him once more.

Rick shook his head at the other man and put an arm on his shoulder, which Daryl easily shook off. "She's not coming back," Rick tried to reason with Daryl. He was trying to show him that neither one would be coming back, but it wasn't going to work. The only thing that would make Daryl happy right now is if we say that it's OK for Merle to come back to the prison.

Maggie shook her head and looked back at the woman. "She's not in a state to be on her own," she said. I looked over to the woman and saw that she actually had a bullet wound in her thigh. My God, she had been shot. I felt her pain, I'd now been shot twice. It hurt like a bitch, but if it wasn't in a vital area, it would heal.

Glenn nodded and agreed with her. "She did bring you guys to us," he said. I nodded, but Merle was still the reason that I had ever even been able to get you guys out.

"And then ditched us," Rick growled at the woman. I could tell that Rick was clearly not a fan of her. Why, though, I didn't know. She seemed nice enough, and tough enough to take care of herself. So why the hell did he seem so furious with her? It wasn't like she had done any of this.

Maggie slowly nodded and looked over to Rick. "At least let my dad stitch her up," Maggie pleaded. Hmm... Well now she knows how we feel begging for Merle to come back with us.

Rick shook his head at her with a slightly guilty look on his face. "She's too unpredictable," he told her. I saw the deterred look, and I felt bad. But if Merle couldn't stay, it was likely that she couldn't either.

I saw Daryl nodding from the corner of my eye, and I turned to look at him. "That's right. We don't know who she is. But Merle, Merle's blood," he told us. I smiled at him, knowing that he was going to fight until his last breath to keep Merle with us. The only thing now, was if he could sway the rest of the group. But so far it wasn't looking good.

Rick looked at Daryl and shook his head. "No, Merle is your blood. My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison. And you're part of that family. But he's not. He's not," he whispered the last part to Daryl. I knew that Rick didn't want to do it to Daryl, but he was stuck. He couldn't let a potential danger in just to appease one person. It wasn't worth it. I saw that Daryl too, was stuck. He wanted to stay with us, with the family he had made, but he also wanted to be with his blood family. And who could blame him? Family wasn't exactly a common thing these days.

Daryl scoffed at Rick and turned on his heels towards Merle, briefly looking back at us. "Man, y'all don't know. Fine. We'll fend for ourselves," he snapped. It felt like I had been shot. Only this was worse than any bullet wound. Was he serious? He was really going to just up and leave? What about all of us, the people that had become his new family? What about me?

Rick's face dropped as well at the realization that he could lose something vital to the group. While Daryl wasn't the most talkative or friendly, he was still one of the most loved members of the group. Losing him would be devastating to all of us. Most of all, Rick, Carol, and myself. I couldn't imagine life without him. He was what my life had become worth living for. All of these people were worth living for, but Daryl was who I couldn't live without. Rick sighed and turned to Daryl, "That's not what I was saying."

Daryl scoffed at Rick and shook his head. "No him, no me." I couldn't believe it. Daryl was going to leave because they were too damn stubborn to give Merle a chance.

Rick looked at Daryl, now with a pleading look that I had only ever seen Rick use once, and that was way back at the CDC. "Daryl, you don't have to do that," Rick begged. I could see in Daryl's eyes that he didn't want to leave, but he was stuck. He knew that we weren't going to let Merle into the prison, and there was no way that he would come back to the prison if Merle couldn't come with him. I sighed, no matter what someone was going to lose in this deal.

Shaking his head, Daryl turned back to Rick with an apologetic look on his face. It looked like right now, he was looking for one last way to stay, but it didn't seem like there was any. I wanted to argue, wanted to change his mind, but there was nothing that I could think to say to him right now. "It was always Merle and I before this," Daryl said. Yeah, but that was before a world where the dead came back to life to try and eat you. Now, numbers meant everything, and we were about to be down one.

Daryl began to walk away and Rick tried to grab him, but Daryl was too far ahead. "Don't," Rick pleaded. But Daryl had already made his mind up. He was leaving. He was leaving me. Everyone. How could he do that? After what had just happened between us, he was going to leave like I never meant anything to him.

Glenn gave Daryl an incredilous look and stared at the older man. "You serious? You're just gonna leave like that?" Glenn asked. Daryl sighed and I stood off in the distance, not willing to go anywhere near him. I wanted to see if he would come to me. Come back to me. If he cared at all what I thought of him leaving.

Daryl looked back at Glenn and sighed. "You'd do the same thing." I hated to admit it, but he was right. If we banished Maggie, I knew that Glenn would follow her. She was his family, just like Merle was Daryl's.

Glenn looked at Daryl and motioned back in the direction of the prison. "What do you want us to tell Carol?" He asked the younger Dixon. It was obvious that they were trying to pull on his heartstrings, but it wasn't going to work. Daryl was sticking with his family and that was that. We weren't going to be able to sway him no matter what.

Daryl sighed and looked toward Glenn and Maggie. "She'll understand. Say good-bye to your pop for me," Daryl told Maggie. She nodded, and I knew that she was feeling incredibly guilty right now. She knew that it was partially her fault that Daryl was leaving. If she hadn't said anything about Merle, we might have been able to sway Glenn. But it was far too late now.

Daryl began to walk away when Glenn once more ran after him. "Daryl, are you serious? Daryl! Hey. Hey," he called, grabbing onto Daryl's shoulders. "There's got to be another way," he begged. I could see it in his eyes though, Daryl was at the end of his rope, he had no idea what to say to any of us, other than goodbye.

Daryl shook his head at Glenn and gave him a sad look, knowing that him leaving would be a devastating blow. "Don't ask me to leave him. I already did that once," Daryl said.

Rick wasn't quite ready to give it up though. He walked up to Daryl and looked the man straight in the eye. "We started something last night. You realize that, huh?" He asked. Woodbury. If they decided to retaliate, we wouldn't have the strength to fight them off. I didn't know how my father attacked. That was Merle's area. And we didn't have him either. We were blind to them if they decide to attack. The only thing we would have is knowledge of the area, and walls.

Daryl sighed, obviously feeling bad, but he still shook his head. "No him, no me. That's all I can say. Take care of yourself. Take care of lil ass-kicker. Carl. He's one tough kid." Daryl looked like he was about to walk off to Merle, but he looked back at me and slowly walked over. For a moment, we just stared at each other, and finally, Daryl broke the silence. "You're tough Rain. I know it. I know you can make it through this world. I've seen you do so much and I know that this world had hope with you still in it. I wish there were more people like you. We need them. Rain, do you understand why I'm leaving?" He asked me. I looked deep into his blue eyes and nodded. I could see my own reflection, and I saw that my face was totally expressionless. He looked back at me and sighed, before moving into me. His lips were at my ear, and I jumped when I felt his breath hit me. "I love you Rain. Don't you dare ever forget that. You mean the world to me, and I will see you again. I promise," he told me.

I looked at Daryl for a moment before nodding. He backed off slightly, and all of a sudden, I felt an anger bubble within me. I balled my hand up, and slowly released it, trying to release the tension. Without even meaning to really, I let my hand swing out, and I slapped Daryl across the face. I saw the red stinging mark through blurry eyes, but Daryl did nothing back, other than drop his eyes. "Just go!" I screamed at him. "Go! If you're going to go, just go. I've had it. What the hell was the other day Daryl? If that meant anything to you, then why are you leaving? Why did you even bother with me in the first place if you were willing to drop me like this?" I asked him, tears now streaming down my face. "I told you things that no one else knows, thinking that you would always be here if I needed to talk to you, but I was wrong. You left like everyone else. Fuck you!" Daryl opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. "No. I don't want to hear it. Just go," I told him looking away from him. I knew that he stood there for a few moments, probably debating if he should say something, before placing a hand on my shoulder and moving away. After a moment, I looked over, and saw that he was walking towards Merle, with his shoulders slumped.

He got a few feet away before it became a reality. He was within a few feet of Merle when Glenn shouted after him. "Daryl!" I looked over to the young Asian and shook my head. It was no use. He was gone.

Daryl walked under Merle's arm and hooked his arm around his brother. "Come on, bro," he said to Merle before the two began walking. Daryl briefly looked back, but I snapped my head away from him. I didn't want to see him. I looked back at the pair after a moment, and watched as long as I could. When the two brothers finally disappeared, it felt like I'd been stabbed in the heart. That was the last time that I would ever see the Dixon brothers.

Turning back and walking to the cars, I grabbed my hand that was a bright red from where I had slapped Daryl. Fuck that hurt. I had slapped him harder than I thought I had. Looking back to the group to see if they were following, I saw Rick march up to the foreign woman and learn over her, fuming. "We patch you up and then you are gone," he snarled at her. I didn't know if she had done something to him, but I assumed that it was more anger that we had lost Daryl. That I had lost him. I had hoped that if I talked to him, he might stay, but I had just yelled at him. I hadn't done anything to try to get him to stay. It was my fault. It was all my fault. I hopped in the backseat of the hatchback and waited for the rest to pile in, which they quickly did. Maggie sat in the back with me, but she said nothing. She merely looked out the window and said nothing. I was glad though, I had nothing to say to anyone. There was nothing left to say at this point.

We had been driving down the road for a few minutes when Rick looked over to the dark skinned woman. "You didn't kill him," he said. I kept my head against the window, but I was now alert. I couldn't help but feel like they were talking about my father. I wondered if while she was in Woodbury, my father had done something to her. I could only pray that he had done nothing to her.

Rick drove in silence for a moment before looking at her. She sat still for a moment before shaking her head. "That's not why we went back," she said. I saw that Rick looked at me in the rear, but I shook my head and scoffed at him. It wasn't me that they were going back for. It was him. He was more important than I was, but now the whole trip back was for nothing. They should have just left.

The woman scoffed at him and shook her head. "No. That's right." We all sat in silence for a minutes with a suffocating atmosphere. It was like everyone was waiting for someone to explode.

Rick glared at her for a moment before scoffing and looking back at the road. She looked over at him and motioned her head back to Woodbury. "You went back for Daryl. And now he's gone again and the Governor is still alive," she growled. I gave her a shocked look. She was trying to kill my father? I know that I had threatened it, but really? I just couldn't imagine my father being killed in front of me. I hated him, but would I be able to watch it? After all, he may have been a shitty person, but he was still a person, and still my father. But I guess if it came down to it, to protect my family, I would kill him if I had to. But still, I wanted to know what her quarrel was with him that made her hate him so much.

Rick shook his head and looked at her. "Daryl was the priority. And Rain. We at least got one of them back," he said, looking back at me. I nodded, but it was easy to see that I wasn't all there. And it would most likely be that way for a while.

A few more beats of silence passed before Glenn finally piped up. "I should have been there with you," he said. I looked at him and scoffed. He could barely stand, and one eye was so swollen that I was sure that he couldn't even see out of it. The kid looked like shit, there was no way that he was in any state to go and help out with the rescue.

Rick seemed to agree with me when he looked back at Glenn and shook his head. "You were in no condition," Rick told the younger man.

Glenn scoffed at Rick and looked over at Maggie before turning back to our leader. "But my girlfriend was?" He asked Rick. I wanted to scream at Glenn to shut the hell up, but I couldn't. I was physically and emotionally drained. I was in no state to get myself involved in the fight that was surely about to come.

I felt Maggie stiffen next to me, and I knew that she was uncomfortable. I prayed that my father hadn't gotten as far with her as he had wanted. Then I would always feel like it was my fault. "Glenn, this isn't about us," Maggie said softly. I knew that in some way, Maggie was as broken as I am right now. Only for two different reasons.

Glenn shook his head a few times and I could feel the car bouncing. Looking over the seat, I saw that his leg was shaking. He was clearly getting angry, and right now, we didn't have the time for anger. If we want to fight, why can't we just wait until we're in the prison yard. There's more room there. "I should have been there," Glenn said almost to himself.

Rick looked at him and shook his head, momentarily patting his knee. "Hey, hey, you didn't come back with us 'cause you could barely walk," he told the younger Asian. I jumped as the car slammed to a stop and Rick got out. Glenn followed and Maggie and I quickly jumped out as well. Even the dark skinned woman stepped out, but she remained close to the car.

Rick looked at Glenn and shrugged his shoulders. "What about her?" He asked, looking at Maggie. I could see that he was actually genuinely concerned for what had happened to her. I figured that my father had just shaken her up, not actually done anything too severe. After all, she didn't look super concerned.

Maggie looked to Glenn immediately after asd gave him a funny look. "What about me?" She asked. I knew what she doing. She was pretending like nothing had happened, I knew that. I was a master at it.

Glenn suddenly looked furious. He even whipped his head around to me, giving me a dark glare. I knew what was coming, so I braced myself for it. "Do you know what he did to her?!" Glenn screamed at Rick and I. "He did it because of you! He would have left us alone if it wasn't for you!" He yelled at me. Instead of yelling back like I normally would have, I sat there and took it. He was right, everything that had happened in Woodbury was my fault. It was because I was his daughter, he was going to torture the new family that I made. That was what he wanted, to make my life miserable.

Maggie stepped between the two of us and shoved Glenn back. He stared at her in shock as she was boiling in front of him. "Leave it alone!" She screamed at him. He sat there and stared at her like she had gone mad, but she was furious with him for blaming me for what had happened to her.

Glenn sat in silence for a moment before looking over at Rick and I. "Do you know?" He asked calmly. Both of us shook our heads, although I looked down at the ground. I didn't want to see the pathetic look on his face.

The silence was overbearing for a few moments before Rick stalked off to the car. "Let's go," he called to the rest of us. I stalked into the car and plopped down on the seat staring out the window. We were driving in silence, and I was staring out the window, wondering where Daryl and Merle were right this second. I may have been furious with Daryl, but I would always love him, and always pray that he was somewhere safe. I wanted him to have a long and happy life. And I wanted him to know that he was worth so much more than he thought he was.

A few minutes away from the prison Glenn cleared his throat and looked over at Rick. "After all that effort, all the risk we took, Daryl just takes off with Merle?" He asked all of us. I rolled my eyes praying that he would just let it go. What was done was done and there was nothing we could do now to change it.

Rick sighed and kept his eyes locked on the road. It was obvious that he didn't want to talk about what had gone down with Daryl and Merle. "Well, he had his reasons," Rick told Glenn. His voice was snappy and short, practically screaming that he had no desires to talk about what had happened. We were all past caring, we just wanted to get back to the prison and go to bed.

Glenn glared at Rick and I could feel another fight going on. Like we really needed another fight, this was all too much, right now we just needed a day of peace. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Rick. Doesn't change the fact that we're up to our necks in shit," Glenn growled at our leader. I rolled my eyes at his childishness. Just let it go, Glenn.

By the look on his face, I could tell that Rick was absolutely done with the conversation. He turned to Glenn and looked like he was about to throw the younger man out of the car. "You want me to turn the car around, beg him to come back? Throw down a welcome mat for Merle? This is the hand we've been dealt! Let's just get this out of here and get back. Get some rest. We can talk it out there," Rick growled the last part. The car had been silent before, but it was even more so now. If that were even more possible.

Glenn glared at him and shook his head, looking back at the road. "No, you guys do all the talking you want. I'm done," he said before looking away. I stared out the window and sat in silence, hoping that we were only a few miles out from the prison. I couldn't stand this silence anymore. I wanted to go up to the perch and just lay there.

We arrived back at the prison a few minutes later, and Carl let us into the gate. We drove in and quickly hopped out of the car. "Where's Hershel?" Rick asked as we jumped out and stood around the group. Carl, Carol, and Beth were standing around us. I did a double take of Carol. She was alive? How the hell had she made it out? We were so sure that she had died along with T-Dog after the prison attack. She smiled at me, and I just gave her a sad nod. She looked around and I could tell that she was wondering where Daryl was.

Carol looked at Rick and motioned back to C Block. "He's in the cell block," She said and Rick nodded to her. "Where's Daryl?" She asked, looking around. She clearly was concerned that he had died while we were out.

Rick looked at her and shook his head, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's all right. He's alive. We ran into his brother. They went off," he told her. She looked at him and let her face drop. She turned her gaze to me and let a sad look cross her face. She started to walk over to me, but I shook my head. I really didn't want anyone near me right now. I just wanted to wallow in my misery.

Carol let the shock radiate across her face as she turned back to Rick, looking like she was about to keel over from shock. "He left? Daryl left? He's gone?" She asked him. Rick nodded and I saw the tears forming in her eyes. "Is he coming back?" She asked. We all sat in silence for a moment before Rick nodded and I shrugged my shoulders. "Gone?" She asked quietly. We all nodded back to her. "And Oscar?" She asked. I looked over in shock. Oscar had come with them? Well what had happened to him? Had he gotten hurt or taken?

Rick looked at her and shook his head. "No," he told her. I let my head drop, I couldn't believe that he had come trying to rescue us and he had died for us. One more person, lost because of me. I shook my head and walked away from them, hoping that I could get my space. Strutting into the prison, I saw a group of people I had never seen before. I looked at them in shock, but I didn't sense a threat, so I continued on, ignoring their odd stares. Stomping up the stairs to the perch, I ignored everyone's calls. I saw all of Daryl's things and my heart shattered into a million pieces. He hadn't even come to grab his stuff. I pulled out a black, sleeveless shirt from his pile and pulled it on, dropping my shorts and throwing them in the corner. There was no use in having them now, they were torn to shreds. Laying down on my cot, I scooted onto Daryl's side and let the tears slip out, until there were none left, and I finally fell asleep from exhaustion.

It must have been a few hours later when I heard the baby cooing, and a few soft voices talking about me. Sitting up, Carol and Beth both smiled at me and Carol asked how my nap had been. I told her that it had been fine, and went to watching the baby. "Her name is Judith," Carol told me. I smiled and asked how they had come up with the name. Carol smiled at me and looked down at the baby. "Carl named her, after his third grade teacher." I smiled at her and nodded. Carol looked over at Beth and smiled at the younger girl who was rocking Judith to get her to stop crying. "You've got a knack for that," Carol told Beth.

Beth smiled at Carol and turned towards the older woman, holding Judith out so that Carol could play with her hands. "Just trying to do my part," she said. I nodded at her, happy that she had found her place in the group. This world may not be for Beth, but she was a sweet person to have around. With the world the way it is now, we need more people like her.

Carol nodded and looked at Judith with a wide smile on her face. "Sophia used to wake the neighbors. Like clockwork. Ed stayed at a friend's most nights till she calmed down," she told us. I smiled at the thought of an infant Sophia, but anger boiled in me at the mention of Ed. He was just like my father, and he deserved everything that he got.

Beth nodded at Carol and looked down on Judith. "I always wanted a child. She wouldn't have made it if Daryl hadn't been here. He couldn't stand to lose anyone else," Beth said. I nodded at her, knowing that she was right. We could lose a lot of people, but a baby was not one that Daryl would stand for. He couldn't lose an innocent child.

Carol laughed and nodded slightly as the two women placed Judith into her makeshift crib. I smiled slightly at the "lil asskicker" design around the side of the box. Carol turned to Beth and smiled at her. "Sounds like him," she told the younger girl.

Beth watched over Judith for a few moments before looking up to Carol and shaking her head. "I don't see why he had to leave. Merle sounds like a jerk," she said. I shook my head, Beth was right. Merle was a jerk, but he was still family. Daryl's family. The only blood relation he had left and he wasn't willing to lose it. I understood that.

Looking back up, I saw that Carol was nodding her head. I knew that right now she was thinking about Ed. In some ways, he was very similar to Ed, but I knew that no matter how much of an asshole Merle was, he would never strike the woman he loved. Carol shook her head clear of her thoughts and looked back at the younger girl. "Men like Merle get into your head. Make you feel like you deserve the abuse," she said. I nodded to her, I knew that feeling from my father.

Beth looked at Carol in shock as she cocked her head. "Even for Daryl?" She asked. I nearly laughed, of course Daryl too. But I knew why she was shocked. It was Daryl. He was always so tough, it was hard to imagine that someone ever pushed him around or someone was a bully to him. He just seemed too strong for that. Although I suppose that I was that way too. The strongest people on the outside were often the weakest on the inside.

I looked back up at Carol and saw that she had her gaze fixed firmly on the ground. She shook her head and looked back up at Beth with a solid look on her face. "I'm hardly the woman I was a year ago, but if Ed walked through that door right now breathing and told me to go with him, I'd like to think I'd tell him to go to hell," she told Beth. I smiled at her, knowing that she would no doubt tell him that. She deserved better, it was just a shame that it took her this long to figure out.

Turning my head, I saw that Beth was nodding at her. "You would," she told the older woman.

I looked back at Carol and saw that she shook her head. "It doesn't matter," she told Beth. I went to stand up and head back downstairs when Carol called my name. I looked back and waited for her to say something. "Rain, don't pull away from us. We love you, and we won't watch you do this to yourself. You're too strong for this. Daryl had to leave, but you will never not be in his mind. That man loves you more than I ever thought was possible."

Standing there, staring at her, I shook my head and went to continue walking when Beth caught my hand. I looked at her and the younger girl smiled. "Rain, he loves you so much. I know it, I could see it in his eyes," she told me with a tiny smile.

I looked at Beth and shook my head, pulling away from her. "Then why did he leave?" I asked her. I saw the surprised look on her face, and I just turned to avoid having to talk any more about all this. Stomping down the stairs, I heard women continue their conversation.

"We're weak without him," Beth said, referring back to Daryl. I shook my head, she was right, but we had lost him. There was no use dwelling on something that was long gone.

There was a shuffle of clothing and I was sure that Carol was giving Beth a hug. I knew that she would have given me a hug too, but I didn't want anyone touching me now. "We'll get through this, too. Tyreese and his friends seem capable," she said. Tyreese must have been one of the men that I saw downstairs when I came in. I couldn't help but wonder how the hell they had gotten in. I couldn't imagine that Rick would let strangers in and then leave them with Carl, Beth, Judith, and Hershel.

There was a silence for a while and I waited to hear something else before I continued down the stairs. "I'm pissed at him for leaving," Beth said. Yeah, me too girl.

I heard feet moving and a moment later, I caught Carol's voice as well. "Don't be. Daryl has his code. This world needs men like that," she told the younger girl. I knew that she was right, but I no longer wanted to hear it. I wanted him here, not living out his code. Hitting the bottom of the staircase, I walked over to the living room area and saw the rest of the group crowded around the new group of people.

The black man in front stood up and faced Rick. "I'm Tyreese," he introduced himself to our leader. "Sasha, Allen, Ben," he introduced the rest of his group. Sasha was a darker skinned woman, Allen was a slightly older man around 30, and Ben was a younger man probably not much older than myself.

Rick ignored the hand that Tyreese held out to shake and looked over their group. They didn't look dangerous, but you could never be too safe. We had no idea who these people were. "How'd you get in?" Rick asked them.

Tyreese motioned back to the catacombs and judging by where he was pointing, towards the front of the prison. We had never been up that way, so we had no idea what the hell was up there. "Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison. Wall's down," he told us. I felt my heart sink, we had a wall down? What would we do if we couldn't stem off that side from the walker flow. I already knew that that side was overrun with walkers. They must have been damn lucky to get through.

I looked over to our leader and saw that he was thinking as well. I was sure that he was thinking the same thing that I was. "That side's completely overrun with walkers. How'd you get this far?" Yep, there it is.

Turning around, I saw that Tyreese was shaking his head. "We didn't. We lost our friend Donna," he said. I shook my head at them, we all knew what it was like to lose people. I looked over at Ben and saw his head drop at the mention of their old group member. I felt bad for the man, she must have been related to him in some way.

I was startled at the sound of Carl's voice so I looked up and saw that he had walked over to his father. "They were lost in the tunnels," he told Rick. I nodded, even for those of us who lived here, the tunnels were hard to make your way around. They were dark and crawling with walkers. Definitely not a safe place to run to.

Rick looked at his son in horror. "You brought them here?" He hissed at his son, who recoiled from his father. Well damn Rick, what the hell did you expect? That he would just let those poor people die down there? A fate that no one deserved, especially people that had done nothing to us.

I looked around and saw that Hershel had stood up and was moving towards us. He came to a stop in front of Rick and shook his head at our leader. "He had no choice," Hershel told Rick. The older man turned around and stood face-to-face with Tyreese. "I'm sorry about your friend. We know what that's like," Hershel told him. I nodded, over the past about year, we had lost and killed more people than I could count. And that was in no way a good thing.

Tyreese nodded at Hershel in thanks and turned back to Rick. "Hershel said you could use some extra hands. We're no stranger to hard work. We'll go out and get our own food, stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that, too. Anything to contribute." I let my ears perk up, this was actually great. They all looked like they were more than capable of working and this meant that we had 3 men to replace Daryl. Well, to replace the work that he did. Not him. There would never be anyone to replace him.

Just as everyone in our group was smiling ready to welcome in new workers, Rick cut the joy right out of the air. "No," he said. The laughs and smiles and murmuring all stopped as we turned to face our leader.

I looked on in shock at the sudden answer from Rick. I knew that he hadn't even thought about it. I knew that these people were new but they seemed to be the type that we could actually trust. Sasha moved up to Rick in an attempt to plead with him. "Please. It's like "10 Little Indians" out there," she begged him. I couldn't blame her, it looked like they had been out there for quite some time. Hershel pulled Sasha off to the side and I stood there, watching the new people. Tyreese and Sasha stood together as if they knew each other. Although the looks weren't of romantic love, they were those that family would give each other. Brother and sister most likely. Allen I wasn't so sure of, he looked like he was furious to even be here. Ben had nothing to him, he was mourning over Donna and I couldn't blame him for that.

Just as I was about to ask where they had come from, I heard Rick's voice as Hershel moved back towards our group. "I can't be responsible," Rick told the older man. Well that's what being the leader comes with. You're responsible for these types of decisions. The question is, which call will Rick make?

Sasha stood up and looked Rick directly in the eye. "You turn us out, you are responsible," she told him. I didn't like her delivery, but she was right. Anything that happened to them if we sent them away was on us.

Hershel moved forward and stood in front of our leader. "Rick. You've done so much for us. I appreciate that. We all do. We owe you our lives. We've done everything you asked without question. And I'm telling you, you're wrong on this. You've got to start giving people a chance," he told Rick. I nodded, he was right. We had come across some shitty people, but we couldn't believe that they were all like that. We had to start having faith that there were still good people in this world.

Rick seemed to think about it for a few moment before he finally nodded his head. "Yeah," he said quietly, looking at Tyreese. I looked around and saw the happy looks on both Tyreese's group and our own. Rick had finally bent, and we now had 4 more hands to work. I was about to tell Rick that I was going to go on a hunt when I saw that his eyes were locked on the corner of the second floor of the prison. I looked up to see what he was looking at, but there was nothing there. "No, no. No, no, no, no. No. No, no, no, no, no. Why are you here? What do you want from me?" Rick began to scream at the empty walkway.

Carl went to move forward to his father, but I caught him around the waist. If his father was going through what I thought he was, it was better to keep Carl away from him for now. "Dad?" Carl called to his father.

Rick pushed his hands into his eyes as he looked up at the catwalk again. "Why are you- no. I can't help you. Get out!" He screamed, turning back to us. I looked on in shock. Why was he yelling at Tyreese? What had he and his people done?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Tyreese attempted to calm Rick, but Rick merely reeled back at the dark skinned man.

"Get- get out!" He yelled at them. Or maybe it was no one in particular. He was whipping around so fast that it looked like he was talking to everyone. I panicked and pushed Carl behind me, hoping that I could somewhat shield him from his father. He didn't need to see whatever it was that Rick was going through.

Pushing myself back away from Rick, I watched as Glenn ran up and pushed Rick back. I could tell that he was hoping that enough force would snap Rick out of it. "Hey, come on. Whoa, it's all good. What are you doing?" The young Asian asked him. Rick merely struggled away from him and turned to face the catwalk once more.

Hobbling over on his crutches, Hershel came up to Rick trying to comfort him. "Hey, easy, Rick. There's no need to-" Hershel began, but Rick cut him off, once more screaming like a lunatic.

"You don't belong here! Get out! Please!" He yelled. First he was screaming at the empty catwalk, but he quickly turned to Tyreese and his group, beginning to wail at them.

Tyreese walked forward in an attempt to calm Rick down, and I cringed. He hadn't even made it halfway to Rick and I already saw it going awry. "Relax, brother. Relax," he told Rick approaching him. I looked over and jumped as Rick pulled a gun out and began to wave it around, coming dangerously close to our group.

"Get out! Get out!" He continued to wail. I pushed Carl back to Carol and I ran up to Rick. As he was facing away from me, I jumped on him and wrenched the gun away from him. "Give it back! They need to leave!" He screamed at me, tackling me to the ground. I humphed at the sudden pain but managed to keep the gun away from him. I looked over at Tyreese and motioned him to the door. I felt bad for pushing them out, but I didn't want their blood on my hands if I was unable to keep Rick away from them. He was already beginning to slip away from me, and i could only hope that Carl could get them out of here, and fast.

"We'll leave. We're going. Okay? Ain't nobody got to get shot here. We're going," Tyreese said as they began to walk over to the gate. I let out a quick shriek as Rick's elbow collided with my arm. God damn that had hurt.

Rick wailed at the top of his lungs and I winced at the sound of his voice. I was right by his ear and he was screaming as loud as he could. "What are you doing here?!" He continued to scream. I kicked out at Rick and managed to kick him in the head, momentarily silencing him.

Tyreese backed off with his hands up towards us. "Okay, we're going," he said as he and his group back away from us. I growled as Rick began to fight even harder. I knew that he was about to get away from me, and there was no way that I was going to let that happen. I needed them out, and fast.

I manouvered my head towards the group and managed to pull my neck away from Rick. "Just go! Go! Go!" I yelled to them. Rick was slipping away from me, I had almost lost my grip.

I saw that Carl pushed the group out the door and closed it behind him. "Come on, come on," I heard him call to them down the hallway. I sighed and dropped Rick, grunting as my head hit the floor. Rick stood and Glenn walked over to me, pulling me up and keeping an arm around me. I looked on in horror at Rick, who was standing there like he had no idea what had happened. I was panting heavily and Glenn walked me over to sit by Maggie who was checking me over for wounds. I looked up when she had determined that none of my wounds were serious, only a few cuts and bruises, many of which were from Martinez.

Rick was still standing in the center of the room with a dumbfound look on his face. I watched as he retreated from the room, and we were left with the tense air of what we had just seen. I sighed, knowing that today we had lost 5 good people. So what do we do now? We had lost most of the people that were or would be capable of heavy work. We were quickly dying here and there was nothing that any of us could do. We had lost our manpower, we had a new enemy out there, Rick was mentally broken, and so was I. Was there any way that we were going to be able to make it? Looking up, I saw that everyone was walking away, but I couldn't bring myself to get up. Instead, I stayed sitting with Maggie next to me. When everyone had moved away, I looked at Maggie and gave her a deep hug. I wanted her to know that I felt horrible for what my father had done. We stayed in the embrace for a while, I had no idea how long it was, but I didn't care. After a day like this I just needed to know that I wasn't really alone in this world.


	29. Forgive And Forget

Out in the Woods

I kicked the dirt around us, trying to be as silent as possible. Merle and I had been hunting for hours, and nothing had passed us yet. I knew that it wasn't from noise, we were almost silent. I sighed as I turned back to Merle. I had in some ways missed my brother, but there was now someone that I missed even more. Rain. What the hell had I done? I should have fought for Merle to be able to come back to the prison. Then I never would have had to leave her. And she wouldn't hate me. I could see it on her face when I had left. She hated me. And I deserved it. I wasn't good enough for her, and now she knew it. I wanted to go back to her, but even if I did, would she still love me? I somehow doubted it right now.

Sighing, I turned back around once more and kicked at the dust again. "There ain't nothing out here but mosquitoes and ants," I told Merle. He sighed and I knew that he was thinking the same thing. But it was Merle, he had a lot of patience, more than me. He would be out here for days just to prove to me that there were animals out here.

I looked over at him and saw that his eyes were scanning the trees for anything that we would be able to catch. But it was no use, land or air, there were no animals anywhere near us. "Patience, little brother. Sooner or later, a squirrel is bound to scurry across your path," he told me. I grunted at him. I was sure that something would eventually pass us by, but still, we needed water. And there wasn't that much around.

Taking a few steps around Merle, I walked over to a small clearing and turned back to see that Merle was taking a piss against a tree. I looked away and let my mind wander back to the prison. There was food, water, and working bathrooms. I missed all of that. And it hadn't even been a day. Or maybe it wasn't the prison I missed so much as it was the people. Her. There were so many people there that I wished I was still around. I grunted and looked back over my shoulder at my older brother. "Even so, that ain't much food," I told him. I was right, a squirrel was really only enough food for one person.

There was a beat of silence before I heard a grunt from behind the tree. "More than nothing," Merle said as he emerged from behind the tree and walked over to me.

I sighed and turned away from my brother facing back towards the last place I had seen my group. To the last time I had seen Rain. Trying to glance through the trees, I looked back at Merle and motioned through the trees. "I'd have better luck going through one of them houses we passed back on the turnoff," I told him. We had passed plenty of old houses on the way into the woods, but Merle had refused to go in any of them saying that we would have more luck if we just made it into the woods and went back to hunting.

The gears seemed to turn in his head as Merle looked back at me and shook his head. "Is that what your new friends taught you? Hmm? How to loot for booty?" He asked me. I shook my head at him, I hadn't even been back with him a day and he had already gone back to making fun of me. Just the way that it had been when we were children.

Taking a few steps away from Merle I looked back towards the direction of the prison. I cleared my throat and turned back to my older brother. "We've been at it for hours. Why don't we find a stream, try to look for some fish?" I suggested to him, trying to push him in the direction of the prison. I was hoping that it would work, but Merle wasn't stupid. He was going to know what I was doing.

Just as I had suspected he turned back to me and coughed. "I think you're just trying to lead me back to the road, man. Get me over to that prison," he told me with a dark glare on his face.

Hoping to get myself away from his rage I merely shrugged my shoulders. "They got shelter. Food," I turned away from him to look at the tree he had been by a moment before. "A pot to piss in. Might not be a bad idea," I told him looking back at my brother. I saw the gears grinding in his head as he snorted at me.

Merle took a few steps forward before he came at a stop directly in front of me. I knew that some type of lecture was coming/ so I held my breath and steadied myself. "Why's that?" He asked me. I shrugged my shoulders but I knew that it wouldn't be enough for Merle. "It because all your new buddies are there? Don't gotta work for shit out there? Don't have your brother out there to make fun of you. Make you a stronger man," he baited. I sneered but kept my mouth shut. He seemed to think for a few minutes before he looked at me and laughed. "Or maybe it's that bitch ya got back there? Rain, right? Yeah she's a beauty right there," He told me. I looked away not wanting to hear what he had to say about her. "Yeah I like her, she's got spirit. Now tell me, what's she mean to you? I know that you're close to her so, what is it? She been at it with ya? Oh yeah, I'm sure that looks like Heaven with her on ya. Maybe if we ever see her again I'll show her how a real man does it," Merle told me.

I tried to hold my temper, but it had become too hard. I lunged forward at Merle and knocked him back on his ass. Merle grunted as we swung at each other. I hit him in the face as I yelled down to him. "Shut the hell up! You don't know shit about her! Don't fucking talk about her!" I yelled at him. Merle and I swung at each other before we finally tired out. I dropped off of Merle and the two of us stood up. "Look, I don't want to go back for her, I want to go back because it's an easier life. More people, we can find shit easier. Don't have to fight for everything," I told him completely out of breath. It had only been half true. Yes I did want to go back for that. But the rest of my family was there. And the woman that I loved was there. I had to see her again. I had made a huge mistake leaving her.

Grunting a few times I looked back at Merle and saw that je was just as out of breath as I was. "Yeah, well there may be a happy welcome for you, maybe. Ain't gonna be no damn party for me," Merle told me. I shook my head but he was right. No one at the prison would want anything to do with him but maybe Rain. And maybe now not even her. Maybe after what I had done to her she didn't want me back anymore.

I shrugged my shoulders and walked a few paces. Anything to try to get myself calm and collected again. I needed to talk with Merle rationally about this. "Everyone will get used to each other," I told him. Even at that I almost laughed. That wasn't true and Merle knew it. He wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut and it would cause too much trouble.

Merle laughed at me and shook his head, obviously knowing that what I had told him was nothing more than a bad lie. "They're all dead. Makes no difference. Only one he might spare is your girl. And that's a maybe. Maybe he'll give her to Martinez," he scoffed at the last part. I felt my blood boil but I managed to not say anything. Finally realizing what he had said first, I let my eyes perk up and I stopped pacing. I stared at Merle praying that he hadn't said what I had thought he said. There was no way that The Governor would kill them. He hated them, sure. But kill them? Even Rain? I mean she was his own daughter. How would he be able to do that? Although, how could a father beat his own children? I had asked that plenty of times and I was sure that Rain had as well.

Pacing a few more steps, I stopped in front of Merle and looked at him. "How can you be so sure?" I asked him, hoping that it was only a thought. Not that he knew about some type of plan that I and no one at the prison was aware of.

He looked at me and shook his head like I was a moron. "Right about now he's probably hosting a housewarming party where's he gonna bury what's left of your pals. Let's hook some fish. Come on," Merle told me finally giving into my request to find a pond from earlier. I sent out a silent plea that if the Governor was coming, I would get there first.

Walking towards the lake, I called out softly, "right." Merle nodded and we made our way down the path. I looked up in the sky and closed my eyes for a minute. Don't give up on me guys. I'm coming. I just gotta figure out a way first. Don't hate me Rain, I love you more than anything. I need you. I'm coming back for you and I will protect you with my life. Just please don't give up on me yet. If you haven't already.

Back at the Prison

I had been napping for about an hour up on the perch when I yawned and sat up. It had been a dream about Daryl. That we were back in the woods, before I had ever gone out on the run with Glenn and Maggie. Before I had met up with Merle once more. Before I had ever seen my father. Before I had been reminded of what I was running from. Before I had lost the one man that I had ever loved.

Stretching, I stood up and jumped down the stairs. I walked into the living area of the prison and sighed. I sat down plopping onto the chair with Carol at my heels. The older woman smiled at me and put an arm around me. Normally I would have said something about it, but I let her keep her arm there. I needed some type of comfort right now and Carol had always been a good friend to me. Glancing around the room I saw that the rest of the group was slowly crowding around us. Well minus Rick. I assumed that he was gathering his thoughts after what had happened with Tyreese and his people.

Scanning those who were in the room I saw that the darker skinned woman, whose name I had learned was Michonne, was sitting in the corner away from us. I didn't blame her, I didn't really want to be around us either. I watched as Glenn paced the room angrily. It seemed that in Rick's state, the young Asian man had taken over role as the leader of the group. Although I knew it was a bad idea. Glenn was on the warpath and he was only going to lead us to a battlefield where we wouldn't be able to win.

My eyes followed Glenn as he stepped over to where Carl was standing. I narrowed my eyes trying to guess where he was going with this. He didn't look angry per say, but he didn't exactly look happy either. Glenn leaned over the younger boy and motioned back to the tombs. "Now you said you found Tyreese's group here?" He asked the youngest man of our group.

Carl nodded to Glenn. "Yeah," he said looking at Glenn like he had gone crazy. I agreed, Glenn was going overboard with all this. We were safe for now, there was no use in fortifying the front of the prison. We had more important things to do right now. Like worry about what would happen if my father came through to exact revenge. I felt my pulse spike. I had to tell them. They had to know that he was my father. It wasn't fair to keep it from them, they were my real family. They should understand that I can't chose who my blood family is. And I could only hope that they believed me that I had nothing to do with him finding us.

Shaking my head form my thoughts I looked over at Glenn to see what he was thinking. He shook his head and looked at Hershel. "We secured this," he said. He was right, but we hadn't secured all the way up to the front of the prison. We had no idea what was going on in the administrative buildings which had apparently been where Tyreese and his group had come through.

I glanced around the group and saw that Carl was shuffling his feet. I looked at him and gave him a small nod, hoping that he would say whatever was on his mind. We needed anything we could get right now. No part of this prison could be open. If there was a way in, my father would find it. Carl cleared his throat and stepped forward to stand in front of Glenn. "He thought he came through here. Means there's another breach," Carl told the Asian. I assumed that he was talking about Tyreese, and that made sense. I had thought that there was a part of the administrative section. It would have explained how walkers kept getting into the tunnels.

Looking back up I saw that Glenn was nodding to Carl. He took a few steps back and began short paces. I knew that he was trying to figure this whole thing out. Glenn was doing a good job with it, but we needed Rick. "Okay. The whole front of the prison is unsecure. If walkers just strolled in, then it's gonna be cake for a group of armed men," Glenn said. I shook my head at him. Not true, they would have to fight off the herd of walkers and would have to find their ways through the tunnels.

It seemed that I wasn't the only one who was doubting Glenn as most of the group members were shaking their head at him. Carol stood up and looked over at Glenn. "Why are we even so sure he's going to attack? Maybe you scared him off," she suggested. I snorted. Wishful thinking, but there was no way that he was ever going to give this place up.

Glancing back towards Glenn, he shook his head and looked over at Carol. "He had fish tanks full of heads. Walkers and humans. Trophies. He's coming. We should hit him now," Glenn said. Wait, had he been in that room? When? I knew that it hadn't been while I was in there so how the hell had he seen it?

Carol looked back at Glenn with a shocked expression. "What?" She asked. I agreed with her. This wasn't Glenn, to be the man that is on the warpath. Although it was easy to see why. He is trying to get some type of vengeance against my father. I didn't blame him, but still. If he wasn't careful he was going to get us all killed. Even though it is all was all in good mind.

Glenn smiled at her and walked over to her sitting on his heels in front of her. "He won't be expecting it. We'll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head," Glenn said. I glared at him knowing that he couldn't see me. I hated the man, sure. But he was still my father. The least that Glenn could have done was look to me for confirmation. But whatever, he was only doing what was best for him right now. He would see the errors of his way soon enough though.

I looked away from Glenn and saw that Michonne had a dark snarl on her face. I expected that she would say something to him but it ended up being Carol that stepped in. "We're not assassins," She told him. I hummed in agreement. Glenn turned to me and I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't want to say anything out here. No one needed to know yet who exactly this Governor was. I would eventually tell the group but I didn't want to tell them quite yet.

Glenn glared angrily at Carol and turned on his heels walking over to where Michonne was sitting and leaning down in front of her. "You know where his apartment is. You and I could end this tonight. I'll do it myself," Glenn told her with a crazed look in his eye. I stared at him for a moment hoping that he would sit down and let this whole thing go to rest. We could just fortify the prison and when his men come for an attack, we take them out. That's how we should be doing things but it was no use. Glenn was to the point where he wasn't going to listen to anyone.

Rolling my eyes I waited for Michonne to make a snarky remark, but to my surprise it was Hershel who hobbled over and put an arm on Glenn's shoulder hoping to calm the younger man down. "Okay. He didn't know you were coming last time and look what happened. You were almost killed. Daryl was captured. And you and Maggie were almost executed. Rain nearly ended up a prisoner of war," Hershel said looking over at me. I gave him a grateful nod and he gave me a tiny small back.

Glenn shook his head at the older man and stood before him. "You can't stop me," he growled to Hershel. I scoffed. What a great way to talk to your girlfriends father. Especially after the poor girl was just sexually assaulted by her friends father. The girl's been through enough, don't drag her father into it.

The older man simply looked into Glenn's eyes and shook his head. He motioned back out to the yard and looked back over at the Asian man. "Rick would never allow this," Hershel argued. I nodded but I knew that deep down Rick was in no state to be making any kind of decisions right now. He was suffering from the loss of Lori. He hasn't had the time to mourn her without worrying about everyone else. The poor man deserved some time to get over the loss of his wife in peace. But now wasn't a good time to be doing that.

Shaking myself clear of my thoughts I looked back over at Glenn and Hershel and saw that Glenn was shaking his head. I was sure that he had the same thoughts that I did. "You really think he's in any position to make that choice?" Glenn asked the older man. I nodded, he sure wasn't. But that didn't mean that we couldn't run things by him.

It seemed that Hershel wasn't quite ready to give up on this fight yet as he looked over to Glenn and past the rest of the group. "Think this through clearly. T-Dog lost his life here. Lori, too. The men that were here. It isn't worth any more killing. What are we waiting for? If he's really on his way, we should be out of here by now," Hershel suggested. I rolled my shoulders, it wasn't a bad idea but I knew my father. He prepared for moments like these. There were more than likely armed brigades on ever exit out of this place. We had waited too long. If anything we should have been out of here this morning.

Glenn shook his head and did a quick pace before whirling back around on Hershel. "And go where?" Glenn snapped.

My eye twitched slightly at the sudden noise and I kept my position so that if need be I could jump up to stop the younger man did nothing more than shake his head. Hershel seemed to think over his question for a moment before nodding to Glenn. "We lived on the road all winter," he argued.

Nodding to myself I knew that Hershel was right, we had made it all that time. But naturally, Glenn had to ruin the moment. "Back when you had two legs and we didn't have a baby crying for walkers every four hours," Glenn said. I hated to admit it but he was right. Hershel was slower now and there was no doubt in my mind that Judith would attract walkers. She was too loud when she cried and there was no way that we would be able to hide her. In here, you couldn't hear her cries on the outside.

Hershel shook his head and looked down on Glenn. "But we did have Rain. She was half dead for most of the harsh part of winter. She couldn't walk or hunt for months. We made it with her. It might be tough but we could make it with Judith and I as well. We can't stay here," Hershel argued. I nodded to him. I knew that over winter I had hindered the group, but they had still taken care of me. That was what we did. We were family. We looked out for one another.

I thought that we had solved the issue but it seemed that Glenn had made up his mind and there was no changing it. "We can't run," he growled. I shook my head but there was no use arguing with him and I didn't want the truth of my parentage coming out just yet. "All right. We'll stay put. We're gonna defend this place. We're making a stand. Carl, you and I will go down to the tombs. Rain can you help us out?" Glenn asked me. I didn't really want to go but he needed the help, so I nodded. "We need to figure out where the breach is," he told Carl and I.

We both nodded and Carl went over to grab the set of keys and toss them to Glenn. "You got it," he called to the Asian man. I went to stand by Glenn making every effort to avoid his eyes.

The squeaking of the gate caught my attention and I jumped up, instinct kicking in and griping my gun. I released my grip on it though when I saw that it was only Rick. My eyes widened though, at the sight of our leader. I didn't think that we would have been seeing him for a while. "You'll need some help," Rick told Glenn. I smiled at Rick and was relieved when he gave me a tiny smile back. So at least he didn't hate me.

I took a few steps forward and went to make my way over to Rick, but before I could make it, Glenn stepped in front of me. He walked over to Rick and cut our leader off. "No, in case anything happens, I need you out here." I glared at Glenn, but I knew that he was right. We needed someone that was strong out here watching, just in case my father really did try to invade us this soon.

Our leader gave a short nod and took a few glances around. I followed the track of his eyes and I couldn't tell who he was looking for. I would have assumed that he may have been looking for Tyreese and his people, but he knew that they were gone. He had watched them leave. So who was he looking for? "Who's on watch?" Rick asked.

The look on Glenn's face had gone from curiosity to pure, seething, anger. "Damn it," he growled before stalking off into the tombs. Carl followed behind and after I got my few laughs out, I followed as well. As I passed Rick I gave him a quick pat on the shoulder with a gentle smile. He squeezed my hand and I pulled away, heading out to the tombs.

Pulling the keys off of their hook, I walked through the doors before closing them and meeting back up with Carl and Glenn. We all walked around the tombs for a few minutes, fully armed and ready to head off into the area of the prison that's wall had fallen As we walked I fell into step besides Carl who was walking with his head down. I placed my arm around his shoulder giving me a small smile. I pulled him into me, letting go after a moment and continued to walk after Glenn. As we made it to the end of what was Cell Block C, Carl nudged me. I looked down and gave him a questioning glance. He seemed to take a few deep breaths before looking at me with a lose grip on my arm. "Rain, are you OK?" He asked me.

I knew that my face was probably frozen in shock but he had caught me off guard. Was I OK? Not really, no. I missed Daryl too much and I knew that my performance in the group had slipped without him here. I needed him to push me and without him, I wasn't nearly as together as I had been before. But I didn't want to unload that on the young boy. So I merely smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine Carl, thanks." I continued to walk, but I slammed into Glenn letting out a grunt. "Damn it Glenn, what the hell are you-" I started to say before he put a hand over his mouth, effectively cutting me off.

"Rain, we're your family. We know you. We're not stupid. I saw it on your face the second that Daryl walked away. You're not OK. We don't like seeing you in pain but there's nothing that we can do for you if you won't talk to us." I stared at Glenn for a moment and let my head drop. I knew that they wanted to help, but what could they do? Nothing. There was nothing.

Glenn seemed to wait for me to say something before I shook him off and tried to move away. Although that had been futile, I had at least gotten him to stop touching me. I really didn't want to be touched right now. "You're right Glenn. I'm not OK. But there's nothing that you guys can do for me. Daryl hurt me by leaving. I miss him. I want him back here. But there's nothing that can be done about it. Right?" I asked him and he nodded. "Good, then let's just get this done with so I can go to bed. All I need right now I for you all to be here with me. I'll be OK. I just want to keep my mind busy. So can we go to the boiler room now? See what's going on down there?" I asked him.

Both of the men had gone silent and I merely sat and stared at them for a moment. I sniffed and wiped my eyes before I walked past them and headed to the boiler room. What the hell had that been about? I knew that I was quieter than normal, but still. Had my attitude really changed that drastically? I hoped not. I yawned and finally made it to the boiler room. Raising my bow and waiting for Glenn and Carl to come up behind me, I cracked the door. Completely covering the room were walkers. They were everywhere, flooding the entire room. Before they could catch our scent, I closed the door shaking my head.

Moving past Glenn and Carl, I began the walk back to C. I would have loved to keep going and see the breach, but we couldn't. Not with the boiler room filled. That was our one way that we could get to the front of the prison. Storming back to the cells I could hear the two men following behind me, both clearly upset that the boiler room was now filled with walkers. We had just cleared it and now they were all back there. Damn it. As we rounded the last corner, I walked up to the gate and unlocked it. Storming in, I dropped back onto the table, gladly letting Glenn tell everyone that we had just seen.

Pacing back and forth a few times, Glenn looked up at our group and shook his head. "The tombs outside the boiler room are overrun again," he told them. I saw the shocked look and I couldn't blame them. It hadn't even been 2 weeks when we had last cleared it out and now it was once more overrun. Either we had a hard breach somewhere, or someone was leading the walkers in here.

Grunting, I looked over the faces on the group and saw that the emotions ranged from shocked to just despair. It was obvious at this point that most of out group had given up. "That whole section had been cleared," Carol said. I looked at her as she gave me a sidelong glance. I nodded at her and shrugged my shoulders. I was proud of Carol, she had come a long way in the time that I had known her. From putting up with her abusive husband to being one of our best shots and a valued member of our group.

Carl stepped forward and I watched as he fell into line with Glenn. "It's a steady stream of walkers," Carl told us. I nodded at him, it didn't look like there was any way that we would be able to stem the flow of walkers any time soon. Following Carl's movements, I shook my head at the young boy. Like me, he had been forced to grow up too fast. However, his had been much more more of a cruel shock to the reality of life.

Standing up, I walked over to Beth who was sitting in the corner and gave her a small smile. I hated being so close to the middle of the action. It was like I was the reason for it. I couldn't help it, but that was the way it felt. Even if most of the group didn't know that the Governor was my father. Glenn stormed over and stood in front of the group. "We're wasting time. The Governor is supposedly on the way and we're stuck in here with walkers," Glenn told us. I nodded at him, he too had been changing since I had first met him. He was more outspoken now, and that he was with Maggie now. He loved her and he was willing to go to the ends of the Earth to protect her and make sure she is safe. Whether she wants it or not.

Turning my head I saw that Hershel was hobbling over, and he stopped right in front of Glenn. "Trapped between a rock and a hard place," the older man said. I nodded, he was right. But Glenn was right as well. There was no place to run to.

I saw the anger light up on Glenn's face as he turned to Hershel and pointed atthe older man. "For the last time, running is not an option," he growled. I was ready to jump up just in case, but I doubted that Glenn was stupid enough to do anything to Hershel. Not with Maggie only back in her cell not even 20 feet away.

The older man sighed and nodded at the younger man. "Glenn, if the tombs have filled up again, it may just be a matter of time before they push in here. Or until some fence gives way. What if one of them herds is passing through? Or settled? Can't handle that with just the few of us," Hershel said. I looked around and nodded as Glenn's eyes landed on me. Those of us really able bodied to fight were myself, Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Carol, Michonne, and Carl. But Carl was young, we didn't really know Michonne at all, and Rick was nowhere to be found.

Glenn looked at the older man and nodded pacing back and forth a few steps. I watched closely as Glenn seemed to be turning the gears in his head. After a few moments he finally nodded and turned to the group. "Okay. All right, we need- we just need to scout the far side of the prison. Find out what's going on," Glenn said to us. I nodded and was about to volunteer to help when Hershel stepped in.

"You're going out there?" The older man asked.

Glenn nodded and grabbed a set of keys off the desk. "Take a car and make it quick," Glenn said. I nodded to him. He needed to take a car, that way he could take in the whole wall without worrying about walkers or being unable to see the entire thing.

Jumping up from my spot with Beth, I stepped forward and came to a stop beside Glenn. "I'll drive," I told him, shouldering my bow.

He gave me a grateful smile but shook his head at me. "No, you stay here. Help with the fortifications. I'll take Maggie," Glenn told me. I knew that he really did want me to stay and help. Probably to keep everyone on track, but that he also wanted time to talk to Maggie. I understood that, so I nodded at Glenn and took a step back.

"You sure she's up to that?" A voice called. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the voice, but turning around I saw that it had only been Rick who seemed to have snapped back into himself. I was glad, we needed him right now. We were too weak without Daryl and our leader was cracking up and now our impromptu leader is on a warpath. We were headed down the drain. We needed to pull ourselves together.

Turning my head, I saw Glenn walk past me along with Hershel. The older man strode by me and headed up to Rick. "Where have you been? We need to find out how the walkers are getting into the tombs," Hershel explained. I nodded but knew that this was not a conversation that needed to be heard by the entire group.

Sighing, I walked away from the group and headed into the cell area. Jumping up the perch, I walked over to where it hung over and sat down letting my legs hang off the edge of the perch. I hadn't even been sitting there for a moment when I saw Beth come over and head up the stairs. The younger girl sat down next to me and held her hand out which I gratefully took. For a while, no words were exchanged between the two of us, we just sat there enjoying each others company. After a few moments of silence, Beth looked over at me and put her hand on my shoulder. "I know you miss him," the young girl told me. "I miss him too in some way." I looked over at Beth and gave her a small smile.

Scooting a little closer to Beth I grabbed her hand and gave it a small squeeze. "I know you do Beth. Everyone does. You can see it in the air. Now that Daryl is gone, the soul of the group is too. I don't know why, but Daryl gave this group life," I told her. I really wasn't sure why other than the fact that he is a great man. I looked back over at the younger girl and saw that she had her eyes narrowed at me. "What?" I asked her.

Beth gave a small laugh and pointed to me. "It's you Rain." I cocked my eyebrows wondering what she was talking about when she laughed once more. "You probably don't see it, but you are a big part of this groups spirit. They love you. With Daryl gone, it already took a huge chunk away from us. Now you're gone too," She told me. I opened up my mouth to argue that I was right here when Beth once more cut me off. "Yeah, you're here in person but your head isn't here right now. Your spirit, the girl that we all know and love, she left with Daryl. We miss you Rain. I know that you love him and it kills you that he's gone, but we need you. We love you. You're not alone. You still have us, and we won;t ever leave you."

Feeling my heart tear in two, I knew that Beth was right. I had emotionally checked out when Daryl had left us. I missed him, more than anything. But this group deserved better. I needed to get the hell over it. My father was coming to kill the people that are still here, my real family. And I'll die before I ever let him touch them. I needed to come back. My family needed me.

Looking back over at Beth, I smiled at her. And this time, it was a genuine smile. "You're right Beth, it's not fair. Just because Daryl checked out doesn't mean that I need to as well. I'm here and he's gone and there's nothing that can be done about that. But what can be done is that I can get my ass up and help. Take charge. Make sure the Governor never makes it anywhere near any of us. As for Daryl. He was the first man that I ever truly loved, and I lost him. But that doesn't mean that I should lose myself. I'm here, and here to stay," I told the young girl. With a new-found outlook, I looked down to Beth and saw that she had a proud look on her face.

"Good," Beth told me. I smiled at her and began to run my fingers over the small scar on the back of my hand where I had smashed it on a rock months earlier. We sat in silence for a bit longer before Beth nudged me and I looked up to see what she wanted. "Daryl was really the first man that you ever loved?" She asked me.

Stunned by her question I sat in shock for a moment. Had Daryl really been the first man that I had loved? I had never felt the way I felt about him rather than anyone else. He must have been. Looking back at Beth, I nodded to her. "He was the first person I ever said I love you to that wasn't family. I mean sure, I'd had other boyfriends and I'd liked them and we'd done stuff. But I never felt the way about them that I did about Daryl. I loved him, and I still love him. I think I'll always love him."

Taking a deep breath, I sighed. So now Beth knew about my pathetic love life before Daryl, but I wouldn't tell her about my brief stint in prison. It wasn't a story that she, or anyone else, needed to know. I looked over at Beth and saw that she had an odd look on her face. I had expected that she would ask something about what I'd just told her, but it wasn't what I was expecting. "So you're 22 and you've never been in love until you met Daryl Dixon?" She asked me.

The look on her face was so severely concerned and confused that I couldn't help but to laugh. And I mean really laugh. I was in utter hysterics with tears rolling down my face and Beth laughing besides me. When I had finally calmed down I smiled at the younger girl. She had made me laugh like only Daryl and occasionally Maggie could, just with a look. "Alright then smarty pants, how about your love life huh? Mine's a little pathetic and hard to have girl talk about. I wanna know what the all wise Beth Greene's love life is about," I told her, poking at her leg.

Beth blushed and shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, there's not really much to tell," she told me. I narrowed my eyebrows at her but she just shrugged her shoulders.

Glaring at the younger girl I tried to think back to the farm. There had been a boy back there that she had been with. What was his name? Jimmy! That was it. My eyes lit up and I turned to her. "What about Jimmy?" I asked her.

She gave me a look that told me she really hadn't cared that much for the young boy. "I mean, Jimmy was nice and all but we had only dated 3 months before this whole thing started. Once it all went down, Jimmy came to live with us and it was like we were married. It was to fast and he was too clingy for my liking. So yeah there was him, but that wasn't really very much." I gave Beth and sidelong glance knowing that there was no way that he was it.

"So there was no one else?" I asked her.

Beth seemed to think about it for a minute before sighing and nodding to me. "There was another guy, Jacob." I waited for her to say something else, but when she didn't I poked at her. I wanted to know about the mystery man. "Well, he wasn't the type of guy that I would have wanted to bring home to daddy." I gave her a go on type of look and she let out a low laugh before continuing. "He smoked, and drank. A lot. He always would before school. He mad a motorcycle and he used to like t show me how it worked. But anyways, he was always cussing and trying to get into a fight. Daddy would have never let me be with him. Doesn't matter though, he moved away and we lost touch," Beth told me. I sat there and took in what she had told me for a moment.

About a minute had gone by before I began giggling. Beth looked at me and I smiled. "He sounds like Daryl," I told her. Beth laughed and nodded at me. I leaned over the railing and hooted, "Beth loved a bad boy!" I was laughing like a mad man when Beth pulled me away from the railing and I fell back down to the floor.

"Shut up! Daddy will kill me if he ever finds out," Beth hissed at me. But judging by the sound of her voice she thought it was hilarious. We laughed for a moment before I jumped up, giving Beth a hand up as well.

Shaking the dust off of my legs, I headed over to the stairs and turned back to Beth. "Thanks Beth, I really did need that." The younger girl looked at me and smiled as we made our way down the stairs. "Alright, wanna go see if we can help outside? Help with the fortifications?" I asked her. Beth nodded and we made our way to the door. For the first time in days I was actually wearing a really smile on my face.

Talk about how Beth confronts Rain about her love for Daryl. Rain tells Beth of her past love life and tells her that Daryl is the first man that she has ever truly loved. The two girls bond before sitting over the railing and talking about Beth's old love life. The two fall silent and sit in each other's comfort.

Back in the Woods

Stomping through the street heading back to the woods, I was fuming. Merle had been about to let that family die and take what they had after we had saved them. Damn him... Made me point the damn bow at him. I had never had to do anything like that to him before. I could hear Merle grumbling behind me, and I tried to hold onto my anger the best I could, but it was getting the better of me. I couldn't help but wonder, if I had stayed with Merle, would I have left that family as well? Was it because of Judith that I had gone and saved the family? Or was it Rain rubbing off on me? It was probably both. Damn, I needed her right now or else I might kill my own family. With Merle still grumbling behind me, I whipped around, ready to hit him. "They were scared, man," I snarled at my older brother.

Instead of understanding that the family had been to petrified to do anything or to thank us- shit they hadn't even spoke English- he was angry that they hadn't repaid us. We didn't need to be repaid. I had gone up there to help that family. To save them and their baby from the walkers. "They were rude is what they were. Rude and they owed us a token of gratitude," Merle told me.

I scoffed and turned away from Merle. "They didn't owe us nothing," I growled at him.

Stomping away from Merle once more I heard him scoff from behind me. "You helping people out of the goodness of your heart? Even though you might die doing it? Is that something your Sheriff Rick taught you? Or maybe that little bitch of yours has rubbed off on you. Made you soft little brother," Merle told me.

I knew that he was goading me, but I also know that I was going to play right into it. That was just the type of person Merle was. You played right into his traps. "There was a baby!" I yelled at him.

Merle scoffed at me and came to face me. "Oh, otherwise you would have just left them to the biters, then?" He asked. The question had caught me by surprise. I didn't actually know what I would have done. But I prayed that deep down I would have saved them. That I would have been the person that Rain thought I was. I wanted to make her proud.

Keeping my cool, I turned to face Merle but shook my head and turned around instead. "Man, I went back for you. You weren't there. I didn't cut off your hand, neither. You did that. Way before they locked you up on that roof. You asked for it," I growled at him before turning my back to him. I was done with my older brother for the day. I was sick of hearing him.

I walked away and not even a minute later I heard Merle stomping up behind me. "You know- you know what's funny to me?" Merle asked me. I didn't want to know what he had to say but I turned anyways. "You and Sheriff Rick are like this now. Right?" He asked me, crossing his fingers. "And Rain, she's got you by the balls I bet boy." I felt my anger rise once more, but I managed to calm it down somehow. Merle laughed at me and shook his head. "I bet you a penny and a fiddle of gold that you never told him that we were planning on robbing that camp blind," Merle sneered at me.

For a moment I felt my heart stop. It had been so many months since I had last seen Merle that the plan hadn't been in my head. I had long since forgotten about it. I couldn't believe that Merle had brought it up. I was just happy that he hadn't said it when we were with my group. Rain would have never forgiven me. I wasn't even sure if she would ever forgive me now. "It didn't happen," I mumbled quietly to my older brother.

From behind me, I heard Merle snort and I turned on my heels, angry once more. "Yeah, it didn't 'cause I wasn't there to help you," he jibed at me. I growled and marched up to him.

Suddenly every memory of my childhood came back. The days that he would just dissappear and never come back. Or the days that when he would leave my father would take out all of his pent up, drunk anger. "What, like when we were kids, huh? Who left who then?" I asked Merle, now seething. I could tell that I wasn't the only one angry though, Merle looked infuriated as well.

Now facing Merle, I saw that his anger had suddenly spiked as well. That had always been one of the ways that people could tell that we were related. Whenever one of us was angry, so was the other. And our anger was something awful, it almost always ended up in a physical confrontation. Approaching me, I was reminded of how afraid I had been of Merle as a kid. But I wasn't that little kid anymore. I wasn't afraid of him. Not anymore. "What? Huh? Is that why I lost my hand?" Merle yelled at me.

Instead of backing down as I would have in the past, I jumped forward to Merle and in that moment I could see the surprise on his face. He was surprised that I had retaliated at him. I wasn't his little baby brother anymore. I was going to stand my ground against him. Rain had taught me that. "You lost your hand 'cause you're a simpleminded piece of shit," I hissed at him lunging forward at him.

"Yeah?" Merle asked me before jumping forward at me. I jumped back but I was too slow. Merle caught me and swung me around by my arms. "You don't know!" He yelled at me. I tried to get away from him, and I managed to him, but he caught the top of my shirt, so as I tried to get away the back of my shirt tore and I fell to the ground on my knees. Merle had gone silent behind me and I knew that it was from the scars. I debated hiding them, but it was no use. He had already seen them. Picking my back pack up that I had dropped I threw it on and tried to march on, but my head was spinning. As I came to a full stand, I finally heard Merle say something from behind me. "I- I didn't know he was-" Merle stammered.

Not wanting to hear it, I cut Merle off immediately. "Yeah, he did. He did the same to you. That's why you left first," I told him. I had always known that he had done the same to Merle. It hadn't been hard to figure out. I knew that Merle had never known. I knew that Merle had always hoped that our father had only taken out his anger on me. But it didn't matter, I had tried to hide the truth from Merle but it was out in the open now. He knew and it wasn't something he would forget.

After a beat of silence Merle faced me with a face that I knew meant that he was sorry. Although he would never say it out loud. Merle was too proud for that. "I had to, man. I would have killed him otherwise," Merle told me. I scoffed and began to walk away. I was going back to the prison. I had to find Rain, I needed to get her to forgive me. I needed her. From behind me, I heard Merle call out to me. "Where you going?" He asked.

"Back where I belong," I grunted still slightly out of breath from the scuffle. I was tired but there was no way that I would slow down. The Governor was on his way to the prison and he was not happy with his daughter.

Merle looked at me in wonder, probably wondering when I had learned to turn him down. "I can't go with you. I tried to kill that black bitch. Damn near killed the Chinese kid," Merle begged with me.

I looked back at Merle and scoffed. "He's Korean," I told my brother. Had it not been more serious, I would have laughed. There had been a time where Glenn had once said that to me. I had started out as Merle's brother and now I had become one of the group. I was one of them, I needed to get back. Merle was my brother but they were my family.

Merle looked at me like I had gone nuts before scoffing at me. "Whatever. Doesn't matter, man. I just can't go with you," Merle told me. I thought about it for a minute. He was my brother but he wasn't where I needed to be. Right now my heart was with the prison. Well, one person inside of it. And right now they weren't happy with me, and I would do anything to win her back. I just needed to get to her first. I needed to leave. I needed to go to her.

Shaking my head of my thoughts and turning my back to Merle, I began to walk past the trees. "You know, I may be the one walking away but you're the one that's leaving- again," I told Merle choking on the last word. I didn't want to walk away from him, but I needed to. He was nothing but bad for me and I needed to get the hell away from him. It wasn't like I didn't want to be with my brother, but my loyalties were somewhere else, and I wanted to be there.

Stomping through the trees, I had barely made it 10 feet before I heard Merle mutter from behind. "Damn," he grumbled before running after me. As he ran up to me I said nothing but a million things were racing through my mind. Would they let me back? What would they do about Merle? Could they all forgive me for leaving even though I came back? And would Rain forgive me? I could only pray that she would.

Meanwhile at the Prison

Beth and I had just left the cell block when I scanned the yard. I saw that Glenn and Maggie were standing off to the side of the yard, talking. They were fortifying the prison, and it was a good thing. Everyone knew that there was an impending war, but no one wanted to say it. Rick and Hershel were in the yard, Rick out beyond the gate, and Hershel seemingly making his way to the leader. Michonne was over by the truck with Carl not far away. Looking directly in front of us, I saw that Carol and Axel were together seemingly having a nice conversation. I smiled at the two and asked Beth if she wanted to join them for a few minutes. The younger girl nodded and we walked over to the pair.

Carol smiled at us as we walked up and I smiled at the older woman. Both she and Axel said their hellos and we responded. I smirked at Carol as it seemed that Axel was getting a but fond of her. I laughed slightly and Carol nudged my shoulder. Axel and Beth were both standing on the other side of us, smiling.

As our laughing ceased, Axel looked over at the three of us. "Stress getting to your man Rick?" He asked. I smiled at Axel and shook my head. He had no idea. It was a nightmare with Rick. Beth and I both nodded at the former prisoner but it seemed that Carol was the one of us who actually had something to say.

The older woman looked over at Axel and shook her head. "Can you blame him?" She asked.

Axel shook his head and let out a deep sigh. "No. Not at all. In here I've seen plenty of dudes crack. But not me. I got on better on the inside. Things made more sense, you know?" He asked us. All three of us nodded as Axel continued. "There were rules. Life was more simple," he told us. I nodded at him. He was right, there were rules. I used to hate how many laws there were, how boring life seemed to be. But now I would love to be sitting in my apartment working on my thesis or term paper. I would give anything to be up all night studying with a bowl of Ramen noodles in front of me. But I would never give up the people I had met in this new life. Not for anything.

Carol looked over at Axel and cocked her head at him. "Didn't you miss your brother?" She asked him. I cocked my head at him as well. I hadn't known that Axel had a sibling. Although I wasn't surprised. He didn't seem like the only child type. He seemed like he had an older brother. Probably one that was a bit like Merle.

Axel looked over at Carol like she had grown a third head. "My brother? Hell, no. He had a real money problem," Axel told us. I gave him a long look, curious what he was talking about. Maybe it had been a drug or alcohol problem. People could blow through a million bucks on that shit real fast.

It seemed that he had caught all three of our attention, but I wanted Carol to get a chance with Axel. I had had Daryl, but he was gone and he was the only man that I wanted. But oh well. Why should no one else get a chance at love just because I had lost mine? "What kind of problem?" Carol asked him.

After a beat of silence Axel looked over at us and let a smile break over his face. "He didn't lend me any," Axel told us. I laughed as I realized that he had only been joking. His brother had been the good one. Very funny... "One time that son of a bitch-" Axel started before a bang ripped through the air and Axel fell to the side. At first, I didn't know what it was, but it finally registered. A bullet. He was dead. Axel is dead. Jumping away as bullets began raining down, I saw that Carol used Axel's body to hide behind and I shoved Beth away.

"Beth!" I heard Maggie scream. I looked over and saw that she and Glenn were hiding behind the boards firing at who was most likely my father and his people.

Grunting, I looked over at the forest and saw that my father was standing at the wood line holding a rifle. He had shot Axel with it. Pulling my pistol out of my pants, I fired at one of his soldiers, but only managed to clip their shoulder. They went down in pain, but I knew that they would get back up. "Damn it! Beth get to Maggie!" I yelled to the younger girl. I looked into the yard and saw that Rick was getting surrounded with walkers. Feeling my heart rate go up, I sprinted towards him. "I'm gonna get down there to Rick!" I yelled to my group members. "Hang on Rick!I screamed at our leader.

Bounding down the drive, I saw my father standing at the wood line acting as if nothing had ever even happened. I growled and raised my hands. Aiming at my father I took a few deep breaths and pulled the trigger. I was praying that I would hit him, but I missed. Not by much though, I had hit the top of his hair. He jumped and immediately fired at me. I jumped out of the way and the bullet narrowly missed me. I had felt the air go by my head, and I thanked God that it had missed me.

As I made it down to the bottom of the hill, I fired at a few walkers around Rick but I knew I wouldn't make it to him. He had no more hands and walkers were still piling around him. Just as a walker almost took a bite out of Rick, an arrow came through the wood and killed the walker for the last time. I stood in shock for a moment, I knew that arrow. Daryl. Just as it registered in my mind, I saw him and his brother come rushing through the woods taking down the walkers in their path. They, along with Rick and I, took down the walkers on the outside gates.

Breathing heavily from the fight, I turned and saw that a truck had come breaking through the gates. It dropped its gate and out poured walkers. Out poured walkers into the yard that we had fought so hard for. We would have to take all of those out again. I saw that my father had motioned for his people to leave, and like that, the fight was over. But it wasn't really, he would be back. This was just his warning. I turned around and motioned to Rick to go back inside. We walked up the yard and I stepped back, staring at Daryl.

Taking a few deep breaths, I finally gave Daryl a good once over. He was here. Perfect timing. But what the hell was he doing back. I stared at him for a while and when he finally took a step forward, I back off. "Rain! Thank God you're OK. Listen, I'm sorry that I ever-" Daryl babbled to me, but I didn't want to hear any apology he had for me. The anger bubbling in my system, I swung my arm out and slapped him across the face.

I heard Merle bark out a laugh and I glared at him, making the older Dixon fall silent. Those of the group who were outside were all watching what was happening between the two of us. "Fuck you. Don't you dare think that you have the right to talk to me right now," I hissed at Daryl. Turning on my heels I stormed back into the prison feeling my heart beating like crazy. I was furious with him. He left me just to come back? Who the hell did he think he was? No way, I couldn't take him back. Not ever. He would beg and I would want to give in, but there was no way. Daryl had hurt me, and I wasn't going to be forgetting that any time soon. And I would make sure that he didn't either.


	30. Welcome Back

Storming into the prison cell block, I threw myself up the stairs to the perch and began to pace like mad. I was surprised that I wasn't making dents in the floor by how hard I was stomping. What the hell had just happened? Daryl had come back was what. But how could he think that he would leave with no real justification of why and then come back expecting me to jump into his arms like nothing had ever happened? I don't think so. No one did something like that to me. Not even Daryl damn it. Grunting and mumbling to myself obscenities that would make a sailor blush, I lost my temper completely.

Turning to the railing, I pulled my leg back and kicked at the railing as hard as I could. A loud bang rang out and I kicked the railing again. And again. And again. All the while pretending that it was Daryl's face that my boot was connecting with. After a few more hits, the pain finally hit my foot as I yelped and dropped onto the floor.

Cradling my foot at the pain, I heard a small snort from behind me. Picking up one of my shoes, I turned to chuck it at Daryl's face, before I realized that it was just Maggie. I let out a breath at the sight of my friend, and dropped the shoe going back to cradling my foot. I heard Maggie take a few steps toward me, but I blocked her out. "So you having fun pretending to beat Daryl's face in?" Maggie asked me. I looked up at her in shock that she had known what I was doing, but Maggie merely shrugged her shoulders. "Sweetie, you're not the first girl to ever be mad at a boyfriend. Look, that was a shitty thing that Daryl did to you, but you won't be mad at him forever."

I grunted at Maggie and looked up at her. "Just watch me," I told her. Yes, I still loved Daryl, but that was a terrible thing that he had done to me and I wasn't planning on forgiving him for a long while. If ever.

Maggie laughed at me again and held out a hand to me. I took it and let her help me back up to my feet. I took a few steps, hanging onto her shoulder as I worked out my foot. I had probably jammed a toe when I had kicked the bar the last time, but oh well. I had bigger problems on my hand. And I had suffered from much worse.

As Maggie led me to the stairs, I pulled back and grumbled at her. "Where are we going?"

The brunette looked at me and gave me a small smile, although I could see behind the smile that she was worried. She had lost the joking gleam in her eyes and I could tell that this whole thing was about to turn deadly serious. "We need to go down there. We're debating what our next move is," Maggie told me.

I thought about maybe arguing with her and saying no, that Daryl was in the room, but I gathered my pride and forced myself to nod at her and walk down the stairs. I didn't want to be around Daryl right now, but there were more important things than my anger at him right now. Limping down the stairs, I shook off Maggie's hand for help and made it down right after her. As we made our way into the sitting area, every eye landed on me. Blushing a bright red, I kept my eyes on the ground and walked in. I knew that everyone was staring at me because of what I had done.

Walking past Daryl, I walked to the other end of the room to stand by Beth. Looking up, I saw the disappointment, and I immediately looked away. I didn't want to see it. His eyes would make me break. And I couldn't break. Not after what I had just said. Looking around the room, I saw that some of my group was looking at me with humor, others with disappointment. Glancing over to Merle, he looked like he was going to crack up at any moment. He winked at me, and I couldn't help but smile. It wasn't hard to tell that Merle thought that me slapping his brother was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. Looking back to Rick though, my smile dropped off my face and I waited for someone to start the discussion.

Unsurprisingly, it was Rick. "We're not leaving," he told everyone. I rolled my eyes. Hadn't we gotten past this point? There was nothing more that we could do. It was either stay here and fight, or risk leaving. But that might not get us any farther. If my father really did have this place guarded then the moment we left the safety of its walls, my father would kill us all.

It seemed that more people than I thought disagreed. Maggie stepped forward towards Rick with a challenging gleam in her eyes. "We can't stay here. What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds," she told him. I let my eyes drop, Maggie was right. There wasn't much besides the actual walls that would stop them. But we couldn't hide inside the walls, he would be able to starve us out that way. Either way, we lose. There was no way that we would come out of this.

Carol stepped forward as well, walking up to Maggie to back her up. "We can't even go outside. Not in the daylight," Carol told us all. She was right, we couldn't risk being outside in broad daylight. It was too easy for us to be detected by anyone lurking in the bushes. We had made that mistake once and now Axel was dead. We wouldn't be making that mistake again.

Angrily, Glenn moved forward looking betrayed by Maggie. "Rick says we're not running, we're not running," the younger Asian man told us. I felt my heart rate quicken. I was nervous. This was all my fault. My father would have left us alone had it not been for me. I should have never gone on that run. Then maybe I wouldn't know my father was alive and right here. Maybe Daryl would have never been captured and left. Maybe a lot of things.

Taking a few deep breaths, I looked at the floor then quickly back up. Immediately catching Daryl's eyes I glanced back down quickly. There was concern clearly written in them and I didn't want to see that. Not right now. Not when I was so close to a panic attack. This was too much. I'd been under too much stress in the last few days. I was gonna give myself a damn heart attack.

From the corner of the room, I heard Merle scoff. "No, better to live like rats," he grumbled smiling a greasy smile at the group. I hated to admit it but he was right. Everyone was. Everyone that stepped forward put up a good point.

With an angry glare, Maggie stepped forward toward the older Dixon. But it was Rick that beat her to the punch. "You got a better idea?" Rick snarled at him. Merle gave no emotion though, other than pure amusement. Typical. Even in the face of death, the elder Dixon thought that everything was hilarious.

Giving Rick and Maggie a condescending glare, he laughed at them. "Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now," Merle said. I shook my head, but I didn't miss the sideways look that Merle gave me. He was wondering how I felt about all this. I wasn't even sure, it felt like this man that we were talking about wasn't my father. He felt like someone else. It was like I wanted him dead, but in some way he was still my father. At this point I had no idea what to think. This was all just too much to take in too fast.

Interrupting my train of thought, Glenn stepped forward and walked over to Merle with nothing short of fury gleaming in his eyes. "We ain't scared of that prick," Glenn snarled at the older Dixon. Obviously he wasn't yet over what had happened in Woodbury. I didn't blame him. Merle had nearly killed him.

With a bark of laughter, Merle shifted his gaze from Glenn onto Rick. "Y'all should be. That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to." Trying to swallow my saliva I felt like there was a steel bar through my throat preventing it. I was never one to have a guilty conscience, but this was too much to bear. What the hell was I gonna do? This was my fault, I should be the one to take care of it.

Clearly sick of listening to Merle, Maggie stepped over to Rick and nodded over her left shoulder. "Let's put him in the other cell block," she told our leader.

To my surprise, Rick shook his head at her. "No. He's got a point. This is all you. You started this." With my head facing the floor, I expected Rick to be looking at me, but when I looked up, his gaze was fixated on Michonne. What had she done? Nothing. It was me who was at fault and everyone was pointing their fingers at someone else.

Shocking me, Beth stepped forward. "What difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" The young girl asked. I looked at her with a small sense of pride. Beth was growing out of her shell and learning to survive like the rest of us. It suited her well.

Limping forward, Hershel stepped over to the aid of his younger daughter. "I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here," Hershel was telling Rick. My heart was now pounding in my ears and I felt like I was going have a heart attack at any moment. That was it, they had to know. They had to know who this man who really was and what was going on.

Hershel once more opened his mouth but I was faster. "Stop!" I yelled. Everyone's eyes shot over to me in shock. After all, I had been in silence since I had shown up. I looked at Daryl briefly and saw that he looked about ready to step in. "There's something that I have to tell all of you. It's not fair of me to keep it a secret anymore," I told the group. The looks of everyone in the group were dark. Taking a deep breath I prepared to spit out the rest of what I wanted to say. "No matter what you do, leave the prison, stay, hand him over Michonne or Merle, it doesn't matter. He'll never let us go in peace. At least not while one of us is still here. Me. I once told all of you that my father was a horrible man. Well now, you've all bared witness to it," I mumbled the last part.

Glancing around I saw that Glenn and Maggie were nodding at me, and Daryl was giving me an encouraging look. And to my shock, Merle was giving me a look that was actually sympathetic. It was him, after all, that had led me straight back to my father. But he didn't know what he doing. I didn't blame him. I was the only one to blame.

A silence that was worse than any amount of yelling would have been rose in the air. Praying that it would end soon, Hershel stepped forward to me. "Rain. You don't mean that this man..." he began. I didn't need to Hershel to say the rest of his thought. I knew what he was asking. They all were. Just not out loud.

Nodding my head, I dropped my eyes. "Yes," I whispered. I looked up and brought my eyes to Rick's, which were full of fury and distrust. "Rick I'm sorry. I should have told you. I should have told all of you," I said looking around to the rest of my group. Everyone had looks of betrayal. I knew that they would. "The Governor is my father. His real name is Brian Blake. My full name is Rain Blake. He wants me. He wants me to suffer, to watch all of you die. I'm so sorry. I only just found out when Merle captured us. Rick, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to keep it from you all," I told them. It broke my heart having to tell them but they needed to hear it.

Finishing my small monologue, I looked up and braved myself to see the looks of my group. Carol wore one of absolute shock, she was slowly shaking her head at me. Hershel had an even look on his face, but not even the old man could hide the look of shock in his eyes. Carl looked like I had just punched him in the face. Michonne's face was one of utter distrust. But she also looked like she wasn't really sure. I wasn't surprised, she, besides me, probably hated my father the most. Beth looked like she had never been happy in her life, I had broken her trust with my answer.

All of the looks were horrible, but Rick's was the absolute worst. His look was one of absolute fury. He had never looked so angry before. I thought that if he had been any closer to me he would have tried to kill me. He probably would have. With a shake of Rick's head, I felt my heart break in two. They hated me. They all hated me. Feeling the tears come up to my eyes, the first slipped out as Rick turned to walk away. I wanted to stop him, but I didn't want him to punch me if I came anywhere around him.

Luckily though, I didn't have to. "Get back here!" Hershel yelled as Rick began to walk away. Myself, and most of the other group members jumped at the sound of Hershel's voice. Rick stopped and slowly turned to the older man. "You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something. Rain didn't mean to keep any of this from us. It isn't her fault and none of you have any right to blame her," Hershel said. I looked at the older man and gave him a heartfelt smile. Wiping the tears out of my eye, I turned to look at the group and while the looks weren't angry, many of them were attempting to not meet my eyes. "And Rain," Hershel said. snapping me out of my daze. "We will not ever hand you over. He may be your family by blood, but we are the ones that love you." I smiled at the older man, happy that at least one person was on my side. "Rick, you need to come back to us."

It seemed like Rick waited for a moment before turning on his heel, and leaving. I shook my head and turned back to Hershel, who merely shook his head. I knew that I should have stayed in the living area, but I couldn't tolerate it. I had to leave. Turning on my heel as well, I walked through the cell block and stormed up the stairs to the perch.

The tears were once more raising to my eyes, and this time I did nothing to stop them. This was what I deserved. My family and friends hated me. I had lost Daryl. My own flesh and blood was trying to kill me. What had I done? Why did I deserve this? Dropping onto the mattresses I let my head fall into my lap, and I just sat there. Crying. Wishing that I could just leave. Go to my father. Turn myself in and beg that he leaves them alone.

I had been up at the perch for a few minutes when I heard light footsteps trailing up the stairs. I knew that despite the light footsteps it was Daryl. But this time, I didn't bother to grab anything to throw. I just let him come up to me. As the footsteps stopped, I knew that he was directly in front of me, but I kept my head in my lap. Daryl lightly grabbed my arm and pulled me into him. I wanted to resist and push him away, but I didn't. I let him pull me into his shoulder to let me cry. And cry I did.

I laid in Daryl's arms letting the tears leak out while he muttered softly into my ear. There wasn't much that I caught from what he said but I did catch him saying to let it out and that he loved me. That one I caught multiple times. Finally, what must have been an hour later, I stopped crying and babbling and pulled myself from Daryl's arms.

My brown eyes caught his blue ones and for a while we just stared at each other. I let myself get lost in his eyes and for a while, I forgot why I was ever even mad at him. But I managed to snap myself out of it before I was too tempted to kiss him. "I should go," I muttered while I jumped up.

Daryl managed to grab me before I could though. "Rain. Please. Don't go. I love you. You know that. I'm sorry that I left. I know that I hurt you and I'll always regret that. But I love you and I want to be here for you. But you have to let me be. Please Rain. Let me in," Daryl begged me.

Every little ounce of me wanted to take him back. But I couldn't. He had broken my trust and he had hurt me. I love him more than life itself. But I couldn't take him back. He had to earn it. "No," I told him. The shattered look on his face broke my heart, but I wasn't willing to give in. "Not yet," I said. I noticed though that he had perked up when I said that. "You left me Daryl. You hurt me. I can't trust you. Not yet. You want me back? Fine. Work for it. Earn me back," I told him.

His eyes lit up as he stood up with me. He walked towards me and I backed off, but he caught my back. He moved towards me and planted a small kiss on my forehead. "Alright. I will. I will win you back. I will fight for you until the day that I die," Daryl told me. I nodded at him and with that he turned around and walked down the stairs. When I knew that he hit the last stair, I finally let the smile spread over my lips.

With nothing to do, I figured that I should go outside and see if the group needed help. I figured that they didn't want me around right now, but I needed to at least try to earn their trust back. I ran down the stairs and headed outside following behind Daryl. As we walked outside, I saw that there was a small group standing outside. Rick, Glenn, and Hershel were gathered in a small circle together.

Daryl and I walked up and I was met with a small smile from both Glenn and Hershel. However, when I met Rick's eyes, it was only met with a cold stare. Breaking his stare, I looked over at Hershel who gave me a reassuring smile. I shook my head and looked back over as Rick spoke up. "Field's filled with walkers," he said. I nodded. I think we all had known that. "I didn't see any snipers out there, but we'll keep Maggie on watch," Rick told Glenn, who nodded at him.

The younger Asian nodded and pointed over to the guard tower. "I'll get up in the guard tower, take out half them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence. Or use some of the cars to put the bus in place," Glenn said. I shook my head at Glenn, it was a good idea but we didn't have the ammo. We needed another way to get rid of the walkers in the yard.

Rick, it seemed had the same idea. "We can't access the field without burning through our bullets," Rick said.

I stepped forward and looked at Rick. "I can do it. I've got the arrows. I can take 'em out and when I've got 'em all, I'll go get them back. Won't waste any ammo. Daryl can help me," I said looking over at the archer. Both Glenn and Hershel were smiling at me and nodding their heads. I felt my heart inflate slightly, I was slowly on my way back to being a main part of the group.

"No. Keep the arrows, we'll figure out another way," Rick said. And just like that I felt my heart deflate once more. "You might miss or run out of arrows, then you're both out of your best weapons. It's not worth it," Rick said. "Not a bad idea though," he told me. I knew he wasn't happy with me at all, but I still smiled slightly.

The air had gone silent after my suggestion until Glenn finally piped up again. "So we're trapped in here. There's barely any food or ammo," he said. He was right. It was a bleak situation, but I was sure that there was some way that we could come out of this alive. We had made it through plenty of hard things, and we would make it through this as well.

Daryl finally spoke up and looked over to Glenn. "Been here before. We'll be all right," he said looking over to me. I nodded at him, glad that he was at least confident that we would be OK.

I saw Glenn's eyes narrow and he motioned back to the cell block. "That's when it was just us. Before there was a snake in the nest," Glenn said. It was obvious that he was referring to Merle and I was sure that his little analogy was sure to not work well for him. I looked over and saw that Daryl was clearly not happy with Glenn.

With a snap of the head, Daryl turned to Glenn with an angry glare. "Man, we gonna go through this again? Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it," the younger Dixon snapped. Glenn looked at him and I expected that a fight was going to break out. But it seemed that it was just the opposite. Glenn actually looked slightly sorry for what he had said.

With a fed up stare, Daryl stormed off and the others sighed. I didn't want to give in to Daryl but I knew that I needed to talk to him. He needed the comfort more than I needed my pride. Chasing after him, I came up from behind and grabbed his shoulder. He whipped around with a furious glare, but it softened when he saw who it was. "Hey. Look they're just nervous. C'mon, you don't see the looks that they've been giving me since I said who I really was? No one trusts me anymore," I said motioning around me.

Daryl kept his eyes on me before shaking his head and sighing. "It's not you they don't trust Rain. It's him. You just threw everyone through a loop. Give them time to let it sink in," he told me. I nodded knowing that he was right. Already, Glenn and Hershel had gotten over it. Although Hershel was very level headed and Glenn had already known. The only person that I was really worried about was Rick. What would I do if he decided that I couldn't be trusted and he wanted to throw me out? What would I do then?

Shaking my head clear of my thoughts I looked at Daryl and smiled. He was right and he needed to know. "And the same goes for your brother, you just have to let people get used to him. Most of them have never seen him before and those who have only know him as the pain in the ass from the quarry. Give them time," I told him.

He nodded and the solemn look that he had been wearing turned into a small smirk. "Speaking of time, you forgive me yet?" He asked. I could tell that he didn't really think that I had. He had probably asked me more to tease me and to try and lighten the mood.

I laughed and nudged Daryl's shoulder. "Not even close Dixon. I wouldn't have even spoken to you but I thought you needed to hear that," I told him. The last part of what I had said becoming slightly serious.

As I finished my sentence I walked past Daryl, brushing up against his shoulder. "Really?" Daryl whined as I walked past him. I smiled and laughed as I took a few steps.

Thinking of one last snarky remark that I could make before I walked away I threw my head back over my shoulder and saw Daryl standing there, dumbly. "I told you, show me why I should take you back. So far, you're doing a real shitty job. Later Dixon," I said before walking off. In truth, he wasn't really doing a shitty job. He was actually doing pretty well. I didn't want to stay away from him. But I wanted him to hurt like I had.

As I got a few paces away from him, I heard Daryl shout from behind me. "Rain!" He yelled, but I ignored him, continuing to walk away with a small smirk on my face. As I continued to walk I hit the door of the cell block and walked inside. To my surprise, Hershel was making his way over to the cell where Merle was stuck in. Shaking my head, I walked over to make sure that Merle would play nice with the older man.

Walking over, I heard Merle welcome Hershel. "You're the farmer, Hershel." Alright, so maybe that wasn't the most traditional way of introducing yourself to someone, but at least he hadn't said anything too rude.

I stepped forward into the view of Hershel and Merle. "And you're the black sheep, Merle," Hershel said. I smiled at the older man, happy that he was able to keep up with Merle. The last thing we needed was for Hershel to turn against Merle and tell Rick. Hershel was one of the only people Rick really listened to. "Hello Rain, would you like to sit?" The older man asked, smiling at me.

I smiled back at Hershel and nodded. "Sure thing Hershel, thanks," I told him. I smiled at him and walked over to the pair taking a seat beside Hershel. The older man put a hand on my leg and gave me a reassuring smile. I nodded at him and gave him the tiniest of smiles. Leave it to Hershel to make me feel better. He was great at doing that.

Our small group sat in silence for a few moments and I looked over at Merle. He was staring at Hershel's stump and I smiled at him. So the two did share something in common. After a few more beats of silence, Merle finally looked Hershel in the eyes. "How'd you lose it?" He asked, pointing down to Hershel's leg.

Hershel gave Merle a tiny nod and motioned down to where his shin had once been. "I was bit," he told the older Dixon. I nodded and Merle gave me a quick glance.

I looked in Merle's eyes and saw that he was obviously surprised. Sure Merle had lost his hand but it hadn't been to a walker bite. He had sawed it off by himself. I was sure that he was surprised that you could keep yourself alive longer by doing that. Had I not been there to see it, I probably wouldn't believe it. With his head cocked to the side, Merle looked at the leg. "Bit? You hack it off yourself?" He asked. Merle probably didn't believe that Hershel would have had the nerve to do it himself.

Hershel looked at Merle and shook his head lightly. "No. Rick did," the older man told him.

After a brief pause, Merle snorted at the story. I whipped around, ready to smack Merle across the face. "Awful kind of him," he said. I rolled my eyes. Even after a few near death experiences, Merle still hadn't changed.

Instead of being angry with Merle or yelling at him, Hershel only nodded. "Saved my life. Gave me more time with my girls. Gave you more time with your brother. Can't put a price on that," Hershel said. I noticed that as Hershel mentioned Daryl, Merle's eyes softened. Merle was tough as steel on the outside, but he really was soft on the inside. Maybe not for everyone, but at least for his brother. Sure they fight and want to punch each other most of the time, but they really do love each other. And that's what matters. They are family to the tee.

Merle looked back at Hershel and refrained from snapping something rude at the older man. "Can't put a price on anything anymore,' Merle said. I nodded and I saw that beside me, Hershel was nodding as well.

The older man moved forward and I watched as he reached behind him. He pulled out an old, tattered book. I cocked my eyebrows and nearly laughed when I saw that it was a Bible. "I found this in one of the cells. Lost more than the Good Book there for a while. Lost my way. "And if your right hand offends you, cut it off, cast it from you. For it is profitable that one of your members should perish-" Hershel began before Merle joined in. The older man smiled at Merle and let him finish the verse.

"And not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Matthew 5:29 and 30. Woodbury had a damn fine library. One of the only things I miss about it," Merle said. I smiled at Merle. He had genuinely surprised me. I liked to think that Merle was just some crack head, coke addict that hated everyone, had a bad attitude, and couldn't read. But time and time again, he proved me wrong.

Figuring that I should continue with the light mood, I looked over at Merle and gave him a devious smile. "You can read?" I asked him. Both Hershel and I laughed and even Merle cracked a smile. I had figured that he could read, but I hadn't gotten a chance to make fun of someone like that in a long time. I wanted to take it while I could.

"Shut the hell up girl," Merle snapped but he was still laughing. After a few moments though, the air turned somber. "When the Governor returns, he's gonna kill me first. Michonne, my brother, then your girls," he said looking at Hershel. A moment later though, he looked over at me. "Glenn, Carl, the baby, whoever else is left. He'll save Rick and you for last. He'll kill Rick before you so he can watch his family and friends die ugly but hold out hope that he'll leave you alive. But then he'll force you to watch as he kills everyone that means anything to you. And finally when he's done, he'll take care of you. He's the type of man that can kill his own daughter. That's who you're dealing with," Merle said. I shuddered, but I shook myself free of it.

This. This fear. This was over. I was putting an end to this. Now. "No Merle, he won't kill any more of us," I told the older Dixon brother. Merle looked at me with a mix of concern and curiosity.

Merle seemed to finally give into his curiosity as he leaned over to me. "Why's that girl?" He asked.

I gave him a tiny smile and gave him a low glare, although it wasn't directed towards him. "Because. I'm gonna kill him," I growled low in my throat. Without waiting to hear what either one of the men had to say, I stood up and walked over to the door and strode out into the yard. I walked out and saw that everyone was crowded around the gate.

Walking up to the gate, I stood behind Beth and asked the young girl what was going on. She turned to me and gave me a soft smile but shrugged her shoulders. We all watched the wood line for a while before Rick stepped forward with Glenn. "Something weird out there," the young Asian man said.

My gaze followed his and I nearly screamed when I saw it. A person. My mind immediately flew to my father, but it couldn't have been him. The figure was too small. And it looked like a woman. Finally, my eyes adjusted on the figure and I realized who it was. It was Andrea and she was holding onto a walker with a pole. What the hell was she doing here? It seemed that just as I saw her, so did Rick. "Andrea. Get your dad and the others. Go," he told Maggie. She nodded and ran back to the building.

Rick looked over at me and nodded at me to follow him. I followed him over and ran to the gate, watching as Andrea made her way up the gate. The walkers were ignoring her for a while but as she got closer to us and the walkers started to sense us, they began to follow her up the drive. I stood at the gate waiting for Rick's word as the rest of the group came running out. "Clear!" Rick yelled to me and I nodded. "Are you alone?" Rick asked Andrea.

Instead of answering, Andrea looked at Rick in shock before turning and shooting two of the walkers coming up to her. "Open the gate," Andrea pleaded. I watched and squeezed my hand on the gate hoping that Rick would give me the signal to open it. I didn't like Andrea but no one deserved to die like that.

Rick once more looked around the yard and to the tree line before yelling at her once more. "Are you alone?!"

Looking on in fear, Andrea looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Rick!" She screamed at him.

After a beat of silence, Rick finally looked over at me and nodded to me. "Open it," he said. I threw the gate open and watched as Andrea threw her walker down and shot two more before running into the gate. As I once more closed the gate, I locked it up and turned to the group. Rick yelled at Andrea as he approached her. "Hands up! Turn around. Turn around now! All right. Get down, on the floor," he barked at her as he shoved her onto the ground. "I asked if you were alone," Rick growled at our former group member.

Looking up at her former leader in shock, Andrea shook her head and looked up at Rick in disbelief. "I am," she told him, obviously out of breath as her breathing was labored.

Glaring at his former group member, Rick scoffed at Andrea and let her go, dropping her bag back down to her as well. "Welcome back. Get up," he growled at her. As Andrea stood up, he led her ahead of the rest of us. Rick turned his head over his shoulder and motioned to all of us. Nearly jumping out of my skin, I ran ahead and walked into the cell block heading into the living room area. As Rick walked in, he dropped Andrea's arm by the table and the rest of the group filed around her.

For a while, everyone was dead silent, just staring at each other. I was trying to think of something to say to cut through the tense air, but nothing came to mind. After what seemed like hours, Carol was finally the one to speak up first. "After you saved me, we thought you were dead," she said.

To my surprise, Andrea dropped her head in shame and shook it. I suppose she felt guilty that she didn't go looking for us. As Andrea looked around, I saw that she caught her sight on Hershel's leg. "Hershel, my God," she said. The older man merely shrugged his shoulders at her. "I can't believe this," she said looking around at all of us. "Where's Shane? And Lori?" She asked.

At the mention of our old group members, my heart dropped. Shane. He had started Rick's downfall. And I had been there when he had dies. I had threatened him. And Lori. I had been the one to kill her. Then Carl had had to put her down. I felt like I was going to throw up, but I swallowed the bile down. Once more, Carol stepped in and saved us from an awkward and long explanation. "She had a girl. Lori didn't survive. Neither did T-Dog," Carol said.

I let my eyes drop. T-Dog was one of our old group members that I genuinely missed. Shaking my head clear of my thoughts, I looked over to Andrea whose face had fallen. "I'm so sorry. Carl. Rick, I-" she started to say, but she dropped off. She had no idea that to say. "You all live here?" She asked looking around in wonder.

Rick looked at her and nodded. "Here and the cell block," Rick said motioning behind him. I wanted to slap him for telling her, but I was sure that she would have figured it out anyways.

Andrea slowly stood up and walked over to the door. "There?" She asked pointing back. Rick slowly nodded the affirmative to her. "Well, can I go in?" She asked.

I thought that Rick would let her go past, but he was smarter than that. Rick stepped forward and cut Andrea off on her way to the door that separated the living and sleeping area. "I won't allow that," Rick said towering over our former group member.

Looking up to her former leader in shock, I could tell that Andrea was hurt by the way we were treating her. But that was too bad. What could she expect while she was sleeping with the enemy? Literally. "I'm not an enemy, Rick," Andrea begged with him.

Rick scoffed at his former group member and sent her a dark glare. "We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up," Rick told her. I saw the even gaze fall from Andrea's face, and shock cover it. Oh yeah, my father was great at pulling the wool over someone's eyes. He had done it time after time again with my mother.

The shock evident in her eyes, she shook her head lightly and looked over our group. "He said you fired first," Andrea told us, her voice dropping to a whisper. Oh yeah, I knew this one. She couldn't believe that a man as sweet and as charming as my father would have done something like that. Oh yeah sweetheart, he's capable of more than you know.

Disbelief evident in Rick's eyes, he scoffed at Andrea and shook his head. "Well, he's lying," Rick told her.

Seemingly wanting to break up the tension, Hershel limped forward and stood over where Andrea had planted herself. "He killed an inmate who survived in here. We liked him. He was one of us," Hershel told her. The older woman's face fell and I cringed. The bullet had barely hit Axel. It could have been me. Who knows, maybe it was meant for me but missed?

Andrea looked at us and her face fell. "I didn't know anything about that. As soon as I found out, I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out," she said. I rolled my eyes. Bullshit. I spoke to her. She saw Daryl and I there. She knew that Maggie and Glenn were there too.

Obviously, I wasn't the only one that didn't believe that she hadn't known that we were in Woodbury as Rick glared at her with suspicious eyes. "That was days ago," he growled at her.

Our former group member gave her former leader a shocked look as she turned to look at the rest of the group. "I told you, I came as soon as I could," she moaned to us.

Fed up with the going around in circles, I stood and walked over to the older woman. "Andrea, the man that you are dealing with is nothing like he makes himself out to be. You saw what happened in that arena. You didn't see what happened behind closed doors. But think about that. I know that you don't like me and you never did, but think about it. Look at how he treats his own daughter. He wants his flesh and blood dead. To suffer." That seemed to snap Andrea out of it. She looked at me with horror hidden in her eyes. Horror at what the man she loved, my father, had done to me. She seemed to open her mouth to say something to me when Rick cut her off.

He turned to her and gave her a deep glare. "What have you told them?" Rick asked clearly meaning the Governor and the people he had in Woodbury.

Andrea looked at Rick with shock in her eyes. "Nothing," she nearly shrieked at him. Andrea looked around and shrugged her shoulders as she took in all of the unfamiliar but familiar all the same faces. "I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?" She asked all of us. It seemed like she was trying, but she was trying too late.

For the first time since I had walked away from him, Merle spoke up. "He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us. With his finger on the trigger," he said. I was shocked that he actually referred to Michonne by her name this time. Normally he just gave her some type of rude or stupid name.

Without missing a beat, Andrea whirled around on Merle before looking back at Glenn, Maggie, and I. "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you?" She asked us. "Who beat you?" She asked, looking at Glenn. I let my eyes drop, knowing that Merle had done some unforgivable things. But my father had done much worse. "Look, I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out," she told us, trying to play the diplomat.

I let my ears perk up at her explanation. I grunted out a laugh and Andrea, along with the rest of my group, turned to me. Andrea with a deep glare. Rolling my eyes, I stood right in front of her giving her a daring glare. She may be bigger and older, but I'm stronger. And I have backup. "Philip huh?" I asked her. She nodded with a confused look and I snorted slightly. "Yeah, the man trusts you so much that he won't even tell you his real name. Philip is my uncle- his brothers- name. His real name is Brian. Thought you might like to know that," I hissed at her before turning back around and marching away on my heel.

The looks of the rest of the group were all the same. Wonder. Why would he lie about his name? Rolling his eyes, Rick stepped forward and looked at Andrea. "There's nothing to work out. We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will." Rick looked over to me, as if to see if I would stop him, but I only nodded.

Andrea shook her head and lifted her arms to the side. "We can settle this. There is room at Woodbury for all of you. Rain, we just need to sit the two of you down. Work out the issues that have been haunting you since your childhood," she told me. I thought about it for a moment but I shook my head.

There was no way that I would ever sit down with him. No damn way. There was nothing that I wanted to do with him. He was a horrible person and he deserved the miserable death that I was going to make sure he had. "No Andrea. There is nothing more that I want to hear or say to that man. I want him dead. That's it, end of story. I'm not talking to him," I snarled at her.

She looked like I had slapped her in the face and I was glad. She should know that there was nothing in the world that would get me to sit and talk with him. "You know better than that. What makes you think this man wants to negotiate? Did he say that?" Rick asked her.

After a beat of silence Andrea answered. "No," she barely got out in a whisper.

Rick snorted and looked her over, clearly angry that she had even bothered to show her in here. Now she knew what the prison looked like and she had interrupted us making our defenses. "Then why did you come here?" He asked her.

The older woman sighed and turned to face the rest of the group. "Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack," she called to us. I could tell that she was worried. We all were. But she knows how to stop it. If she kills him, this will all be over. If he dies, this all ends.

Coming to stand next to me, Daryl looked Andrea dead in the eye and for a moment I thought he would hit her. But that wasn't the type of man that he was. Pointing at her, he paced slightly, back and forth in front of me. "I'll tell you what. Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye," Daryl said. I may have been furious with him but I still smiled. That was the man that I had fallen in love with all those months ago. "We're taken too much shit for too long. He wants a war? He's got one," Daryl snarled.

I saw that Andrea recoiled slightly from Daryl. She may not have been afraid of him but Daryl was intimidating. Even I was afraid of him sometimes. "Rick. If you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen. He has a whole town. Look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore," she said.

Clearly upset from Andrea coming all this way for nothing, Rick was now trying to bargain with her. "You want to make this right, get us inside," he told her.

Andrea recoiled from the idea and shook her head. "No," she told him.

Our leader shook his head and began to walk away. "Then we got nothing to talk about," he called back to her. The rest of the group began to follow Rick into the living area, but I hung behind with Michonne, wanting to talk to Andrea.

I went to walk up to Andrea, but she seemed bent on talking to Michonne instead. It made sense, the two had been together all winter. I imagined that the two of them had probably grown pretty close over those months just as we all had. "There are innocent people," Andrea said to her former friend.

Michonne seemed to not care at all though, what Andrea said to her. The once-friends had long parted from each other. "You poisoned them," the darker skinned woman growled to my old group member.

My former group member shook her head at her old friend. "I just told them the truth. I didn't choose him over you. I wanted a life. Once we entered Woodbury, you became hostile," Andrea told Michonne.

The other woman nearly laughed. "That's 'cause I could see it," she told Andrea. The blonde cocked her eyebrow and looked at Michonne with no idea what the other was talking about.

"See what?" Andrea asked.

The dark skinned woman glared at Andrea and shook her head. "That you were under his spell from the second you laid eyes on him," she explained. I nodded my head, she was right. My father had that effect on people. Many people. He had once done it with my mother, and now Andrea was falling for the same tricks.

Naturally, Andrea denied the whole thing. "That is not true," she growled.

Although Michonne merely ignored her. "And you still are," Michonne continued from what she was saying before.

Andrea shook her head at Michonne and tried to argue her point again. "No, I am there because those people need me," she said. I was watching from a distance and it was easy to see that Andrea's resolve was slowly weakening.

Looking around, Michonne looked into the area where the rest of my group was and motioned to them. "And what about these people?" She asked Andrea.

"I'm trying to save them, too."

"I did not realize the messiah complex was contagious."

With a dark glare, Andrea leaned into her former friend. "Go to hell, Michonne," she snarled before standing up and making her way over to me. Although, one last comment made Andrea stop in her tracks.

Michonne looked over at Andrea and cleared her throat. "He sent Merle to kill me. Would have sent him to kill you, too, if you had come with me. But you didn't, did you? Hm-mmm. You chose a warm bed over a friend. That's why I went back to Woodbury. Exposed him for what he is. I knew that it would hurt you," she said.

Andrea stood there for a moment before shaking her head and walking over to me. "I'm sorry Rain, for everything. I'm sorry for the fight back at the farm. I'm sorry for shooting Daryl. I'm sorry for your father. I hope you can forgive me," the blonde said to me. I nodded. I had never thought that the day would come when Andrea would apologize to me.

I nodded at her and Andrea began to leave. But before she could get away from me, I grabbed her arm. "I hope you'll make the right decision," I told her. Andrea nodded at me slowly and walked away. I knew that she was going to go talk to the rest of the group and then probably head back to Woodbury. Letting out a sigh, I walked over to Michonne, who was doing sit ups in the corner.

Meeting at Michonne's side, I dropped onto my knees and flipping over onto my back to work out with the darker woman who gave me a sideways smile. After doing about 5 reps, I looked over at Michonne after pulling myself up. "She needed to hear that," I told Michonne dropping back down and returning to Michonne, who hadn't moved.

I did a few more reps and to my surprise, Michonne hadn't moved since I talk to her. When I finally came up to her level on my 10th rep, Michonne finally looked over at me. "I know," she told me. I sat for a beat waiting for her to continue. There was no way that she was done with what she had to say to me. "I'm going to kill your father," she said after a beat.

And there it was. After a beat of silence, I nodded. "I know. And I won't stop you," I told her. She nodded at me and the both of us continued on the sit ups. The two of us merely continued doing small work outs in each other's company. About an hour later, right after Andrea had left, I stood up from my push-ups and offered Michonne a hand up. She took it and I easily pulled her up, though I had to wipe the sweat off of my face and hands.

Grunting, I walked over to the wall, and leaned there as the rest of the group filed in. Michonne went to sit in the corner, and Rick, Daryl, Hershel and Glenn came to join me in the corner. Daryl handed me a plate of food and I muttered a small thank you, taking the plate and gobbling the food down. I hadn't realized how starving I was until right then. As I finished my food, Beth began to sing a sweet tune, most likely to try and raise hopes about the upcoming fight. I didn't know that song, but it was a pretty tune.

"They hung a sign up in our town. If you live it up, you won't live it down. So she left Monte Rio, son. Just like a bullet leaves a gun. With charcoal eyes and Monroe hips. She went and took the California trip. Well, the moon was gold and her hair like win. Said don't look back now. Just come on, Jim. You got to hold on. Hold on. You got to hold on. Take my hand, I'm standing right here. You got to hold on. Well, he gave her a dime-store watch. And a ring made from a spoon. Everyone's looking for someone to blame. If you share my bed, you share my name..."

I was smiling at the young girl's voice when another one brought me out of my own world. "Some reunion, huh?" Glenn asked us. I smiled at him, that was the old Glenn that I knew.

"She's in a jam. We all are," Hershel said.

The small group of us all looked back at the younger girl and sighed. Beth's voice came into my thoughts once more, but it didn't last long before Rick spoke up. "Andrea's persuasive," he said and I nodded.

He looked over us to see if any of disagreed with him, but no one did. We were all nodding, in complete agreement. Andrea was persuasive, but it didn't matter. She could be as persuasive as she wanted, she was wrapped around my father's finger. And that was going to fuck us over. "This fella's armed to the teeth. Bent on destruction. So what do you want to do?" Daryl asked Rick.

Our leader seemed to think on it for a moment before looking at Daryl, his now second-in-command and nodded to him. "We match it. I'm going on a run," Rick told Daryl.

The younger Dixon nodded and slung his crossbow over his shoulder. "I'll head out tomorrow," Daryl told Rick.

Rick seemed like it was what he wanted, but he shook his head. "No, you stay here. Keep an eye on your brother. I'm glad you're back, really, but if he causes a problem, it's on you," Rick told him.

"I got him," Daryl said, nodding at Rick.

Rick looked around and I noticed that his eyes locked first on his son, and then wandered over to the dark skinned woman. "I'll take Michonne," he said. My eyes narrowed, why would he want to take Michonne? I thought he hated her.

Hershel looked over at Rick with a sceptical look. "You sure that's a good idea?" the older man asked.

Our leader nodded and looked over at his son once more. "I'll find out. And Carl. He's ready. You two hold it down here," Rick told Daryl and I. So he did still trust me even after what had happened earlier today.

Daryl nodded and our leader and so did I. "You got it," he told Rick. As our small discussion ended, I fell back into Beth's song. It was pretty, but solemn. It seemed very appropriate for the time.

"When there's nothing left to keep you here. When you're falling behind in this big blue world. You got to hold on. Hold on. Got to hold on. Take my hand, I'm standing right here. Got to hold on. Down by the Riverside Motel. It's 10 below and falling. By a 99-cent store. She closed her eyes and started swaying. But it's so hard to dance that way. When it's cold and there's no music. Well, your old hometown is so far away. But inside your head there's a record. That's playing a song called. Hold on, hold on. Baby, you got to hold on. Take my hand, I'm standing right there..."

I had been so into Beth's song that I jumped when Daryl laid his hand on my arm. "Come upstairs with me? Please Rain, just give me 5 minutes?" He asked. I wanted to say no, but he was trying, I figured. So let him try. I sighed but nodded to him, putting my dish with Carol and heading up the stairs. As I hit the perch, I began to pull my things together and balance them in my arms. Daryl watched me for a moment before grabbing my arm, making me drop my things. "Sorry," he muttered when I glared at him. "But what are you doing?" He asked me.

Beginning to pick my things up, I threw my head back to the cells behind us. "I'm gonna head to one of the unused cells over there," I told him. I wasn't going to lay here on the perch with him here, and he had claimed it first so it wasn't fair of me to ask him to leave. I was just going to have to be the bigger person and leave.

Turning on my heels, I wet to head to one of the cells before Daryl grabbed my arm again, once more making me drop my things. I groaned and Daryl gave me a sad look. "Sorry," he said. I began to pick my things up again, but this time Daryl caught my arms and shook his head at me. "Rain, please don't. Look, I know you're furious with me but please don't. If your father attacks in the middle of the night, someone needs to be here with you just in case. You shouldn't be alone," he begged me. I wanted to say no more than anything, but his eyes were making it too hard.

He was right, it wasn't safe for me to be on the second floor by myself, but I was sure that it wasn't why he was asking me to stay. "This your clever ploy to get me to stay with you?" I asked him.

Daryl shook his head and pulled me down with him. "No. Please Rain, stay until we get this settled," He begged me. I knew that he wanted me to stay until we could solve the problem with my father so I finally nodded to him, deciding to entertain his plea. Although part of it was for me. I wanted to be with him. No matter how much I denied it.

Sighing, I dropped to the mattress, but I moved it so that it wasn't touching Daryl's. He sighed, but he knew that it was the best that he was going to get tonight. "Fine. But don't you dare think about pulling anything. I have by no means forgiven you," I told him with a nasty bite in my words. But the whole thing was an empty threat. And we both knew that.

Daryl nodded to me. "I know. I have a question though," he told me. I hummed at him as I laid down staring at the ceiling. "Is it even possible for me to get you back?" He asked me.

The question caught me off guard, though it really shouldn't have. I should have known that he would eventually ask me something like that. "Look Daryl, I don't know if you can earn my trust back. I love you, don't get me wrong, I love you and I always will. But you hurt me, you broke my trust. It's gonna take me a while to trust you again. But I do love you. Don't ever forget that," I told him. "Oh, and if you do end up taking my dad's other eye. Make sure I'm there to watch," I told him, trying to lighten the mood.

Daryl laughed at me and I smiled at him. I was still mad, but I had to joke around with him. It was that or be depressed all the time. "I will Rain," he said with a small chuckle. "I love you. Always," Daryl told me. I rolled off to my side and let a tiny smile grace my face. I shut my eyes and let thoughts of Daryl fill my mind. God I loved him, but I couldn't take him back. Not after what he had done to me. No way.

About an hour later, I heard Daryl's steady breathing get slightly deeper, and I would hear a small snore from time to time letting me know that he was asleep. And I knew that down below, so was everyone else. But not me. For hours I lay there thinking about Daryl, Rick, and my father. It was only when the sun began to rise that I finally drifted off into a fitful sleep from pure exhaustion.


	31. Long Talks

Yawning and blocking my face from the sun, I attempted to roll to the other side of the bed but something was keeping me in place. Turning over, I saw that I had somehow moved completely onto Daryl's mattress in the night. What the hell? How had that happened? I wanted to just blame Daryl and say that he had pulled me over in the night, but by the looks of it, it had been me. I was half on top of him, my leg thrown over his waist and my arm on his chest. Not to mention Daryl's arm holding me in place.

I tried to maneuver myself out of his arms, but he only tightened his grip on me. Getting fed up with trying to place nice, I slapped Daryl on the chest. He immediately shot up and in the sudden movement I thrown off of him, onto the cold floor. Groaning from the sudden impact, I laid on my back on the cold floor.

Risking a glance over, I saw Daryl looking at me like I was crazy. "Why are you on the floor?" He asked me. Not responding, I shot him a dark glare and stood up. I moved over into the corner and grabbed a tight black tank top and a pair of black spandex workout pants. I figured that we would be working on fortifying the prison today so I was dressing for working in the sun. Pulling my shirt and shorts off, I turned back to Daryl in time to see him snap his head away from me. I laughed wondering if he had just given himself whiplash.

Pulling my fresh clothes, I threw on my holster for my gun and knives and threw my bow and sheath over my shoulders. Walking over to Daryl, I tapped him on the shoulder and motioned down to the living area. He nodded and the two of us walked down and out of the cell area. I took my place by Rick who gave me a short pat on the shoulder. I smiled at the man and Rick gave me a tiny one in response. I wasn't surprised that it wasn't a real one. He was under too much stress.

As I relaxed back into the seat, Rick poked at my shoulder. I looked up at him, but he just motioned for me to stand. Cocking my eyebrow in question, I still stood and noticed that he had Daryl and Hershel come stand with him as well. Rick cleared his throat easily catching the attention of the rest of the group. Everyone looked over and the looks were just as confused as were the faces of those of us who were standing. "Glenn," Rick called to the younger Asian who locked eyes with his leader. "I need you to watch over this place today," he told Glenn. The man nodded but gave Rick a questioning look.

Rick sighed and shook his head. "Can you go pull two cars around?" He asked Glenn. The younger Asian man nodded and went to go pull the cars around. "Alright, I'm sure all of you are wondering what I'm doing right now." Obviously, we all nodded our heads. "Well, I spoke to Andrea privately yesterday. She arranged a summit of types," he told us. Well, part of it was clear now. He was bringing Daryl, Hershel, and myself with him and leaving Glenn in charge in our absence. "It's to be a meeting with the Governor," Rick said.

My eyes widened twice their normal size. What the hell could my father want? It must be a trap, there's no way that my father would just want a damn meeting. Nope. "Anyways," Rick began again cutting off the low chatter that had started. "He wanted the meeting to be just with myself, but I won't go just with myself. He'll have backup so I will as well. Daryl and Hershel, you two will stay outside during the meeting, just keep an eye on things." Both men nodded and I turned to Rick. If they were going to be his backup, what was I standing up here for? "Rain, you are coming into the meeting with me. A request from the Governor," he told me.

My eyes nearly popped out of my skull. I didn't want to see him! I had just gotten away from him! Beginning to freak out, I took a few deep breaths and calmed myself down. I didn't want to do it, but I didn't really have a choice. It was a request, and I could deny it, but what would happen if I did? Was my own pride worth the groups safety? No. I just need to get off my high horse for one day. Looking up at Rick, I gave him a slow nod. He gave me a thankful nod and turned to Hershel and Daryl. "Hershel, I'd like you to take a car by yourself," Rick told him. Hershel nodded to our leader. "And Daryl, I'd like you to take your bike." Daryl nodded and Rick turned back to me. "You and I will go out first, scope out the place. Get there before him so he doesn't have the upper hand," Rick said.

I nodded to Rick and turned towards the cars. Walking out, I felt Daryl grab my shoulder. Turning to him, I cocked my eyebrow waiting for him to say something. "Rain, please be careful. He's dangerous. I don't like you going, but it's not my choice. Just, if you guys are in trouble in there, scream. I'll be right outside," Daryl told me.

I came up to the door of the car and turned back to him. "My hero," I told him with a small wink. "I will Daryl. Thanks. And trust me, I don't want to go. I'd rather stay here. But my father wants to see me, and I want his other eye," I told Daryl with a small snarl. Daryl laughed and I climbed into the car, closing the door and watching as Daryl went to talk to Rick.

Sighing, I slumped back into the seat and grunted. I hated this man, and now I was gonna be forced to sit and listen to him for God knows how long. The door to the car swung open and I jumped. Seeing that it was only Rick, I slumped back into the seat and closed my eyes. "We'll be there about 10 minutes before Daryl and Hershel," Rick told me. I hummed and Rick started the engine.

A Farming Land Between Woodbury and the Prison

I woke to a soft shaking on my shoulder. "Let's go Rain, we're here," Rick told me. I grunted but got up anyways. Jumping down out of the car, I pulled my bow off and nocked an arrow. Just in case. The two of us went on a short walk around the area, but it seemed to be pretty clear. It looked like an old farm land from the two silos standing by an old barn which I assumed was where the meeting was going to be.

Turning to Rick, I nudged his shoulder. He turned back to me and I motioned to the barn. "That where the meeting is?" I asked Rick. He nodded and I moved a little closer to it. "Should we go in?" I asked Rick. He nodded his head and I slowly moved to the doors. Rick stood by the door and I nodded at him. He quickly opened the door and I jumped inside. Nothing. There was a small desk in the center of the room with one chair on one side, and two on the other. "What now?" I asked Rick.

He paced around the room a few times before shaking his head. "We wait," he told me. I nodded at him and walked to the back of the barn. Looking around, I noticed that the barn had actually been cleaned. There was no dust anywhere and there was no plant life around. People were here. Clearly pretty recently. I didn't know what it meant, but I knew that it was nothing good.

A roaring engine from outside alerted me to the fact that my father, and his people, were here. Looking out the window, I saw that my father and Andrea were the first people to jump out of the car. Followed by them was a nerdy looking man. I had seen him at Woodbury, but I wasn't sure what his name was. The last of the people to jump out was Martinez. My gaze on him narrowed as I remembered what he had done to me during my brief time at Woodbury. It seemed that Daryl and Hershel were already there as well and my father went up to talk to Daryl. The conversation didn't last very long though, as Daryl snapped at my father, and he turned away. Pulling my bow out, I held it at arms length as my father made his way up to us. The door slowly opened and I turned towards it.

Clear as day, my father stood right in front of us and smirked at me when he saw that I was holding the bow. He put him arms up and gave me a small smile. "We have a lot to talk about," he said as Rick and I stood together on one side of the room, and my father stood alone on the other.

Rick scoffed at him and rolled his eyes. "You attacked us. Makes things pretty clear," he growled at my father.

Instead of my father yelling or attacking us, he merely gave us a small smile. "I was trying to make things clear. I could have killed you all. I didn't. And here we are. I'm gonna remove my weapon. Show that I mean to negotiate in good faith," he said as he unhooked the belt that held his gun. "I'd like you to do the same," he said and I let out a sharp snort. "May I?" my father asked as he motioned to the table. Rick nodded and my father dropped the gun on the table before looking back up at us with a hint of a smile on his face. "See? No trouble. Now you," he told us motioning to the guns that were strapped onto our waist. I shook my head and kept my hand on top of my holster. Rick did the same. "Well suit yourself," he said before taking a seat. A moment of silence passed before my father looked up at me with a tiny smile. "Rain, my dear-" he started before I cut him off.

"No. We came to talk business. No formalities. As far as I'm concerned, we're not family, and I don't know you as any more than the Governor," I growled at him. No man like that deserved to be my father. He was nothing more than a monster that I happened to share some chromosomes with. This man was not my father. The closest thing I had ever had to a father was Dale. And he was gone.

Some type of emotion radiated through his eyes, but I couldn't quite tell what it was. Hurt? Disappointment? I didn't know. "Very well then," my father sighed. "Your friend isn't much for small talk. Rain, I remember you seemed quite fond of him earlier. What is he to you? I never met one of your boyfriends," he told me with a small smirk.

I was about to make a nasty remark to him, but Rick beat me to it. "You want to talk, talk," he growled at my father. Clearly, Rick was here on a no nonsense term. He just wanted to get this settled and get back to his family. So did I.

My father smiled at Rick and shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted you to talk. Too many people have died for no reason. Let's end this. Save the bullets for the real threat. We can solve this. That's why I asked you to come here," he told us. I nodded at him, and poked Rick in the ribs. I gave him a small nod to the table and Rick nodded back at me. The two of us walked over and took our seats next to each other. My father was on the other side of the table in between the two of us.

After a few beats of silence, Rick finally broke it. "I know what you've done. I heard about the raids, the heads... Maggie," Rick said after a short pause.

Not even looking the tiniest bit guilty, my father shrugged his shoulders, looking like he could have cared less about what Rick had to say. "Merle did that," my father said.

I scoffed. The abduction was not what Rick was talking about. He meant the sexual abuse, and he wanted my father to know that he knows. "No. You know what I'm talking about. And Rain, what you've done to her and let your man do to her," he said. At that, my fathers uncaring look dropped, and a dark glare covered his face. I looked up at Rick, surprised that he had known, but he merely shook his head at me. I could tell that my father was about to make a nasty retort to Rick, but just as he was about to respond to us, the door to the barn opened, and Andrea walked in. She didn't say anything, but walked to the corner and watched us.

My father tracked her movement with his eyes for a moment before he looked back at us and shook his head. "You know all about me and I know all about you. I don't care about any of that. We're here to move forward," my father said. I shook my head at him. He was full of shit. All this nice act was total bullshit. The minute we turned and left, he was going to launch an all out attack on the prison.

With the three of us at a stand still, Andrea scoffed and walked over to the table. "I've known you all at different times, but only after the world went to shit. And you two stepped up for the good of others at great personal risk. And you put yourself in danger to make sure others are safe, when you aren't even a leader," Andrea said, pointing at me. "There's no reason-" she continued, but what quickly cut off by Rick.

"Get to it," he snarled at my father. I saw the shocked look on Andrea's face and I couldn't help but laugh. That's what she gets for betraying us. She could have stayed, we offered her. We were her family. But she abandoned us. And not just us. Michonne as well. She had been playing double agent for too long, and I could tell. She was about to get hers.

My father looked at Rick and kept his gaze even. I was surprised that he was holding his temper that well. Normally he would have exploded by now. "Woodbury takes west of the river. The prison takes east. No one crosses, no one trades," he told us. I narrowed me eyes at him. There were times that we were going to have to move that way. What if we needed to go on a run?

With her unwanted appearance, Andrea stepped forward and walked to the edge of the table. "He's right. We should hammer out boundaries, then leave each other-" she tried to tell us before she was once more cut off.

"I'm sorry, what is this?" Rick asked. I couldn't help but to laugh. Andrea's face was just as surprised as it had been the last time that she had been cut off. Once by her lover, and the other time by her former group leader. Oh yeah, that must have burned. I'm sure that now was not a good time to be Andrea.

Looking away from Andrea, I met my father's eyes who gave Rick a small shrug. "It's a solution," he said. I snorted, it was a shitty solution. This wasn't talking things out. We needed to be able to go into others land. We just needed to get to the point where we wouldn't shoot each other on sight. All this was, was the Governor telling us what the conditions were. Not talking it out.

Rick shook his head as his deep glare continued to stay lock on my father. It hadn't left my father since we had sat down. Clearly he didn't trust him at all. I didn't blame him. "Absolutely not. What the hell am I doing here? You told me-" Rick began looking at Andrea with the same dark glare that he had given the Governor before he was cut off by my father.

Once more, getting dark glares sent around the room, my father whirled around on his new lover. "Told him what?" He snarled at her. Had the situation not been so serious, I would have laughed at the look on her face. Andrea looked like she was about to piss herself. Although I didn't blame her. I knew that my father was scary. He was terrifying. And I had seen far worse.

8 Years Ago...

"Rain! Get the hell down here!" My father called to me. Taking a deep breath in, I pulled my shirt farther down and quickly made my way to the steps. I didn't want to make my dad wait. Nothing good ever came from me making him wait. As I hit the bottom step I made my way over to my father who dropped the bottle he had in his hand. Oh God, he had been drinking.

I slowly walked over to my father and cleared my throat when I crossed the living room. "Hi daddy," I mumbled coming up behind him. My father quickly turned on me and I could see that he had been drinking all night. He gave me a crooked smile and when he did, I could smell the alcohol rolling off of his breath. His eyes had dark bruises under them and they were bloodshot. They had been that way since mom had died. That was when the drinking had gotten worse too. "Where's Penny?" I mumbled.

I knew that asking that wouldn't make it any better, but I wanted to know. If she wasn't here, the beating would be worse and he would get more violent. He was always nicer when Penny was around. After all, she was his darling. He treated her like a princess, and me like I was the lowest life form to exist. The look in his eyes, the hunger for blood. It terrified me. I wanted to leave. There were a lot of parts of me that wanted to leave, but I wasn't sure what to do. Uncle Philip had offered to let me stay with him, but only temporarily. I had somewhere to go, but would I really leave? There needed to be something severe to push me away.

Grumbling a few nonsense words, Dad turned to me with a lopsided smile. "She's not home right now," he slurred out. "Dance, won't be back for a while," he mumbled to me. Oh God, she wasn't home. That's how I know that the pain will be bad this time. "Rain... I need you to do something for me." I nodded at him, but kept my distance. "Go into the fridge and grab me a-" my father stopped suddenly and I followed his eyes.

Damn it. He was looking at my shirt. I had forgotten to change. I wasn't allowed to wear anything that showed skin. Partially to assert my father's control, but partially to cover up the bruises. I knew that the shirt I was wearing now was showing at least 3. I tugged on the short sleeves and began to stammer. "Uh daddy I'm sorry. I just- I- I knew that we weren't going out today so I wanted to wear something different. I'll go get changed and grab you a-" I started, but my father quickly silenced me. He grabbed me by the collar, and the top of the shirt ripped.

I fell on my back and quickly backed away from him. "No. Don't you dare even think about moving," he growled. "You cried out. You're weak. You need to be strong," he growled at me. My eyes grew at least twice their size, I knew what was coming. And it wouldn't be a good one. He seemed worse than usual. "Come here!" He yelled as he ducked down and grabbed me.

I let out a sharp scream, knowing that it wasn't going to work out for me. He hated when I yelled, he didn't want anyone driving by or the neighbors to hear it. Mumbling incoherent sentences, my father leaned over me and brought a first up. I clenched my eyes knowing that it was going to hurt, but he only put pressure on my wrists. "Open your eyes," he snarled at me. Hoping that it would make him satisfied and the beating would be shorter, I did. Boy had I been wrong. As I met his furious eyes, the first punch hit my left eye. Immediately my eye swelled shut and I was sure that he had popped a few blood vessels from the hit. Again and again, he sent hard punch after harder punch. But unlike other times, they were almost all directed at my face. Tears were beginning to slip out of my swelled shut eyes. I knew that if I didn't get him off of me soon, then he could cause some serious brain damage.

Attempting to lift my father off of me, I knew that it wouldn't work. He was too heavy and he was leaning all of his weight on me. "How could you do it?!" My father cried to me. Trying to thrash around to divert the hits I wondered what he was talking about. Normally the beatings were just in fits of rage, but for some reason this was actually because I had done something.

"What are you talking about?!" I cried out at him. Instead of answering, he brought down his hand, splayed open and slapped me across my cheek. And he didn't just stop there. Hit after hit, until I thought my teeth were about to fall out. I had to fight a loud scream when my father grabbed my arm and dug his short nails into me. I hissed at the pain and tried to move away, which had been a mistake. As I moved, his nails tore away at my skin. I hissed at the pain and cried out as my father hit me once more, but this time in my stomach.

He looked at me, and managing to pry my eyes open, I saw that tears were running down his face. "You. It was you. You killed her. You killed her. It's all your fault. She never even loved you," my father trailed off. Tears continued to stream down his face as I tried to move from under him. The blows had stopped, but every little movement I made sent red hot pain through me.

Looking up at my father, I sent him a dark glare, not letting myself cry. I was done with crying. All it did was made me weak. And if I could survive this, I wasn't weak. "I didn't kill her, it was a stupid car accident. It wasn't me. It was no one. Mom dying was an accident. And you're wrong. Mom did used to love me. It was you who never loved me." My father finally moved off of me, and limping to my feet I turned back to my father. "I'm leaving," I growled at him.

Turning on my heel I marched up the stairs and grabbed a duffel bag from under my bed. Stuffing it with clothes and toiletries, I turned away from my room. It was all I really needed. I grabbed my phone and walked toward my door, but as I hit the threshold of my room, I slowly turned back to it. Crossing my room and opening my side closet, I grabbed the intricate bow from its hook and my sheath of arrows, along with my throwing knife case, tossing it all in the bag. Luckily it was a big bag.

Swiftly exiting my room and shutting the door behind me, I nearly walked to the stairs, but something stopped me. Slowly, I crept into my fathers room and made my way over to his side drawer. I knew he kept his guns in there, he had threatened me with them enough. Opening the drawer, I grabbed one of the guns in the back. I smiled when I grabbed it. A Beretta 92. My favorite. I picked the gun up and dropped the magazine, racking the gun and picking up the bullet the was kicked out. Putting the bullet back in the magazine, I dropped the full magazine into my bag and stuffed the gun down the back of my pants.

Quietly making my way out of my father's room, I walked down the stairs and ran into my father sitting on the couch. Instead of him getting up and angrily walking over to me, he just looked up at me and shook his head. "You won't make it out there," he told me with a small sneer on his face.

Shaking my head, I walked over to the door and wrapped my hand around the knob. Every little movement was killing me, but I couldn't back down now. I had to do this. "I'll prove you wrong, I will make it. You'll never see me again," I growled at him opening the door and walking out. Slamming the door behind me, I walked down the driveway before I made a dead stop. What now? I had nowhere to go. No one to go with. No food. Only a few clothes. The only thing I did have was protection. Shaking my head, I began to walk down the street pulling out my phone. There was somewhere I could go. I knew that.

Walking over to the park, I sat down on a bench and began to look through my contacts. No matter what, I would figure things out. There was no way that I would ever go back to my father. No way in hell. I had just proven myself tough enough to leave, now I had to be tough enough to stay gone. I had told him that he would never see me again, and I meant it. Never would I ever speak about my father or try to find him and see what he's been doing. For as long as I live, I will never lay eyes on my father again.

Present Day

I snapped out of my flashback and nearly fell from my chair. A repressed memory of the last time that I had ever seen my father. Until now that is. I took in a few deep breaths and smirked when I saw that my fathers eyes were locked on me. Well maybe not so much me as they were my outfit. When I was younger, my father never let me wear anything that showed any skin. Even in the heat of the Georgia summers. That was probably why I had no friends growing up. They all thought I was some super moralistic freak, when it was only fear.

Clearly once I had gained my freedom, I let go of the rules that had followed me since my youth. After all, I was showing off nearly everything now. My tight black tank top showed all of the curves on my upper half and dipped down slightly at my chest. Besides that, the spandex shorts that I was wearing were clinging to my skin and riding pretty high on my thighs. I smirked as I saw the disapproving glance that my father was giving my clothing of choice.

Yawning, I went to stretch out and give myself more room. We would be here for a while so I might as well make myself at home. As I lifted my foot up to stretch my leg, I hit something cold and metal on the underside of the table. At first, I thought it was just the bottom of the table, but something felt wrong. It was too big and lumpy. Quietly slipping my foot out of my shoe, I ran my bare foot over the cold metal, and that time, it didn't take me long to figure out what it was. A gun. And I knew that it wasn't ours.

My father must have gotten out here earlier than us and taped the gun to the bottom of the table. Maybe it was for us? For a walker? Or maybe it was only if things got bad. It didn't matter now, I knew his dirty little secret. I was about to snap at him and tell him that he should have found a better hiding spot, but Rick seemed to snap first. "You told me he was willing to talk," he growled to Andrea who looked like she was about to piss herself. Oh yeah, nice summit sweetheart. A lot of good this is doing.

My father smiled at Rick as he leaned back in the chair like we were all just having a drink on a nice Sunday afternoon. That was what had always bothered me. He could have just come out of a drunken rage and nearly beaten me to death, but he could still say hello to our neighbors like nothing had happened. I turned my glare on my father, but he wasn't looking at me, his eyes were locked on Rick. "I am, but the truth is, Rick, she's in no position to make such an offer anyway. I'm here for one thing only- your surrender," he told us.

My eyes nearly shot out of my head. Oh, that's funny. Yeah right. We didn't fight this hard just to give up a place that we had worked so hard for. No way. If he wanted the prison, the only way he was going to get it was by prying it from our cold, dead hands. It seemed that my leader felt the same way as he gave my father the tiniest of smiles. "Oh, you want surrender? Come get it. You think we hit Woodbury heavy last time?" He asked my father.

I smiled, not bad Rick. There was no way that we were going to take this lying down. He couldn't possibly think that after something we'd fought so hard for, we would just let it slip through our hands. Glancing over, I could tell that Andrea was getting antsy. I knew that it wouldn't be long before she butted back in. "Just take it easy, all right? We're here to settle this," she said as she walked up. I knew it, I knew she couldn't keep her mouth shut for that long.

Instead of agreeing with her or getting angry with Rick, my father just nodded. He turned to Andrea and nodded at her once more. "You're right. Would you step outside?" He asked her. Had I not hated the man so much, I would have laughed.

The look on Andrea's face was priceless and it was one of those moments that made me wish that I had a rewind button. She looked like she had been slapped in the face and I couldn't help but smile at her. She deserved everything that was going to come to her. "What?" She asked, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Oh come on girl, it's not that hard to understand.

Shaking his head at her, my father gave her a pointed look before turning back to Rick and myself. He looked us dead in the eyes but I knew that his comment was directed to Andrea. "Rick and I, we got a lot to talk about. And I want to get to know my daughter once more. Been a long time since I've gotten to talk to her," he said. I glared at him and had to dig my nails into my palm to keep from grabbing the gun out from under the table and shooting him. It was too late to talk to me.

Not to my surprise at all, Andrea was quick to argue with my father. "I'm not leaving," she growled. I saw the brief flash of fury in his eyes, and for that minute I was transported back to my childhood. That was the look that he would give me before he would attack me. But this time, he managed to calm himself down. He needed her on his side, and that meant not attacking her.

Taking a few deep breaths at Andrea, he looked back up at her and motioned to myself and Rick. "I came to talk to them," he told her. Andrea scoffed and marched away from us, letting the door of the barn slam behind her. I smirked and nearly laughed, but the situation didn't call for that. It was too tense for anyone to say anything right now.

But naturally, Rick was the first one to break the silence. "So you're the Governor," He said to my father. Maybe not the best thing to say, but we had to start somewhere.

To my surprise, that seemed to trip my father up. His eyes went straight to the ground for a moment before popping back up. But even with the facade of confidence, I knew that something had struck a chord with him. "That's- that's their term, not mine," he stuttered. I looked at him with a dark glare. What the hell was bothering him so much? He was a god to these people so why was he acting like that term was something to be ashamed of? The only thing that he should be ashamed of was the way that he had treated me as a child.

Grunting, I felt a small kick on my ankle and I whipped my head to glare at Rick, but I knew that he was right. For now, I needed to keep my mouth shut. It wasn't my place to talk yet. As everyone gathered themselves once more, Rick looked my father dead in the eyes with a suspicious glare. "Oh. But still, you're beholden to your people," he said. And he was right. Just the way that we looked at Rick, the Woodbury people looked at my father. Only they had no idea that the man they were putting their blind faith in was nothing more than a monster.

My father looked at Rick as though he was crazy. "Well, of course," he said. I rolled my eyes. It was so like my father to always think that everyone should look up to him.

I could tell that Rick was doing his best to relate to my father, but there wasn't much that he could really say. I mean sure, they had both lost wives, and they both had a daughter, and they both had people, but they were still too different. Rick didn't blame anyone for Lori's death. My father blamed me for my mother. Rick loved his children, even one that might not even be his. My father only loved one, and hated the other like nothing else. The only thing they both had was a duty to their people. And it seemed that it was the duty to his people that Rick was going to use against my father. "You have responsibility to them," Rick told him.

"Mm-hmm," my father hummed. I rolled my eyes once more, he was not making things easy on us. I could tell that he was trying to steer the conversation somewhere, but where I couldn't tell.

Rick seemed to try to go from another spot, and this seemed to get my father's attention. "Wasn't Merle your lieutenant?" Rick asked my father. He smirked and I felt my heart race. What did he want with Merle? It was my job to protect the Dixon brother. I didn't know why, but he hadn't hurt me. He had helped me. And for that, I felt indebted to him.

My father merely nodded at Rick with a slightly suspicious look. I didn't blame him, I was confused too. Why was Rick asking about Merle? What part did he have to play in all of this? "He was helpful, yeah. But you knew he was erratic. You blame him for scooping up Glenn and Maggie in the first place? Rain as well," my father said. I glared at him and had to force the childish part of me to the back of my head to keep myself from kicking him.

With a small smile, Rick nodded. "Exactly," he said quietly.

My father looked at Rick, and I could tell that he was trying to sort through his thoughts. I didn't know what angle Rick was trying to play at, but it wasn't a straight forward one. "I was trying to sort it out when you attacked," my father told us. I glared at him. Trying to solve it? He had been forcing Merle and Daryl to fight to the death when they had attacked. And I had been forced to watch. What kind of sorting out was that?

It seemed that Rick didn't believe what my father was trying to say either, so he went into a slight form of attack mode. "So it was his fault?" He asked. I smirked at Rick. He was trying to confuse my father, and I'm sure that he was. But my father isn't a stupid man, he'll know how to respond to anything that my leader could throw out at him. But maybe not me.

Instead of getting tripped up like I had hoped he would, my father just sailed through Rick's questioning. "He's a wild card, but he's effective. He gets the dirty jobs done." Figures he would know just what to say. Just like how he always had an explanation for the way that I was dressing or the days I would be out from school or the random black eyes.

Rick glared at him and I could tell that he wasn't happy about the way that this conversation was going. Clearly he didn't want the small talk. He just wanted to solve this and get back to the prison. "I thought you'd take responsibility," Rick quipped at my father.

To my surprise, my father didn't get angry at the response, he actually smiled. "I thought you were a cop, not a lawyer. Either way, I don't pretend to be a governor. I told you, I'm their leader. You're the town drunk who knocked over my fence and ripped up my yard, nothing more. Didn't you ever misjudge someone?" My father asked.

My eyes narrowed at his question and I knew that this could be going nowhere good. Nothing good ever came from a question like that. Especially from my father. Rick hummed at my father and he clearly took it as a sign to keep talking.

"Andrea told me about your baby. That it might be your partner's," my father told him. I felt myself stiffen and I turned slightly to look at Rick hoping that he wasn't getting mad. It didn't seem like he was close to snapping, but it was easy to see that he was incredibly tense. "But you're caring for her and I admire that. Restitution for your own lack of insight. For failing to see the devil beside you," he said, giving me a pointed look.

I opened my mouth to give him a nasty remark, but Rick beat me to it. "Oh, I see him all right," he said calmly while keeping his eyes dead locked on my father.

Ignoring Rick's response, he got up from the table and went to the back of the barn. My eyes tracked him carefully, not willing to be too careful. "I brought whiskey," he said as he walked back up with a bottle in his hand. "I never got to have a drink with my daughter," he said. I recoiled away from him. It was his drinking habit that had ruined my childhood. "I care about my people and I don't take their deaths lightly, and I know you don't either. In a way, this fight, it's a failure of leadership," my father said.

Wanting to say something, I bit my tongue. I knew that I would have my chance to say something, but it wasn't now. This right here was between the leaders. It seemed that I didn't need to say anything though as Rick growled at my father, "Then leave us alone."

My father gave a tiny smile and I knew that this was not going to go the way that any of us wanted this to go. "Well, now, that would be an even bigger failure. You've moved into our backyard. You shot up Main Street. If I let that threat persist, I look weak and, well, the whole thing crumbles."

Rick shrugged his shoulders as my father laid down the glasses in front of us. After my father had taken a swig of his own drink, I nodded at Rick who took a swig of his. I smirked at my father and grabbed the glass, throwing it back and smiling as the burn trailed down my throat. My father gave a slightly shocked look, but he smirked as I looked back at him with nothing more than an angry glare. "Well, that's your problem. Your choice," Rick said, breaking the awkward stare between father and daughter.

My father merely smiled and leaned back in his chair gripping the drink. "Now, isn't that why we're here? Choice. If we choose to destroy everything we've fought for over the past year we're gonna kill everyone we know. At your prison. Back in Woodbury. People we love, Rick. I may have issues with Rain, but in my own way I still love her," my father said. I snorted at him, but was ignored. "I mean, I suppose I could say that the only reason I used to hate her was that she was at fault for my wife's death."

At that comment, I shot up, ramrod straight and slammed my fist on the table. "What?" I growled at him. I was ready to jump across the table and strangle him, but Rick had a hand on my thigh. Half to hold me down and half to calm me down. He let his hand rub tiny circles, but it was doing very little. My father had opened a can of worms that I didn't want to deal with.

My father shook his head at me and looked over at Rick. "I was at work one day taking shit from a boss half my age and an IQ even lower. And the phone rang. It was my wife crying that she and Rain had been in a fight. She was telling me that she was going to run errands. I told her that I would talk to Rain when I got home. Then I hung up. Not even two hours later the phone rang again. My wife had been in an accident. 'Sorry, Mr. Blake, we did everything we could.' I sat there holding that phone, knowing that I would never see her again. Gone. It was just an accident. She wasn't paying attention to the road because Rain had distracted her. She wasn't paying attention to the road because of her. She left a voicemail asking me to call her, but I hadn't had a chance yet. I sat there clutching that phone thinking, 'What did she want?' Just to check in? Ask me to pick something up for dinner? What did she want?"

I had known going into this that my father would say something like this at least once, but I had thought that I would be ready for this. It turned out that I wasn't. I threw the glass at my father, but he had known that it was coming. He ducked out of the way at the last minute and the glass went shattering on the back wall. "It wasn't me," I seethed. "I didn't kill her. She was hit by an oncoming car. They said that he was intoxicated and must not have bothered to stop. She was doing fine when she left. It was an accident and you know that. Shit, I wish it had been you in that car! You don't deserve the life that you got! Neither of you did! You were both shitty parents and I deserved better than the both of you!" I screamed at him.

I went to jump up, but Rick caught my waist and pulled me back down and towards his mouth. "Rain, stop. It's what he wants. You have to calm down," he mumbled to me. I nodded and let Rick drop me into the chair. My blood was pounding in my head but I knew that I had to be quiet and pray that I hadn't ruined the meeting. I looked at the back wall and felt my stomach drop. It seemed like I had inherited my father's horrible temper. But I wouldn't let it rule me.

After a few beats of silence, my father finally spoke up again. "You know, the truth is I didn't want any of this. They chose me because there was nobody else around. And they still think that I'm the man that can keep them safe. They still think I know what I'm doing. I know you got guns," my father said to Rick.

Rick nodded at my father and hummed at him.

"That was quite a stash you brought back the other day," my father said. I felt my eyes widen. Rick, Michonne, and Carl had come back with a huge amount of guns and ammo, but how had he known that? He must have people watching the prison. At least now we know. "Now, my people, they're not combat-tested like yours are, but I've got more of them. So this fight, it will go down to the last man. I will lose my daughter and you will lose yours, along with your son. So let's end it. Today," my father said.

I knew that this wasn't the route that Rick wanted to go and I could tell that he was going to try and fight him. I could only pray that it would work. "Let's not do this. We can walk away," Rick pleaded motioning towards the door.

My father shook his head and looked Rick dead in the eyes. "You have something that I want. One thing that makes this all all right," he said. My mind wandered. What could he want? The prison? Maybe but why would he want the prison when he has a place with sturdy walls? There was no way. He wanted something else. But what, I had no idea.

Glancing over next to me I saw that Rick was shaking his head. "I'm not giving up the prison," he said. I shook my head. It wasn't the prison that he wanted. It was something else. Maybe Merle? Maybe he wanted revenge. Or Michonne? I mean she had taken his eye. Or God, he could want me. I could only pray that it wasn't me that he wanted.

My father laughed at Rick and shook his head. "No. No, I- I don't want your prison. That doesn't sound safe at all. I mean, you lost your wife, another man. We're not moving on. What good would that do me? Best you stay where I can keep my one good eye on you," my father said. Oh yeah, like that sounded like such a great choice for us. But we couldn't move on, we were safe here. "I want Michonne. And my daughter. Turn them over and this all goes away. Are they worth it? Two women worth all those lives at your prison? Are they? You know I'm right. And that is my daughter, she is rightfully mine," he said.

I knew that my eyes lit up with fury as I leaned into the table. "Fuck you," I growled at my father as low as I could. "I was never yours. I'm my own. Not yours or anyone else. I'm not a prize for trade," I told him leaning back into my chair.

Keeping my gaze fixated of my father I hoped that I had won with him. "Oh dear you've got no idea what you're getting into," he told me. I snorted and shook my head. "I happen to know a certain Dixon you carry a soft spot for," he told me. My eyes shot open and I felt my heart jump into my throat. Daryl. Over my dead body would I let something happen to him.

My father had a huge smirk on his face, and I couldn't have been more grateful when Rick spoke up, diverting my father's attention from me to himself. "I don't get it. You've obviously got big plans. Like you're the guy who's gonna lick this thing. Bring us back from the brink. So why waste your time on a two-bit vendetta? Why risk it all? You could have a statue of yourself in the town square, Governor. Killing Michonne is sort of beneath you, don't you think?" Rick asked my father.

"You could save your son. Save your daughter. Everyone you know. It's your choice," my father said, abruptly ending the conversation. I was hoping that we could sit and try to talk it out, but it was too late. It was over. And there was no way that we were going to solve this. We were all going to end up going to war.

Rick though, was still trying to fix this. "If I give you Michonne, or Rain, how do I know you'll keep your word that you'll stop?" He asked. I shook my head, it didn't matter. He would say he would stop, but he won't. He'll get us and then he'll still go after the prison. But I have to try. I have to give myself in to him.

My father laughed at Rick and shook his head and moved over to the doors of the barn. I stood, along with Rick and slowly moved over with him. We all stood by the door and I held my breath. "You can have everything you want. I told you, I don't care about you. You think about it. Two days. I'll be here at noon," he said before opening the door.

My father walked out of the doors and headed over to his men. He, Martinez, Andrea, and Milton climbed in the car. I shook my head. She had no idea what she was getting herself into. Anyone that ever gets close to my father either ends up severely fucked up or dead. Walking out of the barn, I saw that Hershel was sitting on a ledge and Daryl was pacing on the outside of the barn. As we walked out both men walked up to us.

Rick nodded his head over to the cars and we all followed him. As we got to the cars, Rick turned back to us and nodded with a small sigh. "When we get back to the prison I'll let everyone know what happened. Let's head back, alright?" He asked. We all nodded and Daryl jumped on his bike while Rick got in the car. I jumped into the passenger side and Hershel jumped into the back.

Slamming on the gas, I jumped as the car lurched forward. We followed Daryl on his bike for a while and I let my mind wander. I knew that my father would want to kill Michonne, but what did he want with me? To kill me? Maybe. To pretend that I was still a kid and use me as a punching bag? Maybe, but there's no way in hell that I'll put up with that again. I'd rather die. Give me to Martinez? God I hope not. I shivered slightly and found myself staring out the window at the back of Daryl's bike.

I smiled and remembered towards the end of winter, probably in the spring when I had been healed well enough to ride on Daryl's bike. I would always wrap my arms around him and bury my head in the back of his jacket breathing in the musky scent mixed in with leather and gasoline. It had quickly become a calming scent. I sighed lightly, I missed him. More than I wanted to admit. He was one of the few things in this world that meant everything to me. I didn't just want him, I needed him.

Shaking my head clear of those thoughts, I turned to Rick. He had to be in a tough spot. Could he save his son and daughter if he handed me over? But I had been faithful to him this whole time, maybe he couldn't do it. Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth to spit it out as fast as I could. "Rick, I know this will be a hard decision so let me make it easier. I'll go to my father. It's OK, everyone can't die just so I can be safe. You know-" I tried to continue but Rick cut me off.

"No Rain. You won't turn yourself over. He won't stop even if I do turn you over. No. We'll talk about it with everyone when we're back," he told me. Knowing that there was no room left for conversation, I shut my mouth. Leaning onto the window I smiled as I watched the trees and let myself drift off to sleep.

I shifted slightly and when I opened my eyes, Daryl was standing in front of me. "C'mon Rain, let's go. We're back home," he told me. I nodded and jumped out of the car and walked up the drive to the cell block. By the time that Daryl and I made it into the living area, everyone was already sitting. I quietly took a spot to the right of Rick and Daryl stood to my left.

A few beats of silence passed before Rick sighed and looked all of us over. "So, I met this Governor. Sat with him for quite a while," he told all of us. I nodded and hoped that this wouldn't turn into a fight between the group. And with Merle here, things would go from bad to worse fast. Hopefully he would be quiet for once.

"Just the two of you?" Carol asked.

Rick shook his head and looked at her. "Rain and I," he said. I saw that Carol gave me a shocked look and I shook my head at her. If anything, I would tell her how it went later. For now, I didn't want to say anything about it. What had been said about my mother only Rick and Daryl knew and I would not be telling anyone else any time soon what had happened.

Exactly what I had suspected, Merle stuck his two cents where it wasn't wanted. "Should have gone when we had the chance, bro." I whipped around to the older Dixon and gave him a sharp glare. Yes, maybe we should have left, but it was too far gone. We just have to pray now, that things can get solved without spilling any blood.

Ignoring the older Dixon, Rick turned to the group and sighed. "He wants the prison. He wants us gone. Dead. He wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury. We're going to war," he told us. My eyes shot up to him and I cocked my head slightly. Why had he lied to the group? My father didn't want us gone. He just wanted Michonne and myself. So what the hell?

It didn't take long for Rick to walk away from the group, and Hershel to follow. Merle sighed and dropped back into his cell. Glenn gave a nod to me and walked past me, giving me a small pat on the back. Maggie followed him and gave me a small squeeze of the shoulder before walking away. Carol and Beth grabbed Judith, and the two women walked into the cell block area. Sighing, I walked out of the living area and made my way back up to the perch.

As I hit the top step I removed my gun and bow and arrows letting them fall gently to the ground. Sitting down on the cot, facing the wall, I slipped my boots off. My movements slowed when I heard the gentle thump of Daryl's boots. I let a tiny smile cross my face as the mattress shifted under his weight.

He sat by me in silence for a few minutes, carefully removing his weapons. "Everything go OK in there?" Daryl asked me. I nearly laughed at the way he had said it. He knew that I was still mad at him and he was treading carefully with me. I guess he wasn't very fond of getting yelled at. Then again, neither was I.

I sat for a moment, debating whether or not to tell him the truth. But it was Daryl, he was a leader here too, and he deserved to know the truth. "Rick lied," I told him. "My father probably does want us dead, but he told us. He doesn't want the prison and he doesn't care about any of you. He just wants Michonne. And me."

I noticed at the last part, his eyes shot up to me, but I merely shrugged my shoulders. There was nothing I could do. He wanted what he wanted. "And Rick would rather go to war?" He asked me.

Shrugging my shoulders once more, I nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. I told him I'd give myself in to my father but he told me no. End of conversation," I told Daryl.

"Good," the older man said. I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow and he shook his head at me. "If Rick had said yes, I would have said no. We love you Rain. And there's no way in hell we'd let ya do that." I smiled at Daryl and leaned my head on his chest lightly. "You know, I'm still not giving up," he told me.

I smiled and pushed myself off his chest to look into his eyes. "You should," I told him with a serious look. I saw the shock flash in his eyes and I smiled to myself. Pushing up on my heels, I leaned into Daryl and pushed my lips onto his. I knew that I had surprised him, I could feel him tense up as bad as the first time I'd hugged him, but he quickly relaxed. The kiss only lasted a few moments, but it was better than I could have ever asked for. I'd missed the taste of him.

As I pulled away, I saw one of his rare smiles that I was pretty sure was only reserved for me. "What was that for? I thought you were still mad at me," he told me.

I smiled at him and pushed him onto the mattress leaning onto his body. "Why was I mad at you in the first place?" I asked him, hoping that he wouldn't say anything stupid.

He seemed to think about it for a moment before his face darkened. "Because I left," he told me.

I nodded at him and lifted his face up to meet mine. "Exactly. And that's why I'm forgiving you," I told him. He gave me a confused look before I laughed once more. "I'm forgiving you because even though you left, you came back," I told him. He gave me a small smile and threw me over so that he was on top of me. "I'm sorry I was so hard on you, although c'mon. Even you gotta admit, that slap was pretty good," I told him. He laughed and gave me a long, lingering, kiss.

As we lay there, intertwined with each other, I let my mind focus on him, and only him. There were horrible people, and horrible things out there but I didn't want to think of them right now. That time was going to come. And when it did, there would be an all out war. Only one side would survive, and I was going to make sure that it was ours.


	32. Savior

Jumping up, I catapulted myself off of the cot that I had been fast asleep on, and onto the hard floor. Groaning, I moved onto my side and pulled myself back up onto the cot. My nightmares like that had been getting worse and worse. All about my father. This one tonight had been about an attack on the prison. My father had killed everyone that I had loved, and he had been just about to get to Daryl. Holding a long blade at his throat, he had pulled the blade across Daryl's skin when I woke up. My worst nightmare, to lose the one man that I loved. Cracking my back and looking behind me, I saw that Daryl was awake and alert, eyes locked onto me.

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him. It wasn't real, it was only a dream. He was here and alive, as well as the rest of my group. They were just downstairs. "Ya alright?" He asked me. I nodded and stood up. Rubbing my lower back, I walked around to the other side of the cot where my clothes were laid out in a small pile. Pulling out a white tank top and tight beige cargo pants, I slipped quietly out of my old shorts. Turning to the light, I smiled when I saw that Daryl was blatantly staring at me.

Deciding that I would have a little fun with this, I made the changing process as slow as possible. I crossed my arms and slowly pulled the black tank top that I was wearing off. Pondering on it for a moment, I debated if I should take it one step farther. Show Daryl what he almost missed out on. Turning my back to him, I reached behind myself and unhooked the strap that held my bra together. Letting it fall into the dirty clothes pile, I turned and saw that Daryl was no longer there.

Scoffing at the build up that was for nothing, I grabbed the clean bra off of the floor and turned to grab the rest of my clothes. As I whipped around, though, a dark figure made me jump. I gasped, taking a moment to realize that it was Daryl. My face lit up a bright red and I gave the man a sheepish smile. His eyes traced down my body and I felt the overwhelming urge to run off. He had seen me with nothing on before, but that didn't mean that I didn't still get nervous changing in front of him.

Sensing that I was nervous, his hands went from my shoulders to trace down my arms and land at my hips, his fingers hooking into the sides of my underwear. I nearly growled as I realized that as his hands made their way around my body, he was purposely avoiding certain spots. I looked up at him and gave him an actual smile. To my shock, he was wearing one as well. It was rare that I actually saw one from him, and I treasured the times that I did see them. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked me.

I gave him an innocent smile and shrugged my shoulders once more. The two of us were pressed up against each other, my bare chest now flattened against him. "Just getting changed," I told him. He scoffed and back off slightly. I cocked my head at him and went to step closer to him. He backed off though, and I couldn't help but feel a slight twang of hurt. I had thought that he wanted this.

With a tiny laugh, he smiled at me. "Well, you wanted to get changed, so go on." I nearly laughed when I realized what he wanted. A morning show. And a show he would get. It wasn't very often that we got to do things like this, so we took the chance when we got it. Smiling at him, I turned my back to him and slowly bent over, grabbing my pants and pulling them up, leaving them hanging deliberately low on my hips. Picking up my bra, I turned around to Daryl and held it out to him. He stared at me for a moment before shaking his head and laughing. He seemed to get the hint as he reached around me, managing to hook the garment on his second try. I laughed and turned my back on him once more to go and grab my tank top.

As I reached down for the shirt, I felt Daryl jump on my back and squealed as he pushed me down onto the cot. He was careful though as he managed not to land on me. Rolling over onto my back, I smiled as Daryl climbed on top of me. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to. I knew everything that he wanted to say and he knew everything that I wanted to say.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled him down to me and gave him a deep kiss. The two of us remained locked together for a few moments before I picked my legs up and wrapped them tightly around his waist. Daryl kept one of his hands down by my face to support himself, and let the other hand trail down my body, until he hit the button on my pants. I smiled into the kiss as I felt him fumble with it. Taking an arm down to help him, a bark of laughter made me slam back into reality.

Daryl launched off of me and I jumped back- my heart pounding in my chest- ripping a blanket that Daryl had tossed at me onto myself. Looking down, I buttoned my pants once more and grabbed my shirt from the floor, yanking it on and standing up. Not surprisingly at all, it was Merle that was standing in front of us. I shook my head and grabbed my guns, strapping them and my knives to myself. Not bothering to put on my shoes or my bow and arrows, I shook myself off and walked to the stairs where Merle had planted himself hoping that my face wasn't too red and I didn't look too flustered. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had gotten to me.

"Well damn boy, I knew that you were puttin the wood to ya girl here!" Merle hooted. I shook my head at the older brother and shoved him to the side so I could get to the staircase. Looking back I saw that Daryl had his head down and was letting his hair cover his face. But I saw through a lock of his hair, the bright red that covered his face, and the small smirk.

Smirking myself, I turned back to Merle and gave him a polite smile. If Daryl wouldn't say it to Merle, then I would. His brows creased into an untrusting glare and I laughed. He knew me better than that. He knew that I wasn't going to be nice about this. "At least he's getting some sweetie," I told the older Dixon brother, patting him on the back as I walked by. I laughed lightly at the blank look on Merle's face, and the snort that had come from the younger Dixon.

Turning my back to them, I heard Merle shout from behind me. "Shut the hell up boy!" He yelled to Daryl. I laughed once more and shook my head. They had no idea how brotherly the two of them really were.

As I went to jump down the stairs, I turned back and saw that the Dixon boys were only a few paces behind me. "Hey Merle, what were you up here for?" I asked him. I was genuinely curious, I didn't think that Rick would have let him out of the cell just to walk around. Most of the people in the prison still didn't trust him.

The older Dixon smiled at me and laughed. "Well it sure as hell wasn't to see the two of you goin at it like wild animals I'll tell ya that," Merle told me with a sideways smile. I rolled my eyes and scoffed at him. Naturally he would make a joke out of this whole thing. "Nah girl, your man Rick wants to talk to the both of you. Offered myself to go and get ya so I could get the hell out of that damn cell. Although, kind of wish I had let him find the two of you all snuggled up together," Merle told me. I shook my head and stomped down the rest of the stairs wondering what it was that Rick wanted.

Hitting the landing, I turned to Daryl and the two of us went walking out of the cell block, as Merle returned to his cell. I was glad at the way that he had been quiet lately. At least the man was cooperating. I walked in tandem with Daryl when my eyes finally caught sight of Rick standing outside with Hershel. The two of us walked up to the men and said our hellos. "I take it Daryl, you know the truth of what was said at the meeting," he told the younger Dixon.

Daryl nodded and I slowly turned my head to Rick, slightly hurt at the thought that raced through my head. Was he really planning on giving me up now? That was the only thing that I could think he needed me for. "Are you honestly thinking of doing what he said? You told me that you were going to figure something else out. You told them that we were going to war. What about me, Rick? I didn't think that you wanted me to go over there. What the hell happened?" I asked him.

Rick shook his head at me and I could tell that he was frantic as he looked over at me. "Not you Rain. Only Michonne. Maybe we can strike out a deal with the Governor. He will take Michonne and her only. We aren't giving you up, but she's an outsider. She needs to go anyways. It's the only way. No one else knows," Rick told us.

Daryl shook his head at the idea and looked up to Rick. I could tell that he didn't like the idea almost as much as I didn't. "You gonna tell 'em?" He asked, referring to the rest of our group. They deserved to know but I knew that Rick wouldn't tell them. There would be too much debating on whether it was the ethically right thing to do. It wasn't, but as of right now, it was the only logical thing to do. My father had more firepower and more people. If we did get into a war there was no way that we would win it.

Shaking his head, Rick looked at Daryl. I knew that he didn't want to do it, he was still a human after all, but it was the only way to save his family and all that we had worked so hard for. We had it too hard for too long, we needed this place. We had barely made it through the winter with me being gravely injured. Now Hershel only had one leg and we had an infant with us. I didn't know how much longer we would be able to live on the road. "Not till after. We have to do it today. It has to be quiet," Rick told us. I nodded at him. Michonne seemed nice enough, but there was no way that we would be able to keep her around. Not with the threat of a war on the horizon.

"You got a plan?" Daryl asked Rick. I shook my head. It wouldn't be easy to get rid of Michonne and have no one notice. She was kind of a looming presence.

Rick seemed to ponder it for a moment before he turned to me. "We tell her we need to talk. Away from the others. Rain she seems to trust you the most. You have to get her, just the two of you." My eyes widened as Rick tried to get me to be the one to do it.

I shook my head at him. "Rick, what if she overpowers me? It's not like I'm exactly bigger than her. Shit, she's bigger than me. And trust me? I don't think so. I think I just intrigue her because of who my father is. The woman doesn't like me at all. Trust me on that," I told our leader. Michonne towered over me and I figured that she was probably stronger than me as well. Hell, with that sword of hers, there was no way that I was getting on her bad side.

Hershel shook his head at our leader and I smiled slightly. Hershel was always the voice of reason to the rash decisions that Rick made a little too frequently. But he was going through a hard time. I wasn't one to judge people for making bad decisions during hard times. "Rick, that's cruel," the older man told him.

"Just ain't us, man," Daryl put in. I turned to Daryl and cocked my eyebrow at him. If anything, I would have thought that Daryl would have been for it. I knew that Daryl didn't want to kill her but I was sure that he wanted to stop the invasion that was coming. He wanted to protect what was his. He wanted to protect both myself and Merle. Judith and Carl and everyone else that was in the prison. But they were both right. It wasn't a fair thing to do to an innocent woman.

Hershel nodded at Daryl and looked over at Rick. "No. No, it isn't."

Rick shook his head at the two men and looked over at me. I sighed, I knew that he was pulling at my heartstrings but I couldn't let it work. "We do this, we avoid a fight. No one else dies," he told me and I couldn't help but notice that his eyes briefly flashed over to Daryl. I knew that we couldn't risk a war, but we also weren't the type to sentence an innocent woman to death.

Sighing, I finally nodded. It wasn't fair, but it seemed that there was no way out of this. "Okay. We need someone else though," I told Rick, nodding back to the cell block. Merle was the one that we needed. Michonne didn't like him, but I knew for a fact that he would be able to take her down when she realized what the plan really was. He was much stronger than her and he didn't really have the moral compass that the rest of us did. It wasn't fair to him, but I didn't know what else to do. He was our last hope in stopping the war that was to come.

Turning my head to Daryl, he seemed to know who I was talking about. He nodded at me and turned slightly to the cell block, ready to go in and talk to his brother. "I'll talk to him," Daryl said and I nodded. I was about to walk off with him when Rick stopped me.

"I'll do it," he told us.

Daryl tried to follow after Rick as he grabbed our leader's arm. "I'll go with you," Daryl told him. I shook my head at the loyalty of the younger Dixon. No matter what happened or what Merle said, he always wanted to be there for his brother. It was sweet, I never had the chance to do that for my sibling. I had left before I had gotten the chance to ever even speak to her, and she was dead now.

Not surprisingly though, Rick shook his head at Daryl. "No. Just me," he said before walking off. I was sure that Rick was going to say something to Merle that Daryl would most likely not enjoy. And there was no use starting any more fights. We already had too big of a fight on the horizon. We didn't need any bickering going on in here.

I shook my head and went to turn back to the cell block when an idea popped into my head. Turning and running up to Rick, I called out to the older man who stopped and turned to face me. As I ran up to Rick I tried to give him a sweet smile, hoping that he would give in to my request. "Hey Rick," I said, seeing that Daryl had made his way up behind me. "How about Daryl and I go hunting? No one has been out on a run in a while and I don't want to risk us running low on any supplies," I told our leader. I really did want to go out hunting, in the case that we got trapped in here, we would need food to carry us over for a while. But I also wanted a good chance to get a little bit of quality time with Daryl. Something that was rare to for us to get anymore.

Rick seemed to think on it and I had to fight off a smile. I missed the chances that Daryl and I got to go out into the woods. It was nice time for us to be alone and after this morning, well hell, I needed a little alone time with Daryl. Our bonding time this morning had been cut off far too abruptly. After a moment of silence, Rick finally shook his head at me. "Sorry Rain, it would probably be a good idea but I can't risk it. Your father must have men surrounding this entire place and I can't risk having anyone out in the woods right now. It would be too easy for the two of you to get overpowered, and I can't lose either of you. After this is all done though, it would be great if the two of you could go on a long hunt. Maybe take a few days and check out the surrounding woods?" Rick asked me.

Wanting to slap Rick for the fact that he had so stupidly not gotten what I wanted, I nodded and gave him a tight lipped smile anyways. "No problem, Rick." I knew that he was trying to protect our safety, and that was sweet of him, but I just wanted some time with Daryl. As I turned and walked away, Daryl went to head to his bike before I caught him by the sleeve of his shirt, yanking him back to me. He gave me a confused look and I couldn't help but to laugh. "Come on you big dummy, we've got stuff to do," I told him with a wink. Judging by the dark gaze he was giving me, I knew that he had figured out what I was insinuating and he wanted it too. But hell, it was still Daryl. I laughed as his face lit up like a Christmas tree and I turned and sauntered off to the cell block with him following closely.

We walked a few feet into the building before Daryl pulled me over to the wall. "But where? The cells aren't very… uh… private," Daryl stammered. I smiled at the faint red blush that was dusting his face and grabbed his hand. I knew that he didn't want anyone to know what we were going to do, so I kept as low of a profile as I could while I was walking toward the showers. They weren't exactly very comfortable, or romantic, but they would do. Normally when one of us was in the shower, nobody else would come in. It was a privacy and respect thing. Hopefully no one else was wanting a shower right about now.

As I came up to the door of the showers, I pushed it open and shoved Daryl into the room. He laughed at my forwardness and I smiled at the look he was giving me. He didn't know it, but sometimes he gave me a certain look. A look that told me he loved me, and that he always would. A look that I had never seen before meeting him.

Not saying a word, I pushed Daryl to the wall of one of the stalls that had actual walls and not just a shower curtain. Daryl laughed and I smiled at the rumbling of his chest against mine. Looking down at me, Daryl grabbed the bottom of my shirt and slipped it over my head, tossing it onto the ground next to me. I laughed at the fact that not long after that, my bra, pants, and underwear had followed. Pulling Daryl's shirt over his shoulders, I quickly reached down to pull off his pants and underwear. They easily slid off and Daryl kicked the garments to the side of the stall. The both of us stepped out of our shoes and tossed them onto the other side of the room.

I briefly turned away from Daryl and flipped the nozzle for the water to the shower. Sure I wanted our alone time, but that didn't mean that I didn't want a real shower either. It wasn't like the water would be warm, but still, a shower was a shower. I jumped at the initial freezing temperature of the water but relaxed as it warmed up slowly. I laughed as the water began to pour down our bodies and the water that drained out took on a dark brown color. "That's disgusting," I mumbled at the water. Daryl chuckled lightly and nodded his head. The two of us let the water run over our bodies and I smiled at the feeling of actually being clean. It was truly an amazing feeling after months of living on the road and never bathing. This was probably my first bath in about five months.

Washing my hair with the small bottles of shampoo and conditioner that the group had found, I smiled. My hair looked almost brown with the amount of grease and dirt and blood in it, and I couldn't wait for it to be its natural blonde again. I handed the wash off to Daryl and forced it into his hand. I knew that he wouldn't want to, but it was too damn bad. It had been months since he had, and he needed it. As Daryl washed the shampoo out of his hair he turned to me and pushed me back against the wall of the shower. It was freezing, but I wasn't going to complain. It wasn't very often that I saw this side of Daryl.

Daryl leaned into me and gave me a rough kiss, clearly saying that he was the one who was calling the shots. And that was fine by me. Smiling into the kiss, Daryl grabbed my hair in one hands and put the other under my knee, lifting me up. Some part of me was hesitant, I mean I didn't want to hurt the guy, but he was insistent. So I jumped up onto him and smirked at the warmth- and a little something else- that I felt from his body. Pulling back to look into my eyes, he waited for me to give him confirmation. A gentleman as always, but he should have known that he didn't need permission. I nodded quickly at him and waited for it.

30 Minutes Later…

With a slight limp, I walked out of the shower stall and gave Daryl a small smirk that he returned as I pulled my clothes back on. Tying up my hair, I turned back to Daryl and saw that he was almost done getting ready. Not liking the silence, I prepared to make a smarmy remark but he beat me to it. "I'm gonna go find Merle. Make sure he's doing OK."

I smiled at Daryl and nodded. "I'll go with you," I told him. Daryl nodded at me, and I followed him out of the showers. I wasn't very sure where exactly Merle had gone so I was following Daryl closely. He seemed to know exactly where Merle was. I guess it was some type of sibling radar thing. If that was real I suppose.

Not even a minute after we had left the showers we came up on the boiler room. Without knocking, Daryl walked inside and I tensed at the loud squeak of the door. I knew that we had managed to block off walkers from this side of the prison, but still, I was cautious. It came from being out on the road for so long where they could always be right there, waiting for you behind any closed door. "Merle. You down here? Merle," Daryl called out.

The older Dixon popped out from behind a washer and smirked at the two of us. His eyes dropped to my hair and I glared at him. I didn't want to hear a damn thing about it. I knew that he had done much worse with women whose name he hadn't even known. To my surprise though, Merle simply nodded at me and looked back to his brother. "Hey, little brother. Princess," he said with a smirk. I flipped him off but I was sure that he couldn't have cared less. "What the hell? I was just about to holler back at ya," he told his younger brother.

Daryl seemed to look at his older brother for a moment before he cocked his eyebrow. "What you doing down here?" He asked. I looked around and saw that the place was pretty torn up. Clearly he had been here for a while, and clearly he was looking for something. What he was looking for though, was the question.

Instead of trying to lie, Merle just laughed and pointed back to a washer that looked like it had been taken apart. "Just looking for a little crystal meth," Merle said. I raised my eyebrows in shock of the fact that Merle didn't even pretend to hide what he was doing.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I looked over at Daryl and rolled my eyes. How had he known that that was what his brother was doing? I suppose it was because Merle was his brother. He had known him his whole life. Still though, what the hell Merle? We were in the middle of the world going to shit and Merle was concerned with finding a little crystal meth? Oh yeah, this guy had his priorities straight.

Merle looked at Daryl with an unamused face and quickly shook his head. "Shit mess my life up when everything is going so sweet, right?" Merle asked his younger brother. I shook my head at him. Of course it did, that was what the shit did. Nothing more than fuck up your life. You didn't need to ever do crystal meth to know that.

Ignoring Merle's question, Daryl countered back with one of his own. "You talk to Rick yet?" He asked. I looked over and saw that Merle looked like he was trying to contain a laugh. I couldn't help but wonder what had been said when Rick had gone to talk to Merle. Clearly it hadn't been anything too good.

Nodding his head at the two of us, I once more rolled my eyes at the older Dixon brother. He was never going to be able to take anything seriously. "Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm in. But, uh, he ain't got the stomach for it. He's gonna buckle," Merle said. I hated to admit it, but Merle was probably right. I didn't know if Rick had the guts to turn over an innocent woman.

Daryl scoffed at his brother and looked over at him. "You know that, right?" He asked. I stiffened as I felt that a sibling rivalry was about to come up. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to be here for it.

"Yeah," Merle answered simply.

The room was quiet for a moment before Daryl nodded at his brother. "If he does, he does." I shook my head, knowing that Merle was not going to like that answer.

Just like I had expected him to, Merle looked at his brother with a face that was full of disbelief. "You want him to?" Merle asked, turning to one of the small generators and leaning on the machine.

Daryl merely shrugged his shoulder at his older brother and kept himself from looking at the other man. "Whatever he says goes," Daryl told his older brother, referring to Rick's decision on handing Michonne over to my father. I knew that Daryl was against sentencing an innocent woman to death, but he was loyal to Rick and would follow whatever he said.

Merle scoffed at his younger brother and shoved into his shoulder as he walked by. "Man. Do you even possess a pair of balls, little brother? Are they even attached? I mean, if they are, they belong to you? Or maybe they belong to you darling," Merle told me with a twinkle in his eyes. I rolled my eyes and resisted making a snarky comment about what we had just been doing not ten minutes before. "You used to call people like that sheep," Merle growled at his younger brother with his eyes narrowed.

Instead of getting angry with his older brother, Daryl simply looked at Merle with sad eyes. "What happened to you? What happened with you and Glenn and Maggie?" He asked. I looked down sheepishly. I knew what had happened, but it wasn't my story to tell.

Merle snorted at his brother and I glared at the older Dixon. Like that was a helpful response. "I've done worse. You need to grow up. Things are different now. Your people look at me like I'm the devil grabbing up those lovebirds like that, huh? Your girl too," Merle said, turning his angry glare on me for once. I cocked my eyebrows and went to make a response but Merle just kept on talking. "Now y'all want to do the same damn thing I did- snatch someone up and deliver them to the Governor, just like me."

The room was silent for a moment and Daryl was just nodding slowly. "Yeah," he finally mumbled, puffing out a little bit of air.

Merle stared at his younger brother for a second before shaking his head. "People do what they got to do or they die," he said. I shook my head lightly, yeah we had to do a lot of things that we didn't want to do, but that didn't mean that we couldn't retain our humanity.

It seemed like Daryl agreed with me as he also was shaking his head at his brother. "Can't do things without people anymore, man." I nodded at Daryl, these days there was strength in numbers. People were the most valuable resource.

I watched as the two brothers had a brief stare down before Merle scoffed at his younger brother. "Maybe these people need somebody like me around, huh? Do their dirty work. The bad guy. Yeah, maybe that's how it is now, huh? How does that hit you?" He asked Daryl. It was easy to hear that Merle was getting gradually angrier.

Daryl merely looked at his brother with a small amount of pity in his eyes. He walked up to Merle and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. "I just want my brother back," he told Merle softly, with nothing more than brotherly love in his eyes.

For a moment, Merle just stared at Daryl in shock. Finally, he seemed to shake himself out of his stupor and move Daryl's hand off of his shoulder. I looked up and saw that he was looking at his younger brother with some mix of horror and disgust. "Get out of here, man," Merle growled at his brother.

Daryl stood in front of Merle with a small amount of hurt in his eyes before backing away and turning out of the boiler room. I whipped back around to Merle and gave him a brief glare before moving to run after Daryl. As I hit the end of the boiler room, I saw that Daryl was standing against the wall, waiting for me. "You coming back up?" He asked me.

I stood in front of Daryl for a moment, thinking about what I should do. It would probably be a better idea to go back upstairs, but I had to talk to Merle. There were things that I needed to say to him. "I'll be up in a few minutes, but you can head on up," I told Daryl. I was hoping that he would, I needed to talk to Merle alone. Daryl nodded and gave me a quick squeeze on my arm, before turning to head back to the cell block.

I waited until Daryl was completely out of my view before I turned back and headed back into the boiler room. I groaned, however, when I saw that Merle was no longer there. Of course. Now I would have to go and find him.

Biting my nails for a moment, I was running through my head thinking about where he would go next. Nowhere that Daryl was, he didn't seem to want to face him right now. Just as I was about to give up the hunt, I heard a loud crash and I turned to it, darting out to the spot. Staying low, I hoped that I would be able to sneak up on Merle.

As I came over to the wall, I looked past a small box and saw that Merle was standing just behind it. I smiled at the fact that I had him cornered. Just as I was about to step out, Merle's voice nearly scared me to death.

"We got to clear some walkers, then get the others down here to barricade it. A breach like this could be an open invitation to the Governor," he said. I cocked my eyebrows, curious how he could have even seen me coming without looking up. I was about to ask him, when another voice nearly made me scream. God damn it, I needed to work on my sight, or sense of sound or something. I was a hunter for God's sake. And this world was not one that I could be jumpy in.

A female voice called back to Merle and I looked around the edge of the box to see that it was Michonne. "He's not much for subtlety," she said, referring to my father. She didn't know him very well, but she was spot on.

"You want to take your chances?" Merle asked her. The woman merely shook her head and followed Merle out of the room. I silently stalked the pair, hoping that they wouldn't see or hear me. I wanted to wait until Merle was alone again to talk to him. I took a small space between two boxes and settled in, hoping that Michonne would leave soon. This wasn't exactly very comfortable. The two worked in silence for a while and I knew that if something didn't happen soon, I was going to start dozing off. But right as my eyes started to slip closed, a loud crash startled me from my daze.

I glanced over and saw that Merle had toppled Michonne over and was now pinning her to the floor. My eyes widened at the turn of events and I felt like I should intervene, but not yet. Something might happen, and I couldn't risk interrupting it. Merle had totally pinned Michonne down and managed to wrestle the sword from her. Merle reached in his back pocket and grabbed a small cloth bag, throwing it over Michonne's head and binding her hands. He pulled her up to her feet and I cowered in the back of the corner. If Merle was going to do what I thought he was, then I couldn't let myself be seen. "Governor made Rick an offer. Turn you over and we all give peace a chance," he told her as he began to march her out of the prison.

The two were walking faster than I had expected, as I had to run from hiding spot to hiding spot. I hoped that sooner or later the pair would come across someone, but with the threat of my father outside, everyone was inside preparing for war. There would be no one out here to stop them. So I would just have to follow.

I walked behind the pair out of the prison and kept a good distance behind them in the woods. The last thing I needed was for them to catch me. Nothing good would come from that. After about twenty minutes of walking, the pair finally made their way out onto the road. I groaned at the change in events. I would have to stay in the woods hoping that I would still be able to keep my sight on them, and hopefully hear them as well. Even though they hadn't said anything since Merle had bound her.

As my eyes followed the two, Merle leaned toward Michonne and took off the bag that was covering her head. Michonne shook her head and her dreads slowly fell back to their original position. The pair were only walking on the road for a few minutes before Michonne finally said something. "I agree with you," she said. Both myself and Merle looked over at her in shock. I knew that she wouldn't be afraid of what was to come, but I sure as hell didn't think that she would be condoning this. I mean, I didn't and nothing was even happening to me.

Merle seemed to think about what she said for a few moments before snorting at her. "He would have blinked," he said, referring to Rick. He was right, I mean Rick had backed out of this at the last minute. It had been his plan in the first place to hand Michonne over to my father, and he had gone to Merle to help him.

The pair was silent for a moment before Michonne finally turned around and shook her head at Merle. "But not you," she told him.

Once more Merle was sent into a small silence. I was sure that he wasn't used to people challenging him like this. I could tell from the first time I met the man that he was used to being the alpha. No one in front of him, challenging his authority. This was something new to him. Working with others. "I'm being straight with you," Merle finally told her.

I shook my head at him, knowing that he had lied to her, and the rest of us, more than enough times. He was about one of the least straight forward people that I had ever met. "You were straight when you led me into the tombs," Michonne said and I gave a slight smile. She had spoken exactly what I had been thinking.

I had thought that Merle would argue with her or yell at her, but instead he merely shrugged his shoulder. "Okay, maybe I wasn't straight," he said, clearly not caring what she thought at the moment.

I briefly looked away from the bickering pair and saw that the wood line was about to end. We were coming up on a small commercial area that had clearly been a gas station for truckers or long distance travelers to fill up at. I saw that there were cars littering the area and it was obvious what Merle wanted to do. Hot wire a car and cut the trip in half.

Nodding her head to Merle's back pocket, I followed her line of sight and smiled. She was pointing to the bag that had been over her head only a few minutes prior. "You put a bag over my head," she said. I slowed my pace slightly as Michonne began to slow down and Merle did as well. I didn't know if she was stalling or what, but I was internally thanking her. I had been racing to keep up with them, tripping over the roots and branches. Normally I would have never missed a step in the woods, but I was keeping too much of my attention on the two walking out on the road. I wasn't paying enough attention to my steps.

As I untangled my foot from a particularly nasty root, I looked back over to Merle and Michonne who were coming up on the gas station. Merle still had a tight grip on Michonne and I took a spot at the edge of the woods. I didn't want to head over to the gas station. Not yet, there was a good chance that they would see me. As Michonne slowed down, Merle shoved her forward and rolled his eyes at her. "I got it done. He wouldn't. Keep moving. He was a guy that came back for me on that rooftop," Merle growled. I rolled my eyes at the fact that he was still bringing up the rooftop. It had been probably about a year ago. It was time to get over it.

Michonne merely snorted at him as the two walked up to the gas station. "Nah," she mumbled at him.

"It's all on me. You know? I figure that's why I was back there in the first place. Do the dirty work," he told her. I almost felt bad for him, that really was the only reason that he was here. That and the fact that he had Daryl and I vouching for him. Other than that, Merle was just on the outside, no one was rooting for him. Not the way that we all rooted for each other. Merle moved Michonne over to the store that went with the gas station and pointed to her bounds. "May I?" He asked her. She didn't answer though, she merely stood there in silence, staring at him. "I'll take that as a yes," he mumbled as he undid the tie. He stood by her for a moment, fiddling with the ties and looked almost shocked when he looked back up at her. "Oh! You know what? I'd figured you would have run."

I shrugged my shoulders and nodded at him. I would have thought she would have run away when she had the chance. "Wanted my sword back before I get away," she told him with a small smirk.

Merle shook his head and finished the knot that would tie her to a post that was holding the store up. He tugged on the knot once before he walked up to a gold car and pried the door open. He jumped in the car and began to look for the keys, but as usual, they weren't there. As Merle got out of the car, he looked over at Michonne and glared at her. "It may go down that way. But if I were you, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Move. My brother, he wants to be in the prison. This little trip maybe it'll keep that place standing. If I pull it off, maybe all is forgiven," he told her. I almost felt my heart break for him. Merle was doing all of this to redeem himself in the eyes of his brother. And Daryl would never know how much Merle cared about him.

"That's a whole lot of maybes," Michonne said.

As Merle walked back over to the car, he got under the dashboard and began to pull the wires out. I had figured that he was going to try and hot wire a car. And it looked like he had found their ride. "You got to play the hand you're dealt. I only got one," he said as he pulled at the wires, carefully crossing them over each other.

I looked over at Michonne as I moved closer to the building. It was getting harder to hear them, I needed to get closer. I hid by the side of the building, behind a barrel and watched the judgmental look on the woman's face. "You talk about the weight of what you have to do, how you can handle it. A bad man, someone truly evil, they're light as a feather. They don't feel a thing," she said. I nodded at her. She was trying to tell him that he wasn't really a bad man at all. He was just making the bad decisions.

I could hear that Merle was sighing under the seat. He stopped pulling at the wires long enough to look up at her and shake his head. "I've killed 16 men since all this went down," he told her before looking down at the car once more. I thought about it and nodded. I had only killed two men that I could remember, but even that had been frightening. It wasn't an easy thing to get over. As Merle went back down to the car he toyed with the wires once more. "Let's go. All right. I think we're good," he said as he went to connect the last two wires.

Michonne rolled her eyes and leaned against the column that she was tied to. "Yeah, we're great," she mumbled and I couldn't help but giggle. I looked around for a moment hoping that I could find a car that had it's keys or else I would quickly fall behind them once they took off in the car.

"Come on," Merle growled at the car before he finally struck the two wires together and the car roared to life. "Yeah! That's the deal," he said as he jumped into the car. He went to open up the door and right when he sat down and began to look through the door a loud alarm from the car began to sound. I jumped at the sudden sound and turned to look at Merle. "Oh, shit," he yelled as he began to look through the car to turn off the alarm.

I looked all around the area that I could see, praying that Merle would be able to turn the alarm off, and fast. The noise was extremely loud and I knew that it was already attracting walkers. Over the car alarm, I heard a light growl and I turned back to see that there was a small herd of them, about twenty. But twenty walkers were a lot for two people to take on. Luckily they were coming on the other side of the building so they would miss me. But they were going straight for Merle, and Michonne who was tied up with no weapon.

It seemed that Michonne had finally noticed the herd when she began to panic, trying to get the rope off of her. But it was no use, Merle had tied it too tight. "Merle! Come on, Merle! Merle! Okay. Okay," she sighed as three walkers came up to her. Taking out my knife, I took down two walkers that were close to me and looked back up to see that Merle was now fighting off two walkers that were near him. The car alarm was finally off and it seemed that Merle had already taken most of the walkers out. But Michonne was stuck with the three walkers.

"Ah! Come on. Let's go!" Merle yelled to the walkers as he stabbed both with his makeshift bayonet, before running over to Michonne. He killed one immediately, and pulled the other off of her. Michonne had one foot up, keeping the walker that was left at bay. Merle brought his bayonet up as the walker he had pulled off of Michonne fell, and he dug the bayonet through the walkers face. I sighed, glad that I had been able to stay in my hiding spot, and luckily neither had fallen victim to the walkers.

For a while, the pair just sat and waited. Neither saying anything, Michonne just stood by the column and stared at her feet, while Merle carefully worked on the car once more. The last thing they needed was to set the alarm off again. "So is this your thing, then? You take out the trash?" Michonne said as Merle walked over and grabbed her.

As he walked with her on his side, he snorted at her and shook his head. "Don't be so hard on yourself, darlin'," he told her with a tiny smirk. I glared, even after the near death experience, he was still able to crack jokes.

Michonne looked at Merle and gave him a small smile. I knew that she was going to get under his skin as much as she could. If this was her last few moments to live, she was going to make the most out of it. "The Governor, Rick, anyone who needs their piss bucket emptied and you come a-running. Things are different for your brother," she said. I grimaced slightly, I knew that she wanted to pick on him but she was hitting his most sore spots.

Instead of getting angry with her, he merely nodded. "Yeah, they are," he told her quietly. He would never admit it, but it was easy to see that she was getting to him. I knew that she was, his brother was one of the few people, maybe the only person, that he really cared about.

Michonne smiled at him and leaned against the car where he was working. She was still bound, and he still had her sword. "Rick says jump and he wants to know how high," she said, referring to Daryl. I nodded at her. Daryl did do what Rick told him, but he was our leader and he had kept us alive for this long. Daryl was his right hand man and loyal to Rick. There was nothing wrong with that.

"Mm-mmm," Merle hummed at her and I smiled. He was trying so hard not to let her get to him, but I knew that she was slowly breaking down his impenetrable wall.

I wanted her to stop, afraid that Merle would snap, but I knew that she wouldn't. And she clearly wasn't afraid of what he would do to her. She already was on Death Row, she had nothing left to lose. "Rick needs him. Respects him. He didn't ask him to do this little job, now, did he? No, 'cause he wants it done," she told him.

Merle merely snorted at her and went to looking through the controls and dials on the car's dashboard. "You keep telling yourself that," he grumbled at her.

Michonne smiled at him and I could see that Merle was gritting his teeth at her. "The truth is this could have been your shot. With your skills, a whole new beginning. But you choose to stay on the outside. No one's gonna mourn you, not even Daryl. He's got a new family. Rain, hell, she's his family now, not you. He'd chose her over you every time," she told him. I saw that Merle's face was turning red and even I was starting to get angry now. I know that she was angry with Merle, but still. You should never say anything like that to anyone. No matter what the situation. Merle was just trying to save his brother, and the people whose trust was trying to win back. I respected that.

Merle finally stood up and towered over Michonne. She was pretty tall, but he still towered over her. Although to Michonne's credit, she didn't waver at all in his presence. "You keep trying to get under my skin, I'm gonna cut that tongue out. Your buddy's turning you over 'cause he's trying to save his own ass. You're as much on the outside as I am, girl," he told her.

Glaring at him, I knew that she knew that he was right. "Maybe. But once the Governor's done with me, at least I won't have to live with myself. You said you killed 16 men since this thing started? You ever kill anyone before?" She asked him. I felt my heart skip a beat, nervous that somehow she knew about me. But that was crazy, she didn't even know that I was here right now. And she had no idea what I had done before the apocalypse. I had never even known the woman.

Merle sat in silence for a moment before shaking his head. "No," he told her.

Michonne nodded at him and I knew immediately that she wasn't done picking at him. "And how about before Woodbury? Before you met him? Huh. So he saves your life, cleans you up, fed you a line of bullshit. Why would you kill somebody else for him? You know, we can go back," she told him and my ears perked up. I had thought that this would just be her bitching him out. Not trying to beg him to go back and take her with him. I didn't think that she was that type of person.

Knowing what was coming already, he shook his head at her and I nearly laughed. "Ain't happening," he told her. Why the hell would she ever think that he would take her back to the prison? Not after all that he had been through.

"Both of us. We can just go back," Michonne begged with him.

Merle loosened her ropes and sighed. "I can't go back. Don't you understand that? I can't," he told her. My eyes widened. What the hell was going on? Was he going to let her go back? Go on himself? Oh my God, he was going to try and kill my father, by himself. He must have changed his mind while she was talking to him. He pulled her sword from his back and handed it to her. I couldn't believe what Merle was doing, he was going to let her go back. And send himself on a suicide mission. I had to stop him. He was going to die if he did this, and I didn't want to know what that would do to Daryl.

To my surprise, it seemed that Michonne refused to let him go on by himself. "Why? You go back with them. Get ready for what's next," she told him. I knew that she was hoping that he would go back and try to redeem himself with the group. Not try and move forward on a quest that would undoubtedly end in his death.

Merle shook his head and hopped in the car, shoving her away from him. "I got something I got to do on my own," he told her. She seemed like she wanted to argue with him, but she knew as well as I did, that it would be futile. So instead, she nodded at him and began the trek back to the prison. As she walked past the station, I didn't think to hide and she turned her head, locking onto me. I thought about trying to hide, but instead, I just stood there staring in shock. I raised my finger to my mouth to shush her, and luckily she nodded at me, and moved past. Sighing I moved out of my spot to go get to Merle, but he was gone. My only guess was that he had gone into the station. Pulling my knives out, I quietly moved into the store and heard the gentle rattle of bottles in the back of the store.

It was obvious to know that he was looking for a bottle of something in the back of the store. Keeping a knife in my hand, just in case, I walked into the back of the store and saw that Merle was looking through the bottles of liquor. I rolled my eyes at him but continued walking up to him. I turned the corner so that I was in full view of Merle, but he was too focused on the bottles in front of him. Deciding that I had to say something to him, I moved a little closer and stared him down. "Just what do you think that you're doing?" I asked him.

Merle jumped and let the bottle in his hand fall to the ground. The bottle smashed into a million pieces and his dark glare turned on me. Had he not known who I was, I was sure that he would have shot me by now. Instead, he picked up a bottle, machine gun that was sitting next to him and began to walk out of the store, right past me. I stared at Merle in shock and ran after him. "Rain go back to the prison. Back to Daryl. I got shit to do," he told me as he walked out of the store.

I jumped in front of him and put my hand in front of his chest. "Tough!" I softly yelled. "Look Merle, I know what you're doing and it's a death sentence." He scoffed at me and went to move past me, but once more I shoved into him. "I know what you're doing. You're going to try and take down my father yourself. Merle trust me, I know the man. You can't do it. Not on your own. Look, I can't stop you, but let me go with you," I told him. I saw that his eyebrows shot up and I could only pray that he would let me tag along.

Merle seemed to think about it for a minute before shaking his head. "I don't think so girl. Daryl would never forgive me if ya got hurt and I wouldn't forgive myself," he told me before shoving past me and getting into the car.

I quickly ran over and jumped into the passenger seat of the car before Merle could lock the car. "Well Merle, I would never forgive myself if I let something happen to you. Let me go with you. Look, I'll hang back if you want me to. And I swear to God I will only step in if I think you are on the verge of death. Just please let me come with you. Please Merle," I begged the older Dixon.

I could see that he was debating it back and forth in his head before he finally nodded at me. "Fine. But you go by my rules. You sit in this car and don't move, no matter what OK?" He asked me and I nodded. I wasn't going to listen to him, but he needed to think that I would. I sat down and settled into the seat, jumping as Merle turned up the radio. "Gotta attract 'em somehow right?" He asked me with a smirk. I cocked my eyebrows at him and jumped as the first of the walkers hit the window. Without a care in the world, Merle unscrewed the cap of the bottle and tilted it back, into his mouth.

He downed a big swig and I nearly laughed at the man. The car was blasting music and we were surrounded by about twenty walkers. I should have been terrified but I was abnormally calm. Merle took in a few more gulps of the amber liquid before handing it to me. I smiled and thanked him, letting a large amount of the drink slip down my throat. It burned all the way down my esophagus and I smiled at the familiar feeling. I was trying to be sober, but that didn't mean that I couldn't enjoy the occasional drink.

The two of us handed the bottle between one another for a while, more and more walkers gradually surrounding us. With the bottle finally finished, we dropped it at the floor and Merle slowly put the car in drive. At first he drove slowly, allowing the walkers to follow the car, but soon after he sped up. The hoard was still following us, but they were farther behind now. I smirked as I realized what he was doing. He was trying to get the walkers to ambush my father's men. It was a good plan, I just hoped that it would work.

As we approached the area that my father was inhabiting, a similar barn area to the one that we had held the meeting at, only a day prior to today. Merle parked the car in an area where there seemed like there was no soldiers around. Hopefully there wasn't. As Merle stopped the car, I went to give him a pat on the leg. He smiled at me and just as I was about to pull away, he caught my arm. I tried to pull it away from him, but he had too strong of a grip. I began to panic, but it was too late. Merle slipped a handcuff onto one hand and he cuffed the other to the steering wheel. "Merle! Damn it! Let me out of this thing!" I whisper-yelled at him.

He merely smiled at me and leaned over to me. "Girl, don't think that you're the only one that can lie. I said you could come with me. I didn't sat anything about letting you over near where daddy dearest and his men are," Merle told me. He stood up and closed his door, leaving me trapped in the car with nothing to free myself. I couldn't risk shooting the cuff in case that I hurt myself and my knives weren't small enough to pick the lock on the handcuffs.

"Damn you Merle!" I yelled as the man grabbed the machine gun from the back and took off in between the silos where I could no longer see him. I panicked, knowing that there was no way that Merle would survive if he went to kill my father by himself. I yanked at the cuffs but nothing happened. Doing a quick sweep of the car, I groaned as I saw that there was nothing that I could use to free myself from the cuffs. The only thing that I could think to do would be to rip the wheel off of its mount. But could I even do that?

Yanking at the wheel time after time, I yelped in apin as I yanked once too hard. I slipped the seat back and carefully moved into the drivers seat, placing my feet against each side of the wheel on the dashboard. I pulled again and again and again. But nothing happened. The wheel was planted to hard in its place and I was making no progress. Feeling tears rise to my eyes, I ripped at the wheel three more times, and I finally felt the wheel give way slightly. Feeling slightly elated, I ripped at the wheel more times than I could count, and it finally gave way.

Crying with happiness, I jumped out of the car, awkwardly carrying the wheel with me. I ran after Merle, following a trail of the dead bodies. Looking down, I saw that they were all Woodbury soldiers. Merle had at least gotten pretty far. But I could only pray that up ahead he was still alive. It had been about five minutes and I hoped that Merle hadn't gotten too far so that I could catch up to him.

Making my way through the path of bodies, I saw a familiar one. I knew that dark brown hair and the strong body. It was Allen. One of the people that had been at the prison, they had come in with Tyreese. So it seems that they had found refuge in Woodbury. I grimaced at Allen, knowing that he didn't deserve this fate, but it was too late for me to do anything. And I had bigger things to worry about. As I took off once more, in the back of my mind I prayed that Sasha and Tyreese were OK. They had seemed like good people and I would have hated for anything to happen to them.

I finally broke past the silos and made my way into an open field with a warehouse off to the side. I heard a soft struggle come from the inside of the warehouse and I knew immediately that Merle was in there. More than likely with my father. Sprinting as fast as I could, I broke through the door of the warehouse, and without even gathering who was in the room, a searing pain went through my lower shoulder, right above my chest. I knew that I had been shot, but this was not the time to quit. I saw that Martinez had been the one to shoot me, and Merle and my father were fighting in the back of the warehouse. Running up to Martinez, I dodged another bullet that he shot towards me and swung the wheel up at his face.

With perfect aim, the wheel knocked forward to the bottom of his jaw and then the side of his face. Martinez fell to the ground with a hard thud and I knew that he had been knocked unconscious. I looked over and saw that the wheel had shattered at the hard impact. Shaking off the rest of the parts of the wheel, I ran over to my father and Merle who were in a deadlock fight. But it looked like Merle was tiring and my father was winning. I came up right behind my father, who had Merle pinned to the wall, and punched him in the back of the head as hard as I could. I hissed at the pain in my knuckle but pushed through. Raising my leg, I kicked the back of my father's leg and smiled when he fell to the ground, screaming, and released Merle.

I looked down at Merle who was leaning against the ground and saw that his fingers were hanging on by just threads. My God, what the hell had happened? I went to help Merle up, but a hand wrapped around my leg and pulled me onto the floor, where I fell on top of Merle. By the hiss that he let out, my weight had more than likely hurt him. I saw my father pull out a gun, and I went to cover Merle, but I wasn't fast enough. It hit Merle in the lower stomach and he grunted in pain. By his small movements I knew that he was still alive, but just barely.

I went to go attack my father, but he was already up and running. I tried to follow him, but he turned back and shot at me. I ducked out of the way, but I was too slow. The bullet skimmed my leg and I dropped to my knees. I shouted in pain, but I couldn't stop. I needed to get Merle back to the car and fast. He was on his last legs and I knew that he would be dead within an hour. I moved over to Merle and I grabbed him by his underarms.

Pushing myself to my feet I grabbed him and pulled him as hard as I could. "Come on Merle. Look at me! Don't you dare give up! You will not give up on me! Stay with me!" I screamed at him as I dragged him out of the building. It was incredibly hard to pull Merle out of the room, given how heavy he was. But I was determined to get him out of here. I had to get him back to Daryl. I had to get myself back to Daryl. I knew that I was losing blood too, and fast. I had been shot just above the heart. I was lucky that it hadn't been any lower.

As I pulled Merle out of the room, screaming in agony, my eyes caught sight of Daryl. "DARYL!" I screamed across the yard. He caught my eyes and sprinted after me. He caught up to me quickly and dropped besides myself and his brother. "He wanted to kill my father. He got shot. He needs Hershel. Now!" I yelled to him.

He looked over Merle and I nodded at him, letting him know that his brother was still alive. "What happened to you?" He asked me.

"Martinez shot me. My father skimmed me. I just need to get out of here, and back to the prison. I need help. Now," I told him. Daryl nodded at me and helped me pick his brother up. As we slowly ran back to the car, I looked over at Daryl. "Wait, take that one," I told him, pointing to another car. Daryl nodded and dragged us over to the car. The two of us laid Merle across the back seat and Daryl helped me limp over to the passenger seat. I fell in and felt Daryl start up the engine, peeling out of the area.

As we were on the way back to the prison my vision was slowly fading in and out. I could see that Daryl was pushing the car as fast as it could go, intermittently looking back at both myself and Merle. Faster than I could have hoped for, Daryl pulled into the prison and helped me out of the car. The two of us pulled Merle into the prison and we yelled up ahead. "Hershel! We need to do an emergency surgery!" Daryl screamed. The group immediately ran out and the men took Merle into the arms. With the weight no longer under me, I dropped to the floor, but Daryl picked me back up.

"Come on, we need to get that bullet out," he told me. I nodded and let him carry me into an upstairs cot, away from the commotion that was surrounding Merle and his emergency surgery. Thank God I had gotten him back here in time. I was fading in and out but I was determined not to pass out. Not yet. I looked up at Daryl with lazy eyes as he worked on getting the bullet out of my chest. He had taken my shirt off and I was laying down, hoping that it would be over soon. But even after my chest, I still needed to get my leg fixed up.

As I looked up to Daryl, I saw that his eyes were filled with tears. I raised my hands and wiped them off, but he quickly pushed my hand back down. "What is it?" I groggily asked Daryl.

He smiled a strained smile at me and I saw his arm pull back. I let out a sharp shriek as the bullet pulled free from my chest. Holy shit that had hurt, but at least the worst was over. Daryl mumbled a few apologies to me but I shook my head. He needed to do it. The bullet would have gotten infected if he had let it stay there. As he began to stitch up my chest, he took in a deep breath. "What you did for Merle back there. You nearly died for him. Why would you do that?" He asked me.

I smiled at him and grabbed his cheek. This was the sensitive man that I had fallen in love with. This was the man that could make me feel like no one else could. "Daryl, you are my family. And so is Merle. I was only doing what families do for each other," I told him. He smiled at me and I leaned up to give him a kiss. But just after our lips met, I finally fell into unconsciousness.


	33. Attack

With a searing pain rolling through my shoulder, I pushed myself to sit up, only to be pushed back down by Daryl. I made an attempt to ignore him and sit up anyways, but I had almost no strength left, and he was much stronger than me anyways. "Rain," Daryl said that really came out as nothing more than a whisper. I glanced over at Daryl and saw that his eyes were glistening with tears. It didn't look like he had been crying, but it looked like he had definitely wanted to. Raising my hand up to his cheek, I saw how badly that I was shaking. I must have lost more blood than I had thought. "Lay down girl, you lost a lot of blood. And that bullet was almost fatal," he told me with sad eyes.

Pulling the blankets off of my leg, I looked down and saw that it was tightly bandaged. My shirt had been removed, but my top half was covered in gauze. Trying to keep my eyes from rolling back in my head, I tried to shake my head clear of the fog that was clouding my head. "What happened?" I asked Daryl, noticing that my own voice was weak and groggy.

Kissing me gently on the forehead, Daryl sat back in the chair that he had pulled up beside the bed and took my hand off of his face, grabbing my hand. "You were shot right above your heart, close to your shoulder," he told me. I nodded, that part I remembered just fine. "It looks like you got skimmed on the thigh too," he told me. Once more, I nodded. "I stitched up your leg and got the bullet out of your chest. Hershel stitched that part up when he was done with Merle.

Merle. I had forgotten about him. God I hoped that he was OK. "Daryl, what happened to Merle? Is he OK?" I asked him, beginning to panic. I didn't know what I would do if my whole rescue attempt was for naught. I had fought so hard and gotten shot twice in my attempt to rescue him. Hell, one of those shots had been courtesy of my own father. I began to sit up, determined to go find Merle and see how he was doing for myself, but once more Daryl pushed me back onto the bed.

I gave him a dark glare, but he merely shook it off. "Merle is... OK, Rain. He's not doing great, but he's alive. Thanks to you," he told me with a smile. I smiled back at Daryl and squeezed his hand with a sigh. Thank God, I had done it. I had saved Merle. Now it was up to him to finish the healing process. I cocked my eyebrow at him, hoping that he would tell me more than just the fact that he had made it. "He wasn't doing very well when you got him here. Hershel says that only ten minutes more and he would have been dead. As soon as you got here, we had him rushed into emergency surgery with Hershel. Two of his finger were hanging on by threads, and he had been shot in the stomach. Hershel said that it looked like he had a lot of blunt force trauma as well," Daryl told me quietly.

Looking deep into his eyes, I could see the pain that he was going through. The woman he loved had nearly died trying to save his brother, who was on death's front door. "Did Hershel say what he expected from us?" I asked Daryl. My thought hadn't come out right, but I hoped that he knew what I was talking about. My thoughts were so jumbled that I had no idea how I had gotten this far in the conversation.

Daryl, seemingly understanding what I was talking about, nodded. "He says that we just need to get some food in you, food and water. I should have woken you up last night to get you some food, but you were fast asleep and I didn't think that it would be a good idea to wake you up," he told me. I smiled at him and nodded. That was good if all that I needed was food and water. Hopefully if I got that stuff in me, I would be back on my feet and ready to defend this place. "Merle on the other hand. He was still asleep the last time that I was down with him. Hershel managed to attach his fingers back on, but he'll have to be careful with his hand for a while. Just like you after the farm. He lost a lot of blood too. Beth found him a wheelchair to use for a while, until he can get his strength up and get back on his feet. We're just waiting for him to wake up now," he told me.

I nodded at Daryl and yawned. "But, there's an attack coming. We know that. And after my little interruption yesterday, I'm sure that my father is going to make it as brutal as possible. How are we going to protect Merle? Judith, Hershel, Beth? There's no way that they'll be able to hold their own and fight against my father. What do we do with them?" I asked him.

Nodding his head at me, he grabbed my arm in an attempt to get me to stop babbling. "Rick has a plan. As soon as you're up and moving, I'll bring you down to him so that he can explain it to you," he told me and I nodded at him. "Stay here for a minute, lay down. I'm going to go downstairs and get you something to eat. Hopefully you'll get your strength back in a little bit," he told me. I nodded at him and gave him a quick kiss before he walked out of the cell and down the hall.

I nodded, seeing that we were down on the first floor. I had forgotten that he wouldn't have been able to risk getting me up the stairs if I went into some medical fit. As he disappeared through the hall, I let my head fall back onto the pillows. Rolling my eyes at myself, I nearly laughed. This was what? The third and fourth time that I had been shot? Maybe fifth? Why was I the one that got shot so often? What did I do to deserve that? I mean shit, my shoulder and chest hurt like hell. My leg too.

I groaned at the searing pain that was shooting through my body, but I shook my head clear of it. I deserved the pain that I was feeling right now. After all, it was my own brilliant idea to chase after Merle, when my plan was very clearly going to end in at least one of us getting hurt. But hell, at least neither of us were dead. I knew that had I even been thirty seconds later, Merle would have been dead. And my father would have most likely killed me. Either him or Martinez. Speaking of, if I ever see that bastard again, I swear to God he will wish he had never laid eyes on me. Payback for everything he's done to me.

I yawned deeply and began to stretch my limbs. Every little movement hurt like hell, but I was determined to get up. We were in the middle of a war and this was no time for two perfectly good fighters to be done. There was no way that Merle would be able to fight against my father, he was too weak from his last encounter with him. Myself on the other hand, if I could get up and get past the pain, I'd be OK to fight. Throwing my leg over the edge of the bed, I grunted at the pain of the bullet wound, but shook my head clear. It hurt, but I would make it through this. Swinging my other leg off of the bed, I put both of my hands on the edge of the bed and pulled myself to a standing position.

Preparing myself to let go of the bed, Daryl's voice startled me and I lost my grip on the bed frame, falling back onto the mattress. I coughed at the sudden impact and looked up to Daryl who was smirking at me. "I would have helped you stand girl," he told me. I shook my head and strained my neck at the tray that he was carrying. He laughed and sat down on the bed next to me, handing me the tray.

I took it gratefully and looked at the layout. There was a small piece of what looked like chicken, but I didn't want to ask what it really was. I was hungry and willing to eat whatever it was that Daryl put in front of me. There was also a small amount of corn, probably the last of what we had gotten from the prisoners. Also on the tray was an energy bar that was most likely past its expiration date, but whatever. It was still good, maybe just a little chewy. Picking up the plastic glass, I took a gulp of water and handed Daryl back the energy bar. He cocked his eyebrow at me and I shook my head. "It's too much food. Give it to Merle, or Carl. I don't need it," I told him.

Daryl merely looked at me and laughed. "Rain, your blood sugar level must be at an all-time low. You need any amount of energy that you can get. I would say that you need to sit out today and rest, but I'm not getting yelled at for suggesting that," he told me. I laughed and nodded at him. He knew me well enough to know that I wasn't going to just sit by and watch my friends and family get led into battle by a man that I knew was a true monster.

Quickly scarfing down the food, I grabbed the guns that were on the side table of the room and smiled at Daryl. He laughed and handed me my knives, which I strapped on, as well as my bow and arrows. I grabbed them and threw them on as well. Taking Daryl's hand, I let him help me up. I grunted as my muscles contracted but shook my head as Daryl walked over to sit me back down. I was OK, I just needed a minute to readjust. I nodded at Daryl and he grabbed my arm, leading me through the tombs. I followed him for a moment before I felt my blood freeze. What about Merle? I stopped Daryl and nodded back over to the cells. "I want to see Merle before we go over to Rick," I told him.

Daryl sighed, but nodded anyways. Turning me around, he walked me over to the front cell on the first floor. I grimaced as I looked down at the floor. The grey marble was coated in a deep maroon. There was a huge trail that led to the cell where Merle was resting, and a smaller trail that led to the cell that I had been taken to. Daryl opened the cell door and I limped into the dark room. I glanced up at the bed and saw that Merle was laid out on it. He looked pitiful. His skin was as white as paper, if it was possible I would say that he was even more so. Blood was all over him and I saw a few huge scars on his bare torso. His eyes appeared to be sunken into his skull and I noticed that his lips were a ghostly purple. Hershel was right, I had gotten to Merle when he was on the brink of death.

Walking further into the room, Hershel glanced up at me and gave me a small smile. "How are you feeling Rain?" He asked me, giving me a once over. I dropped the sleeve of my shirt and showed him the bullet wound, knowing that he would want to see it. He gave the wound a quick once over before nodding. "Just make sure to keep it clean," he told me.

I nodded and gave him a grateful smile as I sauntered over to where Merle was lying. Turning back to Daryl and Hershel, I looked at the two men and tossed my head to the door. "Do you mind if I have a minute with him?" I asked the two men. Both nodded at me and walked out of the cell. Daryl seemed to be a little more hesitant, but after I gave him a reassuring nod, he left the room. I waited for a moment before sitting down on the edge of the bed. I laid my hand on Merle's arm and let out a sigh. "I'm sorry Merle, I tried to get to you faster," I mumbled, forcing tears back into my eyes.

Shutting them, I sniffed lightly. "You cryin' for ole Merle girl?" A groggy voice asked. I jumped slightly and looked down to see that Merle's eyes were just barely cracked open. I stared at the older man before I felt my face spread into a smile. He had made it, he was awake and alive. I had to restrain myself from jumping on him and hugging him.

Instead, I settled for grabbing his arm and tightening my grip on him. "Merle," I mumbled. "Never thought I'd be so happy to hear your voice," I told the older man. Merle smiled at me and laughed. Although immediately after he laughed, he began to cough and I had to push him back in the bed. I grunted as a tiny amount of blood was coughed up, and grabbed a towel, wiping his mouth. "Calm down there buddy, you were about five minutes from death when Daryl and I got you back here," I told him. "Trust me, I know how hard it is to sit still after a near death experience, but you have to. It's the only way that you'll live with no serious damage," I told him.

Merle grunted and looked at me. "So what exactly happened?" He asked me. "The last thing that I remember is pulling away from the gas station, after letting Michonne go, and you coming with me."

I swallowed deeply and nodded at him. He had a right to at least know what had happened to him. "Well, we were drinking and you gathered walkers to bring to my father and his men. Then you drove over to the area that they were training in, and once we got there, you handcuffed me and went in yourself. I panicked, and I started to try to pull the wheel free from the stand for it. I assume that you went in and killed about sixteen of my father's soldiers. Including a man named Allen, I knew him He was a good man," I said, I knew that I probably shouldn't have, but Merle needed to know all of what he had done. "Anyways, I finally pulled the wheel lose and ran after you. I got to a warehouse and heard bullets. Running in, I got shot by Martinez right above my heart. Threw the wheel up and knocked him out, shattered the wheel too." Merle snorted at that and I couldn't help but to laugh as well. It was pretty funny. "But uh, I ran forward and my father had you in a lock, and he was biting your fingers. Probably trying to bite them off. I ran up to him and kicked out his knee. We fought for a minute and I jumped in front of you. He started to run away and before he left the building, he shot at us again. It grazed my leg and landed in your stomach. I started to carry you out and thankfully Daryl caught up to us. He pulled you into a car and when we got to the prison we rushed you to Hershel for emergency surgery. I don't know much of what happened after that, I passed out," I told him.

I started to stand up, figuring that Merle would want some time before he could talk to anyone. Besides, now that he was awake, Hershel would probably want to check up on him. Make sure that there was no serious damage. Making my way to the hallway, just as I was at the doorway, Merle's voice called me back. I turned around and looked at him. "Look girl. I don't really know why you did what you did but uh... Thanks I guess," he told me.

Letting a small smile cross my face I nodded at Merle. "I don't know you that well Merle, but it doesn't matter. Everyone here, we're family. It doesn't matter if we fight or have killed people, or whatever. We're family. All of us, even you." He gave me a small nod and I smiled. I wanted him to think over what I had just told him. He needed to. He deserved a spot here as much as any of the rest of us. Hell, he had nearly died to eliminate our newest threat.

Stepping out of the room, I nodded at Hershel. "He's awake and talking if you want to check on him." Hershel nodded at me and patted my non injured shoulder as he walked by. I turned to Daryl and smiled at him. He was clearly giving me the look that told me he wanted to know what we had said, but it didn't matter. I shook my head and pulled him behind me. "So you said that Rick had some plan to tell me or something?" I asked Daryl.

He nodded at me and the two of us began to make our way out of the cell block and into the yard. As we exited the dark cell block, I squinted at the light and gritted my teeth. Even though we hadn't walked far, I could already feel the toll being taken on my body. But I was determined to not let it bother me. So I pushed forward and smiled when I saw that mostly everyone was out in the yard preparing for whatever the plan was. The only people that seemed to not be out in the yard were Hershel- who I assumed would join us soon, and Merle- who was too weak to join us.

Giving a nod at my group members, I made my way over to where Rick was standing with a small smile on his face. "Hey Rain. How are you feeling?" Rick asked me as I made my way to stand in front of him. I smiled at the care that our leader always showed to people that he had no real obligations to. I noticed that Rick nodded at Daryl and the older man moved away. He gave me a quick nod and I smiled. I was sure that he had already heard the plan.

Rolling my neck I shrugged my shoulders at Rick. "You know, I keep getting shot. You think I'd get used to it, but damn, it hurts every time," I told Rick with a smirk. The man laughed and I couldn't help but let out a little giggle as well. "But seriously Rick, I'm OK. In a little pain, but it can't be anything to what Merle is feeling. And I've been through worse," I admitted to him.

My leader nodded at me and grabbed my arm, leading me over to a group of supplies that looked like garbage. But knowing my group members, everything in this pile was going to be used for something. "Look Rain, everyone is happy that you made it out of there. We don't know what to do without you..." He quietly told me. I smiled and pulled Rick into a hug, knowing that was not an easy thing he had just told me. I know that Rick always wants to look like the fearless leader, so saying something like that was hard to admit. Smiling at me, Rick turned back to the pile of crap and smiled. "A little birdie told me that you were pretty good with makeshift anything. That you were creative when you were growing up," he told me. Damn it, Daryl.

I gave the pile one more look over and nearly laughed. Now I knew what he wanted. The group wanted me to make a trap for my father and his army. It actually wasn't a bad plan. Nothing that he had in the pile would make a deadly explosive. It might burn if they got too close to anything, and if glass from the light bulbs shattered too close to them, it would probably hit them. But it wasn't anything fatal. And nothing here would do any significant damage to the prison. I gave Rick a quick explanation of what we would have to do to make the explosives and he nodded at me. Someone else needed to know what to do. I couldn't make all of them on my own.

Turning back to Rick with a smile, he seemed to see that I had figured out what he'd wanted. "You got it Rick," I told him, walking back over to the pile. Leaning down to the pile, I knew that they had gathered just enough to make a fair amount of light bulb explosives. "So what else is the plan though? This can't be it," I told Rick more than asking him.

He nodded at me and I stood up, walking over to stand next to him. "You're right. The explosives won't be enough. I'm going to have Beth, Carl, Judith, Hershel, and Merle out in the woods. They'll be safe from the invasion to come, no matter what happens. And they all will have guns, just in case. Carol is going to be down in the boiler room, controlling the power. We'll make sure to bolt the door too, so that his men won't be able to get through in case they get down there. Glenn and Maggie will be up on the perch, each with a sniper. Just in case a few of the men stray along the way. Michonne will be waiting at the back of the cell block if they chose to keep going. She'll also lay some spikes on the ground, blow out truck tires if they have them. Daryl, you, and myself will be up on the side perch. We'll keep the hand explosives and throw them down at his group. No shots, the prison will be almost black, you probably won't hit it. Plus it will give away your hiding spot," he told me. "You OK with that?" He asked me.

"What choice do I have? Alright. You got it, when do we need these done by?" I asked him, pointing down to the supplies. Looking up, I noticed that both Daryl and Hershel were making their way over, Maggie and Glenn not far behind them. Before they came over though, a thought crossed my mind. Pulling Rick into me, I stood on my toes and pressed my mouth to his ear. "When I was chasing after Merle, I saw the body of someone with the Woodbury soldiers. Allen. His body was there. I think that Tyreese and Sasha are there. Just know that these people aren't bad. Not most of them. They're just afraid. Just like we are." I dropped from his side and smiled at the group that was coming up to us. "What's up guys?" I asked them.

It seemed like everyone was shaking their head, some type of problem weighing down on everyone. Maggie however, was the one to step forward and announce them. "Glenn and I are done with the rest of the barricades and everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing. Is there anything that we can be doing? Carol too, she isn't really needed until it happens. Oh and Merle. He's complaining that he can be helpful and that he doesn't want to sit in the woods," she told us with an exasperated sigh.

Not wanting Rick to get away from whatever it was, I stepped forward. "Don't worry. As for the three of you, I have something that can help keep you busy. Rick remember how I told you to make them?" I asked him, pointing back down to the pile. He nodded at me and I smiled. "Good, teach Maggie, Glenn, and Carol how to do it." Rick nodded and I turned back to Daryl. "As for you and me. We're going to go talk to Merle. Make him see why he can't be here," I told Daryl. He nodded and I grabbed his arm, ready to walk him back to the cell block.

Just as we had started off, back to the cell block, I noticed that Maggie and Glenn were going off to call Carol over, and Carl was making his way over toward us. But the boy looked mad. I could only assume that he had one reason to be so mad. His father wasn't going to let him participate in the fight. Of course not, he didn't want his son to get hurt. As the younger boy stormed past us, I saw that he approached both Rick and Hershel, but he ignored them as well. "Carl," Rick tried to stop the boy, but it was no use. He ignored his father. "I've never seen him this mad. Even with Lori. He just shut down," Rick sighed to Hershel.

Hershel shook his head at our leader and placed a hand on his shoulder. "He's still a kid. It's easy to forget," Hershel said to Rick. Feeling like I was invading on something private, I pulled on Daryl's arm and turned him away from the two men.

"Come on, that isn't meant for us to hear," I told him. Daryl nodded at me and the two of us began back to the cell block. Walking up the paved road, I smiled at Carol as we passed the older woman. "Hey Carol," I smiled at her. She smiled back and pulled me into a hug. I had to grit my teeth to keep from hissing at the pain, but I kept quiet. I didn't need her feeling bad for hurting me.

After releasing me, she walked over to Daryl and gave him a pat on the shoulder letting her hand linger there. "How are you feeling Daryl? After everything?" She asked him. I smiled at her in appreciation. He wasn't one to admit when something was bothering him, but for the two of us, he would admit it.

After a beat of silence, Daryl shook his head at her and kept his gaze on the ground. "You know, Merle never did nothing like that his whole life," he said. I let my eyes trail over to the cell block where Merle was laying right now. I sighed as I figured that Merle would never tell Daryl why he had done what he had done. Only Michonne and I knew, and I didn't feel that it was either of our places to tell him why Merle had tried to take on my father's whole army by himself.

Carol nodded at Daryl before smiling at him. "He gave us a chance. You both did," she said turning over to me. I began to shake my head, trying to deny what she was telling me, but it seemed like she wanted nothing to hear of it. "No Rain, you did. You helped him fight off your father. And you saved his life. We all have the both of you to thank," she told me.

I nodded at Carol and gave her a quick smile. She grabbed my uninjured shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze before walking over to where Maggie and Glenn were now assembling the explosives. Turning back to Daryl I threw my head over my shoulder, motioning to the cell block and he nodded at me. The two of us made our way back over to the cell block and I rolled my eyes as I walked through the door to the cell block. I could hear Merle muttering to himself about how stupid we all were for not letting him fight.

"You know, they say the first sign of going insane is talking to yourself," I told Merle as we approached the cell that he was laying in. Merle scoffed and looked away from us. He had gotten some of his color back, but other than that, he looked pretty weak. I knew that he probably wasn't even able to stand yet. There was no way that he would be able to run away from the prison if we needed to. "Look Merle. I know that you want to fight. I get that. Trust me. I was in your spot once, not too long ago. Through this entire winter I felt like a useless lump because I had been severely injured. To the point of death. Just like you right now. But you're just gonna have to be a big boy about this. You are weak. And you will slow us down in the fight. You've already helped out more than we can ever tell you. You took out most of my father's best fighters. Thank you. But we need you to sit back now and let us take care of this. You need time to heal. You deserve that much. To sit back and let yourself heal. You deserve some time to just relax," I told Merle.

The cell was silent for a minute before a light laugh came out of Merle's mouth. I glared at the man. What the hell did he think was so funny? "You best keep her little brother. I like her," he said. I smiled at Merle and laughed when I saw that Daryl was turning a light pink. "If he treats you bad princess, you come to me. I'll straighten the little shit out," Merle told me with a wink. I laughed at him and snorted when I heard Daryl muttering under his breath. I looked down at the floor just outside of the cell and noticed that there was a book laying open there. I walked over to it and looked at it. A Bible. With a passage highlighted. 'And shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.' From John 5:29. I smiled at the passage and turned back to Merle. "Hershel left it for your old man," Merle told me.

I smiled at Merle and nodded. "Glad we got this situated. So, when it's time to go Beth will come and get you. She'll take you out to the woods where the two of you, Hershel, Carl, and Judith will all be waiting for our all clear. You'll all have guns as well to protect yourself with, just in case. Got it Merle?" I asked him. The grunt from his bedside told me that he had heard me and I knew that it was all that I was going to get after a minute of silence. "Then let's go," I told Daryl.

The two of us stood up and moved out of Merle's cell, walking back out of the cell. "He's OK. He'll go without a fight now," Daryl said. I looked up to tell him that I knew that he was OK, I had been there, when I saw that he wasn't talking to me. Rick and Michonne were sitting at the tables in the living area of the cell block.

Rick nodded at us and broke his sorry stare away from Michonne. I assumed that he was trying to apologize to her for trying to turn her over to my father. "Thank you. Both of you. We're ready," he told us. I nodded at Rick and went to leave the sitting area, giving the two of them privacy. "No. Stay. Both of you. We're about to get in position and I need the both of you in here. Everyone else is about to meet us in here," Rick told the two of us.

I nodded and sat at the table the furthest away from the pair that I could. But it made no difference. With no other noise in the prison, their voices echoed off of the walls. "The deal the Governor offered about me- you had to think about it," Michonne told Rick. She had known, so she wasn't going to make this a question. To my surprise though, she wasn't angry. She seemed to understand. "You had to. I get it," she told him. I looked for any reason that she would be lying to him, like she was really mad. But there didn't seem to be any.

Rick looked down at the ground for a moment, clearly feeling bad about what he had almost done. Even with all that he had done he was still the Sheriff with the incredible morals. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I came real close," he told her. I knew how close he had really come. Hell, he had recruited Merle for it. That might have been the reason that Merle had even thought to go after my father. That might have been the reason that Merle had nearly died, and that I had been shot another two times.

I had thought that Michonne would make some type of snarky remark, she seemed like the type, but she didn't. Instead, she merely looked at Rick with soft eyes. "But you didn't," she told him. I knew that Daryl and I both probably looked shocked. She had forgiven him so fast. But why? "I never thanked you," she told him. What? Why did she need to thank him?

"For what?" Rick asked, clearly as confused as both of us were.

"For getting me out there that day, taking me in," she told him. I hadn't been there to see what had happened but Daryl had told me about it. Apparently she had shown up at the fences, covered in walker blood, and shot in the leg, carrying the baby supplies that we had gotten that day. Daryl had mentioned that she had been dripping blood and apparently the walkers hadn't noticed her scent until it was almost too late. They had spotted her, and right before they had gotten to her, Rick had pulled her in to the prison yard.

Rick nodded at her for a few moments before he finally shook his head at her, looking down at his hands. "Well, if you didn't have that baby formula, I wouldn't have," he told her with brutal honesty. I wanted to slap him for admitting it to her so bluntly, but she knew that it was the truth. Without the baby food she just would have been another mouth to feed.

Once more, instead of getting mad at Rick, she remained calm. But this time she wore a dark smile. Like she knew that she had some way of catching Rick up on his logic. "You could have just taken the formula," she told him. Ah, and there it was. I knew that she would have something to throw back at him.

Her response had made a small smile pop up on Rick's face as well. I couldn't help but to smile too. It was a dark time, and it wouldn't be a time to smile for a while. Might as well get it in now, while we still can. "Well must have been something else, then," he told her. For a moment, I let a small smirk cross my face. Was there something going on between them? "You know, it was Carl who made the call. He said you belonged here. You're one of us," Rick told Michonne. I smiled at the pair, but quickly let my smile drop as the rest of the group made their way into the room.

Rick also let his smile fall as he stood and turned to the rest of the group. "Alright, Maggie and Glenn, do you have the explosives?" He asked the pair. They both nodded and held up the finished products that were currently being held in a wheelbarrow. "Good. Daryl, will you take those upstairs? I want you up on the side of the balcony. Rain, join him up there when we're done," Rick told me and I nodded at him. "Carol, do you have the walkie?" Rick asked the older woman, who raised the object up. "OK, head down to the boiler room. Wait for our instructions." The older woman nodded and walked out of the room. "Hershel, can you drive them out of here now?" Rick asked and the older man nodded. Hershel walked out of the room, followed by Carl who was holding Judith, and Beth who was pushing Merle. "Great guys, alright Glenn and Maggie, the ceiling traps are set. Gas canisters and flashbangs too. You ready with those?" He asked them. Both nodded and made their way into the tombs. "Now for the three of us. Michonne, you're with me. Rain, you're up with Daryl," he told me. "The two of us are gonna split the explosives, OK?" He asked me.

I nodded at Rick and made my way up the staircase. Walking over to Daryl, I laid down next to him and said a brief goodbye to Rick, who had taken the rest of the explosives. Ours were laid out in front of us and we were waiting for the signal that my father's men were here. But for now, we were to lay here in silence. I locked my fingers with Daryl and shifted my position on the floor. It was going to be a long wait.

2 HOURS LATER...

Finally, we got the walkie talkie call from Hershel. He had told us that they were approaching. Heavy artillery. Just peachy. I moved as low to the ground as I could, grabbing two of the explosives and pulling my hand from Daryl's grasp. If they came in the way that we thought that they would, they would come in here first. Just as I got in position, Carol must have thrown the switch, as all of the power in the prison went out, and we were left in the dark.

I sat in absolute silence, not even letting a breath out. Moving my arm back slowly, I nearly screamed when I heard a loud explosion. Looking through the top window, I saw that the guard towers were on fire. But that was all that I could see. God damn it, they had blown up our guard towers. With a grenade I think too. Shit, that would do a lot of damage to us. Jumping slightly, I heard the repeated bangs of a full auto going off right outside of the walls. Judging by the sounds of wood splitting, it seemed like they were hitting the boards that were covering the walkways. I couldn't help but smirk. Not either of those places, assholes. I waited for a few more minutes before I heard the low rumbles of trucks. I smirked, knowing that they would soon hit the traps that Michonne had laid out for them.

The engines finally stopped outside and I heard the muttering of the men that were right outside of the prison. From the yells and many scattered profanities I assumed that they had hit the first of the many traps that we had laid out for them. No longer able to hear the movement of the trucks or the men, I sat low on the perch and waited. It seemed like an eternity before I heard the door to the cell block creak open. Letting my eyes trace over to the door, I watched as it opened and my father stepped through the door. While I gripped the explosive tight in one hand, I let the other hand move down to the gun on my hip. I had a clear shot and he wasn't expecting it. Daryl seemed to know what I was thinking though, as he grabbed my hand and shook his head at me. Rolling my eyes, I nodded at him and went back to watching the Woodbury army.

They had just walked through the doors and were now examining the cell block. My father was walking through the halls and had just approached the cell where we had been keeping Merle. He looked down at the blood on the floor and I saw the sick grin spread over his face. Taking a few deep breaths, I forced myself to get over the fact that he probably thought he had killed Merle. To my delight, though, he picked up the Bible that Hershel had laid out for him and read the highlighted passage. I watched as his eyes traced over the passage before he held the book away with a disgusted look and threw the book to the side. Smirking, I watched as my father walked his men closer and closer to the back of the cell block, to the stairs.

My breath hitched in my throat as I realized what was happening. My father was going to have them go up the stairs. And if they looked well enough, they would find Daryl and I. Just as my father came up on the stairs, a quiet rattling came from inside the tombs. Stopping in his tracks, my father turned back to his men and motioned them to head into the tombs, half going left and the other half going right. As my father and his men finally disappeared down the hall, I looked up to Daryl with the cock of my eyebrows. He merely shrugged his shoulders and went back to watching the ground.

Sinking low onto the ground, I waited for the signs to begin firing from our group mates. They were going to attack my father's men when they got to the back. Now we had to wait. About five minutes later, I finally heard it. There were screams from the back of the prison, right where our group members all had been laying in wait for my father and his men. Sitting up slightly and positioning myself against the back wall with explosives in my hand, I waited for the men to retreat. Looking over to the entrance to the tombs, I nearly laughed. I could see the smoke from the smoke bombs, red flashes from the flashbangs, and I could hear the small explosions that the light bulbs were making.

Screams were coming everywhere from the inside of the prison, but thankfully none of them were from voices that I recognized. "On the ground! On the ground!" One man was yelling. Yeah asshole, getting on the ground won't help much. We know this place, and we see you. "Go! Get the hell out of here!" The same man yelled as I watched him run out of the tombs. Figuring I'd have some fun, I picked up a light bulb and tossed it at the man. It shattered on his shoulder and I noticed that he was bleeding from the impact.

"Go! Go. Go, go, go. Go! Move! Hit it, hit it, hit it!" I heard another man yell as he exited the tombs. Smiling, I picked up another one of the light bulbs and threw it at the man. I didn't hit him, but it landed in the middle of him and his friends.

Continuing to throw the light bulbs I laughed as the people of Woodbury only began to panic more, storming the door to get out of the cell block. Hopefully they would leave here and never return. "It's working," I mumbled to Daryl as I threw a light bulb at my father. I just barely missed him and had to duck when he turned back to look for the thrower.

As the group crowded the door, one of the men that I was currently throwing explosive after explosive at seemed to become more panicky by the minute. "Go, man! Shit," he yelled to the people at the door as he sidestepped one of the explosives that I threw at him.

The man that was in the front of the door turned back to the man and rolled his eyes. "It's jammed! Hey!" He yelled at the people behind him who were beginning to push him out of the cell block. I laughed as I watched them and continued to throw the light bulbs. We hadn't done anything to the door, they were just panicking too much to think rationally about how to open the door. Finally, they seemed to get the door open and the entire army flooded out of the cell block. I waited for a moment as the entire cell block was once more filled with dark silence. So in the dark we waited, we waited for about ten minutes before the lights came back on in the prison.

I squinted at the sudden intrusion of light and I looked up to Daryl who nodded at me. "Come on," he told me, giving me his hand to help me stand up. Walking back over to the stairs, we made our way down as the rest of the group was beginning to make their way into the living area. I smiled as we made our way down, and I saw that Maggie was walking happily, hand in hand with Glenn.

She looked around at the minor destruction on the inside of the prison. There was lots of broken glass but that was about it. As long as we cleaned the glass up, that was it. We had won. "We did it? We did it. We did it," Maggie yelled with a smile as she jumped into Glenn's arms, the two sharing a happy hug. I didn't kiss or hug Daryl, but I didn't need to. The gentle squeeze he gave my hip was good enough.

"We drove them out," Glenn answered the woman that he loved. He seemed as shocked as the rest of us that our little plan had worked. We were outnumbered, outgunned, everything. There had been almost no chance that we would win this, but sure as shit, we had found a way to do it. And now we would enjoy life in the prison, with the only threat being the walkers.

Rick, who I was not surprised to see wasn't celebrating like the rest of the group, was naturally the buzz kill for everyone. "We should go after them. We should finish it," he told us. The group was silenced and there were plenty of looks being exchanged that were asking why keep going. But he was right. They could get back together and come back here with a vengeance. We had to put a stop to this. Today. Right here while we still had the guts to do it.

Carol, always the peacekeeper, shook her head at Rick. "It is finished. Didn't you see them hightail it out of here?" She asked him, motioning to the door. I shook my head at her. We all wanted to think it was over, but the truth was that we had only scared them. We hadn't killed any of them or given them a reason to never return here. And we still didn't have the resources to fight off a whole army.

Clearly thinking the same thing that I was, Rick shook his head at her. "They could regroup. We can't take the chance. He's not gonna stop. They're right. We can't keep living like this. So we take the fight back to Woodbury," Rick said. I nodded at him. It wasn't going to be safe at all which is why probably only a few of us would be going. But it didn't matter. All we had to do was cut the head off of the snake. All we had to do was get there, and kill my father. If we got rid of him, that was it. The fight was over, the Woodbury people had no qualms against us other than what my father had said.

"We barely made it back last time," Maggie said, cutting into my thoughts. I shook my head at her. That was true, but we were more prepared this time. Everyone knew what they were up against.

"I don't care," Rick said, looking at us. Daryl, Michonne, and I all nodded our heads at him. It appeared that it would be the four of us going and taking the fight back to my father. That was fine, we needed people here to defend the prison in case my father somehow managed to get his troops to return. "Let's check on the others. Come on," Rick said, referring to everyone that we had left in the woods.

I shook my head at Rick and stepped in front of him. "Rick I'll get them, don't worry about it. Help with clean up back here. And get weapons ready for our trip to Woodbury. Prepare for that, OK?" I asked him. Rick nodded and gave me his thanks. I walked past Daryl and nodded at him. "I'll be safe and I'll be right back," I told him. He nodded at me and gave my hand a quick squeeze.

Walking out of the cell block, I examined the damage. It was nothing irreparable. The wooden pallets we had were destroyed but we could get more of those. The towers were no longer on fire, but the tops had been partially blown off. With time though, we could probably fix that. Picking up my pace, I broke into a run and blasted through the woods. The fresh air on my face felt amazing, I had been trapped in there for far too long. The only time that I had gotten out, I had been too worried to enjoy the fresh air. As I rounded the woods, I held my hands up as guns were quickly pointed at me.

"Whoa, just me guys," I laughed at my group members. "Prison is all clear. We won," I told them. I had expected happy smiles or cheers to be going around but it seemed that the only thing I was getting were solemn faces. Moving closer to my group members I saw that eyes were on the ground, behind Merle. I looked around the older man and saw what they were all looking at. I gasped and put my hand over my mouth. It was a guy, clearly from Woodbury who couldn't have been much older than me. He had been shot, straight through the head.

"What happened?" I asked. Carl stormed past me and I almost stopped him, but with no knowledge of what had just happened, I let him go. Beth smiled at me but grabbed Merle's wheelchair and moved past me. I looked back and saw that Judith was in Carl's arms and I sighed. Hershel finally stepped towards me and pulled me close.

Hershel kept his slight limp on me and shook his head as I looked at him. "The boy got separated from the Governor's men. Found us and we ordered him to drop his gun. The boy was leaning down to put the gun on the ground and Carl shot him. Cold blooded. I'm worried about the boy," Hershel told me. I shook my head and looked down at the ground as we walked. I couldn't believe that Carl had done that. Shot some poor kid with no real reason. That kid, like most of those people, had been forced into doing that. And now he was dead.

Reaching the prison, I saw that Carl was talking to his father so I moved out of the room, heading over to where Daryl was standing. Hershel stayed behind though, probably to talk with Rick about what had just happened. I shook my head and walked over to Daryl, letting myself lean onto him. It had been a long day and I was in some serious pain now. But it wasn't over and I would have to push through it. "Just waiting on Rick's all clear to leave," Daryl told me.

I nodded at him and stayed silent. Daryl, as observant as ever pushed me off of him and looked me in the eyes. "What happened out there Rain? I would have thought that you would be celebrating, but you're silent. And not the happy silent, the worried kind." I sighed at Daryl and shook my head. Should I tell him?

Deciding that I might as well, figuring that it would probably come out anyways, especially in a group the size of ours I took a deep breath. Nothing stayed a secret, and Daryl, as well as anyone else, had a right to know this. "Carl shot some kid out there. Not that much younger than me I think. The kid was apparently going to hand his gun over but Carl got trigger happy and killed the kid. That's it. He shot some innocent kid," I told Daryl.

Daryl nodded at me and looked like he was about to say something, but right as he was, Rick called us over. Walking over to our leader and joining the rest of the group, I glanced over at Carl. He was wearing a stone cold face and I could tell that he wasn't happy. Nothing good must have happened in Rick's talk with him. Rick was about to open his mouth to instruct us on what to do when Maggie and Glenn stepped forward. "Rick, we're staying. We don't know where the Governor is. If he comes back, we'll hold him off," Glenn told him. I nodded at the pair. They probably didn't want to go anyways. I didn't blame them. Woodbury was full of bad memories for them.

Rick nodded at the pair of them and looked around to see who was still standing with him. Just as expected, it was myself, Michonne, and Daryl. Daryl was Rick's right hand man, he wouldn't let this go without stepping forward to help. Michonne would take any chance she could to kill my father. And I felt like this was all my fault. I had a responsibility to see this one through all the way. "Just the four of us?" Rick asked as he looked over at us. "All right. I appreciate you staying," he said to Maggie and Glenn as we passed the pair.

"Sure," Glenn responded to our leader as we walked by.

"Come on," Rick called to us as he walked out of the prison. I sighed at the thought of heading back to Woodbury once more, but it didn't matter. This was it. We were going to head back to Woodbury, kill my father and then this will all be over with. The one thing that I had left in my life to fear would be gone. I didn't fear the walkers, they were creepy, but I knew how to take them out. I didn't really fear people, there were still too many good ones left. I didn't fear injury, I had been injured far too many times to fear that anymore. And I most certainly didn't fear death. When my time comes, that will be it. I will welcome it.

The walk to Woodbury was long and hot, but I had been expecting that. We were in the middle of the humid, Georgia winter. Sometimes it would be nice to be back in winter. At least this time we would be prepared. Not like last time where we had me on death's door step and another person about ready to give birth, hopping from one run down farmhouse to the next. No, this time we had a home to go to and a place where we were all protected.

Looking up as we walked through the road, I saw that there was a truck on the side of the road, with dead bodies and walkers surrounding it. "What the hell?" I muttered as we walked by. Pulling out my knife, I took down two walkers that were too busy eating to pay us any mind. Grabbing a third, I yanked it up by its hair and nearly shouted when I saw its face. It was one of the men that had been yelling in the prison. I had hit him with an explosive. These were my father's men. Driving my knife up into the walker's skull, I dropped the body and turned to Rick. "These are my father's men," I told him.

Rick looked through the bodies for a few minutes and I immediately knew what he was doing. He was looking to see if any of the dead men, or walkers, were my father. The rest of us joined in, but after a few minutes I shook my head. My father wasn't here. Neither was Martinez. So where the hell had the two of them gone? And why were all of their men dead? A rattle inside of the truck shook me out of my stupor and I walked over to the door, ready to open it with a knife in my hand. As soon as I flung the door open, however, I saw that there was a woman cowering inside. Looking at her, I put my knife back into it's holster and held my hand out to her. "It's OK, we won't hurt you," I told the woman. She was older than me for sure, but that didn't mean that she didn't need to be treated carefully. This had clearly been pretty traumatizing to her, whatever had happened. The woman took my hand and climbed down from the truck, looking straight back to where Rick, Daryl, and Michonne stood.

The woman observed them for a moment before she brought her gaze back to me. She stared at me for a moment before her eyes widened. "I know you. You're his daughter," she said to me.

I nodded at her and took a step back. "Yes, I am. But I'm also the girl who just saved your life. Me and my friends here, we won't hurt you OK? All you have to do is simple. Tell me your name, what happened here, and bring us back to Woodbury," I told the woman. She stared at me for a moment more and I thought there might be a fight, but after a minute, she nodded at me.

"My name is Karen. I-I don't really know what happened. You and your people drove us out of the prison and we retreated. We were driving here when the Governor stopped us. He got out and had us all get out too. He yelled at us to go back but too many people were too afraid to go so he just started shooting. He killed everyone, except for Martinez and I. Martinez got away and I just hid until the Governor went away. I don't know where, but it didn't look like the prison or Woodbury. Why do you want to go there?" She asked.

I knew that Rick was going to tell her the truth and there was no way that she would take us if we told her that, so I cut Rick off before he could begin. "We have some friends there. Tyreese and Sasha. Andrea? Maybe you know them? We're done with this fight. If you could take us there and get us to our friends, we will leave and the two groups will never have to see or hear from each other again. OK?" I asked her.

Karen seemed to think about it for a moment before she nodded. "They're all there. I'll take you. But you get your friends and then you get gone. Understand?" She asked me and I nodded. Karen nodded back at me before walking off in the direction of Woodbury, myself and my group mates just behind her. The walk to Woodbury had once more gone silent and for that I was grateful. I didn't know how much more talking and negotiating I could do today.

It was just about another five minutes when we finally came up on the border of Woodbury. Looking up to the gates I could see that it was Tyreese and Sasha guarding the gates. So they were here. To my shock, right as they saw us, the pair opened fire. The five of us ducked behind a car, and I looked over to Karen with an angry glare. I suppose I couldn't be mad at her though, she hadn't done anything. It had probably been my father telling them about what absolute monsters we were. Karen yelled to the pair to cease fire, which they did not. However, they did slow down the hail of bullets. "We're coming out! We're coming out," Rick yelled to the pair and he stepped out from behind the car. Cautiously, so did myself, Daryl, Michonne, and Karen.

Both Tyreese and Sasha were holding their guns, but I was happy to see that their fingers were off of the triggers. "What are you doing here?" The brother called to us. He didn't look happy but he also didn't look like he wanted to kill us, which I took as a good sign. He hadn't shot us where we were standing yet so that was some progress.

Rick stepped past the rest of us and kept his gaze locked onto Tyreese. I figured that Rick would eventually take over, that was just his natural instinct by now. "We were coming to finish this until we saw what the Governor did," he told them. Both siblings looked at each other with confusion and looked towards Karen who explained to them what had happened to her.

Shock was clearly written on the faces of the siblings who exchanged glances with each other. After a few beats of silence, the siblings finally looked down at us, and this time it was Sasha who spoke to us. "He- he killed them?" She stuttered. It was obvious that my father had used his charm on them just as he had the rest of his residents. People who were all dead now. Dead or afraid.

Not one to be gentle or soften the blow for anyone, Rick nodded his head. "Yeah," he answered the younger sibling bluntly. I turned my gaze to Rick and glared at him, but he didn't notice. I knew that he wanted this to be over, but currently they had the power over us. It would be smart of us to be nice to them. Especially while they had guns aimed at us and were both ready to shoot.

Both siblings hopped down off of the wall and for a moment, I thought that they were just going to leave us out here. But after a moment, the barricade door swung open, and Sasha and Tyreese allowed us in. Our group walked quickly in and once we were all reintroduced to one another, the siblings brought us to what looked like Woodbury's Town Hall. I looked over all of the citizens and I almost felt bad for what I had done to their friends and family. But I hadn't been the one to kill them, I had no reason to feel bad. These were all women and children, elderly, and a few able bodied people that seemed to be looking out for the town in my father's stead.

As we were introduced to the people of Woodbury, I saw the looks of doubt file across the crowd. Knowing that these people would something serious to trust them, I stepped forward. Daryl tried to hold me back, but I shook him off of me lightly. Stepping in front of the group of people, I shook my head. It was a big group, probably near forty people. "Look, our people clearly don't get along and I'm not good at this stuff, but I'll try. This man right here is Rick Grimes. He is our leader over at the prison. You all are weak right now. He could have brought us over here and ordered an attack on your people. But he didn't. Instead, we came here to resolve this in peace. Now, my name is Rain. Some of you know me. Some of you do not. But my whole name is Rain Blake. That probably doesn't mean anything to you. But, your leader, the man that you call The Governor, his name is Brian Blake. He is my father. I lived with this man for fourteen years before I left. He beat me, sent me to the hospital, wouldn't feed me, and treat me as if I was less than a parasite. If he treated me, his own flesh and blood, like that, how do you think he will treat you? This is all an act that he's putting on for you. His monster, and it's there, it's about to come out. And he will take it out on you. That's why we're here. To bring you safety. We offer you all a place to start over. The prison. Our home," I said motioning to my group members. "We'll give you a while to think it over," I said quietly.

As I walked away from the people that remained in Woodbury, the jabbering started up once more and I smiled. Sure, it had been an improvising situation but it had worked. And it had been a little white lie, but they didn't need to know that. Turning back to Rick, I hoped that I hadn't offended him by saying something so huge without his permission. Instead of getting mad though, my leader simply nodded at me. "Karen told us Andrea hopped the wall going for the prison," Tyreese told us, breaking me from my thoughts.

The four of us all exchanged looks, knowing that Andrea had never been at the prison. Not before the meeting with my father. "She never made it," Rick said to them. Once more, the confused looks went around the group, everyone trying to figure out where Andrea was.

After a beat of silence, Daryl perked up and looked at Rick. "She might be here. This is where he had Glenn, Maggie, and Rain," he said, looking back to me briefly. I grunted slightly, it wasn't exactly a time that I liked to think about. Hell, I wished that it had never happened. That the two groups could have lived in peaceful ignorance. But that isn't the way that the cards played out.

"The Governor held people here?" Tyreese asked with a shocked look. I nearly laughed at the man before I remembered that I was immune to his charm. Most people thought he was sincere, wanting to help people live through this hell on Earth. They had no idea of the monster that lay under the pretty facade.

Daryl snorted at Tyreese and looked down at his feet. "He did more than hold them," he said. I knew that I twitched slightly and Daryl looked at me in concern, but I shook my head at him. Just bad memories.

Rummaging through my mind I tried to think about where my father would have been keeping Andrea when I figured out where she could have been. Exactly where he kept me. We had to hurry up though, we didn't know what was with Andrea, or waiting for her. "I think I know where she is. Come on!" I yelled before running out of the room with my group members on my tail. Making my way into the tomb like area behind the city hall I dashed down the corridors, remembering them from my brief stay here. Finally coming up onto the room that I had been in, I banged against the door, but the bolt there had been thrown. It was locked.

I began to bang against the door but it was no use. The door wouldn't budge against just one of us. "Will you open it?" Michonne asked me and I turned back to her with a dark glare. Rick pulled me out of the way and both he and Daryl leaned up against the door.

Rick looked at Daryl, who nodded back at him. The two men leaned against the door and took in deep breaths, preparing to break the door down. "One, two-" and with that bang the door smashed open. Running into the room, Rick dashed in and dropped out of sight. "Andrea!" I could hear him yell. Running into the room, I nearly vomited at the sight. Milton was laying dead on the floor with a pair of pliers in his head. Judging by the yellow tint in his eyes, Andrea had killed him when he was a walker. I turned to the back of the room and saw that there was dentist chair in the middle of the room that was covered in blood. Looking back to the wall I glanced down beside Rick and felt my eyes water. Andrea was leaning against the wall with a huge bite mark in her neck. Milton had gotten to her before we could.

I leaned down besides her with the rest of my group and looked down at her with pity. Michonne was sitting on her knees next to Andrea with tear filled eyes and Rick was leaning down in front of her. Daryl was standing back slightly, but I could tell that even he was sad for the loss. "I tried to stop them," Andrea said. Her eyes were closing and I knew that she didn't have much time left.

Rick put his hand up to her forehead and hissed slightly. "You're burning up," he told her as he dropped his hand back into his lap. Rick was looking around for something to save Andrea with, but we all knew that it was too late. At least if nothing else, Andrea would finally be able to be with Amy after all this time.

"Judith, Carl, the rest of them," Andrea mumbled softly to Rick. I knew that she was talking about our group. The people here and waiting back at the prison. The people that she had once been a part of.

Rick shook his head at her and put his hand over her heart. I knew by the look on his face that he heart beat had slowed down drastically. She was close to death. "Us. The rest of us," Rick told her.

Andrea smiled and I began to see tears running down her face. I wasn't sure if they were happy or not though. "Are they alive?" She asked him with a deep breath. Andrea coughed and I saw a little bit of blood come up. Shaking my head, I knew what that meant. She had some type of internal bleeding, probably in her lungs. It wouldn't be long before she was gone.

Rick nodded at her. "Yeah, they're alive."

The look on her face was nothing more than relief as she smiled. "It's good you found them. No one can make it alone now. I never could. I just didn't want anyone to die," she said. I smiled at her knowing that she had never meant for things to go this far. She just wanted us to be able to live together in peace. A feat that was never going to happen.

Stepping forward and moving Rick out of my way softly, I leaned down to Andrea. We had never been friends but I needed to make my peace with her now, before it was too late. There was no use holding a grudge against a dead person. Grabbing her hand, I smiled as she squeezed it gently. "Hey Andrea, I'm sorry. About everything," I told her softly.

She smiled at me and shook her head gently. "I am too Rain. But it's over now," she told me. I nodded at her and walked back to my spot letting Rick take his spot in front of her back. "I can do it myself," Andrea said as she raised a gun into her lap.

"No," Rick said immediately, taking the gun out of her hands. But Andrea jerked the gun away from him and kept it tightly by her side.

She shook her head and I saw that tears were once more filling in her eyes. "I have to. While I still can. Please? I know how the safety works," she told him. I smiled at the reference to the first time that Rick and I had met her. Andrea had raised the gun to Rick's temple without having the safety off. Even if she had wanted to kill him she wouldn't have been able to kill him.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere," Michonne said after Rick had nodded his consent to her. I patted Michonne on the shoulder as I walked out of the room giving Andrea a pat on the shoulder as I walked by. Both Rick and Daryl said their goodbyes and the three of us filed into the hallway, closing the door behind us letting the girls say their goodbyes. We moved into the main room and sat there, waiting. After a minute of silence, a loud bang made the three of us jump. That was it. Andrea was dead. One more group member was gone.

Sighing, I watched as Michonne walked out of the room and nodded at her. The woman was crying and carrying Andrea's body. "We take her body back to the prison. She deserves that much. No matter what, she was always one of us," I told the group. Rick nodded and took the dead woman from Michonne. Running back into the room, I grabbed a sheet and threw it over Andrea's body. Silently, we all walked back over to the Town Hall and made our way inside. The Woodbury people looked at us and I shook my head. "This is one of ours. One of yours too. We're leaving. If you want, you can come with us. But know that once you step inside of those gates, you are one of us. There is no going back," I told them. It took a few minutes, but eventually all of the citizens of Woodbury were being loaded into a school bus.

Sighing once more, I climbed into the car that Tyreese had pointed us to and moved to the side for Daryl to climb in. Rick climbed into the drivers seat, giving Tyreese directions back to the prison. Michonne hopped into the passenger seat, and handed Daryl and I Andrea's body. Moving it into the back row, I gently laid her down and turned back to the front window as the car started up. The ride to the prison was short and silent. But thankfully we arrived quickly.

Making our way into the prison gate I heard Rick tell Carol not to close the gates, and a moment later I noticed that the school bus had pulled up behind us. Parking the car, I climbed out and stood next to Daryl, near Glenn and Maggie as we watched the people of Woodbury exit the bus and get a first look at their new home. "What is this?" Carl asked Rick as he walked up to his father.

Rick looked out at the people of Woodbury and nodded to them. "They're gonna join us," Rick told his son. I nodded at the man and let my hand slip into Daryl's as I watched our new group members get acclimated. It was over. My father was maybe not dead, but he was gone. Woodbury was no longer a threat, I had saved Merle, and we were all going to be OK. There was still the walkers, but at least for now, we were all safe. And this was our home.


	34. 30 Days

Yawning deeply, I rolled over to the edge of the bed that Daryl and I shared, and smiled at the man. He was already awake and sharpening a bolt besides me. He let one hand release the bolt and run it past the back of my head. He slowly ran his fingers up the base of my skull, grabbing the roots of my hair and pulling my face to his. I smiled into the kiss and let him pull me close. Our lips moved together and I had no intentions of pulling away any time soon. I felt the sharp poke of the bolt, but I ignored it. This had been a great last month for everyone, and everything. And I was not finding anything to complain about.

Daryl had slowly gotten more affectionate with me, not that he was anywhere near OK with affection around other people. But I was just fine with that. I didn't need him to be all over me in public, I just wanted him to show that he cared at least when we were in private. But it wasn't just my own relationship that was doing well, the group was in higher spirits than I had seen them in a long time. Beth was in a relationship with a boy that I had nearly killed on a run a few months back. He had raised his gun at me and I threw the knife that I had been carrying. He was lucky that he had seen it coming, or he would have gotten a too-close shave. We had added a new member to the group, Bob, as well. He was sweet, but very quiet. I knew that he would prove himself useful soon, I mean he had only been here a week. Karen had grown close with Tyreese as well, the pair in a close relationship. It seemed that everyone had been doing well recently.

The group hadn't suffered any losses either. Merle had made it through his severe injuries, with only minimal complaining. Of course, I had threatened to tear out his vocal cords a few times. Carol had become much stronger, now a key part of the group. Beth had as well, she was now getting to the point where she was as brave as her sister. Maggie, she was now engaged- or something like that- to Glenn. Who knows what those two are doing. But they're happy and that's all that matters. Rick had renounced his spot as our leader as well. That had been odd. It was now just a team effort. Well, more of a council. A group of people that were making the decisions, not just one. On it was Carol, Daryl, Hershel, Glenn, Tyreese, Sasha, and myself. Carl, he had been a different story. Rick was trying to get him to act like a normal kid again, but everyone could see that it wasn't working very well. The rest of the Woodbury residents had settled in as well and they were all doing well here. After all, they had now had about four of five months to get used to life here. And with the extra manpower we had no problem getting supplies together to keep everyone alive. Hell, we even had a real doctor now. He and Hershel saw over everyone at the prison who got as little as a scratch.

And then there was my father. No one had gotten any word from him recently. Not since the attack on the prison failed and he slaughtered all of his men. Merle and Michonne usually went out on hunts to see what had happened with him, but they always came up empty handed. The first place they had checked was Woodbury, but it had been a ghost town. There was absolutely no one there. They had even stayed for a few days to see if someone would eventually come back, but no one ever did. A few months ago, they had passed back by the town and apparently the whole thing had been burnt to a crisp. And so was the end of Woodbury. They still went out on hunts for him every few days, but every time that they came back, they came back with nothing. Michonne was out on a hunt right now, probably due back at any time. But Merle hadn't gone with her. Why, I had no idea.

Sitting up, I shook my hair out and laughed as the sheet fell from around my collarbone. Daryl eyed my bare chest darkly and I laughed, standing up from the bed. That was one of the things about having nearly seventy people under our care. We needed places for everyone to go. We had needed to utilize another one of the cell blocks, and Daryl and I had lost the perch. I hadn't liked the idea of sleeping in a cell but I had grown rather fond of it recently. We hung sheets up over the cells so that everyone could get their privacy, and it had quickly proved useful. It meant that Daryl and I no longer needed to go out on a hunt if we wanted to get any time to ourselves. Stepping out of the bed I shivered from the cold of the air hitting my bare body and quickly grabbed my clothes. Without turning around I knew that Daryl was following every little movement I made with his eyes.

Grabbing some new clothes that I had nabbed on the last run that I had been on, I looked them over closely. We were going out on a run today so I knew that I needed something tight. The air was still hot as hell so I grabbed my small clothes. Pulling out a tight black cloth vest, I slipped it over my shoulders and zipped up the front. Dropping down to my side, I grabbed a pair of white spandex shorts as well. I knew that they would undoubtedly get dirty, but they would work for the run. I grabbed a hair tie and pulled my hair up. It was getting too long. Down flat, it hit the middle of my back. Soon I would have to get one of the girls to give it a cut. Probably to just below my shoulders. It may be the apocalypse, but damn it, I would still keep my hair the way I liked it.

Grabbing my guns from the table, I smiled at my new holster. Glenn had found it on the last run that he had gone out on and given it to me. It had five spaces for my throwing knives to slip in. It also had a gun holster on the right hip, and I loved it. On the left hip it had room for two magazines to go into, and I slipped them in. Grabbing my thigh holster, I buckled it around the middle of my right thigh and slipped my other gun into it. I pulled my sheath of arrows over my head and rested my strap on my left shoulder. Putting my bow on the desk, I mentally reminded myself to come back and get the thing before it was time to leave.

I turned back and jumped as I saw that Daryl was now fully clothed and ready to leave as well. He smiled at me and I nodded. Throwing the sheet back and pushing the door open, I stepped through the opening and waited for Daryl. He quickly made his way through and let the door close behind him. We walked over the balcony and made our way down the stairs, side by side. We weren't holding hands or anything, but our bodies were as close as humanly possible. Making our way through the area, I heard chattering at the end of the hall but it wasn't anything unusual. With so many people living here, you always heard people talking.

Heading to the prison yard for breakfast, I stopped as I noticed that it was Rick and Carl that were the ones talking. Daryl stopped as well and gave me a sidelong look. I pointed to the father and son duo and Daryl nodded at me. Carl was standing by his father giving him a slightly confused look. I guess that was progress, normally it was an angry look. "You didn't wake me up," Carl said to his father. Raising my eyebrows I looked on at the pair in confusion. Normally it was an argument for Rick to give his son his gun back. But everyone knew that there was no way that Carl would be getting his gun back for a while. Not after what he had done to that kid during the attack on the prison.

Rick smiled at his son and I couldn't help but smile as well. Maybe this would be a civil conversation after all. The first one that the pair would have had in a long time. He grabbed his son on the shoulder and smiled at him. "'Cause I knew you were up all night reading comics with a flashlight," Rick said. I laughed slightly and the pair both turned to Daryl and I. Daryl slapped me on the back of the head and I stomped on his foot. It wasn't my fault, it was just funny. It sounded like something that a father would have said to his son when they were headed to school in the morning. It sounded like something from before all of this.

Smirking at the pair, I walked past the duo and ran my hand through Carl's hair. The younger boy shook my hand off, but smiled at me anyways. Deciding to make the time good fun and not get in trouble for eavesdropping, I turned to Carl and looked him in the eye. I was shocked for a moment. He was really growing up, and he was growing up fast. The kid was nearly as tall as me, probably only two or three inches off. "God Carl, you need to stop being such a child. You're 12 years old, you should stop acting like such a child!" I yelled at the young boy. Carl laughed deeply and I walked past him.

As I walked past the pair with Daryl on my heels, I dropped my hand onto Rick's shoulder and smiled at him. Rick rolled his eyes at me but I knew that he was smiling at me on the inside. "Thank you Rain," he said slowly as sarcastically as he possibly could. I shrugged my shoulders exaggerating the lift and smiled at him. Rick exasperatedly sighed at me but he laughed lightly at me anyways. As we walked past he grabbed his son by the shoulders and led him out to the prison yard behind us. But as we veered off for the food being prepared, Rick and Carl walked off the pig and horse pen. Rick had taken over the role of the farmer and I had to say, it suited him well.

Slowly making my way over to the food station, I smiled at Daryl who merely rolled his eyes at me. He always insisted that I acted like a child, but it was so easy to tell that he liked when I made my stupid jokes or teased people. Especially when he wasn't my target. "You know he's probably going to kill you one day?" Daryl asked me. I laughed at him and gently pulled him along. I was starving and whatever was cooking smelled great. Daryl took over the cooking station and began to rotate whatever was on the grill. My stomach growled loudly and Daryl turned to me with a laugh. "Be patient, it'll be done soon," he told me. I grumbled lowly under my breath and had to restrain myself from hitting Daryl when I heard him laugh.

"Morning, Daryl," a voice called and I turned around to see that it was our new doctor. I had missed his name when he was introduced but I knew that he was nice. I waved to the doctor and he greeted me as well. That's more like it, I mean what am I? Chopped liver? I don't think so. I deserve a little recognition as well I think. I mean, I've saved his ass I don't even know how many times.

Giving the doctor a polite smile, Daryl looked up from the grill and nodded to the younger man. "What's up, Dr. S?" Daryl asked the man. Clearly it had been rhetorical as Daryl looked back down at the grill and continued on with his work. My stomach once more growled as the smell of the food wafted into my nose. Daryl looked at me with a small smile and I glared deeply at him. I grabbed a knife and got to work on the food, hoping that I could make it go faster. I had missed dinner last night because I'd been getting my leg stitched up. Some kid that we had found with her sister and father, Lizzie I thought her name was. The crazy kid was getting too close to the group of walkers that were crowded outside the fence. I had gone up to grab her away but when she had felt me grab her waist she freaked out and spun around. Her knife had cut into the bottom of my thigh and left a pretty good gash. Carol had quickly stitched it up and left to have a word with Lizzie, but I had still been too late to get my food.

Rolling my eyes, I knew that I would have to find Lizzie later today and talk to her. Or maybe her father. I wasn't sure that if I looked at Lizzie, I wouldn't kill the little freak. "Morning, Daryl," another voice called and I turned. It was an older woman that we had taken in from Woodbury. Her name was Marge and she seemed to love Daryl for some weird reason. But even weirder, she seemed to hate me. Probably because of my father. Most of the Woodbury residents that were here tended to stay away from me. Not that I minded. I had my group and they were all that I needed. The Woodbury residents had been out of guilt almost. We couldn't just leave them there as food for the walkers.

"Morning, Daryl," a man that we had found a few weeks ago called as he walked past. I turned back to the voice and nodded my hello, which he responded. I didn't know his name, but he seemed nice enough. He was closer with Glenn and Maggie than he was with anyone else from our original group. But he was still polite with all of us.

I laughed at the fact that Daryl still, after all these months was uncomfortable with the attention. He had nodded to all of the people that were greeting him, but he looked as uncomfortable as ever. It was just something that he would have to get over. People loved him now and they always would. "Hey, Daryl! Smells good," a woman's voice called. I looked back and cocked my eyebrows. I had no idea who the woman even was. I saw Carol walking up and I mouthed to her asking who the woman was. She shrugged her shoulders and came to stand on Daryl's other side.

Nudging Daryl roughly with my shoulder, I smiled at him. "Boy, aren't you just the popular kid on the block lately?" I teased him. He nudged me back lightly but put his right arm around me and his left around Carol. I had never been one to be jealous, and even in the apocalypse, I still wasn't. I knew that Carol was the first person in the group, maybe even before me, to like Daryl. I mean hell, he had almost died trying to save Sophia. And she had worked with me at the time to not let him pull away from the group. They were friends and they were close. And that was OK. I was close with Glenn, Rick, Tyreese, and Bob.

Daryl looked over at the both of us and smiled. As he looked down at the grill I knew that the food was ready and I could finally get something to eat in me. "Just so you know, we liked you first," Carol told him. The three of us all laughed and I let out a small sigh. How was it that I had a better social life and real friends after the world ended? I mean these people were the kinds of people that I had always wanted in my life. These were the kind of people that I knew that I deserved.

Not liking the fact that I was getting all mushy inside and we were getting too lovey dovey for my liking, I pushed Daryl's arm off of me and walked up to the grill. I grabbed a paper plate and pulled a piece of the meat onto my plate. "Fuck you. I may have liked you first, but food and I have been together much longer." I tore off a piece of the meat and ate it quickly, smiling as the food settled in my stomach. Both Daryl and Carol were laughing at me, Carol slapping me on the back. I laughed and handed both of them a piece of what was on my plate. I couldn't eat too much, I didn't want to be sick on the run. That would just make for more trouble.

Laughing at me, Daryl shook his head and the look on his face was serious. That was just the way that he was. He could only joke around for so long before he had to get serious. But it was good to be that way in this world. You couldn't afford to be joking around all the time when things were the way that they were. Not when death was around every corner. "Stop. You know, Rick brought in a lot of them, too." I looked at Daryl and nodded. He was right, but he had taken over Rick's spot as the leader. Despite the fact that we had a council, Daryl was the main leader on it. Nothing ever went past the group without his consent. Recently, Rick had been staying in, being a father to Carl and Judith. Daryl had been the one going out on runs and saving people that were in danger.

Carol seemed to be thinking the same thing that I was as she shook her head. "Not recently. Give the stranger sanctuary, keeping people fed, you're gonna have to learn to live with the love." I nodded at her. She was right. There was only so long that he would be able to save people and still stay under the radar. People were bound to notice him eventually.

Coughing slightly I looked at Daryl with a small smirk. He rolled his eyes, knowing that whatever I was about to say wouldn't be good. Not for him at least. "Well, the love and you'll have to learn to bathe more often," I told him. Daryl rolled his eyes but laughed anyways, along with Carol. I knew that he got sick of me making jokes sometimes but I had to. Without doing it, I always felt like things got too serious. I didn't like how serious things got. I was always the type of person that wanted things to go smoothly, but made a joke out of them when they didn't. It was too hard to be serious all the time. There had to be a good balance. And I had partially meant it. We had a good way to keep getting water, and it was time that he utilize our water supply.

With a snort, Daryl shoved me once more and I laughed. "Right. Shut up girl," he told me. I smiled at him. He only called me girl when I was teasing him. It was his affectionate way of cursing at me. Walking over to our washing pile, I threw the plate into it and walked back over to the pair. Most of the time it was the older residents or the kids that did the wash. That way, it was easy for the able bodied people and the fighters to keep occupied with supply runs, defense of the prison, and walkers. We had too many things to be doing to be worried about doing things like the dishes and the laundry.

Carol moved off to the side, over to where a younger boy named Patrick was standing, serving himself. He was a sweet kid with a gentle soul. I liked Patrick but I knew that he would always need to stay in the prison. At least for the next few years. He was too afraid to go out in the world. I didn't blame him. For a kid to start seeing things like this, it was freaky. Some kids grew up fast, like Carl, and others revert to being the afraid little kid. It didn't matter though, Patrick was good for doing chores whenever you asked him to. He did it fast and efficiently. He was smart too. He would make a good teacher for the kids as he grew up. "I need you both to see something," Carol said. I turned to her and looked back at Daryl. The two of us nodded at Carol turned back to the younger kid. "Patrick, you want to take over?" She asked him.

A good little soldier like always, Patrick nodded his head. "Yes, ma'am." I slowly walked over to the walkway where Carol was standing, smiling at Patrick as I walked by. I turned to see where Daryl was, but it seemed that Patrick had jumped out in front of him. "Mr. Dixon, I just wanted to thank you for bringing that deer back yesterday. It was a real treat, sir. And I'd be honored to shake your hand," Patrick said to him. His hand was sticking out and I smiled once more. Daryl looked like Patrick was offering him a human heart. Laughing at Daryl I poked him lightly in the ribs and eyed Patrick's hand. Daryl smiled at me lightly and took his hand, raising it to his mouth and licking it. Grabbing Patrick;s hand before the young boy could take it back, Daryl shook his head tightly with a smug smirk. After a moment, he released his grip on the young boy's hand and walked away.

I gave Patrick an apologetic smile as Daryl walked away and I ran after him, grabbing Carol and pulling her with me. She was staring after Daryl a mix of disgust and pride on her face. I was sure that mine looked very similar. Running after him, we finally caught up and fell into step with him. Slapping Daryl on the back, I rolled my eyes at him. "Charming sweetie. I can see why they like you. And I'm with you why again?" I asked after a good pause. The pair both laughed and we made the rest of our walk out to the fences in silence.

Looking down at the fences I noticed what it was before Carol even told us what it was. There was a huge build up of walkers at the base of the fences. They were all leaning onto the fence, and the fence was slowly bending. I grimaced at the look of the fence and began to pray that the fence would be able to hold them. The fences had been fine for months but we had never been like this. Before we had added that many people to the prison, we were all rarely outside. Normally we spent the majority of our days inside. We only would really be out in the yard if we had to burn something, or if we had to leave. Now we were out there all the time. It was where we cleaned the rainwater, and it was where we prepared the food. It was also where most people liked to hang out. It was nice out here, especially with the weather, but we might not be able to risk it for that much longer. We might have to start ordering people to stay inside if they really want something. That way we can manage the walkers for a while. I mean hell, I don't know what to do if these fences come down. Right now, we just really either needed to get rid of them, or we needed to make better supports for the fences.

Arriving at the bottom of the walkway, both Daryl and I shook our heads. It was the two of us, plus Carol, Sasha, Glenn, and Maggie. I went to stand next to the girl and gave her a small smile. I didn't really see her that much these days, and I missed her. She had been extremely twitchy lately and I had my assumptions why, but it wasn't my business to get involved. She smiled back at me and leaned on me lightly. Sasha walked up to us and pointed down the fence line. Right where she was pointing was a huge pile of walker corpses. They were all permanently dead. "That place is good to go. We're gonna move on it," she told us.

The group all nodded at her and Glenn stepped forward. The walker infestation had become a big problem over the council, but it was too hard to handle. We were too loud as a group now. We were constantly drawing walkers over. And even when we get rid of the ones that are standing there now, there will be more in the morning. "The thing is, we had a pretty big buildup overnight. Dozens more towards tower three. It's getting as bad as last month," Glenn said. I nodded at him. Last month there had been so many walkers that had been gathering around the south fences, they had almost come down. Myself, Michonne, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, Sasha, Tyreese, Rick, Merle, Carol, and a few of the Woodbury men had all had to go out and take the walkers down by hand. We had lost one of the men in the whole business too. But it had been the last death that we'd had for a month. Thankfully.

Maggie pulled herself off of me and shook her head. "They don't spread out anymore," she said. I nodded lightly. Had I not known any better, I would have sworn that they were learning. That they were learning that if they all grouped together they would be able to knock the fences over. But that was silly. They were just mindless shells of what used to be people.

The group was silent for a minute, watching the fence as it swayed slightly. I took in a deep breath, waiting for the fence to fall, but it never did. It merely bowed slightly, and went back to its original spot. "With more of us sitting here, we're drawing more of them out. You get enough of those damn fence-clingers, they start to herd up. Pushing against the fences again," Sasha said. I nodded at her. She had said exactly what I was thinking. Maybe we would need to rule on keeping everyone inside as much as possible.

I debated bringing it up back and forth through my mind for a few times before Daryl spoke up beside me. "It's manageable, but unless we get ahead of it, not for long," he said. He was right, this wouldn't work for very long. These fences couldn't hold them forever. They weren't intended for this. They were only intended to keep people from running. Sasha, Glenn, and Maggie all walked up to the fences, with blunt objects in their hands. Driving the rods and swords through the fences, they took out the walkers one by one. But just like we had feared, when we took one out, the next popped up in its place.

I turned away from the scene and sighing at Daryl. He was right that we had to do something about the walkers, but the question was, what? Carol walked up to Daryl and put her hand lightly on his shoulder. "Sorry, Pookie," she told him teasingly. I snorted at the name and smiled at Daryl, walking up to him.

"That's great Carol. Why didn't I think of that?" I asked the older woman. Daryl knocked into my shoulder and I laughed at him. Carol nodded a goodbye at us and I gave the woman a small smile. It was time for us to head back inside. We needed to finish getting ready for the run. I was sure that we would be leaving soon. We made our way quickly up the drive and passed back through the sitting area in the yard. I couldn't help but to glare at the families and older people that were sitting there. They were all talking and laughing like they had no idea what was going on out there. I rolled my eyes. Most of them were from Woodbury. Had they ever actually had to fight to stay alive? Anything like we had had to do? Probably not. No, and they had no idea what we did to keep them safe. They had no idea at all. Not that it was their fault. They weren't competent, so we didn't ask them to help. I was just being bitter because had to work so hard to make sure that their lives were better. And all it got us was death, and injuries.

Grabbing the door to the cell block, I threw the metal door open and stepped through. Daryl came through a moment after me and I began to walk back to our cell on the second level. I had to grab my bow before we left. Just as I began to walk through the area though, I heard a conversation coming from Beth's cell. Judging from the voices I figured that it was her boyfriend, Zach, who was paying her a visit. I held a hand out to Daryl and forced him to stop. He gave me an odd look but I shook my head at him. "They're shorthanded right now. I figured I'd step up to help, go with 'em. Just, you know, wanted to make sure that I saw you before," Zach said to her. I smiled at the boy. He wasn't that old but he was always volunteering to help out with whatever he could. He was a good guy that had found a good girl in a horrible world. I was happy for the two of them. It was good to see Beth with someone anyways. She hadn't really had anyone other than family after the farm was overrun and Jimmy was bit saving Rick, Carl, and I. I still felt guilty for that.

I waited for a moment for Beth to say something back to him, but what came out of her mouth wasn't what I had expected. "Okay," she said simply. I sat by the cell door and waited for her to say something else. But that was it. It was obvious that that was all she had to say to him.

After a few minutes it seemed to become obvious to him as well as he nodded at her and coughed lightly. I bet that had hurt him, why had Beth just played it off like he wasn't doing anything important? I knew she cared for him, but that wasn't the way to show it. "I just- 'cause, you know, it's dangerous going out there," Zach responded to her, stumbling over his words.

She stood there for a moment before nodding and smiling at Zach. Had I not known Beth I would have thought that she didn't care about him at all, but I knew that it wasn't the case. "I know," she told him softly before patting his shoulder and walking over to the dresser that we had found a few months ago. She pulled out a small journal and I nearly laughed. Even with all of this she still kept a journal. I hadn't had one since I was about eight, and they were never entries that I wanted to remember.

Zach stood in the corner of the room and stared at her for a few moments. Clearly he was in as much disbelief as I was. "Okay, are you gonna say good-bye?" He awkwardly said after a beat of silence.

"Nope," Beth told him before walking back to the corner of the room and putting her journal back into the dresser. She closed the drawer quickly and walked back across the room. The whole time she avoided any contact with her boyfriend. I was sure that if I ever did that Daryl would just pin me up against the wall and force it out of me. Although I might enjoy that.

Daryl walked past me and I tried to stop him, but it was too late. He flew past me and walked into the cell. Zach stood awkwardly in the corner for a moment and fled the room. I nearly laughed at the younger boy but I didn't think that laughing would help his confidence at all. Not that confidence was really all that important these days. As Zach fled out of the room I snorted lightly. "It's like a damn romance novel," Daryl growled as he leaned against the door. Beth laughed at his comment and lightly brushed past him. I wasn't really sure what she was doing, a little spring cleaning perhaps?

Deciding that I should join in on the fun, I walked up to the younger girl and threw my arm over her shoulder. "Wow Beth, I thought that I wasn't a romantic but I think you've got me beat," I jibbed at her. She laughed back at me and rolled my arm off of her. I loved Beth like a sister and I was proud of her. She had slowly been coming out of her shell these past few months. She was becoming stronger, and a more valuable part of the group. She was starting to take after Maggie.

Walking sideways, I fell into Daryl's side and turned back at the door of the cell. I noticed that Merle was walking past, so I gave him a quick wave. He walked over slowly to the cell and I nodded to Daryl. We walked out of the cell and stood to the side, waiting for Merle to catch up. I really wanted to know why he hadn't gone along with Michonne this time. "Little brother, princess, how's it going?" Merle asked as we stood outside of the cell. Merle waved lightly to Beth who rolled her eyes and went to lay down in her bed.

I grabbed Merle's arm and pulled him away from the younger girl's cell. Merle was out of eye shot, but I could still just make her out. "Come on you, don't need you corrupting the only innocence we have left," I told him quietly. I winked at Beth as we turned the corner and laughed. I really meant it though. Merle was a nice guy, but he didn't need to be around Beth. She was too sweet to see things like him. We needed some innocence left in the world. "Going on the supply run soon," I finally responded to Merle. He seemed to perk up a little bit, but I had to cut off those hopes. Merle was still learning how to get on during group runs. We still had a hard time trusting him with things after the Atlanta issue. Even if that was almost a year and a half ago. Or something like that. "Why didn't you go with Michonne on her hunt for the Governor this time? You always do," I finally mentioned to Merle.

Merle merely shrugged and leaned onto the wall by the stairs. I leaned onto the side with him and Daryl stood off on Merle's other side. "Didn't feel like it this time. She was searching an area we already checked. I thought that I'd be better off staying here. I get to eat actual food if I'm here," he said jokingly. I laughed lightly but I knew that he meant it. Food when we were out on long runs were scare. Whenever Daryl and I would go out on long runs, it sucked. We ate tiny portions of what we hunted and little packets of dried fruit. "Need more help?" Merle asked about the supply run. I wanted to say that we did but I wasn't sure.

Saving me from making the choice, Daryl shook his head at his older brother. I knew that we needed more people to go on the run, but we also needed things here dealt with. "Probably, but we need you here. The boiler and electrical systems we got set up have been acting up for the past week or so. Think you can get with John and get on it? We really need those to heat up dinner for everyone," he said to the elder Dixon. I cocked my eyebrow at Daryl. I didn't know that the boilers were acting up. Of course, that wasn't my job. I just did the tough jobs that needed to get done when we didn't have enough manpower to get them done.

Merle nodded lightly and turned back as a woman walked through the cell block. I didn't know what it was, but we all still had issues talking with the Woodbury members around us. We would all sit there silently if we were talking about something important, and wait for the person to walk by. "Sure kids. Gotta let a man get this shit done," Merle said. I glared at him for the nick name, but it was true. I was probably about thirty or more years older than me. "Don't die on the run Princess. I'd miss ya," Merle told me and I laughed lightly. "Then I'd have to talk to little Darlina all the time," Merle said as he ruffled his younger brothers hair.

Daryl thre Merle's arm off of himself and I smiled at the two brothers. They were the cutest things around each other. Although they would kill me if they knew that I had ever thought that. Sarcastically I smiled at Merle and nudged him in the side. "And I'd miss you too Merle," I told him. The older man smiled and began to walk away from us, toward the boiler room. After Merle was out of ear shot I leaned over to Daryl and smiled at him. "And why did I risk my own life to make sure that he lived?" I said to Daryl softly. He laughed and the pair of us headed back out to the prison yard.

Heading over to the cars I noticed that Sasha and Bob were standing by the cars. Sasha seemed to be loading the cars up and Bob looked like he wanted to talk to her about something. Probably about joining us on the run. I walked up to the pair and quickly greeted them. Both of the members gave me a quick smile and I gave them one in return. "Hey. I'd like to start pulling my weight around here," Bob said to Sasha. He looked like he really wanted to help, but I was shocked. We had only found Bob a week ago and when we brought him in he was tired and half starved to death.

Sasha seemed to be thinking the same thing as me as she shook her head and tried to push Bob away from the cars. "Bob, it's only been a week," she said. Bob looked over to both Daryl and I and the both of us nodded at him as well. He needed to build up his strength and prove that he was useful on a run before we should let him go out. That was what he done with everyone else.

Bob merely looked at Sasha and seemed like he was determined to prove that he was worthy of going on the trip. I knew that he was getting restless here- hell I would be too- but I wasn't sure if he would be good to take on the run. Although I wanted to give him the opportunity to prove himself. "That's a week worth of meals, a roof over my head. Let me earn my keep," Bob said softly to Sasha. The look in his eyes told me that he was serious. He really wanted to earn a spot here. I respected that. I nodded my approval to Sasha and Daryl, but the former still looked cautious about letting him come.

Sasha was still reluctant as she looked Bob over. Her eyes lingered on his stomach, arms, and legs. I knew what she was doing. She was trying to see if she could spot any physical reason that Bob should stay at the prison while we went on the run. "You were out on your own when Daryl found you," Sasha told Bob. I nodded at her. I had been there too. Daryl, Glenn, and myself. Bob had been standing on the top of an overturned bus, and by the looks of it, he had not been having an easy time. I could have bet on what happened to him, but it wasn't pretty. I was sure that he was the only one who had survived the raid of his previous group. Whether people or walkers, I wasn't sure. And what he had done to survive the attack, I didn't think I wanted to know.

Bob merely nodded and smiled at the woman. Sasha was a few years younger than me, but I knew that I was more mature. Not meaning that in a bad way, but like Daryl, even before the apocalypse I had been forced to grow up too fast. I knew that she still had the juvenile state of mind that everyone was a bad person. And maybe they were, but that was no way to go through life. "That's right," Bob told her.

Sasha nodded at Bob slowly and let out a puff of air. I knew that she was tired of all of this, I mean hell, we all were. But this was home, and big runs like this were how we needed to keep it our homes. Even though we had to gather most of our manpower, these runs were well worth it. When we did these kinds of runs, it meant that we didn't need to make more like it for a long time. A month maybe at maximum. We would be able to get canned foods, plates, forks, knives, some clothes, baby food, and any type of medical or hygiene supplies that we need. It was the apocalypse but people still wanted to be close to one another. But one baby was enough, so we were always sure to pick up enough of certain products. "I just want to make sure you know how to play on a team. We ain't gonna do it unless it's easy," Sasha told him. I nearly laughed at the thought. Easy. Since when were any runs easy?

Wanting to get out of the prison as fast as possible I decided that it was time for me to speak up. We needed to get gone soon, before it got too late. Runs in the dark were too dangerous to go on. Especially with a big group. "You know he was a medic in the Army. No worries Sasha, I'll watch out for him," I told the older woman. It was true, a few days ago I sat down with Bob and he told me some war stories. Nothing too bad, but they were fun to listen to. I knew that he loved the men that he had been deployed with, and he was loyal. I trusted him to be loyal to us as well.

Finally Sasha nodded her head at us and I smiled. It was about time. We needed to get out of here soon if we were going to get everything that we needed in this one trip. With a small laugh, Bob looked at Sasha and nodded his thanks to her. "You a hell of a tough sell. You know that?" He asked her. Sasha merely rolled her eyes and walked away, and I laughed quietly. Walking over to the car, I patted Bob and the back and told him that we would be leaving in five minutes.

Daryl and I made our way over to his bike and I turned to him. No words were exchanged between us, that was just how it was. Whenever we went out on a run like this, we always took a little private moment. It wasn't really so that we could say goodbye or good luck, it was just in case. Just in case something happened to one of us while we were on the run. We had encountered a close call with Daryl a few months back and that had been when we had started the moments before we left. It was just so that if something happened, we knew that we had made parting efforts. And that we would know that we loved each other.

Daryl wrapped me into his arm and I smiled falling into him. His arms tightened around my body, to a point where it hurt, but I wasn't going to complain. I loved knowing that he was so afraid to lose me. But the fear went both ways, I was terrified to lose him as well. He meant everything to me and I didn't know what I would do if I ever lost him. He slowly let his arms fall from around me and I gave him a long kiss. We broke apart and smiled at each other. He nodded over to the cars and I nodded at him.

The two of us walked over to the cars and I nodded at Michonne who was standing out by the hatchback. She nodded back to me and I let my mind think back. When had she gotten back? It must have been recently. Judging by the fact that she looked irritated I assumed that there was still no lead on my father. I looked around at the group and nodded. Everyone was right, there really weren't that many people going. It was only Tyreese, Sasha, Glenn, Michonne, Zach, Daryl, Bob, and myself. Not that many people for this big of a run. Maybe I should have asked Merle to come with us. Oh well, there was no sense now. We would make do with what we have. Besides, we were just about ready to leave and I was sure that he was busy tinkering away at the boiler right now.

Everyone began to jump into the cars and I climbed on to the back of Daryl's bike. As he revved the engine we took off down the prison yard and waved a hello to Rick as we drove through the gates. Hearing nothing but the roar of the engine as we drove down the road, I clung onto Daryl's back and let my head fall onto his back. The breeze felt amazing, better than anything had felt in a while. I had been trapped at the prison for too long. I needed this run. I needed the fresh air and I needed to stretch my legs. Quicker than I would have liked, the engine of the bike stopped and I looked up.

There were fences that surrounded the entire place. And the whole thing looked like it had been deserted for months. I knew that it had been deserted for over a year, but I would have thought that there would at least be some walkers around here. But there was nothing, the whole place looked like a ghost town. "Army came in and put these fences up. Made it a place for the people to go. Last week when we spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain-link keeping people out like a bunch of guard dogs," Daryl said. I thought back and nodded. He had left but I had thought that it had been for a run. I suppose he was right for not telling me what it really was though. I would have wanted to come with but I was doing something more important at the time. I was out on a hunt. A good one too. I had gotten enough meat to feed everyone for dinner that night and breakfast the next day.

Zach looked up at Daryl and looked on in shock. "So they all just left?" He asked. I shook my head at Zach. Of course that wasn't how it went. More than likely the whole place had gotten overrun and most of the army had gotten turned. Those that didn't fall prey to the walkers must have left. There would have been no point in staying. Anything that they had had was more than likely lost at that point. That was the way that things went with the walkers.

Daryl merely shrugged at the younger kid and motioned for him to look around where we were all standing. "Give a listen," Daryl said. I stood with the others and listened. It was pure silence. The only noise was the rustling of the trees. Something that I missed recently. With all of the people at the prison, it was so much louder. Sometimes I missed the silence.

Zach looked around the area in surprise for a few moments before the light bulb apparently went off in his head. "You drew 'em out," he said slowly, looking to Daryl.

The older man merely nodded and pointed back to the far end of the fences. It was away from the store, a good distance too. "Put a boom box out there three days ago. Hooked it up to two car batteries." I nodded at Daryl and wanted to praise him for the ingenuity. It was amazing the things that we came up with when we had nothing. "All right, let's make a sweep. Make sure it's safe. Grab what you can. We'll come back tomorrow with more people," Daryl said. I nodded, with this few people there would be no way that we could get everything that we needed. We needed at least another five people to complete the run. I nearly smacked myself in the face for not letting Merle come on the run. We probably could have used him right now.

Zach began to move toward the entrance of the building, but when he saw that no one was following him, he looked back at us with a cocked eyebrow. "Come on," he said to us, motioning towards the building entrance.

I shook my head at Zach but he didn't seem to get the message. Instead he walked towards the door and I reached out, catching him by the sleeve of his shirt. Idiot. "Just give it a second," Daryl said to the younger boy. Zach looked confused and I nearly smacked the kid. Daryl used his elbow and banged back on the glass front of the store. Looking back over to Zach I saw that he was now nodding at the older man, and looking at me with a bright red face. He needed to think more or he would get himself killed. There was a reason that we were waiting in the front of the store. When Daryl banged on the glass, it would attract any left-over walkers up to the front. That way there would be no surprises once we got inside. It would be a relatively easy run.

Zach nodded at me and went to pacing in front of me. Letting out a deep breath I went to sit by Daryl on the windowsill and waited. It should be any minute now that the walkers would realize that there were live people out here. "Okay, I think I got it," Zach said suddenly. I looked over at him and smirked. So it was that time of day again.

"Got what?" Michonne asked, looking extremely curious.

Zach turned to the older woman and smiled. "I've been trying to guess what Daryl and Rain did before the turn," he told her. The smile on Michonne's face was one that I had rarely seen from her. I guess she figured that it would be pretty entertaining. And she would have been right. His guesses for me always made me laugh. There was when he had guessed assassin, cop, and FBI agent. There had also been the simpler ones like retail assistant, construction worker- which had been close- and even a teacher. I had gotten a great laugh at that. I wondered when he would guess that I was a college student. Probably never.

I shook my head at the younger boy and noticed that Daryl was looking over at Michonne. "He's been trying to guess for, like, six weeks." I nodded at him and laughed at the younger boy, who was blushing slightly. I could see why Beth liked him. He had a good personality, and he wasn't too serious, but he knew when to get down to business. I was happy for her, she deserved to have someone that made her that happy. She was young, and she deserved to feel young.

Looking up like he was proud of something, Zach looked at Michonne and nodded. "Yeah, I'm pacing myself. One shot a day for each of them," he told her. He grabbed my arm and I laughed. I was sure that today would be the day that he would finally guess that neither one of us had been employed. But I knew deep down, that he never would.

Nodding his head at the younger boy, Daryl threw his arm around me. "All right, shoot," he told the younger boy with a nod. Zach seemed to ponder it for a while before he clapped his hands together and came to stand in front of the two of us.

I gave Zach a small smile letting him know that at least I was curious to hear what he thought that Daryl had done. We both knew what each other had done, but we had made a pact not to tell the kid. That would make things way less fun. "Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people, but you're still being kind of surly. Big swing here. Homicide cop," Zach said. I snorted loudly, and I was sure that if I was drinking something, it would have come out of my nose. Daryl and the rest of the group were laughing as well. The thought was hilarious, Daryl as a cop. That wouldn't work out well for anyone.

"What's so funny?" Zach asked, looking slightly offended. I shook my head at the boy and grabbed his hand. We weren't laughing at his answer, more at the idea of Daryl being a homicide cop.

Coming to the rescue of Zach's ego, Daryl smiled at the kid and shook his head. Quickly, the laughter died down and we all turned to the older man. "Nothing. It makes perfect sense," he said with a small smirk. I knew that Daryl would try to play it off like Zach was right, but he was a smart kid. He would know that he was wrong soon enough.

Cutting through the silence, Michonne turned to me and gave me a deep smirk. I thought that she might have some comment about what she had thought that I had done, but it was nothing more than a simple question. "And what about Rain?" She asked Zach. I knew that she was hoping for another silly answer, but as far as I was concerned, it would just be another day where he was wrong.

Zach paced back and forth for a few moments before stopping in front of me and looking me deep in the eyes. I cocked my eyebrow and gave him a small smile. This was what I looked forward to every day. "Well, I've been thinking about this one for a while. But if I was wrong I didn't want her to kill me. I mean, she's quiet but deadly. Loud and annoying when she wants to be. Has a strong body," Zach started. For a moment I had thought that he was going to say Army. But I was dead wrong. After a brief pause, he let out his idea quickly. "I gotta go with a stripper," he spit out. My face immediately dropped and I had to retrain myself from getting up and strangling Zach. "I mean come on, look at what you're wearing. And the tattoos and the piercings," he said.

Daryl began to laugh hysterically, along with the rest of the group. Even Bob, who I had never seen really laugh before, was almost on the ground. I glared at all of my group mates and looked down. I wasn't that bad, was I? I was wearing the tight black vest, which did drop pretty low on my chest, and I did have an ample one. The shorts were pretty short as well, not covering that much up. And he was right about the tattoos and piercings. I did have a lot. I had the belly button piercing, but that was it, besides my ears. I had two piercings on the lobe and one cartilage in each ear. The tattoos, though, those were all over. I had the huge Phoenix over my left side of my rib cage, and that one was obvious. I had a quote across my right shoulder, and a small dream catcher on my left ankle. I also had a small arrow on my right hipbone. I had been about to get another one on my lower back right before the outbreak had started.

Growling darkly, I looked at Zach with narrowed eyes, and that was the first time that I had seen pure fear in the boy's eyes. "Remind me, if we get out of here alive, that you have a date with death when this is over," I said. I thought that Zach might piss his pants at that moment. Good. Rolling my shoulders, I noticed that Daryl was still laughing and I punched him softly in the shoulder.

With a twinkle in his eyes, Daryl looked over at me and I balled up my fists. I knew that this was going nowhere fast. "I always knew it," he said to me. I punched him hard in the chest and I heard the breath go out of him. The rest of the group laughed and I smiled brightly. As Daryl finally stopped coughing and the group settled down once more, he looked at Zach and nodded to the young boy. "Actually, the man's right. Undercover," he said. Both Michonne and I looked down at our hands and let smiles cross our faces.

I nearly laughed as I saw the shock spread over Zach's face at the thought that he had actually gotten it right. He looked so hopeful that I felt bad that Daryl was lying to him. "Come on, really?" He asked. I saw the doubt that was clear in his eyes, but the hope was even clearer. Stupid Daryl for making him think that he was right.

After a moment, Daryl nodded slowly and gave Zach a look. "Yep. I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lot of heavy shit, you know?" He asked the younger boy.

"Dude, come on, really?" Zach asked with doubt in his eyes. After a moment of just giving the younger boy a deep stare he moved his head to the side and gave him a flat look. A look that asked are you fucking stupid? It seemed that Zach got the hint as he nodded at the older man and sighed. "Okay. I'll just keep guessing, I guess."

Daryl nodded before standing from his spot at the edge of the window. I heard the loud bang resonate from behind me and I jumped up. Biting at me through the glass was a female walker. Rolling my eyes, I mentally claimed the walker as my kill. "Yeah, you keep doing that," Daryl said as he pulled me away from the window. I looked back through the windows and nodded to myself. There weren't many. At maximum there was maybe ten walkers in the store. We would be able to take them down, easy.

After a moment, Michonne nudged me in the shoulder and pushed me to walk forward. "We're gonna do this, Detective? Candy?" She asked as she looked over me. I gave Michonne a quick glare and shoved her out of my way as I walked past. Deciding to have fun with it though, I walked forward quickly and did a handstand. As I was up in the air, I let my legs fall into a split, and I lingered there for a moment. After a while, I dropped one leg forward and let my body fall into a back bend and stand upright. I stretched lightly as I straightened back out. I hadn't done anything like that since we were back at the farm. Not since I had shown Carl how to do a cartwheel.

As I walked back to where I was supposed to be I heard Zach whisper from the back of the group. "See? I don't think it was a bad guess," he said quietly. The boy walked quickly past me, but it wasn't quick enough. I reached my arm out and slapped him across the back of the head. He grunted at the impact, but smiled as he turned back to me.

I laughed and smiled as Daryl took his spot next to me. "Let's do it," he told the group. I looked around and saw that everyone was where they were supposed to be. Glenn and Michonne were in front, ready to take down the first of the walkers. Behind them were Bob and Zach, in the middle so we could protect them if need be. Daryl and I were behind them, and we would fan out to the sides. Tyreese and Sasha were in the back, protecting us from behind.

Sasha's voice rang out and I turned back to see what she was saying. "All right, we go in, stay in formation for the sweep. After that, you all know what you're supposed to look for. Any questions?" She asked. I shook my head and smiled at the woman. She was a little bit older than me, but you would guess that she was my mother. I guess she took on the attitude of leader with her old group. Except she wasn't. Tyreese was. And he should be. He was level headed and a good man, the way that Rick used to be.

As the beginning of the group began to move into the building, I let Bob and Zach separate themselves from me slightly before I started to walk in. Just as I hit the threshold of the building though, I heard Tyreese behind me. "Was there ever a time that you weren't the boss of me?" He asked his younger sister.

"You had a few years before I was born," she answered and I laughed. That was the type of relationship that I wished that I could have had with Penny. But it was too late. Penny was dead and I would never be able to get her back. She was the one reason that I had wished that I had stayed. I could have protected her when this whole thing started. She could have grown up with a loving sister. But instead she grew up, only knowing that she had a disappointment for a sister out there, somewhere.

Shaking my head, I walked into the store and was immediately greeted by the walker that had hit the glass outside. Groaning at the walker, I raised my knife and slashed at the head of the walker. I hadn't hit it quite right though, as the walker advanced on me one more time. Stumbling back, I jammed the blade of the knife up and sighed when it went through the skull of the walker. It fell quickly and pulled me down with it. Ripping my knife from its jaw I stood back up and looked down at my pants. Covered in walker blood and dirt. Just like I had suspected. Looking around, I saw that everyone was standing around, making sure that there were no walkers left, and that everyone was OK. We all did our quick mental check, before nodding at each other and moving off.

I made my way into the clothing section quickly and did a routine sweep first. Grabbing T-shirts and jeans in every size and color, I threw them into the wagon that I had grabbed. It wasn't very pretty stuff, or designer, but it was what we needed. I ran my cart out to the car, and quickly threw everything inside the trunk. I noticed that there was already food and some hygiene products. That was good, we were getting everything fast. A few more trips and we would be good to go.

Running back into the store with my cart, I noticed that I wasn't the only one running fast. Everyone was darting all over the place, grabbing what they needed and running it out to the car. I ran back over to the clothing racks and looked around. I always took my time with the second batch of clothes. These were the items that I would find for Carol, Maggie, Beth, and I. We had all made a promise that we would actually look when it came to getting things for each other.

Looking through the racks, I found a few tight fitting collared shirts. Knowing that Beth would like them, I threw them into the cart and moved on. In the next rack over, there were looser fitting tank tops. Grabbing them as well, I knew that Maggie would take them. Next it was Carol, who I grabbed a few nicer tank tops for. Looking for myself last, I found a few things that I wanted. There was a pair of black leather pants. Unable to resist, and knowing that we would eventually hit the colder weather again, I grabbed the pants. I also grabbed a few more vests and a cut out shirt. Figuring that it would be enough for now, I moved to the jackets. Not caring what I grabbed, I emptied the racks and threw everything into the cart.

Quickly, I ran back out to the car once more, and threw the clothing in. On runs like this, there was no organizing. Everything was just thrown in. No one cared what went where, just make sure that it fit. I ran back into the store, and didn't bother with the cart. I was done with clothing. It took up too much room, and I had gotten a lot. Now I just needed to get some laundry detergent. It was good to pour some into the water tubs while people were washing the clothes. I ran back into the store and grabbed five bottles, all that I could carry. As I was heading back out into the parking lot, Sasha volunteered to take the detergent, which I gave her.

With nothing left to look for, I walked back into the building and looked through the shelves. There was nothing else that I needed to get, but I could grab anything if I found something that we needed. As I was walking through the health section, I heard a loud crash come from my left. Shrinking at the noise, I growled lightly and ran off to investigate. As I bounded the corner, I caught up with Zach, Daryl, and Sasha. Looking down, it was Bob who was caught under a huge rack. I looked around and saw that it was a shelf that had been full of liquor bottles. Now they were all smashed around us, and Bob's foot was caught under the shelf.

Daryl leaned down to the older man and looked around the shelf. "You all right? You cut or something?" He asked. I nodded, it was likely with all of the glass that had come down, that Bob would have gotten cut.

To my surprise though, the man shook his head. I cocked my eyebrow and nearly laughed. That had been dumb luck. He could have been killed with all of the broken glass. "No, man, but my foot is caught," he told Daryl. I raised my eyebrow once more as I looked around. How had the shelf fallen? This thing must have weighed two hundred pounds. How had one man taken it down?

"All right. He's just caught," Daryl said as he turned back to us.

I nodded at him and walked forward. It would take more than Daryl to get this thing off of him. "Come on, help me up," Bob said as he held out his hand to us. I walked over to Bob and took one hand, Sasha taking the other. Daryl on the other hand, walked over to the shelf and began to lift the thing. But it was no use. We needed Glenn and Michonne as well.

Speaking of the Devil, I heard the young Asian yell from across the store. "What happened?" He yelled to us. Looking up, I couldn't see Glenn, but judging by his voice, he wasn't very far away from us.

Continuing to pull on Bob's arms, I looked up and grunted from the strain. "Everyone's all right. We're over in wine and beer," I yelled out. A moment later, Glenn appeared around the corner of the shelf. Both of the group members wasted no time before running to the opposite side of the shelf and lifting. It helped, but Bob was still stuck. We would need more people at this rate, but we didn't have the time. We couldn't exactly go back to the prison and bring people back here to free Bob. We would have to figure this out. And fast. With all this noise that we had been making, I was sure that we were attracting walkers by now.

Bob looked over to Glenn who was still waiting for an answer as to what happened. None of the rest of us could say anything. As far as I knew, no one had seen the shelf come down. We had just run over when we heard the noise. "I was moving fast, man. I drove right into the drinks," Bob told Glenn. That must have been one hard hit.

Daryl, whose face was turning red with effort, let his arms give out slightly and he let out a few puffs. "Man, you lucked out. If this thing had come down on you the wrong way-" he started, but Bob quickly cut him off.

"Yeah, uh, we should probably go now," he said. I knew that he must have been nervous, but there was something not right here. Looking around, I cocked my eyebrow. I noticed that one of the shelves was off kilter, like someone had slammed something down on it. Scoffing lightly, I knew what had really happened. Bob must have grabbed a bottle and slammed it down. The shelf had broken and Bob must have tried to stop it. But he had probably shaken it too hard, and the thing had fallen in on him.

"Bob's still stuck," Sasha yelled to the two men in the back.

Glenn looked around for a moment before shaking his head. "Get him out of there. We'll get the others," Glenn said before he and Daryl ran off. I shook my head lightly and began to pull as hard as I could, along with Sasha. Not a moment later did Zach appear from around the corner. He looked down and nodded. The younger boy walked to the edge of the shelf and began to lift. It started to budge, but it still wasn't enough. Bob was still stuck.

I shook my head and grunted once more. Bob budged slightly and I smiled. We were finally making progress here. But like always, just when things started to go right, other things had to go wrong. I pulled on Bob once more, and to my shock, it seemed that part of the roof fell through. I stared up at the ceiling, and saw that it was walkers that were falling through the ceiling. They must have been up on the roof, and the roof must have been rotting. It was finally giving way. "Oh my God," I breathed under my breath. "Hey! Hey!" I yelled to my two companions. "Sasha, with me! Take out these walkers! Zach, get Bob the hell out of there!"

I turned to the stream of walkers and gritted my teeth. There were too many of them. At least twenty must have fallen already, and more were coming. Grabbing my gun, I knew that it was no use being quiet any more. I shot a female walker what was too close for comfort, and turned to shoot another male walker that had gotten close to Zach. Both Sasha and I were defending the pair by the shelf, but they needed to get out fast. We didn't have much time. There were too many. Walker after walker I shot, but more would just take their place. "More, more," I could hear Bob saying to Zach.

"Let's go, now! Come on! Go!" I heard a voice call from nearby. I looked back and saw that it was Daryl who was yelling at me. "Let's get out of here!" He yelled once more. I turned back to Bob and shook my head. Both he and Michonne ran forward, the two taking out walkers as they went. The pair ran up to us and immediately went to the shelf. Sasha and I remained around them, taking out the walkers. There was a lull for the moment, but it wouldn't last. Glenn ran up as well and began to keep the walkers focused on him. I heard a loud yell and turning back, I saw that Bob had been pulled free.

I smiled and pulled Bob along, into me. Sasha took the older man and the pair began to run out of the store, clearing or paths of walkers. Michonne was out next, followed by Daryl, who grabbed my arm. I began to run towards the exit but when I heard a pain filled scream, I turned back. "Ah! Zach!" Glenn yelled. I looked back and saw that Zach was on the ground, a walkers jaw around his ankle. I ran back to help free the boy, knowing that we could amputate it, but I was too late. Another walker was already there, and had gotten Zach by the neck. I stood in shock for a moment, but Glenn quickly caught up to me and pushed me out of the way.

Walkers were streaming in from the back, and we had to get out before they caught up. I took off and quickly tore past the rest of the group. As I passed Tyreese, I pulled on the older man's shirt and looked back to the rest of the group. "Go, go! Come on!" I yelled to them. The group sped up, and as quickly as we had gotten here, we left. I jumped onto the back of Daryl's bike and made room for him. The two of us peeled out of the drive, and I looked back. Everyone seemed to have gotten into the car's safely, and they were now hitting the gas, pulling up behind us. Daryl hit the throttle and we pulled out of the store's lot. I looked back as we drove away from the walker swarmed building. Sighing, I looked back into Daryl's back, and dropped my head onto him. Goodbye Zach.

The rest of the ride was silent and I knew that it was silent in the other car as well. No one wanted to talk about what had happened. This was our first loss in a month. And it was someone that I had some to love. The worst thing was that someone would have to tell Beth. She had to know. We hit the gates, of the prison and Rick was there to open them. Our caravan pulled in and we hopped off the bike, walking back to the car. They popped the trunk open, and let the recovery team grab the stuff. There were a few group members that looked for Zach, but the shakes of our head told them everything that they needed to know.

I made my way over to the rest of the group and looked at them. We all knew that someone would need to tell Beth, but the question was who. "I'll tell her," Daryl said quietly. The rest of us nodded and I took Daryl's hand. I didn't want to go in there with him and face Beth, but I would go with him. The group disbanded slowly and I nodded at Daryl. He took off towards the cell block, and I followed him. The walk was silent, but it was what we did. We were silent whenever we lost someone. It was our way to pay respects to them. Too quickly we hit, Beth's cell and I nodded to Daryl. He walked into her open cell just as Merle made his way over to me.

"Why the long face, Princess?" Merle asked me with a poke to the ribs. I knew that he was trying to joke with me and trying to make me happy, but it was no use. I knew that he was well aware why I was sad. But he wanted to know who it had been. I didn't blame him. If I were in his spot I would have wanted to know too.

Looking up at him I nodded back to Beth's cell and sighed. "It was Zach. Bob got stuck under a shelf and Zach was trying to get him out. He did, but he got bit when he was trying to run. We tried to get him back but it was too late. Daryl is telling Beth now," I told Merle. He nodded and remained quiet. He knew that death wasn't something to make a joke over. That much, he had learned to respect.

Listening into the cell for a moment, I waited to hear Daryl say something. But he never did. Instead, it was Beth who had to say something to the man. "Hey," she said softly to Daryl. I had figured that this would happen, Daryl would be too shy to outright say what would happen. Beth would have to guess.

After a few beats of silence, I saw that Daryl finally took in a deep breath. "Hi," he replied to the younger girl. Beth was seated on the edge of the bed and Daryl was propping himself up against the wall next to the cell door.

Beth looked at Daryl for a moment, probably wondering why he was in her cell looking like he had to tell her something, but clearly not ready to say anything. "What is it?" She asked him with a concerned look on her face.

"Zach," Daryl responded simply.

She nodded for a minute before looking to her lap and looking back up to Daryl. "Is he dead?" She asked him. Not say anything Daryl merely nodded to her. "Okay," She said without dropping the look on her face I looked at the young girl in shock, despite the fact that she couldn't see it. Although I knew that Daryl was mirroring my expression. Beth had been one of the most emotional people we'd had in the group. What had happened to her? "What?" Beth asked Daryl when she saw that he was giving her the same look that I was. Sighing softly, Beth stood up and looked at the older man. "I don't cry anymore, Daryl," she told him with a flat look. After a moment though, her face softened slightly and she sighed softly. "I'm just glad I got to know him, you know?" She asked him, turning back.

After a moment Daryl sighed at her and nodded. "Me, too," he agreed with her. I knew why he was being quiet, we had suffered a loss. A big one. I hadn't known Zach that well and I didn't really know what he actually had done to help around here, but I still liked him. I counted him as a friend. And he was now just one more, dead friend.

I watched as Beth went back to her board that she kept, keeping track of the number of days without an incident, and erased the small tick marks that filled the board. Back to square one. Beth turned back to Daryl and saw that he was looking down at his shoes. "Are you okay?" She softly asked him, walking closer to him.

"Just tired of losing people is all," he told her.

She nodded at him slowly. "I'm glad I didn't say good-bye. I hate good-byes," she told him. I nearly laughed. So that was why she hadn't done anything when he had visited her. Hopefully he didn't die thinking that she was mad at him.

"Me, too," Daryl said softly. I let my mind drift back to earlier. When Daryl and I had said goodbye to each other. That could have been Daryl that had died. Or me. I knew that one day we would both bite it, but I hoped that I went before him. I wasn't anything compared to him. The group would move on without me, they would fall apart without him. I looked up and saw that Beth had walked over and was now wrapping her arms around Daryl. I sighed and looked away, turning back to Merle.

The elder Dixon merely let out a low whistle, and shook his head. "She's gone cold," he said to me. It did look that way, but she hadn't gone cold. Not really. I didn't think that was in Beth's personality.

I shook my head at Merle and walked past the cell, leaning on the wall opposite it. "Not cold, Merle. She's just tired of this. Tired of running. Tired of losing people. We all are," I told him. The man merely nodded and I let my eyes slip closed. A hand fell on my shoulder and I looked up. It was Daryl. I tried to smile at the older man, but I failed miserably. This had been a hard day. I was tired and miserable. I just wanted to go to bed and start my next day.

Daryl gently squeezed my arm and I sighed. Leaning into him, I patted Merle on the shoulder and the three of us began to head out into the lobby. As we walked up to the sitting area, I noticed that most of the group from the supply run was milling around. Glenn was sitting with Maggie, the two holding each other close. I nodded at the woman and took a spot next to her with Daryl dropping next to me and Merle leaning on the wall next to us. Tyreese and Sasha were sitting together, with Karen at Tyreese's other side. Michonne was in the corner by herself, sharpening and cleaning her sword. Bob was also by himself, with a look of guilt on his face. I wasn't surprised, it was basically his fault that we had lost Zach. Shaking my head slightly, I laid my head down on Daryl's shoulder and grabbed his hand lightly. It was what we needed at times like this. Just to be together. Tomorrow we would wake up and we would get things back together. Not because we wanted to, but because we had to. We had a life to keep together, and damn it, no matter what we would.


	35. Disease Strikes

Taking in a deep breath, I pushed myself off of Daryl's shoulder and rolled my own. We had been up all night on the run, and we must have been standing here for about an hour. The silence had been good, though. Sometimes it was exactly what we needed. I knew that it had to be sunrise by now, and I wanted nothing more than to lay down and take a nap, but I knew that I couldn't. There was work to do. Daryl and Merle both gave me an odd look as I walked away from them, and I motioned to the prison yard. I wasn't sure if there was anything to do, but I was sure that there was something. In a world like this, there was always something to do. If nothing else, maybe we could go back to the store today. We had gotten a lot of stuff, but nearly enough. We had been attacked before we had gotten to finish the run.

As we walked outside, I took a sharp breath in. The walkers that had been at the fence earlier were now more prevalent than I had ever seen them. The fence was bending too, more than I was comfortable with. Shaking my head, I made my way down the yard, to where Rick, Carl, and Michonne were standing. It looked like Michonne was about ready to head out on another hunt for my father, so I was sure that Merle would decide to go with her.

As we walked up to the small group, I waved to them and received small smiles in return. Merle took a spot by Michonne and told her that he would head out with her this time. She nodded and motioned him to the horses, asking if he could get two ready to head out. "Any requests? Books? Comics? Something for the two of you?" Michonne asked Daryl and I with a small smirk. Carl looked at us with a confused look and I gave Michonne a deep glare. Grabbing Carl's face, I covered his eyes with my arm and flicked Michonne off. My companions all laughed, and Carl threw my arm off, looking upset that I hadn't let him see what had happened. "Some stale M&Ms?" Michonne asked the father-son duo, getting the attention off of Daryl and I.

Both Rick and Carl laughed at the older woman, and Carl nudged her on her side. I watched the display with a smile. They looked just like a family. I was still gunning for Rick and Michonne to hit things off. I knew that he loved Lori, and I had been rather fond of the woman as well, but if it meant Rick and Carl being happy, I wanted to see it happen. But Rick was too focused on being a father to let anything in his life, besides his son. That had been the whole point of him stepping down as our leader, and lead to the formation of the council. "You're the one that likes stale M&Ms," Carl told her with a smile, breaking me away from my thoughts.

She smiled at the younger boy and ruffled his hair. He pulled away from her, and for a moment I was looking at the young boy back on the farm. The boy that had been afraid of the walkers, and had been willing to die to find his friend. Not this boy. The cold, hard exterior of who he had once been. Although, I supposed we were all like that now. We still had our light hearted moments, but life was too serious now. We all had to grow up too fast. Michonne smiled as she walked away from the pair, but before she was out of earshot, she turned back to Carl. "Then I'll definitely looking for some. I'll look for some stuff you like, too," she told him with a wink.

I turned to Rick with the lingering remnants of a smile and I walked a little closer to the man. "Need any help with anything, Rick? I feel too weird with nothing to do now," I told him with a small smile.

Rick laughed gently and pointed down to the fences where the walkers were crowding, and bending the fences. "Think you can take care of that?" He asked. I nodded and pulled my long knife out of its sheath. I grabbed Daryl by the shoulder and pulled him into me. I waved goodbye to the pair before turning, and marching over to the walkers. I tried to do a mental count of the walkers, but there was no way that it was possible. There was too many of them, and they were all moving. It seemed like they were waiting for something.

Shaking my head, I walked down the gravel pathway with Daryl right behind me. I knew that he was sick of this all, I was too, but that didn't mean that we could give up, and we both knew that. As I walked, I began to throw my knife, getting antsy for no reason. For whatever reason it was, I had been feeling extra jittery today. Like something was bound to happen to ruin my day. I was sure there was, something always ruined my day. As we walked up to the fence, I heard a small bang. I turned back to Daryl, giving him a questioning look, but his focus wasn't on me. He was looking back at the cell block. I was pretty sure that it had come from D.

Daryl grabbed my arm and pulled me with him as we started back up the walkway. The walkers could wait a little bit. I was pretty sure that the bang had been a gun shot. And that was never good in this world. As we walked back up the walkway, I picked up my pace when I saw two figures emerge from the dark building. It looked like two kids but I couldn't get a good look at them. I noticed that the two kids were headed to where Rick and Carl were, both men now looking at the two kids as well.

As the two kids got closer, I got a better look at them and I noticed that it was two girls. Lizzie and Mica. At least I thought that was their names. Daryl and I both picked up our paces and went into a slow jog. "Help! Help! Please, come quick!" The two girls shouted. As Daryl and I got closer, they noticed us and began to beckon us all well. I could now see the girls faces completely, and it was easy to detect the emotions on their face. Fear. Something bad had happened.

Picking up my legs, I began to sprint back up to the cells, hoping that we weren't too late for whatever was going on up there. "Cell blocks?" I asked Daryl as the two of us ran. He grabbed his crossbow off of his back and lifted it into his arms. I reached down into my holster and grabbed my gun, cocking it and raising it as we ran. I didn't know what was up there, but we had been living in this world long enough that I knew that whatever it was, it wasn't friendly.

Daryl grabbed me by the arm and continued to sprint. By the time that we were almost on Rick and Carl, I was out of breath. I hadn't run like this in a while. And I hadn't known that Daryl was this fast. Whenever we had run together before, I had always been faster than him. "I don't know! Come on!" He told me as he pulled me along. I guessed that he didn't want to lose anyone, judging by how fast he was running, and the look of mild panic on his face.

As we finally ran up besides Rick and Carl, I noticed that the two men were running along with us. Rick, however, stopped and pushed his son away from him. "Get in the tower with Maggie," he ordered Carl. The younger boy looked like he was about to argue, but Rick wasn't having any of it right now. "Don't argue, go!" He yelled. Carl clearly wasn't happy, but he followed his father's instructions anyways. Rick began to run after us, but I noticed that he was looking for something. A gun. He didn't have his. Reaching around the back of my holster, I pulled my other gun out, along with an extra clip. I called Rick's name and he looked back at me. I tossed the gun and he easily caught it. As he stashed it, I tossed the extra clip as well, which he once more caught.

The three of us took off in a dead sprint, following Lizzie and Mica when we saw Glenn emerge from Cell Block D. He was covered in sweat and blood, but the good thing was that none of it looked like his own. He looked at us in a panic, but he gathered himself together for a moment as I yelled out, asking what was happening. "Walkers in D!" He yelled to us. My heart dropped into my stomach as Glenn turned and ran back to the cell, without another word.

"What about C?" Rick called out. Glenn's back was to us, but I knew that he could hear us.

He turned back to us and slowed down so that we could all catch up. "Clear," he told us. I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. That was our home, and at least the people in there were safe. "We locked the gates to the tombs. Hershel's on guard," he told us as we ran. I could see the door to Cell Block D right ahead of us, but I could also hear the pops of guns being shot inside. People were running all around it. Some looked terrified while others were ushering people out and to another place, somewhere safe.

Daryl seemed to be looking around the Cell Block before he turned to Rick and shook his head. "It ain't a breach. We followed the plan," Daryl said. I nodded at him. Besides, if it was, we would know. None of the fences were down around us, and no one had been out on a run. I couldn't help but wonder if someone had died during the night and come back. That was the only thing that I could think of. There was no other reasonable thought as to how the walkers had gotten in.

I flung open the door as I hit the entrance to the cell block, and I saw the disaster that was going on inside. "Hold on!" Glenn said as he caught my arm. "Come here," he said to one of the younger men that was in the the corner of the room. He handed the man a machete and the man nodded.

I looked around the cell block and I caught a younger girl, cowering in the corner, with a walker headed right towards her. She was going to die if I didn't get over to her now. I had no idea who the girl was, but there was no way that I was letting her die. I threw Glenn's arm off of me, and I ran after the girl. Heading in her direction, I raised my gun and shot at two walkers that were currently making two old Woodbury residents their meal. Both walkers fell on top of the people and I used two more bullets to make sure that the two dead residents wouldn't be coming back. I made my way over to the girl, shooting the walker just before it could get to her. The corpse fell on the girl and she began to scream. Rolling my eyes at the girl, I ran over to her and threw the male walker off of her.

Grabbing the girl, I pulled her up and turned back. I couldn't just send her to the doors, she would get bit. I looked around and found Karen. I pulled her over to me and handed her the girl. Karen nodded at me and took the girl away. I turned back and looked for another person that needed help. Before I could get my bearings though, something rammed into me and I fell onto the ground. I smashed my head on the concrete ground and let out a string of loud curses. I looked up, but the world was black. I felt a hard body fall onto me, and I panicked. It was a walker. I thrashed around, trying to avoid where I heard the growls of the walker coming from.

As my vision finally came back, I caught the face of the walker. I gasped at the face. I didn't know the name of who it had been, but I knew the face. Glenn had found the man a few weeks ago, wandering around by himself, a few miles out from the prison. I coughed as I fought the man off, I had never been hit that hard by a walker. I finally managed to get my hand free, and I slammed the butt of my gun into his skull. Over and over again, I hit the walker. Finally, I punctured the skull and smashed into the squishy brain of the man. I pulled my hand free as the walker fell limply onto me.

Wiping the brain residue from my hand, I said a quick, silent, sorry to the man. I had never known his name, but he had always said hello to me. Why, I had never known. I had never done anything for him. The only thing that I had done for the man was put him down when he rose as a walker. I turned, wiping the walker blood off of me. There was a lot on my face, and I had to wipe it away, hoping that none of it would get in my mouth.

Turning away from the walker, I ran back once more shooting a walker that was about to make a meal out of an older woman. "Move!" I yelled to the woman. She turned back on me in shock, and I motioned to her to move out of my way. Getting the message, she took off, out of the cells and I caught Daryl out of the corner of my eye. There was a walker coming up at him, from his back. "Daryl!" I yelled to him, hoping that he would catch the thing.

I raised my arms and aimed at the walker, but Daryl had already seen it. "I got it," he told me. He shot the walker and it fell, along with another, a few feet away. I looked back and saw that it had been Sasha. She was nodding at me and I gave her a grateful nod back. As I walked over to Daryl, I saw that he was taking care of a younger girl. She seemed to only be a little older than me, but unlike me, she looked terrified. "Are you bit?" He asked her. The girl shook her head and he nodded at her, pulling her up from the floor. "Go. Get out of here," he told her. I saw another man about to get attacked, and I quickly shot the walker. The corpse fell and I saw the gratitude in the eyes of the man that I had saved. I nodded my head over to Daryl and he nodded at me, making his way over to the man. As I ran back the other way, I could hear him talking to the man. "Are you bit? All right, go."

I made a quick turn around a walker, shooting it across the top of it's head as I ran around it. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed that this spot was like a war zone. There were people running and screaming everywhere, with walkers surrounding them all. I grabbed an older man on the shoulder, and jumped back to avoid his knife. I gave the man a hand and turned to the two others that were on the ground besides me. "Get up. Get back in the cell," I told them. I pushed the group into the cell and shut the door.

Turning back, I saw that there was another group of people, a middle aged couple, cowering from two walkers. I shot the first walker and watched as it dropped. Running up to the pair, I grabbed the walker by the little hair it had left and yanked it back. The walker stumbled and dropped to the ground. I jumped on top of it and slashed at the things head. Walker guts splattered all over my chest and I growled at it. It was warm and lumpy, exactly the way I hated it. Wiping some of the excess goo off of me, I grabbed the arm of the woman and tugged her after me. "Here. Come with me," I told her and her husband. Ripping open the door to another cell, I shoved the two of them in, probably rougher than needed, and backed away. "Stay in there," I told the couple as I slammed the door and backed away.

I walked back out and looked around. It seemed that everyone was either tucked safely away in a cell, or they had been ushered out. There were walker bodies everywhere, and a few were still up and roaming around. But my group was quickly taking care of them. As I glanced at the floor, I took a look around. God, all of the faces were familiar. Everyone that littered the floor I had known. Maybe I didn't know their name, and maybe I had never talked to them, but I had known them. The worst part was that I knew that these weren't our entire losses. More than likely, there were people that had been bit and scratched, and others were taking care of them right now. Doing a quick mental count of the bodies, I shook my head. I was too shaky to count our actual losses, but they had been great. This must have been nearly half of all of the people that lived here. It meant that there was less people to feed, but it also meant that we had lost manpower.

I looked around, doing a head check of everyone that I needed to see alive. I knew that Hershel, Carl, and Maggie were safe. Michonne had been OK too the last time that I had seen her, and Merle was with her. And Beth wasn't in this cell, she was watching Judith in C. I turned slowly, in time to see Daryl take a walker down. So he was OK, thank God. Rick was standing behind him, and Bob was standing behind him. I could hear Sasha and Bob talking up on the first floor too. Carol I had seen as well, she had locked herself inside a cell. I was pretty sure that she was doing an amputation to someone that had been bitten. I had seen Karen earlier too, and considering that Tyreese wasn't a blubbering mess, I was pretty sure that she had made it. That was good, everyone that I worried about was OK and accounted for.

Turning to my right, I let a shot out when I saw that a walker was still moving against the back wall. I rolled my eyes when I missed the thing, moving slightly so I had a better angle. I heard the creaking of the cell door down a ways and nearly ripped my hair out when I saw that it was the older couple from earlier. The pair were walking towards the door, unaware that there was a walker following them. "Wait, wait, wait, wait!" I yelled to the couple, who stopped and stared at me. I rolled my eyes and took a shooting stance. "Get down!" I screamed at the pair. Finally understating that I meant business, the couple dropped down and I let off the shot, not a moment too soon either. The shot punctured the skull of the walker and the corpse dropped right behind the couple.

Walking past them, I shoved them towards the door. We didn't need them right now. We needed all of the able bodied people here, right now. Cleaning the bodies up and trying to figure out what had just happened. I walked over to the cell where I had put the other group of people that I had rescued and opened the door. I motioned for them to leave and they quickly complied. No need to thank me, assholes. I just saved your life.

"Check all of 'em- every cell," Rick called from the front of the cell block. I nodded and went to work on the cells in the back. As I passed each cell, I found mostly nothing. Only in the last cell that I checked did a walker spring forward at me. I jumped back but stared angrily at the walker for startling me. Making kissy noises at the walker for a moment, I snorted and slipped my gun into its holster. Grabbing one of my knives instead, I decided to save a bullet. The walker was up against the bars and I rolled my eyes at it. They made things too easy. Avoiding its hands, I sunk the knife into its skull and backed away from the cell, headed back to where everyone else was.

Rick glanced back at me as I walked up and motioned to the back, where I had just been. "Are we clear down here?" He asked. He wiped a bead of sweat off of his face, and suddenly I was aware of how disgusting I was. There was walker goo and blood all over me, and dirt too. Not to mention the sweat dripping down my face and back. I needed a nice, long shower after this. Maybe a steam bath too. But that was just a dream now.

I leaned my hands onto my knees and looked over at Rick, giving him the thumbs up. "Yeah," I mumbled to him. God I needed a vacation. Maybe Disney, I always liked Mickey.

Up above, I heard the feet of Sasha and Tyreese as the pair began to climb down the stairs. Daryl made his way over to me and took a spot, leaning on the same wall that I was currently used to keep myself propped up. "We're safe?" Sasha asked, before she and her brother made a move to come down here. I wanted to roll my eyes and yell at her, but that was useless. As far as she knew, there were walkers down at the base of the staircase and it wasn't safe for her to come down yet. I was just tired and cranky.

"Yeah, yeah," Daryl called up to her. I smiled at the man and placed my arm around his neck. He was clearly just as tired as I was. This whole world was exhausting. There was a reason that there were no heavier people around anymore. And that wasn't to be mean. This world just took a big toll on your body. While I had gained muscle, and lost the last little layer of fat that I had had on my stomach before this whole thing had broken out, I could now see the base of my ribs. Something that I had never been able to see before. I wasn't the only one though. Most of us were now jutting out bones, all over the place. The only good thing was that after all of this time had passed, we were used to eating little now. We ate less and got more full, faster.

Shaking my head free of my thoughts, and silencing my rumbling stomach, I began to follow my group out of the cell block before we heard a call from the upstairs section. "Up here!" Carol called. So she was OK. I knew it. The group of us ran upstairs and saw that Carol must have been cornered by two walkers that Sasha and Tyreese had taken down. I stared at the woman, silently asking her if she was OK. I cared too much about Carol to lose her. I cared too much about everyone.

She nodded at me and to the rest of the group as she walked forward to us. "It's okay," she breathed out. Her breath was shaky, and I didn't blame her. Being cornered by walkers was terrifying. I had been in her spot before, with no one to help me. It feels like it's your last moment on Earth, and that isn't something that anyone wants to feel.

I began to walk over to Glenn, but right before I got to the man, I looked behind him and saw a walker struggling to get to its feet. He must have missed it when he had been walking by. The damn thing had probably been hit, just not enough to be fatal. I went to warn Glenn, but Daryl beat me to it. He grabbed my arm and pulled me down, onto the floor. "Get down!" He yelled to him. Glenn immediately dropped onto his knees and I watched Daryl shoot an arrow through the forehead of the walker. The now dead corpse dropped to the ground, and both Glenn and I stood up. I shook my head at my deceased, old group member. We had to be more careful, making sure that walkers were dead. That kind of ignorance was the reason that Hershel had lost his leg all of those months ago.

I walked over to Glenn and pulled him into a hug, looking him over to make sure that he wasn't bit or scratched. Hell, I didn't know what I would do if he was. I had no idea what I would tell Maggie. I was pretty sure that it would destroy her. "Thanks," he said as he pulled away from me, letting his hands linger on my arms for a minute. Glenn had been the first person here that I had bonded with, and I loved him like a brother. I would be destroyed too if he died. Glenn turned back to the corpse and dropped to the side of it. He looked the walker over for a minute before his eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, it's Patrick," he said softly. I dropped down besides Glenn and turned the head towards me, grabbing it by the hair. I stared at the walker for a moment before I nodded to Glenn. It was Patrick. But how? He was just a kid that never went outside, and the last time that I had seen him, he was in perfect health.

I looked Patrick over a few times, trying to find the bite or scratch mark on him. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find one. As far as I could tell, he hadn't died from a walker. So then what had killed him? "That's all of 'em," Daryl called as he walked back to our small rescue group. I shook my head at him when he gave me a questioning look. I had no idea what was going on. It seemed that Patrick had been the start of these attacks, but the question was, how? What had killed him if he hadn't been attacked by a walker? I knew that he was asthmatic, but this was more than an asthma attack. He had been bleeding from his eyes and he had clearly been coughing up blood. I heard a low growl and I turned back to the cell that it had come from. Two cells down from us, a walker was trapped inside, trying to get to us. Daryl shook his head and raised his crossbow, walking over to the cell. "I got it."

Turning my attention back to Patrick's dead body, I shook my head at Glenn. He clearly hadn't found anything walker related either. I heard the release of a bolt, and I knew that Daryl had taken down the walker. I turned back to the group and stood besides Glenn. "No bites. No wounds. I think he just died. Horribly, too," Glenn told everyone.

Hershel stepped around me and I moved off to the side. I let him lean down besides the body, and I watched as he examined Patrick. He was shaking his head, and I knew that he was confused as well. Whatever this was, it wasn't something common. If it had been a virus, it would have killed Patrick in 12 hours. I had never heard of a disease working that fast. And if that was what it was, we were all in a lot of danger even being around his body. "Pleurisy aspiration," Hershel told us as he stood. I gave him an odd look, wondering what that meant in non-medical terms. Hershel moved away from Patrick's body and moved on to the walker that Daryl had just killed. I lingered at the door while Hershel looked over the walker. He nodded after a moment and walked back over to us. "Choked to death on his own blood," he explained what had happened to the people who had died without being bitten. "Caused those trails down his face. I've seen them before on a walker outside the fences. I saw them on Patrick, too. They're from the internal lung pressure building up- like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose, and throat are the top."

I grimaced at the image of a human being balloon. In the past world, it probably would have been funny, but now it was nothing shy of horrifying. If this was to be a big problem, it wouldn't be good. We didn't have the medicine or resources to keep anyone healthy. The worst thing we had been faced with so far were a few bad colds. At least in the line of sicknesses. We didn't have the resources to fend off a serious disease. Especially if it was something that we had never seen before. Wondering if it really was a new disease from the walkers, I looked to Hershel and grabbed his arm. "It's a sickness from the walkers?" I asked him.

He looked at the walker for a moment before shaking his head. "No, these things happened before they were around. Could be pneumococcal. Most likely an aggressive flu strain," Hershel told us. I gulped roughly and shook my head. Even before, with all of our modern medicine and hospitals, people died from the flu. Now, we lived with medicine similar to one hundred years ago. If this thing is contagious, which it looks to be, it could kill all of us in a matter of days.

Glenn walked over to the now deceased walker and opened the cell. He leaned down and observed it in the same way that Hershel had. I moved slightly closer to the body and saw that it possessed the same dark lines running from its eyes that Patrick had had. "Someone locked him in just in time," the Asian man said as he walked away from the body.

Daryl stepped forward and shook his head. "No, man. Charlie used to sleepwalk. Locked himself in. Hell, he was just eating barbecue yesterday," Daryl said. I thought back on the day before and remembered one of the people that had said hello to Daryl. Charlie had been one of them. He was so sweet, always greeting everyone and thanking us for our hospitality. I had never known that he'd been a sleepwalker though. I couldn't believe that something like this had happened to him. He was too good for something like this to happen to him.

Sasha and her brother moved forward so that they were standing in tandem with the rest of us. The older woman looked at the body and shook her head, looking over to Hershel. "How could somebody die in a day just from a cold?" She asked him. I thought about it and sighed. It actually made sense. We were so many people, crammed together in a small space. Patrick was young too, and Charlie was old. They had weaker immune systems. Plus, with everything that we ate, not thoroughly cooked, and poor living conditions, I was shocked that we hadn't had more people sick. It was only time before something like this happened. But we barely had anything to prepare ourselves if this did turn into an outbreak. Hardly any medicine, and only two doctors.

Startling me from my thoughts, Rick turned to the group and stepped forward. "I had a sick pig, it died quick," he told us. I could tell that right under the surface, he was worried about what would happen. He wanted to become the leader, take over the spot that he had stepped down from, all those months ago.

Daryl looked over at me and then to the rest of the group. "Saw a sick boar in the woods," he said. I nodded at him. That had been a few days ago that we had seen him. We had been out on a hunt when I had spotted the thing on its side, looking like it was only a few minutes away from death. We hadn't been that far out from the prison either. I had thought that it might just be dying from old age, but now I knew that it had been sick. And both Daryl and I had been close to it. At least we hadn't brought it back to be eaten.

I looked to Hershel, hoping that he would have a solution, but he looked as put out about the whole thing, as the rest of us did. "Pigs and birds. That's how these things spread in the past," he told us. I nodded at him, any time that I had learned about a disease or plague in the past, it had been spread through flies and rats. But now that we were out in the country, and it was hundreds of years later, they were being spread by pigs and birds. Things that we relied on to eat. God, we would probably have to toss our entire food supply. And we would have to bury all of these bodies. But we had to be careful, we weren't sure who was infected with the sickness and who wasn't. But I was sure that even though the bodies were dead, they could still spread illnesses to the living.

I looked out into the field, where our hogs were. I liked the animals, but if one had been sick, there was a good chance that the others were sick as well. "We need to do something about those hogs," I pointed out. I knew that Carl was fond of the little animals, and so was I, but it was for our own health that we needed to get rid of them. And sooner rather than later.

Everyone looked around as Hershel called for a meeting of the Council. We needed it. We needed to know what was the best thing for all of us to do. Sasha, Tyreese, Hershel, and Glenn all began to head to the tombs, where we held our meetings. Daryl and I followed, myself calling out to Carol that we needed to have an emergency Council meeting. The older woman stepped out, with blood on her shirt, and I knew that she must have had to put someone down. Not saying a word to her, I wrapped my arm over her shoulder and gave her a small squeeze. The three of us headed to the tombs, right behind the rest of our group. Rick had split off, most likely to check on Carl, Judith, and Maggie. Tyreese split off as well, more than likely headed to make sure that Karen was OK. I nodded to the dark-skinned man and took a seat at the middle of the table. Daryl was on my right, and Carol was on my left. Hershel was at the head of the table, and Glenn was next to him. Sasha was on the other end of the table, with an empty seat next to her for Tyreese.

We all sat in silence for a minute before Carol let out a sigh and looked around the table. "Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it," she said with a small shrug. It was wishful thinking, and I would have liked to agree with her, but more than likely, this was just the beginning. We were sure to lose more people to this disease.

Daryl shook his head at her and put a light hand on her shoulder. "Haven't seen anybody be lucky in a long time," he said. It was a tough thing to say, but that was what he did. Delivered the tough news. Like a true leader. Carol looked down at the table, but I could tell that she had known that it was coming. She was just trying to be hopeful. We all were, but it was hard these days.

It seemed that even Hershel, the most hopeful out of all of us, agreed with Daryl. "Bugs like to run through close quarters. Doesn't get any closer than this. All of us in here, we've all been exposed," he said. Every one of our eyes dropped to the ground. We all knew what that meant. It meant that we were all vulnerable at this stage. We were the most likely to contract the virus. I knew that it meant that we would have to stay away from others, and each other. Maybe one of us had gotten away with nothing more than a scare, but someone else may have touched something that had the virus on it. None of us knew who could contract the virus and who couldn't.

Glenn shook his head and stood from the seat that he was sitting at. I was wondering how long he would be able to sit there for. The entire time it had looked like he might explode. I knew that he was nervous for his girlfriend and her father. I understood that. I was worried for Daryl too. Merle and Carol as well. More worried for them than I was myself. Glenn began to pace for a moment, and when he stopped, he turned to Hershel. "Patrick was fine yesterday, and he died overnight," Glenn thought out loud. I had never heard of a disease like this killing someone in one night. Normally they took at least a few days. But I guess that's what happens when we have no real doctors and no medicine, along with poor health and living conditions. Things hit you harder.

Almost forgetting that Carol was there, her voice startled me out of my thoughts so quickly that I nearly jumped out of my chair. "Two people died that quick?" She asked. I looked at her with confusion for a moment before I remembered. She hadn't been there when we found out that it was Patrick who had started the attack. Not that it had been his fault. She had been in a cell, probably trying to save someone that had been bitten.

I nodded at Carol and stood along with Glenn. We couldn't afford to be sitting. For now, we had to do everything that we could to save the rest of our people. They were our responsibility, and their lives were in our hands. "We'll have to separate everyone that's been exposed," I told Hershel, knowing that I was involved in that group. Hell, all of us sitting at this table had been exposed.

Hershel nodded, but sighed deeply. I knew that this morning had taken a toll on everyone. It wasn't every day that we got attacked now. We had secured this place, and now, once more, it was a threat just being here. I had thought that we had moved past this, after my father had disappeared. "That's everyone in that cell block. That's all of us. Maybe more. We know that this sickness can be lethal. We don't know how easily it spreads. Is anyone else showing symptoms that we know of?" Hershel asked the rest of us. I shook my head. I hadn't seen anyone coughing or acting like there was something wrong. I looked around to the rest of my group, and they all shook their heads as well. Hershel nodded at us and seemed to lose himself in thought for a moment, before coming back to us. "We can't just wait and see," he said. I nodded. We had waited too long this time, not that we had known, but we had seen what had happened. We couldn't afford for that to happen again. "And there's children. It isn't just the illness. If people die, they become a threat. We need a place for them to go," he said.

Glenn paced back and forth for a few minutes before shaking his head once more and stopping to turn to Daryl and I. "They can't stay in D. We can't risk going in there to clean it up," he said. I nodded at him. We would have to wait on cleaning the cell block up. It was polluted with the disease. Anyone that went in there to clean it up was sure to contract the virus, and anyone that tried to make it their home was sure to be dead by the next morning.

I thought through the other cell blocks. We all lived in cell block C, the same place that had been our home for all of these months. We couldn't just up and leave there. Cell block B was full too, most of the old Woodbury residents lived there. That only left A. Death row. It had been our last resort to put people there. But I think that we had reached our limit now. It was clean, and there was no one healthy there to risk contaminating. "We can use cell block A," Daryl said, beating me to the punch.

It wasn't the nicest spot to put the people, but it was the only thing that made sense. "Death row? I'm not sure that's much of an upgrade," Carol said. I grabbed her shoulder lightly. It wasn't a nice place for our people to go, but it was clean. If it meant that they lived to see their next birthday, I figured that they would be able to look past it. Plus, how many people got to say that they lived on death row? OK, so maybe not a good thing to say, but at least they were still alive.

Hershel shook his head at Carol and told her the same thing that he had told me. "It's clean. That's an upgrade. Think that'll work for Dr. S?" He asked Glenn, who nodded at him.

"I'll help Caleb get it set up," Glenn told the older man before he walked out of the room. Hershel slowly stood up and followed Glenn out of the room. A moment later, Sasha sighed and stood as well. She was probably going to go find Tyreese, tell him what we had come up with. I stood as well and began to head out of the room, followed my Carol and Daryl.

We all walked out in the hallway but were stopped by the coughing down a ways. I listened to it for a moment. It was more than just a normal cough or something stuck in someone's throat. It was the kind of cough that someone who was sick had. It was a female too, judging by the pitch of the cough. I stepped past Glenn and watched as Tyreese and Karen pulled around the corner. I wanted to rip him away from her and cry at the same time. He loved her, and had no idea that she may only be a day away from death. It wasn't only that, but now we knew that there were others that were sick as well. And Karen had been all over the prison this morning. She may have very well contaminated everyone in here. I could only hope that she had stayed away from the kids. Judith especially.

Tyreese had his arm around Karen, who was coughing at the ground as the pair walked up to us. "You okay?" Carol asked lightly as the pair came up to us. We all took a slow step back from the pair as they came closer to us. They both stopped and looked at us like we had all grown two extra heads. Karen nodded at Carol and gave her a small smile. But Carol knew what was going on. She was giving Karen a skeptic look as she looked the younger woman over. Karen was lightly sweating, and her cough hadn't gone down since I'd first heard her. "You sure? You don't sound so good," Carol told Karen gently.

The gentle giant coming to the rescue, Tyreese pulled Karen closer to him, which only made her cough more. I could see the protective stance that he was taking over her, and I almost didn't want to tell him. But we had to. It was for the both of their goods. If we could figure something out with medicine, we might be able to save the both of their lives. And then they would thank us. "We're just taking her back to my cell so she can rest," Tyreese said as the pair continued to walk away.

Carol called to the pair quickly before they could round the corner. We couldn't have Karen going into the living room or cell block C. Some of those people hadn't been exposed directly. And she was a walking virus right now. "Tyreese, I don't think that's a good idea," Carol told him as gently as she could.

He turned back to her with a look of confusion and worry on his face. I didn't blame him. He hadn't heard what he had said in the room. "Why? What's going on now?" He asked. But I could tell that it was Karen who was more worried. She must have seen the weary looks on our faces, and now she was nervous. I didn't blame her.

Hershel stepped forward to the couple and gave Karen a reassuring look. He still kept his distance from her though, just in case. "We think it's a flu or something. That's how Patrick died. Judith was in that cell block. She's vulnerable. Anyone that may be sick or even exposed should stay away," he told her.

Immediately Karen's face fell and turned a pale white. The killing part seemed to affect her. Although no one wanted to hear that they had a disease that had killed someone else in a day. But at least now we knew that it was here and we could try to get some medicine to help out the people that contracted it. "It killed Patrick?" Tyreese asked Hershel. It seemed that he was more worried for his girlfriend than she was worried for herself. But that would be how I was if Daryl had been the one coughing.

With nothing else to say, Hershel raised his hand to the couple, almost as a warning for them to stay back. "She's gonna be okay," he assured the younger man.

Although, Tyreese was still worried, and understandably so. "Now that we know what Patrick died from we can treat it, right?" He asked Hershel, but looking to the rest of us. I dropped my eyes when he met mine. I wanted to say that we would be able to fix it, but I really wasn't sure. I didn't know if we had the medicine or resources to fix this problem. And what if it were to infect the healthiest of us? Then what would happen if we had to go out on a run for medicine?

Hershel though, always the peace keeper, knew exactly what to say. "Don't panic. We're going to figure this out. But we should keep you separated in the meantime. We'll have Caleb take a look at you. I'll see what we have in the way of medications," Hershel said. I knew that there wasn't much, but it might be enough to hold the ill over until we could get something different, and hopefully more fine tuned to whatever virus this was.

Sasha stepped in after that, looking like she was about to rip Tyreese away from Karen. As far as I knew, the two got along OK. But when it came to her brothers health, she would much rather see Karen die than have her brother contract the virus. "David from the Decatur group, he's been coughing, too," she told us. I raised my eyebrows slowly. That had been a big group that we had rescued from a walker attack. David was an older man, it wasn't shocking that he was one that would contract the virus. He had a weaker immune system than someone like Daryl or myself did.

Shaking my head, I rustled my feet against the ground and looked over to Daryl. He also had his head angled at the ground, but he was watching the exchange out of the corner of his eyes. "I'll get him," Glenn volunteered. "There's some empty clean cells in the tombs, right?" He asked Hershel as he began to walk away.

"Yeah, we'll meet you there," Sasha said. Both Hershel, Carol, and Sasha stood together off to the side and got ready to head out and find the extra cells. I didn't really want to do that, but there wasn't much else to do that I could think of. Glenn nodded at the woman and headed off down the hall, out of our sight.

Slowly placing his arm over Karen, Tyreese pulled her away from the rest of us. She was smart enough to look away from him, but I knew that it pained the woman. I couldn't blame her. It was hard to be in the face of death, and having to be brave for the person that you loved. "Come on. Let's get you settled," he said to her, following the way that Glenn had stalked off to.

As the rest of the group disappeared, it was only Hershel, Daryl, Carol, and myself left. Hershel shook his head and looked to the rest of us that were still in the hallway. "Have to call another meeting later," he said to us.

Daryl nodded at the older man and grabbed his crossbow, lifting it back up onto his shoulder. "All right. I'll get to burying the dead ones," he informed Hershel. It was a gross job, but it was something that we needed to do. If nothing else, it got us out of the confining areas of the prison that was currently riddled with the disease.

Not wanting to have to help move people, I stepped forward and stood next to Daryl. I did keep a few feet between us though. If this was super infectious, I had to make sure to stay away from him. The last thing we needed was for one of us to transfer the disease to the other. "I'll help you," I told him. I pulled my hair up and undid the bottom button on my cloth vest. I wanted to get changed, but we had to get started on this. I could get out of my blood splattered clothes later. When all of the backbreaking work was done.

Hershel walked up to the pair of us and gave us one of the most reprimanding faces that I'd ever seen. In that moment, he was more of a father than my own had ever been. "You both wear gloves and a mask," he told us.

With a small smile, I nodded at Hershel and turned to Daryl. "Uh-huh," he grunted at the older man. Hershel nodded at us and walked down the hallway, out of our sight. And then it was just Daryl, Carol, and myself. The older woman was looking down at the ground and let out a sigh. Daryl looked over at her with a sobered look and pushed a hand under her chin to lift her face up. "You all right?" He asked her with concern.

Carol nodded slowly and turned to the pair of us. "I'm worried about Lizzie and Mica. They were around Patrick," she said softly. I cocked my head in confusion for a moment before I realized what had happened in the cell that she had been trapped in. She must have grabbed Lizzie and Mica and brought them into their fathers cell. He must have been the first one to get bitten by Patrick, or at least one of the first. That made sense with my whole theory. She must have been trying to amputate whatever limb that had been infected, but it must have been in a spot that couldn't be amputated. In his dying breaths he had more than likely asked Carol to take care of Lizzie and Mica. He wanted the girls to grow up with a parent-like figure. I felt bad for the poor girls. They had lost their mother before the outbreak and now they had lost their father. But at least they had Carol. They sure as hell didn't have me. At least Lizzie didn't. The little psycho had stabbed me. That was not something that would be easily forgotten.

"We all were," Daryl said, pulling me from my thoughts and back into the real world. "Karen and David are gonna be separated till they feel better," he told her. I could tell that Carol was debating on something, but what that was, I had no idea. Perhaps it was how to go about raising two girls. She had lost her one almost a year ago. It must be weird to be a mother again after such a devastating loss.

After a moment, Carol nodded and went to leave before facing us once more. "You're right. Are you okay?" She asked him. "Both of you?" She asked, turning her gaze onto me.

I gave Carol a small nod, trying but failing to smile. These days had been too hard and too depressing to smile. But I was still OK. I had to be. Not for myself, but for everyone else. Carol didn't look convinced, but she turned her gaze to Daryl anyways. "Mm-hmm," he hummed at her with a small nod. "Got to be," he told her, with the same attitude that I had.

She nodded at us both, and the two of us took off to head to the cell block. Before we went into the area, Daryl reached into his pocket and pulled out two handkerchiefs. I thanked him for the one and quickly tied it over my face. Turning back to him, I saw that he had the same one over his face. I pulled my hair through the makeshift mask and tied it up, knowing that this job was hard and sweaty. Before we made our way into the room, we grabbed two pairs of gloves that were sitting on the ground, by the entrance, and slid them on. Daryl looked at me, asking if I was ready, and I gave him the affirmative nod.

The door to the cell block was loud as it opened, and I grimaced, waiting for a walker to come and try to grab us. But one never did. We had made sure that they were all permanently dead. I walked into the room and immediately headed to the second floor. With Daryl on the first floor, currently getting a wheelbarrow, I grabbed the first of the walker bodies. It was an older woman, from the Woodbury group I was pretty sure. I grabbed her by her torso and lifted her as hard as I could. Coughing slightly at the strong smell of death, I walked over to the rail and threw her over. I heard the loud crunch as she went over, and I nearly gagged. It was gross, but it was the easiest way to get these things done. Two people could clear out a cell block in less than two hours.

Body after body, I threw. Probably near an hour before I finally threw the last body over the edge and was able to join Daryl downstairs. He had cleared out most of the bodies down here, and they were now out in the field, waiting to be buried. That was the hardest part of the job, this was baby play compared to digging and filling graves. Although the most emotional part was throwing around these bodies of people that had once been friends and damn close to family. I had thrown down a man named John that we had rescued a few days after we had taken in the Woodbury residents. He was in his thirties and he was one of the nicest men that I had ever had the pleasure of meeting. Always thanking us for saving him and for taking him in. I had also taken care of a woman named Misty. She was in her forties and always was happy to see everyone. Even those whose names she didn't know.

The worst part had been when I'd stumbled on a smaller body. The thing was so mangled that I could barely tell who it was. I had been just about to give up on identifying the body when I had seen a small bracelet. It was all orange with a small black bead in the center. That was when I had realized who it was. It had been a little boy named Benny. Benny had been rescued with the Woodbury group, and he was such a sweet kid. He was always offering a portion of his food to the older or younger residents, and he always wanted to help Beth take care of Judith. The kid used ti be in karate as well. He would love to show me what he knew to do, in exchange for me teaching him gymnastics. The sweetest thing was that he would tell all of us that when he was old enough, he would go on runs with us, and he would be the one protecting us from walkers. I had always hoped that that day would come.

Sighing as I hit the bottom step, I met up with Daryl as I helped him lift the last two bodies into the wheelbarrow. With a full load, and no more bodies needing to be removed, the two of us walked out of the cell block. I turned back and sealed the doors, knowing that we would eventually have to go back in to clean the thing out. I took in a deep breath and chased after Daryl, quickly catching up. I still tried to keep a distance from him though. As we made our way out to the burial grounds, I picked up a body and laid it on the dirt. Taking in a deep breath, I began to dig the grave. Pile after pile, I dug dirt out, but it seemed to hardly move. After about half an hour, I had finally dug a grave that was big enough for three bodies. I tossed in the body that I had left out on the dirt, and let Daryl throw in three more.

Filling the hole up quickly, I moved five feet off to the side and began another grave. I was about halfway done with digging it, when Daryl called out to me. I turned to him, asking what he wanted. He walked over to my grave and began to help me dig it. "Do you think it's safe, still staying here?" He asked me. I cocked my eyebrow at him, wondering what he meant. "It's just, we're on the council. If we don't think it's safe here, we can say something. We can leave," he told me.

I scoffed lightly and wiped my forehead, that was dripping with sweat. "And go where?" I asked him. "There are too many of us Daryl. If we were a smaller group, I'd probably agree with you. But not now. We clean this place out, separate the sick, and find medicine for them. We'll probably lose a few people, but we'll get to keep our home. The home that we worked so hard for," I mumbled the last part. The grave was finally deep enough, and Daryl and I went to throwing four bodies into the grave.

Walking over to the pile of dirt, Daryl began to throw the dirt back onto the pile, and I followed him. "I know Rain. This is just not what we were ready for. Walkers, and human threats, sure. We know how to handle this. But a full on disease that's killing people in a day? That we aren't ready for. I just don't know what I can do if we start to lose people again. I don't know what to do if I lose you," Daryl said softly as he trailed off.

I dropped my shovel and I walked over to him, tossing his shovel to the side as well. I didn't want to risk getting sick, but I was about ready to rip the mask off of his face and drag him back to the cell block. Instead, I laid my hand softly on his face and smiled at him. Although he couldn't see the smile. "Daryl Dixon, I love you and you know that I am way too damn stubborn to die. I just managed to get you to be fluffy and cute with me, and no way am I dying before I can see more of it. The two of us? The rest of us? We are strong, and we will make it. Not because we have to, but because we want to," I told him.

I pulled my arm away and I thought that he might try to give me a hug, but just before he could, I heard the rustling of the fences. Both of us turned back and saw that Sasha, Tyreese, Glenn, Maggie, and Rick were all down by the fences, killing walkers through the small holes. Maggie shoved a small wire through the fence, and when she tried to pull the thing back, she ripped it out too hard, and fell on her back. Glenn went to help his girlfriend up, but she held out an arm, stopping him. "Don't. We're supposed to stay away from each other," she told him. He looked hurt, but he knew that it was the right thing to do.

He stepped away from her, and I poked Daryl on the shoulder. The fence was caving in with the weight of the walkers. They needed all the help that they could get. Daryl and I both ran down to the fences, joining the rest of our group quickly. I ripped my knife out of my holster and dug it into the head of a female walker. She dropped to the ground, and a moment later, a male walker took her spot. Walker after walker I stabbed, but every time I put one down, another would take its place. It was like these things were never ending.

I took a deep breath and backed up for a minute. Just as I was about to head back to the fence, Sasha's voice drew my attention away from the walkers. "Are you seeing this?" She asked as she held up a rat. But it wasn't just a normal rat. Its throat had been sliced, and it had a big chunk taken out from its stomach. Had someone killed it and fed it to the walkers? If so, that was why these things were crowding around the fences so much. "Is someone feeding these things?" Sasha mirrored my thoughts as she walked around the fence, pointing out more of the mutilated rodents.

I looked around trying to spot more of the animals, seeing if there was any connection between the way that they were slaughtered and the way that people made our food, but there was none. It was the most humane way to kill an animal, and it was the fastest. "Heads up," Glenn called out to us, and we all looked over to where he was.

The fence where he was standing was caving in, and it looked like it was about to give in. Hell, if that fence moved in any more, it would be a disaster. They would get in and there were too many people out here. They would kill half of our population, and then the disease would be the least of our worries. "This part of the fence, now!" Rick yelled. We all took off to the fence, myself in the front of the pack.

"Hold on, hold on. Hey, hey, hey," Glenn greeted me as I walked up. The two of us began to take out the walkers, others joining up with us as they ran up. But no matter how many walkers that we took down, more would take their place. And second after second, the fence continued to bow in, and we were to the point where would couldn't afford it. Dropping my knife, I put my hands on the fence and began to push back on it, against the weight of the walkers. The rest of my group joined in my effort, and while it kept the fence at bay, the walkers were too strong. And they didn't get tired. We did. The fence was finally beginning to bow again and walkers were getting close to our fingers, hoping to get a bite. I released the fence just in time, as a walker came up to bite at my index finger.

Looking up to the top of the fence, I saw that the fence was about to give way, and come crashing down. The top of the fence was now bowed over our heads. "It's gonna give! It's gonna give! Everybody back! Come on, back, now," Rick called. I stupidly stood close to the fence, and was nearly crushed at my foot as the fence caved in once more. Rick had seen it coming though, and grabbed me by the waist, pulling me back with the rest of the group.

I stood by Sasha who was pacing quickly. Panic was clear on her face, but I was sure that it was on mine as well. If those walkers came in, we were the first people that they were going for. And there weren't enough of us to fend them off. "The fence keeps bending in like that, those walkers are coming over it," Sasha yelled, out of breath.

Glancing around, I let my eyes linger on a tree. There had to be something that we could use to prop the fence up as a short term solution. After a while of staring at the tree trunk, and idea finally popped into my head. We had been out getting firewood not too long ago, and instead of collecting sticks, we had gotten fairly large tree trunks. That was what we could use to prop the fence up until we could find something to stop the walkers. "Daryl, get the truck. I know what to do," Rick said. I watched as Daryl nodded at our leader and ran off, trailing behind him. As he passed me, he squeezed my arm and made a quick dash to the cars.

I watched the two men run, banging on the fence, drawing a few walkers away. But not enough. I turned back to the group and laid my eyes on Glenn and Tyreese. "Guys, do you remember those tree trunks that we collected last week?" I asked them. Both men nodded and I smiled. "Good, go get them. We can use them to prop these fences up until we have a better solution. Sasha, Maggie, and I will stay while you get them and watch the fences." Both men nodded and without another word, they took off in a sprint up the hill.

The three remaining women all went to work on the fences, taking down walker after walker. It seemed like it was nearly an hour later that I finally saw Glenn and Tyreese with the logs, running back over to us. Well, probably more of a slow walk. But I couldn't blame them for that. At the same time, I looked over and saw that Daryl and Rick were loading the pigs into the truck bed. So that was what they were going to do. Feed the dying and sick pigs to the walkers. It would get rid of one problem with the tainted meat, and they would be able to draw some walkers away.

As Glenn and Tyreese dropped the logs onto the ground, they made a loud thud, and we all made our way around them. Sasha was calling out where to put them, Glenn and Maggie would angle them at the top- making sure that they stuck- and Tyreese and I would make sure that they were even on the ground. There were three logs so we would have to spread them out. Sasha walked over to the fence and straightened it out. Glenn and Maggie picked the top of the log up, and Tyreese and I picked up the bottom. Even with four people, these things were heavy. Not to mention, we were all physically exhausted. The couple quickly managed to notch it in one of the links, and both Tyreese and I walked the bottom of the log into the fence, until it was straightened back up. We dug it into the ground, with the help of the others, and made our way over to the next log.

Both of the logs after that were put quickly in place as both Rick and Daryl made their way out into the field. The squealing of the dying pigs were drawing off most of the walkers, and with the logs in place, the fence wasn't moving anywhere. I watched the two men draw off the rest of the walkers for a few minutes before I dropped to the ground. Maggie and Tyreese dropped next to me as well, all of us probably nearing the point of heat stroke. I tried to focus my sight onto the truck waiting for Rick and Daryl to get back, but I couldn't. I hadn't eaten or drank today. And it was catching up to me now. My vision began to spot and after trying to fight the feeling, my eyes rolled back in my head, and my head hit the gravel. Everything was black for a moment, and then there was nothing.


	36. Contagion

Light flooded my vision as my eyes slowly opened and I groaned. My head was pounding and my throat felt like the Sahara Desert. I didn't remember much, only passing out. More than likely because I hadn't eaten all day, and I hadn't had anything to drink either. It had been my own stupid fault. I heard the scratch of an arrow across from me and I looked up. Daryl was in a chair, on the side of our cell, and I smiled at him. It seemed like it was almost a bad joke now. I would pass out, and when I woke up he would be at my bedside. Most of the time sharpening an arrow.

I stretched and sat forward. He got up but still stood at a slight distance from me. Neither one of us seemed sick, but too much direct contact with each other, and we could easily infect each other. Daryl sat at the foot of the bed, and I moved my leg for him to sit. My stomach began to growl, and I laughed. I didn't know how long it had been since I'd eaten, but I knew that it was too long. "You were out all day. All through the night too. After you passed out, we made a few adjustments on the fence. It's sturdy for now. We'll make a more permanent solution once we get the virus dealt with. And speaking of, there's a council meeting tomorrow morning."

I nodded at him and laughed. "Damn. Every time that I pass out, I miss all the fun. What the hell guys?" I asked him with a smile on my face. He shook his head and stood up, telling me that he was going to get me food. I nodded at him, no part of me wanting to argue him. I just hoped that there was some meat. But I didn't know how much we had needed to get rid of after we had discovered that the virus was coming from the animals in the area.

A few minutes later, Daryl arrived back at my cell and I smiled at the food. As I had figured, there was no meat. But that didn't matter, there was a lot of food on the plate. More than I had been expecting. Quickly, I downed the water, and Daryl stood up to get me another glass. I grabbed the two protein bars on the plate and quickly gobbled them down as well. There was a small pile of eggs, more than likely powdered, but it didn't matter. I ate them quickly, even though they were extremely dry. Daryl returned a moment later and I drank about another half of the glass. There was a bag of pretzels on the corner of the plate and I smiled, eating them slowly. It wasn't often that I got food like that, so I savored it. There was also a small portion of corn that I ate slowly. Finished with the plate, I pushed it onto the side of the bed and stood up.

I had been in the walker-bloodied clothes all day, and I was ready to get out. As I pulled the shirt over my head, it stuck to my skin like it was rubber. Finally managing to peel it off, I grabbed a blue tank top from the pile of clean clothes and slipped it on. I peeled my shorts off as well and threw them into the corner with my shirt. Those clothes were to be burned. I grabbed a pair of dark blue jean shorts and pulled them on, knowing that I would be working out in the sun today. Now that I was feeling better. I slipped my boots back on and stood, facing Daryl.

"Morning little brother. Morning princess. Glad to see that you're up and about this morning. And looking much better," Merle called to us. Daryl gruffly greeted his brother, and I smiled at the older man. I hadn't seen him at all after the attack in the morning, but I had known that he was alive. It was just good to see that he hadn't fallen prey to the virus yet. Although, with all of the time that he and his brother had spent in the woods, their immune systems were probably iron-clad.

Walking over to Merle, and out of the cell, I smiled at him but kept my distance. "Good morning Merle. Glad to see that you're doing OK. Be sure to keep your distance from everyone. We don't know who might be carrying the virus and who isn't." Merle nodded at me and walked off, squeezing my shoulder before he left both Daryl and I.

As Merle walked out of earshot, Daryl walked up to me, but left a small space in between the two of us. I sighed slightly. I knew that this was what we needed to do to protect ourselves, but I missed being able to hug him, or give him a soft kiss. Hopefully, this would all be over soon. "We need to head out to the river. We need fresh water to help the sick. The damn pump outside is stuck. Rick and Carol are gonna get on it, but they can't do it today. It'll take too long and they have other shit to get done. So if you're feeling up to it, you ready to head out?" Daryl asked me. I nodded softly at him and turned back to the cell.

I grabbed my guns, sticking them into the holster, and then wrapping the holster around my waist. I grabbed my knives as well, sheathing them quickly. My bow was last as I shouldered the quiver, with the bow resting on top of them. I turned back to Daryl and nodded, ready to head out. He walked around the door and we both walked out. It had been a long few days, and I was ready to fall back asleep, but I couldn't. There was no time for lazing around. As we walked out, Daryl grabbed his crossbow that had been sitting at the door. The two of us stepped out of the door to the cell block and announced to Rick that we were heading out. The man wished us luck and told us to be careful. As we always were. But still, some runs got dangerous really fast. We had all experienced that at least once.

The two of us walked down the drive and smiled at Michonne as we hit the gate. She opened it up for us and we both walked out. There were walkers that were surrounding the gate, so we had to run through the grassy area. We made our way through easily and slowed down as we broke the wood line. The river wasn't far from the prison, maybe only two miles. But in this heat, it was a long and miserable walk. I refused to let this day go without something good coming from it though. So I nudged Daryl lightly in the shoulder, and he turned to me.

Laughing before I even got the chance to talk, he cocked his eyebrow at me, looking at me like I was nuts. "Did I ever tell you about the time that I got suspended from school?" I asked him. Daryl shook his head at me and I smiled. "So, I had been dating this guy. Real asshole type. Every guy hated him, well except for the popular guys. But all of the girls, they loved him. He was the type that your mother would have a heart attack if you brought him home. But I was living with my uncle at the time, and he didn't care. So one night, I told him that I couldn't hang out because I had to study. Which was true. But then my uncle asked if I wanted to go to the movies. And he never did stuff like that. So I just had to say yes. And we went. It was Edward Scissorhands. I always loved that movie. I think the fact that my uncle took me to it was why I loved it so much. But anyways, we got our seats and sat down at the top of the theater. Not even two minutes later, that guy walks in. His name was Dylan. There's a girl with him too. Pretty, blonde hair, slim body, she had everything. I hoped she was just a friend, but the fact that they were face-to-face the entire movie told me otherwise. So that night we go back home and I cry all night. Uncle Philip actually consoled me though. It was my first heartbreak. My only heartbreak actually."

Daryl was watching me with dark eyes, nodding at me to continue my story. "So the next morning, I wake up and go to school. Dylan tries to talk to me all morning, but I ignored him. Finally, we were in biology and he asked me why I was being such a bitch. By that point, I was seeing red. Grabbing the Gatorade that I had sitting on my desk, I stood up and dumped it all over him. Kicked him too, and smashed my sandwich on him." Daryl was laughing loudly at my story and I smiled. I knew that he would like that one. "I got a week's suspension for that one. It was so worth it though. Uncle Philip thought so too," I told him.

Daryl laughed and shook his head at me as we continued to walk. "Remind me to never make you angry," Daryl told me. I laughed and blushed lightly. "Eh, I've done something like that before too. When I was in school, girls used to like to try to get me to talk. I was so quiet and so isolated that they always wanted me to say something. I guess it was like a prize if they got me to talk. So this one night, Merle gives me a few shots of whiskey. At the time, it got me on my ass drunk. But still, the next morning, I got up and went to school. Terrible fucking hangover though. This girl, real sweet, comes up to me and starts to talk to me. I tried to tell her that I wasn't feeling well, but no words came out. Instead, I vomited all over her. That girl never talked to me again and I never said another word in that high school." I laughed loudly at the thought of Daryl vomiting on someone and awkwardly trying to apologize.

This was what I had wanted for today. The two of us to talk together like a pair of humans that were dating. If that was even what we were. Honestly, I had no idea what to call Daryl and I's relationship. We weren't engaged or married. That all seemed too serious. But we weren't dating either, that just sounded childish. I guess we could say that we were in a relationship. But it was so much more than that. He was my world, the reason that I fought so hard. We were each other's motivation.

We reached the river and I took out two of the jugs that I had been handed before we had left. Filling up the first, I snorted lightly. Daryl's story had reminded me of the only friend that I had ever had. Daryl looked at me with a confused face and I smiled at him. "Oh come on, we've all done something like that. When I was younger, and still living with my parents, I did something almost like that. Me and the only friend that I ever had, Lisa, got into my dad's liquor cabinet one night. Took out a bottle of Scotch. We had no idea what it really did to you, so between the two of us, we drank almost the whole bottle. I don't remember much after that. But anyways, the next morning I got up and Lisa said she didn't feel very well. My mom drove her home. I was trying to make breakfast, but the food smelled so awful that I fell to the ground. My father came over to me to see what was wrong, and when he pulled me up, I vomited all over him. He was so angry when I confessed what we had done that he beat me senseless. I had to go to the hospital after that, and I missed a week of school. The worst part was that he made me stop being friends with Lisa," I told Daryl. He looked like he was sorry for me, but I shook my head. "Don't be sorry. It was hilarious, my dad's reaction at me vomiting all over him."

Our laughter skyrocketed as we both pictured my father covered in my vomit. It had been hysterical back then, and it was still hysterical now. As I filled up the second of my jugs, I motioned to Daryl, telling him that I was ready to go back. On our way back he told me about the time when he had beaten up a kid for telling him that hunting wasn't a real sport, and I told him how I used to steal the little magnetic rocks from stores and keep them in my sock drawer. That was how the majority of our day went. We would grab canteens, bring them out to the river, fill them up, and bring them back. We would deliver them to Hershel, who would bring the fresh water in to the sick people. All the while we were telling each other stories from our past life.

Once we had filled up our last canteens, Hershel warning us that it was too dark to continue going out, we dropped them off and made our way to get dinner. I was so exhausted from all of the walking and hauling that I dropped into my seat and gobbled down the small portion of chicken and rice that had been left out for us. Once we had handed our plates off, the two of us made our way into the cells, knowing that in the morning we would have another council meeting.

I walked into our cell and laid down on the bed. Looking up, I saw that Daryl was standing outside of the cell, looking in at me. I cocked my head to the side, silently asking him why he wasn't coming into the cell. He sighed and took a few steps forward, leaning onto the side of the cell. "You know what they said, Rain. It's too dangerous for us to be close together. That includes sleeping. Last night, I slept in the cell next to yours and checked on you every once in a while. I'll sleep there again tonight and until this thing clears up. Just yell through the bars if you need me, OK?" Daryl asked. I nodded at him and sighed. I didn't like the fact that none of us could be close together, but I knew that it was better safe than sorry. "I love you," Daryl told me softly as he walked out of the cell.

I smiled at Daryl and laid my head back onto the pillows. "I love you too," I told him softly as he walked out of the room. I heard the cell door next to mine open and close again. A few moments after, I heard the soft thump of Daryl's body hitting the mattress and I closed my eyes. Today had been nice. One of those days that we rarely had anymore. Taking in a few deep breaths, I sighed shakily as I turned onto my side. My body was killing me, probably from walking all day. The last thing that I thought of, before drifting off to sleep, was how nice it would be if masseuses were still around.

My dream had been one of the better ones that I'd had in a while. With the physical separation of Daryl and I, my mind let itself wander a bit. It was one of those moments where I hated living in the cells. I knew how badly these walls echoed, and I could only hope that I didn't talk, or make other noises, in my sleep. I stretched my body out, feeling my bones cracking all over and grunted at the pain in my lower back. Damn it, I was too young to be feeling pain like this. Laying my body back down on the mattress, I closed my eyes once more, but the slamming of the front door woke me back up.

I heard footsteps pounding on the stairs as they ran up, and from the sound of the boots, it was more than likely Daryl. Just as I had thought, he burst around the corner and flung open the door to my cell. "Rain! Get up, we have a problem." I jumped out of bed, knowing that if he was worrying like this, it was something bad. I leaned down to get my clothes, but Daryl grabbed my hand, shaking his head at me. "No time, don't worry about that stuff right now."

I nodded at him and grabbed my gun, running out of the door with him. Daryl led me down the halls, back to where the boiler room was. I hadn't been all the way back here in forever. The tunnels behind the boiler room were dark, and hard to find your way around. The last time that any of us had been back here, the prisoners were still alive. And that had been a long time ago. I rounded one more corner, and spotted the back porch where Rick had trapped Andrew all those months ago. Why the hell were we back here? Daryl pushed open the door, and the two of us walked outside. Rick, Tyreese, and Carol were all already out there.

For a moment, I had no idea why we were all out here. But then I saw it. I looked down and spotted two charred bodies. And they clearly hadn't been walkers when they were burned. The area stank of rotting flesh, and it was filled with a hazy black smoke. These bodies had been burned. And judging by the blood marks on the floor, someone had killed them first. But why would someone have stabbed them, and then burned them? We would figure out who they were eventually. I looked at the clothes on both of the burned bodies, and the identities were easy to find after that. It was a male and female. The female was easy, she was wearing the necklace that Tyreese had given her. It was Karen. The male was wearing the same shirt that I had seen him wearing last. It was David.

It was the two people that we had first known were sick. Those we had known that were some of the first two to contract the virus. So someone had killed them to try and stop the spread of the virus. I looked at Tyreese, and it was obvious to see that he wasn't happy with the turn of events. "You found them like this?" Rick asked Tyreese. So it was him who had found them. But how had he known to look out here? I was sure that he hadn't killed them, but why had he come out here?

Tyreese turned to Rick and gave him a dark stare. "I came to see Karen and I saw the blood on the floor. Then I smelled them," he growled. So that explained how he had found the bodies. "Somebody dragged them out here and set them on fire. They killed them and set them on fire! You're a cop. You find out who did this and you bring 'em to me. You understand? You bring 'em to me!" Tyreese yelled as he closed in on Rick. I knew that Rick wanted to push the other man off, but Tyreese was on edge right now, and anything that we did could be the thing to set him off.

Part of me hoped that Tyreese would back off and realize that he wasn't helping, but I knew that he wouldn't. He was angry right now, and I didn't blame him. I would have been beside myself if someone had done that to Daryl. Thankfully, with Rick having been in a calming life for so long, he nodded at Tyreese and kept his cool. "We'll find out who-" Rick began to say to the other man, letting him know that this wouldn't go by without any action being taken, but Tyreese cut him off.

The other man stepped closer to Rick, and was now standing chest to chest with our former leader. For a moment, I was sent back to the vengeful Rick, after he had lost Lori. I knew that something would need to be done about Tyreese, or he would go down the same path. Hopefully Sasha could snap him out of it. "I need to say it again?" Tyreese growled.

Rick shook his head at the man once more, clearly hoping that Tyreese would let this go. "No. No. I know what you're feeling. I've been there. You saw me there. It's dangerous," Rick told him. I nodded, even though I knew that no one could see me, and no one was watching. Tyreese and his old group had been the ones to see Rick and what he had been like firsthand after he had lost Lori. It was dangerous to lose your head and want revenge. All it did was cause more trouble.

"Karen didn't deserve this," Tyreese growled, throwing his hand back to where Karen's charred body lay. I felt my hand drop down to the side of my gun. I would never shoot Tyreese, but I might hit him with the gun if it came down to it.

"No," Rick agreed softly.

Tyreese threw his hand back once more at David's body, and I could tell that he was getting angrier by the moment. "David didn't deserve it," he growled once more.

Rick nodded at the man and softly replied to him. "Nobody does."

Leaving my side, Daryl walked up to the pair, and I was shocked to see how gently he was trying to handle this situation. "All right, man, let's-" Daryl began, laying a hand softly on Tyreese's shoulder. But Tyreese cut him off and grabbed his hand. To my shock, he turned away from Rick and pushed Daryl back into the gate, his fists balling into Daryl's shirt.

My hand tightened on my gun, and I was ready to do anything if Tyreese got out of control. "Man, I ain't going nowhere till I find out who did this!" He yelled to Daryl. So that was it, he thought that we were trying to get him to forget about it. That was far from the case though. We wanted to know who did this. And when we found out who did this, they would be getting in a ton of trouble for it. Hell, we would probably make them leave, or kill them. This should have never happened to David and Karen.

Daryl kept his hands back against the fence, and I could tell that he was trying to handle the situation as delicately as possible. "We're on the same side, man," he grunted out. Tyreese had his arm digging into Daryl's side and it looked like the man was having trouble breathing.

Once more, Rick walked up to the other man. I briefly flinched as Rick approached Tyreese, I knew that he was grieving right now, but Rick also had a nasty temper. The temper that he had gotten after he had killed Shane. It had changed him in more ways than I could count. Of course, killing someone changed everyone. "Hey, look, I know what you're going through. We've all lost someone. We know what you're going through right now, but you've got to calm down," Rick said softly. He placed his hand gently on Tyreese's shoulder, but it was clear that the other man wanted nothing of it.

Tyreese dropped off of Daryl and threw Rick's hand off of his shoulder. "You need to step the hell back!" He yelled at our former leader. This was going nowhere fast. I wanted to step in, but I had no clue what to say. Tell him that I was sorry and that we would figure this out? A simple sorry would do nothing, and he knew that we would try to fix this. But right now all he wanted was revenge. I understood that, but we couldn't afford a fight right now. Not with the virus spreading.

There was a small movement and I turned to the side. Carol was walking up to Tyreese, most likely trying to be the peacekeeper. "She wouldn't want you being like this," Carol said softly to him. Tyreese merely scoffed harshly and walked past her. As he made his way past Rick, he shoved into our former leader, and I saw the fury flash through his eyes.

With nothing more than a brief flash of fury for warning, Rick grabbed onto Tyreese's shoulder and punched him square on in the eye. I shrieked at the crack of the impact and rushed forward. I tried to grab Rick but he shoved me away from him roughly. I grunted as I hit the ground roughly. Daryl looked at me with worry, but I brushed him off. I needed him to try to stop the fight, not focus on me. Carol ran over to me and grabbed my arms, helping me up.

As soon as I hit my feet I once more ran over to where the fight was. Rick had Tyreese pinned to the ground, who was bloody in the face, and clearly not responsive. Rick was laying blow after blow onto the other man, with Daryl wrapped around his midsection attempting to pry him off. I ran over and grabbed Rick on his arm, attempting to push him off of the side of Tyreese. "Stop! Stop!" I yelled at Rick as Tyreese's eyes began to roll back in his head.

"Stop!" Carol shouted behind us. Between the grunts from Rick, and the sounds of strain from Daryl and I, I could barely hear the groans of Tyreese, who looked to be on the edge of passing out.

I attempted to grab onto Rick's arm, but I didn't have a tight enough grip. As I tightened my hand around his arm, he brought it down to hit Tyreese in the face, and I lost my grip. I yelped as I slipped back onto my ass and growled. This was all gonna leave one hell of a bruise in the morning. "That's enough. That's enough," Daryl grunted as he grabbed Rick and attempted to pull him off. "Rick," Daryl tried to call to his friend, but he was too busy taking his anger out on Tyreese. The man in question was groaning at the pain, and I felt horrible for him. He had lost the woman that he loved, his sister was sick, and now he was being beaten to a pulp. "Stop," Daryl growled once more as he was finally able to pull Rick off of Tyreese.

"Let go of me!" Rick shouted, attempting to make his way back over to where Tyreese lay. I knelt over the man, trying to pull him to his feet so I could get him to Hershel. With all of the force that Rick had been putting into his punches, I wanted to be sure that Rick hadn't done any lasting damage. "No. No. Let go of me! No," Rick was howling at Daryl who was leading our former leader out of the back area. Once I knew that they were gone, I motioned over to Carol to help me pick up Tyreese.

The two of us grabbed the man and hauled him over our shoulders. I knew that I was taking the brunt force of his weight, but it didn't bother me. I knew that it was hard for Carol to pick him up. I coughed as we walked back to the cell block, where I had last seen the older man. The two of us walked him through the halls that led back to the cell block, stumbling the entire way. My breath was getting short from his weight, but I had to ignore it. Finally, we hit the living area of the cell block and I shouted out to Hershel. He quickly came out and helped us lay the man down on his bed.

As Hershel got to examining Tyreese he asked the both of us what had happened. I told him about what had happened to Karen and David, and I told him about how Rick had gone haywire. Carol had said a brief part about what had happened before I had gotten to the scene before she walked off and headed back into the yard. Hershel began to stitch up Tyreese and I watched as he asked the younger man questions. After a few minutes, Tyreese began to respond and Hershel informed him on what had happened to him. He ordered that Tyreese stay in his cell for the best part of the day so that he could let the stitches sink in.

Tyreese merely nodded at us, clearly not in the mood to say anything else. Both Hershel and I said a soft goodbye to Tyreese before walking out of the cell and heading to the council room. The walk was silent as I listened to the soft thump of Hershel's prosthetic leg. So much had happened to the man, but he had never let any of it get to him. We turned the last corner and the two of us walked into the room. Everyone was already there, so I took my usual seat besides Daryl. I looked around the table and sighed. Both Sasha and Tyreese were gone, but they had been replaced by Carol and Maggie. Michonne was there too, with Merle at her side. He wasn't on the council, but any input that we could add today, we needed.

Hershel took his seat at the front of the table and his quiet sigh told us that he was ready to start the meeting. Even though no one had been speaking before, we all still shifted our positions and looked at the older man. "It's spread. Everyone who survived the attack in cell block D. Sasha, Caleb, and now others," Hershel informed us.

"Oh, Jesus," Maggie sighed softly. "So what do we do?" She asked her father.

Hershel shook his head at her and tried to look like he knew what we should do, if nothing else, for the sake of keeping his daughter sane. "First things first. Cell block A is isolation. We keep the sick people there like we tried with Karen and David." I looked around the room to judge the reaction of the others, but their faces stayed even. I figured that when Daryl had come in, he must have told the others what had happened.

Daryl shook his head at the older man and dropped into his chair. He shifted the old wooden thing so that it was facing towards him and he sat in it backwards. I smiled briefly at him as he dangled his arms off of the edge of the chair. "What the hell we gonna do about that?" He asked Hershel. It was too hard to figure out who was sick and who was getting sick. Plus, we didn't know exactly who was in the cell block when it was attacked. There had been too much commotion and chaos to keep track of everyone. And at that point, we had had no idea what the attack had been about.

The room was quiet for a while as everyone tried to think about what to do. But it wasn't an easy question, and we all knew that there would be no easy answers. "Ask Rick to look into it. Try to make a timeline- who's where when," Hershel told us. It wasn't a solution, but for now it was as good of a start as we had.

"But what are we gonna do to stop this?" Carol asked.

I shook my head at her, we had no idea how to stop this. It seemed like once it started, it was already too late. It would just kill you, and it would kill you fast. There was no time to experiment on what to do. "There is no stopping it. You get it, you have to go through it," Hershel answered her, voicing my thoughts.

"But it just kills you?" She asked again.

"The illness doesn't. The symptoms do. We need antibiotics." I shook my head at his answer. We had already looked through other pharmacies that were around, and we hadn't found anything. The closest hospital we had checked out too, but when they had come back they had told us that it was too overcrowded with walkers. There was no way that we could get anything more, and the stuff that we had wasn't even enough to help one person.

Daryl voiced my thoughts next to me, and I nodded subconsciously as he spoke. "We've been through every pharmacy nearby. And then some," he said to the older man. He was right though. We had searched every little place that we could find within 50 miles. And anything more than that was a far stretch.

Once more, the room quieted down and I thought about everything that we had seen. There had been the drug store near Hershel's old farm, but that must have been at least 100 miles away. There was no way that we could spare a trip that far. Half of the prison might be dead by the time that we returned anyways. Hershel finally seemed to come up with something though as he perked up, and I could practically see the light bulb go off. "That veterinary college at West Peachtree Tech, that's one place people may not have thought to raid for medication. The drugs for animals there are the same we need," he told us happily.

"That's 50 miles," Glenn said with shock evident in his voice. It was way too far, and it might take us more than a day to get there and get back, but it was the only thing that we had.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders at the younger man and sat up straight in his chair. "Took big risks before. Ain't now. I'm gonna take a group out. Best not waste any more time," he said. He stood up quickly, grabbing his crossbow off of the wall where it was propped up. I stood up with him as well, knowing that there was no way that he could do this alone.

"I'll go too. That place was probably busy during the early days of the outbreak. It'll be surrounded by walkers. You'll need someone to go with you. Can't do this one alone," I told him. He nodded and I grabbed my bow off of the floor where I had left it. Everything was on me, I was just ready to head out. We needed to get this medicine and get back fast. There were people that were getting closer and closer to dying every second.

After a beat of silence, I heard the scrape of a chair and I turned to the noise. It was Michonne that had stood up and was now grabbing her sword. "I'm in too," she announced.

Hershel shook his head at her, clearly not ready for her to leave. "You haven't been exposed. Rain has. Daryl has. You get in a car with them-" he began before she cut him off.

"He's already given me fleas," with a small smirk. I laughed with her as she stepped over to join us at the far wall of the room. The light hearted moment had been nice, but unfortunately, things were at too high of a serious point. "I can lead the way. I know where everything's kept," she told Hershel, now trying to prove that she was useful.

Hershel nodded at the three of us and we all walked over to the doorway. Before we walked through the doorway though, Daryl turned back to Hershel. "When we're out there, it's always the same. Sooner or later we run," he told the older man.

Though it wasn't exactly a happy thought, he was right. We had all known that the quarry wouldn't last us forever. And thinking that the Greene family farm was paradise was a fools thought. It wasn't safe, it was just out of the way. The more reasonable of us knew that the prison wouldn't be our home forever too. One day, the prison would fall and we would run again. "I can draw you a map. There are other precautions I feel we should take," Hershel told us before we could walk out the door. I turned back and walked into the room once more with Daryl and Michonne right behind me.

A chair scraped in the corner of the room and I turned to look at Carol. "Like what? There's no telling how long it'll be before Daryl and his group return. Wouldn't it make sense for us to separate the most vulnerable? We can use the administration building. Separate office, separate room," she suggested. I nodded at her. It could be days before we returned and we needed to make sure that as few people would get sick as possible. And for those who were already sick, we needed them on as tight of a lock down as we could get.

Maggie shifted in her chair and looked at her father before stealing a quick glimpse at her husband. "Who is the most vulnerable?" She asked him. Out of curiosity, I looked over at Glenn as well.

He had a thin veil of sweat running down his face and he looked a little pale. I wanted to think that it was because he was just tired, but it looked like he may have contracted the virus. That would explain why he was sitting so far away from everyone. Oh god, poor Maggie. What would she do when she knew for sure? I debated on saying something, but I figured that I would let it go for now. Best not to start a huge panic. He would probably say something to Hershel after the meeting was over and he could be in private with his father-in-law.

"The very young," Hershel answered.

"What about the old?" Carol asked. I tuned out for the rest of the meeting as it was decided who would be quarantined and who would still be able to perform tasks around the prison. The meeting finally ended and I walked out of the prison and into the yard. We were with Daryl, who was making sure that the cars were working before Michonne finally made her way up to us. I hadn't seen her after the meeting and for a while I had thought that she had changed her mind about coming with us.

Daryl looked up as the woman walked up and nodded at her. "Hey. I'm glad you're here," he told her, wiping a bead of sweat off of his face. The part of me that I couldn't control immediately looked him over, making sure that he wasn't too pale and didn't have any dark spots on him. Having grown up in the woods, I didn't think that it was likely that either Merle or he would contract the virus, but still, I didn't want to be too confident. Glenn was strong and so was Sasha but they had both contracted the virus.

Shifting onto one foot Michonne cocked her eyebrow at Daryl after nodding a greeting at me. "Where else would I be?" She asked him as she sheathed her sword.

"Running off," Daryl answered her simply.

She shook her head seemingly surprised that he had said something like that to her. But I suppose that was what it was that she was doing. Every week when she went to hunt for my father, in a way she was running off. But that would mean that Merle was running off as well. "You know I'm not running off. So it's just gonna be me and you and princess, like in the old days?" Michonne asked with a twinkle in her eye as she looked at me. I laughed slightly and shook my head, leaning down to check the air pressure in the tires.

I heard Daryl shuffle around me and I watched his feet as he walked to the front of the car. I shifted slightly to let him lean over the engine, making sure that we would be able to make the trip. "Yeah, and Bob. Still, feels like we could use another person," he said. I nodded to myself. This was a big task and I wasn't sure that we would be able to get everything we needed in one trip with only three people. Albeit, three talented people, but walkers could overtake even the best fighters.

"Who else isn't sick?" She asked him. I thought about maybe Merle, but he was helping get together more food to try and boost the immune systems of the infected and the healthy. He and some other healthy group members were going to head over to one of the supermarkets later to see what they could pick up.

Rattling through the list of other healthy people that we could ask, my thoughts were interrupted by Daryl. "We don't ask Rick. He wants to stay here with Carl and Little Ass-Kicker. Keep them safe. Plus there's plenty of stuff he could do here," he said. Once more, I nodded to myself. There was the water line that needed fixing. Hopefully he and Carol could get that working again.

"So who else we got?" She asked. Daryl poked around in the hood for a moment before he stood straight up. I went to move to the final tire, but Daryl grabbed my arm and tugged me behind him. I asked him where we were going, as did Michonne, but I got no answer.

We walked back up the walkway, passing by both Rick and Beth. I smiled at the younger girl and greeted her politely. She smiled at me and brushed past me. My heart broke for her. She had lost two men that she cared deeply about and she had lost most of her family. All that she had left was Maggie and Hershel. But then again, she had more than that. She had all of us. That was the way that it was. No matter who we had lost, we all had each other. And we were all the family that we needed.

Walking through the door to the first of the many thick doors that led to where the sick were being kept, I noticed that Tyreese was standing against the glass doors. He was holding a large gun and seemed to be waiting for something. Catching his face, I saw all of the bruises that littered his face and neck. Damn, Rick had done a number on him.

Daryl and I walked up on him, and I grimaced as I heard the coughing that was surrounding us at all angles. "Oh, there you are. Took us damn near forever to find you," he told Tyreese. I waited for the other man to say something, even for us to go away, but he said nothing. He just kept his eyes firmly set on the sick, mostly his sister who was limping around, looking like she was trying to stand. But by the looks of it, she was about to keel over. "Whatcha doing?" Daryl asked again, hoping for an answer.

Not bothering to look away from the window Tyreese merely nodded his head into the sick room. "Somebody needs to stand watch," he told us lowly. I shook my head at him. This place was well protected, we didn't need a guard. What we needed was people to come forward and help us with the medicine run. Or else everyone in there would die.

Daryl shook his head at Tyreese and grabbed him lightly on the shoulder. "Man, I want to find them, too. Put a bolt in them for what they did," he told the other man. "These people are cut off. Ain't no way anyone's getting in and out without a whole bunch of people seeing 'em," he reassured Tyreese. I cocked my head at them for a moment before I realized what Tyreese had really been talking about. He didn't want to protect these people from walkers, he wanted to protect them from the person who had killed Karen and David. But it was too late for that. The person had killed them in hopes of preventing the virus to spread, but now that they knew that it was everywhere, there was no use in trying to stop it. The best that we could do was contain it.

But still, Tyreese shook his head and kept his eyes locked on his sister. "Sasha's in there. I ain't going nowhere," he told us. The man was clearly determined to stay, even though we knew that he would be of more help if we could get him to go on the run.

Daryl shook his head at the man but sighed. He knew that there was no way that we would be able to get Tyreese to move. "Standing guard ain't gonna do no good unless we come back with them meds," he said in a last ditch effort. After a moment of silence, Daryl finally nodded and motioned for me to head out of the room. "All right. We're gassing up by the front gate in case you change your mind," Daryl called to Tyreese as we left the room.

Quickly we made our way back to the prison yard and without a word Daryl dropped back under the hood and got to work on the car once more. I dropped down to the tires as well, checking the last one that I had been checking before we had left. As the gauge hit the right number I nodded to myself and stood up. "Everything look all right?" Bob called from behind us as he walked up. I smiled at him as he laid his gear down at the base of the car. I opened the door and swung the bag inside, dropping it with the other minimal amount of supplies that we were carrying with us. Some food, any medical supplies that we could spare, and bags to put the medicine in once we got to the school.

Daryl popped up from the hood as I slammed the door shut and he dropped the hood. I looked over the car and nodded. It would work just fine, a sports car like this one would get us where we needed to go, and fast. "Yeah. Zack kept this thing running pretty good," Daryl told the other man.

I looked up in shock, along with Bob. I knew that we had found Zack close to a car, and I knew that we had taken in back with us, but I had no idea that this was Zack's car. For a moment I felt sick about getting into his car, but I shook it off. This was the fastest car that we had, and we needed to get gone and back fast. "This is Zack's car?" Bob asked, looking as uncomfortable as I felt.

Daryl nodded at Bob, looking like he understood that Bob felt uncomfortable with what had happened. I didn't blame him, he probably felt like what had happened to Zack was his fault. "Yeah, fastest one we got," Daryl answered.

I opened the doors to air the car out and turned back. The car was nice but its black paint job held in way too much damn heat during the scorching Georgia summers. Turning away from the car and grabbing an extra canister of gas, I spotted Tyreese walking up to our small group. I nudged Michonne who met the man halfway. "You all right?" She asked him.

He stood still for a moment before looking at the rest of us. I glanced away when he met my eyes, still uncomfortable after what had happened with him and Rick this morning. The morning that felt like an eternity ago. "You really want me coming along?" He asked her, apparently not believing the fact that we needed another person.

She twisted her hips and smirked at the man, although his face remained stone cold. Clearly she was trying to lighten the air, but he was suffering loss after loss. It might take him a while to make it back to us. "What's that word? "Zanamivir." Yup, we need you," she told him. I had no idea what that meant, or even what language it was, but I shrugged my shoulders and gave Tyreese a small smile as he walked over to where Daryl was doing last minute checks on the car.

"What's up?" Daryl asked as Tyreese walked up to him.

Tyreese shuffled his feet for a moment, actually looking ashamed for the way that he had acted earlier. Maybe this was a way of saying he was sorry. Or maybe it was just a way to take out his anger on the walkers. Either way, we needed all the help that we could get, and he was more than welcome here. "Still got room for one more?" Tyreese asked.

Daryl smiled slightly and nodded at the man. "Hell, yeah," he said to Tyreese.

The man nodded and gave Daryl a grateful look. I had thought that he might smile, but it didn't seem that he was quite to that point yet. "Good. Just got to get my gear," he informed Daryl.

"All right," our temporary leader nodded as Tyreese walked off. With the checks of the car over, I hopped into the passenger seat, and dropped my empty messenger bag at my feet. Michonne climbed in too, in the back seat, right in the middle. Bob hopped in next, behind my seat, the two leaving room for Tyreese to sit behind Daryl. I heard the trunk slam at the back of the car and a moment later, Daryl slid in next to me, starting the engine. We all sat for a moment, giving the engine a moment to warm up before Tyreese finally hopped in the car.

With our final passenger in his place, the door slammed shut and Daryl started the engine. We pulled down the drive and waved a shirt goodbye to Carl, who was manning the gates. I glanced up into the rear view mirror and watched as the prison disappeared. Once I could no longer see it, I sighed and sunk into my seat, reclining my chair slightly and kicking my feet onto the dashboard.

Despite the fact that the school was only 50 miles from the prison, it would probably take us near two hours to get there. Since these roads aren't super safe anymore and we have to drive the way on the back roads to hopefully avoid walkers. But who knows, we could run into a herd and have to reroute, or we may have car problems. That had been the reasons that we had packed food to last us about three to four days. But I doubted that we would be gone that long. More than likely we would be back within 36 hours.

Tipping my head back and snatching a hat from the dashboard I closed my eyes and attempted to take a small nap. But the roar of the engine kept me awake the entire time. Still, I kept my eyes closed and waited for any announcement that we were close to the school. "Hey, I know you weren't running off," Daryl said. I cracked my eye open, but I realized that he was talking to Michonne, not me. I closed my eye once more, but I still listened to the one sided conversation. "The thing is, that trail went cold. You know that, right? If it was any different, I'd be right out there with you," he told her. I waited to see if she would respond, but she stayed silent. After a moment I heard the static from the car radio crackle. It would be nice if we could get a station or listen to some music, but there were no radio stations in existence anymore. Daryl fiddled with the radio for a moment, probably trying to find an emergency station, but nothing was broadcasting. "Would you hand me one of them CD's right there?" He asked me as he fiddled with the dials.

I nodded at him and began to dig through the CD's. Zack had actually had a good taste in music. He had an old KISS and Black Sabbath CD. But I figured that we would probably be better off with a country music track. I began to throw the CD's across the car floor. But I stopped as a faint voice sounded from the radio. "...find sanctuary," the voice called before the static started again.

I stared at Daryl in shock, and saw that he was giving me the same look. What the hell was that? Someone was broadcasting the voice. A person that had somewhere safe to go. A sanctuary. A place where we could live our lives, a place that might have medicine for us to heal the remainder of our group. Daryl was screwing around with the dial again, hoping that he could connect to the voice once more. "Was that a voice?" Bob asked from the back.

"Shh," Daryl immediately shushed the man. The radio was quiet enough without someone talking. I turned back and saw that all three of our companions were leaned forward, curious as to what we had really just heard. Tyreese looked curious too, the first emotion I had seen from him today, other than anger.

Turning back to the front of the car, I watched the dial swerve back and forth as Daryl tried to find the same station. We all watched the dial, praying that the people would come back on the radio and say where they were. Or at least who they were. Finally, a voice came back on the radio, and Daryl immediately dropped his hand off of the dial. "Those who arrive... survive..." the same voice that had told us there was sanctuary earlier droned. It sounded like an older woman, but I couldn't tell.

The voice once more turned to static and Daryl went back to fiddling with the dial. After a moment, I looked up and saw a huge horde of walkers. We had all been so busy looking down at the road that no one had been watching the road. Daryl swerved the wheel off to the side and I yelled as we began to swerve back and forth. Daryl was trying to avoid the brunt of the walkers, but it was no use. They were evenly spread throughout the road and in big clumps. I could hear the growls of the walkers as they all grabbed onto the cars. "Grab something!" Daryl yelled as he hit the brunt of the walkers. I grabbed the handle on my side and grunted as we smashed into the walkers. I looked all around us, but we were surrounded on all sides by the walkers. There was no way that we were driving out of this. We would have to run, and there was a damn good chance that we could get overpowered by them.

It seemed that I wasn't the only one that was looking for a way out. Michonne seemed to catch a way out of the back of the horde. "Go to the left," she yelled up to the front. Without saying yes or no to her, that's what he did. We tried to back out of the horde, but there was nothing that we could do. We were on top of a pile of walkers, and there was no way that the tires would be able to get out of the area. We were going to be forced to run.

"We're jammed up," Bob gasped. Clearly, he didn't believe what had happened. I didn't either. A moment ago, we had all had hope for the future, and now we were fighting for our life once more.

Daryl slammed on the wheel for a moment before he sighed and took a look around. The majority of the walkers were at the front and back of the car. If we could do it fast, we might all be able to make it out of here. "Make a run for the gaps right there," Daryl pointed at the sides of the herd. "You three, you make a run for the woods and you don't stop for nothing, you hear me? Rain, you stay with me," Daryl told me and I nodded. "Now! Move!" He yelled to everyone. Michonne stood up and jumped through the sunroof of the car. Bob threw open the backdoor and he jumped out of the car. A moment later, Daryl opened the door and I opened mine as well.

A walker quickly spotted me and I threw my door out as hard as I could. I heard the snap as the door was released off of its hinges. But still, it hit the walker full on and made the thing drop before it could get to me. I ran past the door and pulled my gun out. Shooting two walkers that were close to me, I brushed by a third. I felt its raw skin peel off and I screamed as the skin peeled off, falling onto my arm. I quickly shot the walker and brushed the skin off. Picking up my speed, I shot at the walkers as I ran by, and I could finally see the clearing in the walkers. Trying to get out of the area, a walker that jumped out in front of me. I pulled my arm up to shoot the thing, but my gun clicked as it was out of bullets. I put the gun away and went to reach for my knife, but it was too late. The walker grabbed onto my arm, and it leaned its head down. Its mouth opened and I screamed at the walker. This was it, the end of my life. But just as the jaws of the walker clamped around my arm, an arrow shot through the head of the walker. I breathed a shaky sigh of relief and dashed out of the area.

Daryl was standing at the edge of the field and I ran up, he grabbed onto me and pulled me into a tight hug. Despite the fact that we weren't supposed to be touching each other, I had damn near just been bitten. I would have been bitten had Daryl not gotten out of the horde before I did. Once more, he was the reason that I was alive.

"Ty! Ty!" I heard Bob shout from across from me. I turned back and was relieved to see that both Bob and Michonne had made their way out of the horde. But Tyreese was still in the car, in almost a comatose state. My god, he was so devastated over the loss of Karen that he was willing to die at the hands of walkers.

I took a few steps forward and wrapped my hands around my mouth. "Tyreese! Come on!" I shouted to him. But he still just sat there. Right as I was about to give up though, I saw him move in the seat.

Tyreese scrambled out of the car and we were watching as the walkers immediately surrounded him. With nothing else to attract their attention, all of the walkers were going after Tyreese. "Go!" He yelled to us as he fought off the walkers that were quickly surrounding him.

"Come on!" Daryl yelled at me as he grabbed my arm and attempted to drag me after him. But I was too busy watching Tyreese. I refused to believe that he was going to die here. He was strong enough to get out of there, besides, he had a sister to get back to.

"Come on and get me!" Tyreese yelled to the walkers that were surrounding him. That was when it hit me. He wasn't trying to get out of the horde, he just wanted to fight them. He wanted to take his anger out on them. He looked back up to where we were and his eyes widened. "Go! Go!" He yelled to us. But we all stayed put where we were. "Come on. Come on and get me!" He yelled.

We all wanted to stay and help Tyreese, but a few of the walkers that had been in the back of the horde finally seemed to notice that there was a perfectly good meal only feet away. "Go!" Daryl hissed as we began to run. I looked back at Tyreese once more, only to see him covered in walkers. I grimaced at the scene and debated running back, but Daryl ran over and grabbed my arm. "Come on,' he groaned at me as he dragged me into the woods. "Hold up," he said as a walker cut through our path. He raised his crossbow and shot the thing down, and once more we were running. "Come on," Daryl told us as we walked over to a clearing.

There was a rustling in the bushes and I walked back from the sound. Michonne had her sword up and Bob and I had our guns. Daryl was standing the closest to the sound though, with his crossbow up and ready. The trees rustled for a moment, and finally a figure popped up. I raised my gun but dropped it when I saw that it was Tyreese. God, how the hell had he gotten out of there? I smiled at the man and ran up to him, pulling him into a hug. Tyreese thanked me as I let go of him and took my spot again.

Everyone greeted Tyreese, happy that he had been able to make it out of the walkers. With everyone back together, the sun was now setting, and we had no way of making it to the school in the night. Daryl made the call that we should all take a rest for the night and get moving again in the morning. And that was exactly what we did. Making a small camp, I laid down with Daryl at my side. Michonne and Tyreese would be on watch tonight. I heard the soft snores coming from Daryl and I smiled at him. Turning onto my side, I coughed once. There was a small pain in my ribs and I couldn't help but wonder if I had hit them on something.

Shrugging it off, I closed my eyes and settled into the hard dirt. It wasn't very comfortable, but it was all that we had for the night. After a fitful time falling asleep, memories of the breath of the walker on my skin, I finally fell asleep to the sight of the sun rising.

The next morning Daryl nudged me awake and I grabbed a nutrition bar out of his pack. We only took a few minutes before we had all of our stuff together and we were ready to move out. We kept to the woods in the event that there was another walker horde on the road. It must have been midday before we finally hit a small stream. I smiled at the area and dipped my hands into the river, grabbing some water in my hands and downing it. Daryl walked up to my side and we all stood together, waiting to see where we would have to head to next. "This is Turner Creek, so Barnesville must be a few miles downstream. Sounds like our best chance at finding a new ride," Daryl told us.

I nodded and walked with Daryl, Michonne catching up at our sides. "Yo, Ty. Come on, let's go. Vamonos!" I heard Bob call behind us. I turned back and saw that he was standing by the river, absolutely still. "Ty. Ty!" Bob yelled again. Finally, Tyreese seemed to shake out of his stupor and began to follow us, a few feet behind.

After another hour, Daryl finally made the call that we should hit the main road again. Luckily, we hadn't run too far into the woods, so it was a short walk out. There was a sharp incline to the road and I groaned. We had been doing so much walking today that my legs were killing me. All I wanted was to lay down and go to bed. As I made the incline, I began to cough. I hadn't drank anything and I had barely eaten anything in the past day. Once I hit the road again, the coughing went away and I sighed. Once I got back to the prison, I would need a damn good meal. "There should be a town a few miles south," Daryl said as I walked up next to him.

We all nodded and began to walk once more. We were tired and talking only made the fatigue even worse. As we walked, we fell into a pattern. Daryl and I took the front, myself standing a bit apart from the others. Michonne and Tyreese were behind us, and Bob was bringing up the rear. "Lost a whole night. My sister, everybody else- they're probably dead," Tyreese said after a few miles of walking. Normally, I would have just ignored the comment, but right now I felt like I was about to keel over and die. Tyreese's negative attitude was making things even worse, and I was about ready to turn around and shoot him.

I could tell that Daryl was getting upset as well, but he refused to snap at Tyreese. It would only make things worse, and we didn't need another fight. "Well, it helps to keep moving," he told the man without looking back.

"No, it doesn't," Tyreese grunted back.

I rolled my eyes at his attitude but continued walking anyways. We all walked in silence for a bit longer when Michonne finally spoke up. "Maggie wanted to come, you know. Someone had to stay back, watch over things," she told Tyreese. I knew that she was trying to make him happier, but there was no use in saying anything to him. He would only listen to what you had to say and then turn it into something negative. He would be that way until he got his revenge for Karen.

Just as I had expected, Tyreese grunted once more and when I turned back, I saw that he was shaking his head. "Someone you trust, you mean," he growled at her.

Silence once more fell over the group as we walked back towards the town. Only minutes after the conversation, we finally came up on the town. Just like every other town that we had seen, it was completely deserted. We walked through the industrial sector and stopped at what looked like an old paper mill factory. There were cars that were all around the area, but most were either trucks that were too small or cars that were too slow. I walked through the area and followed Daryl. Dust kicked up as the wind blew and I coughed harshly. I had never known myself to be allergic to dust, but I knew that anyone could develop allergies.

Once the dust settled and my coughing fit went down, Daryl came over to me, asking of I was OK. I nodded at him and told him that I was fine. Which I was, I was just tired. I wanted to find a car and get the medicine and get back. Food, water, and sleep was everything that we all needed right now. Daryl and I walked forward and came up on an old soccer mom minivan that was a light blue. Daryl looked to me and I nodded, it was just what we needed.

He jumped inside the car and I walked around, looking through the vines that were attached to the building. I couldn't see anything inside but the growls of the walkers were clear. The place must have been flooded with them. I heard Daryl start the engine and I hoped that we would be good to go, but the sputtering of the engine told me otherwise. It sounded like we needed to find a new battery, but I wasn't exactly sure. Hopefully it was though, that would be easy to find.

The engine of the car turned off and Daryl stepped out, slamming the door behind him. "We gotta find us a new battery. Got some friends inside. Come on. Let's clear a path, see how many we got," he told me as he walked up to me. The good thing was that it was the battery, and with all of the other cars here, a battery was a sure find.

We walked back to see that everyone was tearing the vines off of the building. Michonne was slowly chopping through them with her sword, careful that nothing was about to fly out. Bob was tearing away the vines, which most tore away easily. Tyreese though, was ripping through them with the pointed end of his hammer. I gave Daryl a sidelong glance and he nodded at me. "Hey, man, go easy. We don't know what we're dealing with," Daryl said as he walked up to the man.

Just as he said that though, a walker lunged through the vines and pushed Tyreese to the ground. He was holding the walker back, but he wasn't trying to kill it. "Ah! Tyreese!" Bob yelled as he ran up to the man. I tried to pull the walker off of Tyreese without getting bitten, but for some reason, Tyreese was holding onto the walker, and wasn't letting go. "Ty! Ty, let him go," Bob grunted as he tried to pull off the walker. I finally got a grip on the walkers arm and managed to pull it free. Stumbling back, I jumped out of the way just as its jaws snapped at my feet. Daryl ran over to the fallen walker and slammed his boot into the things skull. I sighed softly and waited for him to calm down and walk back over to the rest of us.

Tyreese stood up slowly, and I was out of breath from the encounter. I watched as Daryl stormed up to Tyreese and stared him down. "Why the hell didn't you let go?" Daryl growled out. I wanted to walk over to Tyreese and strangle him, but I knew that it wouldn't make any difference. Tyreese merely stormed past Daryl and I scoffed at the man. He was upset, I understood that. But if he didn't snap out of it soon he was going to get himself, and the rest of us killed.

Following Tyreese's lead, I stormed away from the group and walked back over to the car. Jumping up on the hood, I kicked my booted feet up onto the headlights. Daryl cleared away from the group as well, pulling Bob with him to find a battery. Michonne on the other hand walked over to Tyreese, and looked like she was trying to start a conversation with him. Both Bob and Daryl were pulling apart an old van which apparently had the battery that we needed.

As I laid my head back I sniffed gently and must have sucked some dirt in. Leaning over the edge of the car, I coughed a few times before shaking my head clear. As far as I had known, I was never allergic to anything, but that was growing up in southern Florida and living recently in northern Florida. I easily could be allergic to something here in Georgia. But the longer that I watched my list of symptoms grow, the more nervous I became. I was showing all of the signs of someone who had contracted the virus, but if that was what it was, I was still in the early stages. No matter though, because if I was sick, I would be dead by tomorrow night.

For now I had to stay away from everyone. I would manage it for now, but if it came down to it there was no way that I would get back in that car. Maybe hot wire a car of my own. I couldn't risk infecting everyone else. Daryl's hand shook me from my thoughts as he pushed me gently off of the hood. I nodded at him and jumped down off of the hood standing back as Daryl went to work on replacing the battery. "You never told us about the group you were with before," he said after a while, looking at Bob.

The man in question shrugged his shoulders at Daryl, and immediately I knew that he had lost his group. He was too casual for someone who had been out on his own the entire time. "Which one?" He asked, both Daryl and I choosing to remain silent. "You know, when you found me out on that road, I almost kept walking," he told us.

"Why is that?" Daryl asked.

Bob shook his head and shrugged his shoulders gently. "'Cause I was done being a witness. Two times, two different groups. I was the last one standing. Like I was supposed to see it happen over and over, like it's some kind of curse. But, when it's just you out there with the quiet. Used to be I'd drink a bottle of anything just so I could shut my eyes at night. Figured the prison, the people, thought it'd be easier. The run to the big spot, I did it for me," he confessed. I cocked my head, that day when I had seen how Zach's death had affected Bob, I knew that there was something more than the case had just fallen.

Once more Daryl shrugged his shoulders, clearly not getting where Bob was going with his story yet. "You gotta keep busy," the hunter answered, with his hands still working at the battery.

Bob seemed to want to come clean though as he shook his head and sighed deeply. "No. I did it so I could get me a bottle. Of anything. I picked it up, I held it in my hand, but I put it down. I put it down so hard it took the whole damn shelf with it. That's what brought on the walkers, and that's what got Zack killed," Bob admitted. Daryl looked up and for a moment I thought that he might yell at Bob, but instead he huffed and shook his head.

Pointing at Bob, she shook his head once more. "That's bullshit," he growled. Daryl looked back down right after though as I let my thoughts wander. I knew that there was no way that the shelf had just fallen. Finally, it seemed that Daryl was done working as he looked up and motioned for Bob's attention. "Why don't you get in there and try the engine? It's a red and a green wire. Go on. It ain't rocket science," he said. Bob hooked the wires together quickly and gave Daryl a thumbs up. "Give it some gas," Daryl ordered. Bob did as told and the engine roared to life.

I cheered softly and hopped into the passenger seat. Daryl yelled out to Michonne and Tyreese, who both began to walk over to us. Bob hopped out of the driver seat and let Daryl take his place. Everyone jumped into the car and quickly, we were off. I sighed as the car went back onto the road, knowing that we were really only a few minutes away from the school. We could have walked the rest of the way, but if we needed a quick getaway, a car was exactly what we needed.

As we pulled out of the area, I noticed that Bob was leaning forward so that he was talking in Daryl's ear. "Sasha and me picked that spot. He took you with us," Bob said, his voice laced with guilt.

Daryl shook his head at Bob, clearly hoping that he would drop the topic. Despite the fact that no one of our group but Beth had been particularly close to Zach, he was a presence that was much needed in this world. "There ain't no way anybody could've known. You ain't gonna be standing alone, not no more. Let's go," Daryl said as we pulled out of the drive.

Once more we were on the road, about ten miles from the school. Luckily, we arrived to the school quickly, and I was brought back to my days as a college student. I probably would have been a year and a half into my job and possibly getting ready to settle down with some boring guy that was nice and had an inviting mother who fawned over me. In the past that would have been exactly what I wanted, but now it was something out of a nightmare. I had my ideal family here. People that loved me and that would die for me, and vice versa. Then there was Daryl, the imperfect man that I would have never known that I had wanted. The one person who meant everything to me. This world might be a harsh and cruel one, but there was no other way that I would have wanted it.

Daryl stopped the car and we all quickly jumped out. I had my gun cocked at my side, ready to pull it out if need be. We made our way into the building and it was clear that the first floor was all of the administration and professor offices. I caught sight of a small opening that was the staircase and pointed everyone to it. It would have been easier to talk, but not knowing what was out there, it was smarter to motion to each other. Running up the stairs, I saw the medicine cabinets in row after row. Picking up a bottle with a long name that I couldn't read, I realized that this bottle had expired right after the outbreak. Every bottle that I picked up had an expiration date that we were already far past. "It's all expired by at least a year," I heard Bob say from the next shelf over.

I grabbed a few bottles with names that I recognized and coughed lightly. My coughs continued this time though and I dropped onto my knees as a wave of fatigue hit me. Grabbing a shelf I stood up, the room spinning around me. I nearly cried, knowing now that I had the virus. I had been covered in walker guts, it was no shock that I had gotten it. But it was too late to lay down, I had to get the stuff so we could get out. "Better to take it. Let Hershel decide what he needs," Daryl said.

I shook my head clear and grabbed all of the bottles that were on the shelf with names that I recognized from Hershel's list before we had left. "Anything ending with -cillin or -cin, C-I-N, grab it. We'll dissolve the pills in the IVs, put 'em right into the bloodstream. Dosage will be tricky but considering the time we lost- How'd you do?" Michonne asked as Daryl walked up to her with his bag.

"Bags, tubes, clamps, connectors. Everything on the list," he said shaking his bag lightly. That was good, he had gotten all of the medical supplies and we had gotten all of the medicine that we needed. "What about y'all?" Daryl asked, turning his head to me. I knew that I was pale and sweaty, so the concerned look that he was giving me wasn't shocking.

I coughed into my arm, hoping that he wouldn't call me out here. If he said something I wanted him to say it in private. "Yeah, we got it all. Yeah. We're good," I awkwardly stumbled over my words. "All right, let's roll," I called to everyone, hoping that we could leave so I could get the medicine pumped in me. We began to walk forward, but just as we rounded a corner, I saw a bundle of walkers. They were stalking around, just through a door and I knew that there was no way we could go back the way that we had come. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Up ahead," I called out, letting everyone know that there was no way we were getting back.

Bob walked off to our side and tried a door that we hadn't gone through yet. I could see through the window and there were no walkers. We just had to hope that it would get us back downstairs. "Hey! Door's busted," Bob told us.

"Oh. Hold up. There," Daryl pointed through a window to a door. It was frosted so we could see the outlines of the walkers, but I couldn't clearly see how many there were. Every time that I turned I felt my head spin even more. I couldn't be standing out here much longer or I would surely collapse. "How many?" Daryl asked.

"I can't tell," Michonne answered.

Bob turned back to the walkers in our immediate way and shook his head. "We can take 'em," he said pulling out his gun and beginning to make his way over to the walkers.

Quickly Michonne grabbed Bob and pulled him back to her. "No! They're infected. Same as at the prison. We fire at 'em, get their blood on us, breathe it in. We didn't come all this way to get sick," she told him. I nearly laughed at her. I was sick. I had been sick since we had left the prison, I had just been denying it this whole time.

"How do we know the ones in there aren't any different?" Bob asked, pointing down the hallway.

"We don't," Daryl answered.

Michonne shook her head and grabbed her sword, pulling it in front of her. "Well, it's gotta change sometime," she told us. I grabbed my gun out of my holster, feeling my vision begin to blur. Perhaps I should avoid shooting anything. Bob grabbed his gun as well and Tyreese pulled his hammer to his side.

"Ready?" Daryl asked as we faced the iced door that led to God knows where. Michonne walked forward, stepping in stride with Daryl. "Do it! Come on," he yelled as he threw the door open. I could hear Daryl shouting at the walkers and I heard shots going off, but I couldn't see anything. My vision was almost black and my entire body was covered in a thin film of sweat. I was coughing too, and the entire combination was throwing my balance off as I stumbled down the hallway.

The group stopped short and I banged into Bob's back, who turned to me and widened his eyes when he saw me. He went to grab my arm, but I pulled away from him, shaking my head. "Back," Daryl called from the front of the group.

"Don't have an exit," Bob called back.

Daryl made his way to the back of the group, running past me for a moment, but stopped dead short. There were probably walkers behind me, but I couldn't bring myself to care anymore. My whole body felt like it was on fire, and I was pretty sure I was about to throw up a lung. Daryl ran past me and stopped at my side. As he was looking over everyone, he saw me and his eyes automatically turned to the size of saucers. "Oh my God, Rain. Are you OK?" He asked me, grabbing onto my shoulders.

I threw his arms off of me and I stumbled back. I tripped over my own feet and nearly fell onto my back, but Daryl caught me. Once more though, I shoved him away from me. If I was going to die from this, I wasn't taking aryl with me. He would have a long life. "I have it, Daryl. I have it. I need to get out of here now. Away from all of you," I said. I went to walk back towards the walkers, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Then we make one. Get down! Come on, move it! Jump down to the walkway below," he called to Bob, who I saw make his way out of the window at the end of the hall. "No! We'll get you out of here. We have the medicine. You just need to hang in until we get back. Come on! We'll get out that window and you will be fine!" He yelled to me. I heard his voice breaking, and I knew that he was on the verge of tears, but he would never admit that.

"They're here!" Michonne yelled.

Daryl vaulted out of the window and pushed everyone onto the walkway. As I launched myself out of the window, I hit the walkway and immediately fell, but was helped up by Daryl. Bob had fallen as well and was currently wrestling his bag away from a walker. "Let's go! Go, go. Move," Daryl called to everyone.

"Bob, let it go," Michonne called to the man.

Daryl ran up to Bob and grabbed him around the waist. Michonne was currently keeping me upright. "Let it go, man. Just let it go. Let go of the bag, man," Daryl told Bob. The man finally wrestled his bag from the walker and when its contents spilled out, it was only a bottle of alcohol. Daryl walked up to Bob and stood chest to chest with him. "You got no meds in your bag? Just this? You should have kept walking that day," Daryl growled.

"Daryl don't. It isn't worth it," Michonne called to him.

Tyreese seemed to finally snap out of it as he walked over to Daryl. "Don't. Just let it go, Daryl. The man's made his choice. Nothing you can do about it. Just gotta let it go. Come on, Rain looks like she's about to drop dead."

Had I been more responsive I would have yelled at Tyreese, but now all I wanted to do was die. If this was what the virus did to you, death was a welcome bliss compared to it. "I didn't want to hurt nobody. It was just for when it gets quiet. Take one sip," Bob tried to defend himself as Daryl picked me up, bridal style.

Cradling me close to his chest, I could feel my legs press up against Bob. "When those meds get in our people, I will beat your ass into the ground. You hear me? If she dies because I couldn't get this into her fast enough, you better run and hope that I never find you. I will kill you if she doesn't live."

The rest of the run went by in a blur, I felt myself get handed off to person after person as they made their way back to the ground. I knew that they were trying to help, but I wanted nothing more than for them to drop me on the ground and let me lay there. Every time that I moved, my bones felt like they were breaking. And now when I was coughing, blood was coming out. I heard the car door open and I knew that I was being placed into the passenger seat. All of the doors were opening and closing quickly and I could hear the engine roar to life. No sooner than when the engine had started, the car peeled out of the driveway of the school.

The windows were down in an attempt to wake me up, but it was no use. I was fading fast and there was no way that they would get me back fast enough. "Rain stay awake. Please. We're almost back. We'll be there in thirty minutes. Just hang on." My eyes slipped shut and I could hear Daryl and the rest of my group yelling at me. "Rain for the love of God wake up! Don't you dare leave me!" Daryl shouted.

I groaned and looked over to Daryl. My eyes were slits and I could barely see out of them. But I could see that the odometer was over 100 and Daryl's eyes were a bright red. "I love you, Daryl Dixon. Be the man that I know you are. Don't let anything destroy the man that you've become. I'll see you again. I just want to sleep," I mumbled the last part out. I could hear the yells of my group members, but they were drowned out. The only thing that I knew right now was the bright white light that flooded my vision. It was like there was an explosion, and then nothing.


	37. Fight

Death was nothing like I had expected. I felt all of the pain. I felt when my lungs ceased taking in air. I felt when my organs shut down, one after the other. My bones had felt like they were stabbing me in every part of my body. My blood rose into my mouth and suffocated me. It had felt like my death had taken an eternity, but finally the pain stopped. Then there was nothing. That was the only way that I could describe what death was like. It was nothing. Nothing but me and my thoughts. Even my thoughts were so scrambled that I had no idea what I was thinking. Most of it was memories.

Before you fade into the black, they say that you see your life flash before your eyes. That was exactly what had happened to me. I saw flashes of the best and worst parts of my life. I saw myself take my first trip to the zoo with my parents, one of the few happy memories that I have of them. Then there was my first day of school. My father had been so afraid to let me go that he had almost kept me home. My mother was the only reason that I had even made it in the doors that day. Then there was the day that Penny was born, everyone was so happy that day. Then there was the day that my mother took Penny shopping, leaving me alone with my father after they had been fighting. He had drank so much that it was the first time that he laid an unwanted hand on me, and it was the first time that I had been sent to the hospital. Then it was the day that I left home, and my time in prison after that.

There were a few glimpses of my time working, and my time in college, but then there came the most important day of my short life. The day that I heard the announcement that the dead had come back to life. And there was the next day, when I had drank too much and nearly been killed by Glenn and Daryl. Seeing it a second time the whole fiasco was hilarious. There was making up with Glenn and meeting everyone from the Atlanta group. So few of us were left alive. Now they were down one more. But that same day had been the day that Daryl had first yelled at me. Then there was the rescue of Rick and when we lost Merle. The CDC, and Highway 81, where we had lost Sophia. The first time that I had been shot and meeting everyone on the Greene farm. Daryl's story of the Cherokee Rose, and the day that he had been shot by Andrea and I had attacked her. The barn where we had lost Sophia, and Hatlin's bar where I had been shot again. The first kiss Daryl and I had shared, and goofing around with everyone in the Greene yard. The day we had lost Dale, the best father I had ever had. Killing Shane had come after that, and then there was the time that I had managed to evade death. I guess he was coming back for me now.

Plenty of other memories had flown by too. The winter where I had been busy recovering, and when we had first spotted the prison. The first time that Daryl and I had slept together. Losing Lori and meeting my father again. Meeting Merle again and having him and Daryl leave. The day that my father had attacked the prison and we had defeated him. Taking everyone in and building the prison. Losing Zack and having the sickness spread. The panic in Daryl's eyes as he fought to save me.

Looking back, my life could have been much worse. It would have been had I not met the people that were my real family. The people that I loved more than anything. I was blessed to have ever met any of them, and despite the fact that my time with Daryl was cut short I was so grateful to have ever met him. Light began to flood my vision and I knew what was coming. I was going into the light. This was now officially the end of my life here on Earth.

"Rain," a deep voice called out to me. I struggled to find the source of the voice, the light being so overpowering. I fought to move around in the light, but nothing worked. Finally, my eyes pulled open and I was blinded by bright white light. My eyes were crusted and every part of me felt like it was on fire. I had thought that when you died all of the pain was taken away. I guess that was wishful thinking though. "Rain," the voice called once more as my vision fought to recover.

A few minutes later, my vision was finally back to me and I wondered if I was truly in my version of Heaven. I was laying on a small cot with a bunk bed above me. The walls of the room that I was in were all a solid grey and the door to the room that I was in was barred. The prison? That was my Heaven? Or was I really alive? Had I somehow survived? I blinked and looked around. The room was still fuzzy but I saw a figure sitting at the foot of my bed. I tried to speak to the figure, tried to ask why I had needles sticking out of my arm, but it came out as nothing more than a low moan.

"Rain," the voice called, louder now. I looked once more at the owner of the voice and finally my vision came back full force. Daryl. It was Daryl. He was looking at me with red eyes that were now glistening with tears that hadn't been shed yet. I stared at him in shock as he grabbed my hand and leaned his head into my bed. I wanted to say something, but the only thing that would come out were nonsensical moans. I felt a warm tear fall on my hand and weakly I placed a hand on the back of Daryl's head. He looked up at me and leaned into me. For a moment the sickness jumped into my mind, but clearly if I was alive, I was over it. His lips met mine and I smiled into the kiss. It was deep and full of raw passion. He pulled me into him so tightly that it hurt, but I wasn't going to say anything. Our lips moved together and I smiled as our mouths opened. For what seemed like eternities, we sat there together, our lips locked. But finally he pulled away and smiled at me. "I can't believe you're alive," he said to me in a voice thick with tears.

"I-I-I'm really alive?" I asked, tears beginning to fill my eyes. I had no idea that I would live through the sickness. Before I had passed out in the car I had parted with Daryl. I was ready to die. No part of me had been prepared to wake up again.

Daryl nodded at me and handed me a glass of water. I downed it quickly and cleared my throat. It would probably take me a while to get the scratchy tome out of my voice. I watched as he leaned over the edge of the bed and grabbed a protein bar. He unwrapped it and I happily munched on the bar. I had to go slowly though, too much food and I knew that I would throw it up. "What happened? How did you save me? I only remember passing out in the car," I told him.

He sighed and shook his head. "Rain, you didn't just pass out and wake back up. It's been a while." I wanted to slap Daryl for what he had said. I knew that I'd been out for a while. "This is the seventh day since you passed out," he told me and my jaw dropped. I had thought that I'd been out for a day of two. Not a week. "When you passed out I had Michonne take care of you. When we got back to the prison you weren't breathing. Hershel got to you immediately and told us that you were dead. He wasn't willing to give up on you. He had to do CPR on you and got you hooked up to the machine. Hershel knew that we could keep you hydrated, but we had no way to feed you. A few more days and you would have died from hunger. There was no way to wake you up, we tried but nothing worked. Anyways, you stopped breathing two more times over the past few days but we saved you. Hershel didn't know if you would ever wake up so I was sitting here. This morning you seemed a little responsive and then you opened your eyes. Most of the people who were infected are doing better. A lot of people still died from it though. Glenn and Sasha made it though."

I nodded at him, trying to process what he had told me. I saw that his hand was sitting in his pocket, fiddling with something, but he removed his hand and grabbed mine. "I love you," he told me. I smiled and told him that I loved him as well before asking what everyone was doing today. Besides a pounding headache, I felt fine. And after a week of being asleep, I felt like I needed to get things done. "Rick just got back not too long ago, he went out with Carol. He asked if I could meet him. I've got a few things to fix up in the recovery room but then I'll head over there. He'll want to see you, everyone will. Hershel and Michonne are burying the bodies of the infected now."

My ears perked up as he told me that and I nodded at him. I sat up slowly and smiled as he helped me. I felt fine but my muscles were sore after not using them for so long. "Thanks," I told him as I moved to stand up. He helped me gain my balance, and after a moment I was able to push him away and stand on my own. "I'm gonna help them get to burying the bodies," I told Daryl.

His face immediately fell and he glared at me. "No Rain, you just woke up. There's no way in hell that I'm letting you go out there. The last thing we need is for you to get sick again," he said, worry thick in his voice.

"Daryl, "I'll be fine. I've already contracted the virus and I've gotten over it. The whole thing is like chicken pox. I had it and I beat it, now I'm immune to it. It's a better idea for me to be out there than anyone else who was lucky enough not to get it," I told him. He didn't look happy about the whole thing but he nodded anyways. "Trust me, I'll be careful. If anything happens to me I'll come back inside right away. I have to get out there and do something Daryl. I'm gonna go stir crazy if I sit in here and stare at the walls."

"Fine. But please, be careful. Take breaks, drink lots of water. And don't kill yourself trying to be the hero," he told me with his hand laying on my cheek. I smiled and leaned into him, kissing him lightly on the lips. He grabbed my head and pulled me closer and I let myself melt into him. It had been too long since we had been close like this.

I pulled away from him and smiled. "Yes dad," I teased. He laughed and let me walk out of the cell. I ran into Merle right off the bat and the man gave me a huge smile, pulling me into a bone crushing hug that lifted me off of the floor. I coughed as he constricted my lungs but laughed anyways. My stupid, lovely, family. "Hey Merle, missed me buddy?" I teasingly asked as he let me back onto the ground. I stumbled slightly but he grabbed my arm, keeping me steady.

"Well damn girl, it's good to see ya again. Should've seen everyone hanging around here lately. All walking around like they had lost part of their souls. It's already spread that you're up and at 'em again. That's why I was over here. Where's my little brother? I would have thought that he wouldn't let you out of his sights," Merle smirked at me.

Laughing, I punched him in the shoulder and smiled softly. "I've been laying around too long lately. I need to get up and do something. You know, feel like I'm good for something," I told the older Dixon and he nodded. "Anyways, I'm gonna go help burn the bodies of our dead, help out Michonne and Hershel. I'll see you later," I told the older man. He nodded and made his way past me, probably searching for his brother.

I walked into the cell that Daryl seemed to be living in once more, now that the sickness was taken care of. His things were all sat in the corner of the room and I smiled. How very Daryl. I grabbed my guns that were carefully laid on the table and strapped them onto me, along with my holster. My bow and quiver went on next, and my knives after that. Once I was satisfied I looked in the mirror that hung on the outside of the cell and realized that someone had changed my clothes. I was wearing a tight pair of dark blue jeans and a dark green tank top. My hair had been washed too, as it fell in soft waves down my back. Dear God, I needed a haircut soon.

Turning away from the mirror I felt my hair hit my arms as I made my way outside. I grabbed a hair tie on my desk before I walked out and pulled my hair into a ponytail. With all of the physical work that I would be doing today, I needed my hair to be out of my face. I walked out of the cell block, shocked that I hadn't run into anyone else. I saw the smoke rising in the distance though and I knew that it was where they were burning the bodies. Following the path down the prison yard, I reached the fence that Carl was manning.

Waving at the younger boy, he left his post and came running up to me. I smiled as he launched himself into my arms. I tried to steel myself in the ground, but he was heavier than I remembered and the two of us went tumbling to the ground. I laughed at the actions of the boy and stood, offering him a hand up. "Wow, I knew that you would all be sad if I died, but I didn't know that you would all miss me that much," I teased the younger boy.

He laughed and punched me on the arm. "We all missed you Rain. It was like something was missing without you here. The whole place seemed emptier, cold. I'm so glad you're OK, we all are. Especially Daryl. He was a wreck when you were out and you should have seen how devastated he was when you stopped breathing. He thought he had lost the thing that meant the most to him in this world," Carl told me. I was shocked at how bad my loss was, but I was proud that I meant so much to these people.

"Well damn guys, I'm harder to kill than that," I teased. Raising my right hand, I ruffled Carl's hair and laughed at his reaction. "Look kiddo, I'd love to talk but I need to help out there. Do me a favor and open the gate? Michonne, Hershel, and I will be back when we're done out there," I told the younger boy. He nodded and slid the door open and I walked out.

There were walkers that were crowding the area out, but I grabbed my knife and took them all down. Like most people, I used my anger to take them down and was out of breath by the time I did. Turning back, I saw that Carl had his gun raised just in case. I nodded to him, letting him know that I was OK. Sheathing my knife, I walked into the woods and grabbed my gun. There probably weren't any walkers around here, but it was better to be safe than sorry. I was about done with the death scares for a while. Not that I didn't enjoy my miraculous recoveries, but I was ready to live a somewhat normal life. Well, as normal as we could make it.

I could hear the soft laughter of Michonne and Hershel and I smiled. Stepping into the area where they were burning the bodies, I called to them. They watched as I came into view and the pair of them both smiled. Michonne walked forward and pulled me into a tight hug. I smiled at the woman as I pulled away and thanked her. She was probably half of the reason that I was alive right now. Hershel hobbled forward after that and hugged me tightly. The man asked if I needed to be looked over but I refused. I felt fine. But I was sure that no matter how much I begged that I was fine, Hershel would make me do a checkup to make sure that there were no underlying injuries.

Grabbing the body of one of old group members, I threw it into the pile. There must have been thirty people here, at the least. Body after body we piled onto the fire and the whole time I had to resist any sorrow for these people. They could have been me, and I could have been them. Like Daryl had said, I had died three times and had been brought back by my group members. Who got to be saved three times? Not many people, I had just been lucky. It seemed that I had gotten pretty lucky quite a few times. I couldn't help but wonder when my luck would run out.

"You know Rain," Hershel began and I looked up at the older man. "I took care of many animals throughout the years, and I always thought that cats survived the most amazing. They really do have nine lives. But now, I'm not sure if they can even pale in comparison to you. You've survived more than I ever thought was possible for a human to survive. And with this medicine that we are limited to, well someone up there clearly is rooting for you," Hershel said to me.

"Thank you Hershel," I told the man as I stepped back and watched the flames cook the bodies of the people that I had once shared food, and lives with. Now they were nothing more than smoldering ash. It was a sad ending to a hard life.

"I don't know," Michonne began, startling me out of my thoughts. "Are you sure that she's a cat. I thought that she might be a dog judging by the way that she can be a real-"

Clamping my hand over her mouth I laughed as she pushed me off of her. "Shut the hell up Michonne!" I cried at the woman. It had been obvious where she was going with that. She laughed as the two of us straightened up and I couldn't help but to laugh as well. To my shock even Hershel joined in the laughter. I threw a pack of matches at the woman as the laughter died down. She dropped to the ground to grab the matches that had spilled in the grass and I laughed.

I turned back and began to collect the tools. We were done with burning the bodies, so now it was time for us to go back. Maybe get a damn lunch, shit I was hungry. A twig snapped behind me and I raised my gun to shoot at the walker that was approaching us, but it wasn't a walker at all. It was the man that I should have killed the last time that I had seen him. My father. He was standing in front of me, looking alive and well. His glare was set on me and I knew that look. He was beyond furious and he was ready to kill. He motioned for both Hershel and I to drop our weapons, which we did. It was his people, at least ten, against our three. His men, people that I had never seen before grabbed my guns, knives, and bow along with my arrows. I struggled against them, but it was no use. They were stronger than me. The group tied the three of us and threw us into the back of a car, going God knows where.

I watched as the trees flew by, praying that Rick and Daryl would soon come to check on us and realize that we were no longer there. Damn it, I had just come back from death, and now I was being taken to slaughter. The drive wasn't long before we got to where they had set up a camp. The area was full of trailers and people that looked just like my own group. They looked like they were working hard to survive. The only thing was that they were all working on getting guns working and put together. I stared curiously at the odd group before realization struck me. Dear God, they weren't working on fighting walkers, they were working on bringing a second fight to us. And this time, we would have no warning. Not unless one of us could get out of here.

The cars pulled off to the side and quickly Michonne, Hershel, and I were dragged out of the cars. I grunted as I hit the gravel when the man that was pulling me out lost his grip on me. He laughed as my contorted face, and I kicked out at him. I managed to hook him in the skin and the man grunted, but I regretted it as soon as he lifted me onto my feet from my shirt. He brought my face up to his, and for a moment, I thought he might hit me. But my father laid a hand on the man's shoulders, and he begrudgingly released me.

As I hit the ground once more, I let out a deep breath of air. Glancing around the area I saw my father walk back where there were sheets hanging up. A pretty woman with a small child stepped out from behind the sheets, and both smiled at him. The woman walked up to my father, calling out his name. His real name. Brian. Had he really told these people his real name after he had let Andrea call him by his brother's name for all those months? I shook my head as the younger girl ran up to him and jumped into his arms. God, she looked just like Penny. That was probably what he thought too. Meghan, he called her. Were they his new family? Why did he love everyone but me? What was it that I did to make him hate me so much?

My father and his two women walked over, and the older woman stepped forward, looking over my friends and I. Her eyes stopped on my face, studying me for a moment. I stared back at her, hoping that the realization would hit her. But she just stared at me, as if she had known me from some past life. I glanced over to my father and it was obvious that he didn't want her speaking to us. Too bad, asshole. Even if I got beaten half to death, she deserved to know what type of monster he was. "What's going on, Brian? Who are these people?" The girl asked.

Cutting my father off before he could give some bullshit answer, I glared at the woman and gave her a smile that was so sharp it could have cut the tension. "We're some members of a rival group. Members who have done nothing to this man, but give him what he deserves. How he lost that eye? This woman," I started, motioning over to Michonne. "She stabbed it out because he tried to kill her. And why did he try to kill her? Because she didn't trust him, and she was right not to. He attacked us, killed our people, nearly raped one of my best friends, and damn near killed me. Not just in this world though. In the one before. Yes, his name is Brian Blake. But my name is Rain Blake." I saw the realization set in her eyes and I nodded. "Yeah, didn't know that he still had one daughter left, did you? Well, he does. And what does this man do to his daughter? He tried to kill the man that I love, he tried to kill the new family that I've found, and he tried to kill me. Before all of this even, he was nothing but a lowlife, abusive, drunk, piece of-"

I felt the hard hit that came to my gut, and I dropped onto the ground. I had thought that my father had been the one to hit me, but of course it hadn't been. He wasn't willing to hurt me in front of all these people. Not the people who thought that he was the greatest gift that they had ever seen. There was a girl with dark brown hair in the background that looked like she actually felt sorry for me. The rest of the people just looked like they were angry. I coughed and saw that a tiny bit of blood had come up. "Mitch, get away from her!" The woman that was with my father yelled.

Mitch didn't let me go though, he merely shoved her away. "Lily, take Meghan and get back to the RV. I'll come and see you both before it's time for us to leave," my father told her. She didn't move though, so my father had his men bring us to what I assumed was his RV. Mitch dragged me into the RV and threw me down into a chair. As I hit the seat and Mitch went to untying my hands, I swatted at him once he had done so. I knew that he wanted to hit me once more, but with my father standing right behind him, I figured that he wasn't willing to act out again. He had been lucky that my father hadn't done anything the first time that he had hit me. He probably wouldn't be so lucky a second time.

"Don't touch me," Michonne growled at my father as he went to untying her bounds. Still though, she fought and twisted with every tiny touch that he gave her.

I knew that my father wanted to hit her, but he wasn't willing to look like a horrible man again. Maybe he was trying to have a new look at life. Was he really trying to change for Lily and Meghan? No matter if he was, but why couldn't he have changed when he still had his real family? "Stay still," he growled at her as he untied the last knot on her bounds.

"Get off me," she growled once more as he slid the ropes off of her wrist. He then undid Hershel's bounds, and the old man complied easily. My father made his way over to me last and I could tell that he was pulling the bounds off of me harder than was really necessary. As he slipped the ropes off of my wrists, I shook my hands free and gathered them together.

My father shut the door of the RV, separating him from the rest of his people. Clearly he trusted us more than he should. He walked over to a small cooler that was set in the corner and grabbed an energy bar out of it. He walked over to where we were seated and tried to hand it to Hershel, who denied the bar. He tried with Michonne next, but she only stared angrily at him. He looked to me for a moment, but didn't bother trying to hand it off to me. Instead he looked back at Hershel and shook his head. "You should eat. It's gonna be a long day. Nobody's gonna hurt you," he told us with a soft voice. Softer than I had heard from him in a long time.

Michonne glared at him for a moment before shifting in her seat. Her katana was sitting in the corner of the RV and I knew that she was looking for a way to get it back in my hands. But she had my father in the way, and I knew that he wasn't willing to hand the thing over. "I don't believe that," she growled at him.

"Well, I don't care," my father snapped at her. He was trying to be nice to the three of us, but she put him on edge. I was sure that I did too, but he was ignoring my existence as much as he could.

The RV was silent for a moment before Hershel shifted himself forward in his chair. My father was watching him closely, but I knew that out of any of us, Hershel was the least likely to use violence. Michonne was probably the most likely, and then me. But that was only because I wanted him to know the pain that I felt from him every day growing up. "Just tell us what this is. Please," Hershel begged my father. I knew what it was, it was so that he had hostages when he came to the prison. Hostages that meant something to the people that remained. Maybe he would go and get sick, and die from it. I'd see him in hell at least.

My father sat in his seat for a moment, leaned forward and facing Hershel. "It isn't personal," he told the older man softly. Bullshit, this was all because of his feuding with Michonne, Rick, and I. We were all the reasons that once more, my father was a threat. I had thought that we were rid of him, but I suppose that it was a foolish thought.

"Then what is it?" Hershel asked.

My father ignored him and turned to Michonne with a look that was almost equivalent to forgiveness. But that wasn't a thing that he knew. He could recognize where he was wrong, but he would never apologize. "Michonne, I want you to know Penny, my daughter, she was dead. I know that now," my father said. A pang of sorrow hit me. Had I not left, had I been stronger and stayed, I could have saved her. I could have had a sister. I could have had a real family. But I had been too late, and Penny was only a memory now. "Now, I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anyone. I need the prison, that's it. There are people I need to keep alive. You three are gonna help me take it. No one needs to die," he told me.

There's a fat chance in hell that I would ever help him take the place that I now called home. He was a liar too, he wouldn't leave any of us alive. He would kill everyone there, and leave Rick, Daryl, Merle, Michonne, and myself for last. He would kill Michonne slowly, and Merle as well. Then he would leave Rick and I in a corner, watch the devastation that he caused. Daryl would be last, and he would kill him right in front of me. No. No way. There was no way that I would ever let him hurt my real family. I leaned into the man that was once my father, and glared darkly at him. "I'm gonna kill you," I snarled.

My father leaned back into me so fast that I backed away from him in fear that he might hit me. Instead, he got into my face and I was filled with the same fear that I had always felt growing up. In that moment, I was the same little girl who was terrified to ever make a wrong move. "No, you won't. I'm gonna take my-" my father began before Hershel cut him off.

"Stop it. You want the prison?" He asked my father. Hershel was playing the peacekeeper right now and it was something that I had never been more grateful for. He had taken the attention off of me so that I could calm myself down.

My father looked slightly taken aback that Hershel had spoken without being spoken to, but he quickly recovered. My father nodded at him and took a deep breath. "Yeah. And I'll take it as peacefully as I can," he told the older man.

"Governor-" Hershel began before my father cut him off.

My father shook his head and held his hand up to Hershel. "Don't call me that," he said lowly. I was shocked at my father. I had always thought that he liked his people, and others, calling him that. I had thought that it made him feel like he was in a spot of importance. Why was it now that he was uncomfortable with that name? It was the only thing that my people had ever called him. Only I had ever called him by a different name, and that was in a different life now.

It seemed that I wasn't the only one who had thought that the name change was different. Michonne and Hershel both looked thrown by the new found dislike of the name. Still, Hershel managed to keep the conversation focused on the matter at hand. "Your people, our people, we can find a way to live together," Hershel said. My eyes widened in shock and I almost shook my head. There was no way that I would share a space with my father again. I hadn't lived with him in nearly a decade. And if I ever saw Mitch out in the open, I'd put an arrow between his eyes. It would never work, all of us together. "These people you need to keep alive, do you love them?" Hershel asked politely.

My father smiled at Hershel, and for a moment I thought I saw admiration in his eyes. I had only met my grandfather once that I could recall, but from what I knew, he was a wonderful man. In many ways, he was the same as Hershel. Maybe my father saw it too. "You're a good man, Hershel. A better man than Rick," he said. It might be true, but Hershel was better than all of us.

He had hit his low point before the shit had hit the fan, so he knew how to take care of things. He was older and he was wiser. The rest of us, we were young and we were angry. I knew Michonne had lost something, but I wasn't sure what. No matter what it was, it had been important to her. Merle and Daryl had grown up without a mother, and abusive ass of a father. I had grown up on my own, spent time in prison for something that wasn't my fault, and now my father was back and ready to kill me. Carol had lived with an abusive husband and had lost her daughter. Maggie and Beth had both lost their family, and Beth had lost two important men to her. Glenn was alone in this world before he met us. Rick had lost his wife, who had betrayed him before her death, and he had been forced to kill his best friend. Carl had been forced to grow up too fast, and he had lost his mother. Sasha had nearly died, and Tyreese had lost the woman he loved to a brutal murder. Bob was a recovering alcoholic whose need for a bottle had killed a group member. We were all broken, but we were all working to fix ourselves. Slowly but surely, we were healing. And we were doing it together.

My father sat for a moment, lost in his own thoughts while I was lost in mine. But finally he spoke once more, startling me out of my thoughts. I glanced up, wondering where this was going to go from here. "Everything you've said, the way you've said it, you've changed. So has Rick. The two of us will never be able to live together," my father admitted. He was right. No matter how hard we would all try, there was too much bad blood between us all. "Michonne and I, we'll never be able to live together. My daughter and I, we can't be together. We tried that once before." I wanted to scream at him and tell him that I loved him. For years I suffered through his drunken rampages, and I had still loved him. He had been the one that had finally broken my love for him. He was the reason that I had never learned how to love. But he was also the reason that I had fallen in love with Daryl. Broken souls truly were drawn to each other. It was the only thing that I would ever be able to thank him for.

"We'll find a way," Hershel tried one more.

Everyone went silent for a moment, but it seemed that my father was done thinking about the offer. "I found a way!" He yelled and I jumped at the volume increase. It wasn't too often that I was easily startled, but after so long of living with my father, his voice was one that always brought a chill to my bones and made me shake. "I'm trying hard. There's all kinds of ways I could do this. This way, you get to live and I get to be-" my father started before Hershel cut him off.

"You say you want to take this prison as peacefully as possible. That means you'd be willing to hurt people to get it. My daughters would be there. That's who you'd be hurting. Your daughter too. She's right here," Hershel said, looking my father dead in the eyes. Hershel laid a hand on my leg and I smiled at him. He always knew what to say. Hopefully this was exactly what my father needed to hear. Not only would he be killing his own daughter, but he would be killing other people's as well. "I know that the two of you haven't always gotten along, but she is your family and no matter what, she's the only family that you have left. If you understand what it's like to have a daughter, then how can you threaten to kill someone else's?" Hershel asked, emotions clouding his eyes. He loved his daughters so much. I couldn't help but to be jealous of Beth and Maggie. They had family that treasured them, and that was something that I would never know.

For a moment, I thought that my father would actually realize that I was him. Part of me was him. His blood was the blood that ran through my veins. Would he really be able to kill someone that was his? His eyes glistened for a moment before his face hardened and he glared at me. "Because they aren't mine. She isn't my daughter. She's only a disappointment to everyone that she crosses paths with," he answered Hershel without the slightest hint of remorse.

Tears filled my eyes at the answer he gave. Some part of me, despite the part that hated him more than anything, desired to have him love me. He was still my father and I wanted him to see that everything I had ever done in life was to prove to him that I was worthy of being his daughter. I stood from the chair as he stood as well and shoved him back into the wall. "How dare you," I screamed as I threw a punch at the only good eye he had left.

He had seen it coming though as he brought his hand up and caught mine. I stared in shock as he glowered at me and shoved my fist back down. I went to sit down, but my father was angry with me, and I knew what was coming. He grabbed me by the strap of my shirt and threw me into the wall of the RV. I hit the wall with a thud and yelled at the pain that shot through my shoulder. He hit me once in the stomach before grabbing onto my hair and throwing me out of the RV.

I could hear Michonne and Hershel yelling for me, but it was no use. My father dragged me out into the yard where most of the residents were standing around, finishing up getting ready to leave. My father dropped his hand from my hair and tripped me, and I landed on the ground. The girl that had caught my eyes earlier was looking at me like she was about ready to pick me up. But one sharp look from my father kept her in line. My father yelled out for Mitch, who quickly came to our side. He whispered something into Mitch's ear and the man nodded. Mitch pulled me up on my feet and I figured that we were going into a separate RV. As he grabbed my arm, he led me to another RV, which I assumed was his. He threw me inside and I fell to the floor.

Waiting for him to leave me, he finally shut the door, but with himself still inside. "Want to know what your daddy told me?" He asked me in his thick southern accent. It wasn't the type that Daryl had though, surly and tough, his was scratchy and smoke filled. I stared at him, waiting for him to tell me. I knew that it didn't matter if I wanted him to tell me or not, I knew that he would. "Boy you did something to piss him off girl. He told me that we have ten minutes before we leave, to take that place that used to be your home. Told me to take you in here and rough you up. Make sure that when your people looked at you they would know that we mean business. And you know what else? He said to do it with any means necessary."

The sleazy smile made my face drop in shock. Not this, not again. The first time it had been Martinez, and now it was Mitch. It seemed that I didn't have very good luck with men whose names started with M's. Martinez advanced towards me and I backed away from him. I knew where he was going just from the look in his eyes. "Haven't seen a piece of ass like you in a long time. Hear you've got a little hick back at the prison waiting for you. Well darling, let's show you how a real man does it," he smiled at me. I jumped back as he grabbed me around my waist. I flailed madly at him, hoping that I would hit him hard enough, and he would drop me. But nothing that I did worked.

I slashed out at his face as he got me to face him and he howled as my nails raked down his face. He growled as he faced me and hit me, hard in the face. I screamed as my nose crunched as he let me drop. I hit the ground and my eyes swirled. Despite my brief loss of vision though, I saw Mitch undo his belt. My eyes filled with tears as he approached me and grabbed my shirt. I threw a punch at his chest, but it did nothing. He grabbed my shirt and tore it down the front. The weak material split and it left my chest and stomach bared. He easily threw the tor shirt off of my shoulders and smirked as he pulled his belt off.

Once more, I tried to grab for my shirt, but it was no use. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me behind the ear. It was something that I loved when Daryl did, but now it only made my skin crawl. "Keep fighting it, it'll only feel better," he told me as he grabbed my pants and yanked at them. They were so tight that they didn't budge and I thanked whoever had redressed me.

"Please, let me go. Don't do this," I begged. I was brought back to the first night that I had spent in prison and the many more after that. He only laughed louder and tugged at the button to my jeans. I squirmed out of his arms and cried out as he grabbed my ankle. I hit the ground hard and cried out as he grabbed the button on my pants and they popped open. All I had to do was make it for another seven or so minutes. I could do it. I kicked out at Mitch as he grabbed my pants and yanked them down my ankles.

He was much more determined than Martinez had been. But Martinez had been interrupted. I knew that there was no saving me from this man. Not this time. I tried to get up and run to the door, but it was useless, it was locked with a deadbolt that I couldn't open. Mitch grabbed my ankle and pulled me down. On my fall, I hit the door with my forehead and my entire world went spinning. When I came back too, Mitch had his pants off and was working on his boxers. I cried out loudly as he grabbed me and pulled the underwear that I was wearing off. Just before Mitch could get to me, there was a loud bang at the door. It was my father yelling that Mitch only had two minutes.

He laughed and pushed me onto the ground. "All the time that I need," he growled at me and pushed me down. The entire time I begged and screamed for him to stop, so loud that I was sure that I had half deafened him. But he only hit me, time after time. Finally he pulled away from me and I heard him end his hunger in the corner. I fell to the ground, drained and dirty. What had just happened to me? What would I tell Daryl? That was, if I ever saw him again.

I heard the bang at the door, my father was yelling in to tell Mitch that it was time to go. Laughing as he stood and did up his buttons, he tossed me my ripped clothes and told me that he would wait outside. I slid my underwear back into place, shaking the entire time. Crying, I pulled on my stretched out pants and redid the button. They were ripped on the knees and thighs from Mitch tugging at them. I straightened out my bra as well and stared at the ripped shirt. There was almost no point in putting in on, but I felt like I needed to. I grabbed the torn shirt and slipped it on like it was a vest.

Wiping the tears from my eyes, I stood and walked out of the door. Mitch grabbed me immediately and flung me into the back of a car. I saw my father walk by the window and as he looked at me, I saw what was almost a brief flash of sympathy. But as soon as it was there, it was gone. In that moment, I vowed to kill him, no matter if it cost me my life or not. The same girl that I had now seen twice looked like her heart was breaking for me, but I didn't want the sympathy. I looked away from her and stared at my feet. Michonne was thrown into one side of the car after that, and Hershel on the other.

Both looked at me with wide eyes and I shook my head. I didn't want to talk. I just wanted to find my family. I wanted to get back to the prison and I wanted to lay in the dark cell by myself. I just wanted to know that I was safe. The convoy started driving and I stared in shock at all of the cars. There were so many people that were coming along. They would outnumber us without a doubt. But we wouldn't lose. We had the will to live. We drove in utter silence and when we finally reached the prison I sucked in a breath. They had a tank. Mitch was driving the tank. I would get my revenge on him.

Without warning he took the tank and blew the south tower down. I jumped at the explosion and I nearly screamed. That was one of our only defenses. And with one blow it was gone. I couldn't see up into the yard well, but I saw the tops of a few heads. None looked like Daryl yet though. The doors were open as people came out, and I listened to the yells of my family. There were people that were running everywhere, and finally my father got out of his car.

"Rick! Come down here. We need to talk," my father yelled up to our once leader. The world outside was silent as the doors shut to our car, but after a moment, I saw the top of Rick's head. He was still behind the fence though, probably for some form of protection. God, he had no idea we were with them. Him, and everyone else, thought that we were still burning the bodies.

There was a long pause before I heard the response from Rick. He sounded devastated, and I was sure that he was. He thought that my father was gone, he thought that he was safe. But we were never safe. I knew that now. "It's not up to me. There's a council now. They run this place," Rick responded to my father.

"Is Hershel on the council?" My father asked as the older man was pulled from the car and forced onto his knees next to my father. "What about Michonne? She on the council, too?" He asked as she was pulled out and forced into the same position. "How about my daughter, Rain? Her too?" He asked and I was pulled out of the car. I looked horrible compared to the other two. I was forced onto my knees in front of my father, who held me in place by my hair. My hands were bound once more, so I really had no way of moving anyways. Rick's face was full of shock and fury as he looked me over. I was battered and bruised, with torn clothes. I looked like I had just been through a battle. I looked up and saw that all of my group members were watching us with intent eyes, but all were focused on me. Daryl's eyes finally caught mine, and I saw everything. The love, the hate, the fury, the sadness. Even from all the way over here, I could see the white knuckled grip that he had on the fence as he watched us.

My head hung lowly, but I still heard the pain in Rick's voice as he watched the three of us. "I don't make decisions anymore," he told my father, clearly hoping that he would leave us alone.

"You're making the decisions today, Rick. Come down here. Let's- Let's have that talk," my father asked Rick. He finally walked down to the final fence that we had and he shook his head at my father. I could tell that he was looking over all of the people that my father had brought and he was weighing his chances. Soon he would know that my father had the clear advantage.

Rick shook his head at my father and motioned to us. "Let 'em go right now. I'll stay down here. Talk as long as you want. But you let 'em go. You got a tank. You don't need hostages," he told my father. Well, at least someone here was being reasonable. But my father had us down here so he had real leverage. He could destroy the prison but we would find a new home. If he killed us, well there was no way getting us back.

My father shook his head for a moment and looked to the three of us. "I do. This is just to show you I'm serious," he said, grabbing my hair and pulling me up even farther. I let out a squeak of pain and Daryl looked like he was about to explode. "Not to blast a hole in our new home. You and your people, you have till sundown to get out of here or they die," he growled. I tried to kick back at my father but he only stepped down on my ankle. I bit my tongue and felt blood from how hard I had bit down.

"Doesn't have to go down this way," Rick pleaded with my father. I saw the sorrow in his eyes. He knew that he wasn't coming out of this with everyone that went into it. Blood would be spilled today, we just had to pray that it was them.

My father shrugged his shoulders like he couldn't have cared less what was going to happen to us. I couldn't understand how one person could so blatantly ignore the life of his child. I know that he doesn't like me, but how could he not care at all if I died? "I got more people, more firepower. We need this prison," my father told Rick.

"There it is," Rick snarled, the sorrow being replaced by pure seething anger.

Shaking his head at Rick, I knew that he was getting impatient about the whole thing. It was my father, he was ready to pull the trigger, start a war. But if he wanted Lily and Meghan to have a happy life and be his new family, he would have to handle this like a diplomat. "It's not about the past. It's about right now," my father yelled back up to Rick and to the rest of my group.

With tears in his eyes, Rick motioned back to the prison and looked like he was ready to plead with my father. "There are children here. Some of them are sick. They won't survive. Your daughter was one of the sick. She nearly died and you're holding her there like you're about to take the life that she's fought so hard for," Rick begged. I smiled at the man, thanking him for what he had said. But my father didn't want to hear it. He placed the barrel of his gun on my temple and I took in a deep breath. Daryl tightened up from behind the fences, and I could tell that he was about ready to pull the trigger and blast a hole in my father's head.

My father merely smiled as he dug the gun into the side of my temple. My head was pounding and I nearly passed out from the pressure. But I forced myself to stay awake. "I have a tank. And I'm letting you walk away from here. What else is there to talk about? I could shoot you all. You'd all shoot back. I know that. But we'll win and you'll be dead. All of you," my father stated like it was the simplest thing that he had ever told anyone.

"Doesn't have to be like that," Rick pleaded.

My father once more shook his head, acting like this was all nothing. But it wasn't nothing, no matter what happened here, people would die today. "Like I said, it's your choice. Noise will only draw more of them over. The longer you wait, the harder it will be for you to get out of here. You got maybe about an hour of sunlight left. I suggest you start packing," my father growled. I remembered at one point my father had wanted me with him, but now he only wanted me dead. I was a piece of filth that only was a burden to him.

Rick's eyes were still watering and I knew that his pleading was desperate. His son and infant daughter were here and he would do anything to protect them. He loved them. Just as he loved the rest of us. We were all family, and we weren't willing to part with a single member. "We can all- we can all live together. There's enough room for all of us. More than enough," Rick pleaded. I shook my head at him but I knew that it wouldn't work. He was just scratching at options. If we really worked at it, it might actually work. But my father wasn't willing for a compromise. He wanted total surrender.

"But I don't think my family would sleep well knowing that you were under the same roof," my father said. I looked up at him and he only dug his hands deeper into my hair. I wasn't his family. Lily and Meghan were. I had never been his family. Penny and my mother were the only family he had ever had.

Rick shook his head and pointed to the cell blocks. "We'd live in different cell blocks. We'd never have to see each other till we're all ready. It could work. You know it could," Rick told my father. Exactly, leave him and the rest of his people. Hopefully they'll die of the sickness. And then both he and Mitch would rot in hell.

My father seemed to think on it for a moment before shaking his head. "It could've. But it can't. Not after Woodbury. Not after Andrea. Not after my daughter," my father said looking down at me. He loosened his grip on my hair and for a moment I thought that he would let me go. But that wasn't the way that it went. He gripped my hair even tighter than before and he pulled up. I could feel my hair ripping out and I yelped at the pain.

With hope in his glistening eyes, I heard Rick make his last plea. "Look, I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. Fact is, it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder than standing here shooting at each other. But I don't think we have a choice," Rick said to my father.

"We don't. You do," my father snarled.

Standing his ground and showing his backbone, Rick shook his head and let his hand dangle down to his gun. "We're not leaving. You try and force us, we'll fight back. Like you said, the gunshots will just bring more of them out. They'll take down the fences. Without the fences, this place is worthless. Now, we can all live in the prison or none of us can," our former leader said. I smiled at Rick that was the man who had been our leader. That was why we had followed him.

"We'll fix the damn fences," my father snarled once more.

Rick's eyes blazed with fury and he pointed back into the crowd that my father had brought. "No! You. You in the ponytails. Is this what you want?" He asked. As my father turned back, I did as well and I glanced back. It was the same girl who had been looking at me with pity before. She looked even worse now that she was here. She didn't want this, but she was too afraid to say no. I knew how that felt. "Is this what any of you want?" Rick yelled to the rest of the crowd.

Laughing, my father shrugged his shoulders. Nothing that Rick was saying was fazing him, and I knew that our former leader was getting more and more fed up with it. "What we want is what you got. Period," my father said simply.

"Time for you to leave, asshole," I heard Mitch yell behind me. I growled and waited for Rick to say something else, but it was Mitch who continued to talk. I turned as far as I could and watched as his eyes scanned the crowd up at the fence. They finally stopped and a smirk fell on his face. I looked back up and saw that it was Daryl that he was locked onto. "By the way, up there! This is your girl, right?" Mitch asked Daryl, who remained still. "Yeah, good choice. She's a hot lay. Fights like a damn Bronco, but damn it felt good to break her," Mitch called to Daryl. I dropped my head in shame as the looks from my friends all turned to horror.

I glanced back up long enough to see Daryl's eyes go black. I had never seen him that angry. "If I ever see you, I'll fucking kill you! You'll regret ever even looking at her!" Daryl howled. Maggie grabbed his arm and whispered something in his ear. He calmed down a bit, but I could tell that he was still seething.

"You better watch that none of us ever get our hands on you," Rick growled at Mitch. I turned back and saw that he laughed and winked at me. "Look, I fought him before. And after, we took in his old friends. They've become leaders in what we have here. Now you put down your weapons, walk through those gates you're one of us," Rick said. Seething himself, my father threw me to the side and grabbed Hershel. He pulled Michonne's sword out of the back of the truck and held it to Hershel's throat. I watched the man with horror in my eyes, but he wasn't afraid. Instead he was looking at Rick with pride in his eyes. "We let go of all of it, and nobody dies. Everyone who's alive right now. Everyone who's made it this far. We've all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. But we can still come back. We're not too far gone. We get to come back. I know we all can change," Rick said. I smiled at the man, knowing that he was stronger now than he had ever been. He had come so far from the broken man that had lost his wife. And I was proud of him, we all were.

"Liar," my father hissed so low that I almost missed it. Without warning, he lifted the sword and drew it back down across Hershel's neck. I screamed at the top of my lungs as Hershel fell to the ground, barely moving. What just happened? There were shots coming from all around and screams that were even louder. I heard the chains of the tank begin to move and I threw myself out of the way. I fell to the ground once more and grunted at the impact. Dashing around to the side of the truck that I had been left in, I leaned onto the hitch and managed to break the binds around my wrist. I jumped into the car and grabbed my weapons. My guns, my bow and arrows, and my knives. I saw that my father was running away from the scene, clutching his arm, but I wasn't willing to let him get away with this.

Running in a full sprint, I pulled out a knife and threw it at my father. The knife had just barely skimmed by him and I grunted. I had come so close to hitting him, but I had missed. Growling once more, I sped up and caught him. Jumping onto his back, my weight threw him off balance and the two of us went tumbling to the ground. He tried to flip me over so that I was on the bottom, but I had a tight grip on his legs and I managed to keep him under me.

Hit after hit I rained down on him and he grunted. He got a few good hits on me, but it didn't matter. I wasn't feeling pain right now, I just felt anger. Pure, unadulterated anger. He was going to die. I was going to kill him for what he had let Mitch do to me, what he had met Martinez do to me, and for what he had done to Hershel. This was all for the old man that was better than all of the rest of us. "Fuck you!" I yelled as I hit his nose so hard that it broke under my fist. "This was you, all of this! How could you do something like this to your daughter?! I love the people here and you took them from me! You're nothing! And you deserve what's going to happen to you!" I yelled to him.

There were tears in my eyes and falling down onto my father's face. I hated him and everything that he had ever done. He deserved to die. Just as I reached for my knife, I felt a heavy weight hit me and I was thrown off of my father by a woman that I had seen standing next to my father. It wasn't Lily though, I had no idea who she was. She turned her gun to me and I grabbed the barrel, forcing it up. She let a shot off and I yelped at how hot the barrel was. Dropping my hand from it, I punched her and fell onto her. I grabbed a knife from my pack and jammed it into her throat. Blood ran over the knife and onto my hand as I grabbed the knife and ran up to the destroyed fences.

Walkers were already pouring in with the fences down. No matter what happened today, it didn't matter. We would have to get out of here. We couldn't rebuild the fences. There was no way. I took out two walkers that came close to me and I stepped over the body of one of my father's men. I saw that the tank was up on the top of the prison walk and I made my way over. Running full speed I saw that the tank blew up and I stopped dead in my tracks. Serves you right asshole. I hope that killed you. I heard a shot go off behind me and I felt a bullet brush by my head. I turned back and saw a man that had been with my father and his men.

That had almost killed me. Pulling out my gun, I shot at him but missed. He dodged each bullet that I fired and just as he got within a few feet of me, I shot at him. But my gun clicked and I screamed. How could I be out of bullets now?! The man ran up to me and tackled me onto the ground. I grunted as my back made impact with the ground and I spit out blood. "I don't blame Mitch, girl. A real beauty that Brian made huh? C'mon girl, don't fight, we can have some fun before I kill you," the man smiled at me. I screamed as he wrestled my gun from me and grabbed my pants. Not again. Not this.

I hurled my fist into his face and he reeled back, yelling at the top of his lungs. He took his fist and grabbed my hair, smashing my head onto the ground. I grunted at the impact and watched as he raised his gun. He smirked at me and laughed. "Yeah, I saw that shiner you gave Mitch. You put up a good fight girl. But that's OK. Wounded is fine with me," he said. I cocked my head to the side and right as I went to punch him again, he pushed the gun to my hip and pulled the trigger.

Screaming, I cried out in pain at the wound. The man threw me to the side and sat in front of me. He pushed my head into the gravel as he dug his finger into the wound. Tears were streaming down my face and I knew that I was bleeding all over. My head from the hard hits that I had taken, my hip from the wound, and the side of my face. The man laughed as he tugged at his belt, and for the first time since I was a young child, I wanted to die.

He leaned down onto me and pressed his mouth onto mine. I screamed into his mouth and bit down on his lip. I felt the blood, but he only laughed. He pulled away from me and pushed me down, but right as he leaned over me, blood splattered over my face. I screamed as his body dropped limp onto mine. Someone had shot him. Someone had saved me. But was it someone that I wanted to be here, or was it one of my father's surviving men.

The man's body was thrown off of me and I yelled. It was Merle. Thank God. "Merle!" I yelled as he grabbed me and pulled me into him. I hugged him tightly and cried into his shoulder. As much as I wanted to stay in his embrace though, I had to get to Daryl. I had to know that he was alive. "Have you seen Daryl?!" I asked Merle.

He let me fall away from him slightly and I glanced at him worriedly. He nodded at me and placed his hands on my shoulders. "I just ran into him, he's fine girl. Killed that bastard that with the tank." My eyes brightened as I realized that Mitch was dead. And Daryl had been the one to kill him "He had the younger of Hershel's daughter with him the last time that I saw them. But they're all the way up by the cars," Merle told me. Beth, he had Beth with him.

Merle was right, the cars were a long way away, but we would be able to get to them if we hurried. "We have to get to him!" I yelled as I began to run. But just as I took my first step, I fell onto my knees, howling in pain. Merle helped me back up and looked at my leg in shock.

He shook his head as he pulled my arm over his shoulders. "It's too late, walkers are covering that area. We have to get the hell out of here! C'mon girl! We both want to find him, and we will but we have to go, now!" He yelled at me. I nodded and limped with him away from the prison. I wanted to get to Daryl, but Merle was right. We had to get out of here for now. It wasn't safe here right now. We could come back and regroup later.

We began to limp off into the woods, but right before we broke the wood line, I glanced back at the prison. Merle stopped and looked back too as we bade our home goodbye. It was gone. The prison was in ruins and it was on fire. The fences were all down. Our towers were destroyed. There was nothing left for us here. We had to move on and leave. Like Daryl had said, sooner or later, we run. And it was our time to run. I could see Rick and Carl limping away, the elder looking half dead. I wanted to run to them, but they were going the opposite way. We wouldn't reach them. I could see Tyreese with Mica and Lizzie as well in the middle of the prison, making their way to the woods. The bus was leaving with the elder too, but it was going to completely opposite direction.

Sighing, I went to leave the prison once and for all, but right before I did, I saw my father laying on the ground, covered in blood. Lily was walking up to him with a gun, looking devastated. Merle began to walk away, but I poked him on the shoulder and pointed over to my father. We watched as Lily raised her gun, stared at my father for a moment, and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out, louder than life and I stood still, not wavering and not blinking. Good riddance, father. Burn in hell.

Lily tried to turn and leave but she was quickly overtaken by walkers. I sighed at her, grateful that she had killed my father, but sorry that walkers were the way that she met her end. I shook my head and turned away. I was limping badly as we walked through the woods but Merle grabbed me around the waist and helped me walk. We were all split up. No one was really together. No one had anything. None of us knew how we would get back together. We were all more broken than we had ever been. I had lost Daryl too. But I wasn't going to give up on him. Not ever. I would look for Daryl for as long as it took. Until the day that I died, I would search for him. Even if it killed me.


	38. Hard Games

Merle was holding me up virtually on his own as we walked through the woods. What had started as a slow, defeated pace had sped up to a frantic, half run. I wasn't even walking anymore. My feet were dragging behind me as Merle tightened his grip on my waist. He was doing a wonderful job of ignoring the bullet would which was burning like nothing I'd ever felt before. I'd been shot three times before this, but it had never hurt so badly. The pain was blinding.

My vision was fading it and out and every step that Merle took jerked my hip painfully. My feet finally stopped hitting grass and sticks, and were now being dragged over cement. I glanced up and realized that we were in a small part of the town, probably a few miles from the prison. Merle dragged us up to a small building and let me lean on the stop sign outside. I looked through the bushes and saw the smoke rising in the distance. That was our home, our real home. And now it was destroyed, the remnants of an old life. We would never be able to live there again. Even if we all found somewhere to go, it wouldn't matter. The fences were down now and most of the towers were blown to hell by Mitch. There was no going back now. We had to go somewhere else, but we had to find each other first.

Merle grabbed my hand once more and lifted me slightly. I groaned as we walked into the building and my eyes rolled back. There was a small growl in the back of the store and Merle dropped me quickly. I shrieked as I fell and hit the hard, cold ground. My eyes darkened as the pain was once more blinding. The walker dropped next to me and Merle grabbed me by the arms, lifting me back up. Jesus Christ, that had hurt. "Ugh I hate you Merle," I groaned.

"Sorry girl," Merle told me as he set me down on a bar stool. I leaned back on the table, raising my shirt and hoped that the bullet had gone clean through. To my disappointment though, it was lodged in my hip. Luckily the bone had stopped the bullet from going too deep. It was sitting about two inches in my hip. I poked gently around the wound but it was still too raw. I hissed in pain and shook my head as Merle walked away from me. I had to get this thing out, but I didn't know how. There was nothing that I could use.

Glancing up, I took a look around to see if there was anything that I could use. There was a huge wall in the back of the building that was a bar. There was bottle after bottle of alcohol and I knew that I could use some vodka to wash out the wound. It would hurt like hell, but it was the only option I had now. Next to the bar was where I was sitting, it was a bunch of high top tables, and there were large couches on the right of me. I pulled myself out of the chair and managed to pull myself over to the couch. I laid my back against the rest of breathed out heavily. My heart was pounding and I felt like my hip was going to break. The bullet had missed the bone, but just barely. It had scraped the tip of my bone and was painfully grating against it with every little move.

I groaned once more and looked in front of me. For a moment I thought that they were oddly shaped columns in the middle of the building, but I quickly realized what they were. Poles. Poles that were on a slightly elevated platform with chairs all around the area. A strip club. Merle had brought us to a strip club. Had I not been in so much pain I would have laughed. It was such a Merle move to make. There was a bang in the back of the building and I jumped, grabbing my gun.

Instead of a walker though, it was only Merle. He was holding two boxes that he laid down on the bar before jumping over and grabbing a bottle of Schnapps. I laughed as he walked over to me. I was hoping that he wasn't planning on drinking that. Schnapps was awful. It was the first drink that I had ever had and I'd always regretted not waiting for a better drink. It was only the first of my many regrets. Merle walked over to me and set the three packages down. One was a small first aid kit, there was a makeup bag, and the other was a sewing kit. I sucked in a breath as Merle pulled a pair of tweezers out.

"Bite down on this," Merle told me. He handed me a small, glittery bra and I held it up. The thing looked like it wasn't even designed to cover anything up. And I could only imagine what had ever been done to the girl that had worn this. I shook my head at Merle and he rolled his eyes at me. "It just came out of the laundry. It's been clean for months."

I pushed the bra away from me and pointed back to the bar. "No. Go grab a rag from the bar," I told him. He sighed but stood anyways, letting the bra fall. He came back a moment later and handed me a rag. I thanked him quietly and grabbed the torn up thing, holding it to my mouth. I coughed at the taste of mixed liquor, but bit down on it anyways. I laid down on the couch and Merle pushed his metal stump onto my hip to keep me down. He pulled the cork off of the bottle and I grimaced at the smell. So you're gonna fuck me twice, huh Schnapps? Without a second thought, He dipped the bottle slightly and a little bit of the clear liquid splashed out.

I screamed through the rag at the agonizing pain. I was basically pouring pure alcohol into a severely open cut. Merle tipped the bottle back and mumbled at me to shut up. "This is gonna hurt worse," he told me as he grabbed the tweezers. I gulped and nodded at him to start. He shined a small flashlight into the wound and poked with the tweezers. I was moaning loudly in pain, praying that he would just yank the bullet out. "Good news is, it's in one piece," he told me.

"And the bad news?" I asked, pulling the cloth out of my mouth.

Merle stuffed it back in and pushed me back onto the couch. "The bad news is that it's buried in an awkward spot. I'm gonna ding the bone if I do it slowly and you won't like that. Now I know you're supposed to do this whole thing slowly, and while you're asleep, but we're probably gonna have to-" Merle was cut off by my ear-splitting cry of agony. I felt the tweezers dip into the wound and pull at the weak flesh before they wrapped around the bullet, grating against the bone, and Merle pulled it out, splitting more of the skin open. The pain was so blinding and debilitating that I was no longer screaming or moaning, I was just breathing raggedly.

Once I finally got my breath back all the way, and the pain had gone down to a mere searing pain, I laid back and let Merle get to work with the stitches. He wrapped a pink piece of string through the needle and went to work sewing my skin back up. Periodically he would drip the Schnapps onto either the string or my wound and I would hiss in pain. But I had to give it Merle, he did the stitches quickly and easily. He finally tied the string off and helped me sit up. I felt the stitches tug and I groaned slightly. He had done them up tight, but it was better that way. The wound would heal faster. He handed me a new shirt and I took it gratefully, slipping the torn open, green top. I pulled the shirt over my head and looked down at myself. It was a bright purple crop top that dipped almost to the bottom of my chest.

Sighing, I turned to Merle and glared. I sat on the edge of the couch and Merle smiled at me, clearly satisfied with the shirt. "Sorry girl, it was the most covered shirt I could find ya. I'll find ya another one later. There, that wasn't so bad now was-" Merle started before I punched him in the nose. He cried out and grabbed his face, staring at me angrily.

"That was for not telling me when you were going to start. And the damn shirt," I told him. He growled at me and stood up, walking over to the bar. He grabbed a rag and held it to his slightly bleeding nose. I snorted at him as he ducked down and went to grab something. He was under the counter for a few minutes before he popped back up with a small handful.

Walking back over to me he dropped a few chocolate bars that were probably long past their expiration dates in my lap. I laughed and ate them anyways. I was starving, and it wasn't much, but it worked. There was a bag of mixed nuts as well that Merle and I shared. He had two water bottles with him as well and the two of us downed them quickly. It had been a whole day since I'd had anything to eat or drink and I felt weaker than I ever had.

Placing the now empty water bottle on the counter, I leaned forward and looked around the club. It didn't look like it had been that terrible of a place to be, but I hated what the girls that had worked here had done for money. Most girls that I knew didn't even enjoy doing it, they only did it for extra money. I had met loads of girls in college that had stripped for money. Had I not worked insane hours at the gun store I probably would have had to turn to dancing as well. "A strip club? Real classy, Merle," I grumbled at him. I was cranky already and being here just made it worse.

Merle seemed to be irritable with me too though as he sat up straight and stared me down. I was slightly nervous, but Merle would never hurt me. Not with Daryl around. Although Daryl was gone. "Hey girl, you got a better idea? I'd love to hear it. Look, there are no windows and only two ways in and out. Both have fences that lock under them. There's all sorts of drinks up there, not only alcoholic, and they always keep small stashes of food in the backs of these places. Plus we can drag some of the couches out and sleep on those. You can rest on them while you recover. There will be long coats in the back too, we can use those for blankets. We can live here while we get you back to normal. Like it or not, this place is the best option we've got," he snarled at me. "You ain't the only one who lost everything back there. I want to prove something to Daryl too. I wanted to try and show him that I wasn't just the guy who was never there for him as a kid. You lost more than just a love today, I lost a brother," Merle told me, looking more depressed than I had ever seen him.

His eyes dropped to the floor and mine did as well. I felt terrible. I had never thought of the whole thing like that. I had been so focused on that fact that I had lost the man that I loved that I hadn't even thought about what everyone else had lost. Merle had lost his brother. Maggie and Beth had lost their father. Tyreese may have lost his sister. Rick may have lost his children. And Glenn might have lost his wife. "I'm sorry Merle. I never really thought about it like that. He's proud of you, you know," I told him quietly. And it was true, Daryl hadn't believed that Merle had almost killed himself just so that he could kill the man who had made my life hell. They may have fought and not been there for each other as kids, but they were always brothers. Wanting to get rid of the awkward air, I turned to Merle and nodded around the building. "You really know a lot about these places don't you?" I asked him.

I figured that he had been to places like this all the time, but how did he know about the food and where to find everything? Merle looked at me and laughed. "Girl I had to make money somehow. Who else was gonna to pay to keep my old man and little brother alive? I had to do something so I came to a place like this. Learned all the tricks of the trade while I was here," he told me.

Smiling at Merle I laughed. He was probably a bouncer at a place like this. He was so big and rough looking that I assumed that no one had ever wanted to mess with Merle. When he worked at the place he must have found out where they kept everything. I guess each of these places are the same? I wanted to just nod, but of course I had to have some fun with him. "So you were a stripper? I bet you were lovely. Can I have a private show?" I teased.

He whipped around to me with an angry glare but it quickly turned to a small smile. He laughed slightly and shoved me. "I ought to shoot ya again," he growled at me as he walked over to the bar, hopping over it, and putting everything that we hadn't used away. He was behind the counter still, looking through the racks of alcohol.

I followed his eyes as he scanned the shelf. There must have been at least a hundred bottles up there. And there was at least one hundred bottles more in the back. "At least four times I've been shot now," I told Merle. It was sad to say that I actually couldn't remember how many times I had been shot. More than I liked. "Have pity for the wounded," I told Merle with a puppy dog look. I knew he wouldn't fall for it though, not even Daryl would.

He scoffed at me when he saw my face and turned back to the racks of bottles. "Then learn to shut that fat mouth. Darlina might like it but I don't," Merle told me as he grabbed a bottle. I tried to read the label on the bottle but it was too far away. Merle flipped a small switch as he walked towards me. A bright green light lit up the roof and I glanced up. The lights were all over the room and I shook my head. It was so stereotypical from a strip club it was almost laughable.

As Merle hopped over the counter I smiled at him and brought a hand up to the bottom of my face, cupping my chin and giving him the most pathetic eyes I could. "Oh come on, you love me. Admit it, you love me more than anyone else in the group. Except your brother of course," I said lightly.

He reminded me so much of Daryl in the way that he grabbed two glasses and held them out to me. I took one of them and sat the glass down in front of me. I was about to tell Merle that I didn't even need the glass but he cut off my thoughts. "Girl sometimes I like you more than him. Here, have a drink. It'll help," he told me. I cocked my eyebrow. I had read something before the outbreak that had said if you suffered a severe wound you weren't supposed to drink. Something about it thinning your blood too much and making you bleed more. But right now I didn't care. I just wanted to drink my troubles away.

I stared at Merle as he grabbed the bottle and began to pour the brown liquid into my glass. "Heal a bullet wound? I've never heard of that home remedy before," I teased him as I grabbed the glass from the table. I leaned over and read the label on it, smiling as I did. "Oh, good choice. Milago Silver. I haven't seen this stuff in forever. It's hard to find," I told him. Merle looked at me like he was impressed and he laughed at me. I was sure that I was acting like the little sister that he had never had right now. I took a sip of the drink and smiled. The warming feeling felt so good right now. Despite how hot it was outside right now, I was colder than I had ever been. "How'd a dingy little place like this get it?" I asked, looking around at the room.

The club wasn't horrible looking, but it definitely looked like a lower class one. I had heard of clubs that had solid diamond walls, and every brand of liquor ever made, and the most expensive furniture money could buy. Non-staining of course. Merle shrugged his shoulders as he downed the glass. I quickly followed suit. "A lot of clubs have good liquor. It's how they draw female clients in, good booze to get them to spend money. And the drink ain't for the hip, honey. It's for the inside," he told me. I cocked my eyebrow once more. I had never heard Merle say anything genuinely sweet to me before. Only sweet talking and jokes. He poured us both another drink and we both downed it immediately. "Look, I know you love my brother more than anything. I do too. We'll get back to him. I swear to you that. But in the meantime, ain't much we can do but drink to the fact that we're alive and your dick of an old man ain't," he told me before pouring us another shot.

Holding the glass up to him. we clinked our glasses together and I smiled at him. "Amen," I told him before the two of us threw the cups back and downed them. I knew that if I was going this fast with the liquor, it wouldn't be that much longer before we were both on our asses blabbering about how much we loved each other.

"How about a game?" Merle asked me as he poured us another drink.

"What kind of game?" I asked him. I knew it would be a drinking game, but that was probably exactly the way that I could forget about everything that had happened today. That was exactly what I needed.

He smirked at me as he set his glass and turned to me, placing my glass down as well. "See who can last the longest. I wanna see if my brother got a girl who can hold her liquor," he told me. I barked out a laugh, knowing that something like that was coming. There hadn't been many times since the outbreak that I'd had a chance to drink, but I was always good with holding my liquor. It was something that I prided myself on throughout the years.

Smirking, I nodded and grabbed my glass, swigging the drink back. Merle followed in my suit, not wanting to look weaker than me. I set the empty glass back on the table and leaned into him. My stitches stretched and I had to suppress a squeak of pain. My hip still hurt but I was determined to show Merle that I was just as tough as he was. "Sweetie, you'll regret ever getting into a drinking contest with me," I told him with a smirk that he returned. "Alright, fine. So you name it. What's the game, Merle?" I asked.

He pushed the bottle to me and I smiled. We had already made a pretty good dent in the bottle. We would have to be getting up for another bottle soon. "Pour a shot for yourself," Merle told me and I did. I placed the glass in Merle's hand and waited for him to pour. "I get to ask you a question and if you answer it, don't have to take the shot. If you don't answer it, or you want to ask me the same one you have to take it. See who really owns the table," he told me as he gripped his drink tightly in his hand. He looked like he was itching to take the drink and I didn't blame him. I wanted that bottle.

"You're on. Prepare to lose," I told him. I grabbed the drink and laid back on the couch, Merle sitting on the couch across from me. We were locked on each other's eyes, deep in internal competition. "Me first?" I asked him and he nodded. "Alright. Have you ever been in love?" I asked him, genuinely curious. He didn't seem like the type for love, but I wanted to know if he had ever found some girl that had broken his walls. Just like the way that Daryl and I had done with each other.

He tipped the glass back and downed it. "Yeah I'll take a pass on that one," he told me. I growled at him why had that been the one that he had chosen not to answer. I had really wanted to know.

"Damn you, I really wanted to know that one. Whatever," I grumbled as I placed my drink down on the table. Merle smirked at me like he knew some deep, dark secret of mine. "Oh yeah, this is gonna be easy. I'm an open book," I told him.

He had a bright twinkle in his eyes and I waited for his question. I knew that he wanted to trip me up, but there weren't that many things that I wasn't willing to talk about. "We'll see," he winked at me. "What happened to you when you were taken by your father? Tell me everything," he said. Well damn. I glared at him and debated telling him or not.

There was no way that I could though. He knew what had happened, Mitch had been kind enough to tell everyone what he had done to me. Besides, when we found Daryl it would be the first thing that he would tell him once we got away. "Fine. You win," I snapped at him before I tipped the glass back and downed the drink. I grabbed the bottle and poured him another shot, along with myself. He was smiling triumphantly and I rolled my eyes. "My turn. How far did you make it in school?" I asked.

He looked surprised that I had asked that, but he shrugged his shoulders. Clearly his schooling experience hadn't been a big deal to him. Although Daryl had been the same way so I couldn't say that I was surprised. "Dropped out when I was sixteen. As soon as it was legally allowed. Got arrested that year anyways so it didn't really matter. I never went back to school after that. I always hated it and was never good at it," he told me, staring into his glass the entire time.

"Fair enough," I nodded at him, grabbing my glass. I wasn't ready to take another drink, but I needed something to keep my hands busy. I was so used to being on the go all of the time. Sitting here felt so wrong.

He nodded at me and seemed to think for a moment before he figured out what he wanted to ask me. "You didn't stay home all your life, I know that. When did you leave?" He asked me.

It was a fair question and I wasn't afraid to answer that one. It was just when I left, not why. "I was fourteen. Lived with my uncle for two years and then figured things out from there," I told him without going into the brutal details of my life that came after that. "Why do you act so tough when all you really want to do is protect your brother? That attitude is only a facade. I have it too," I told him. It was true. Inside, there were plenty of things that killed me, but I didn't let it show on the outside.

He shook his head at me and I knew that he wouldn't answer my question. Damn it, another one that I had wanted to know the answer to. "Cheers," he raised his glass to me and then quickly downed it. I watched him pour himself another shot and place the full glass in front of him. "If you could redo one thing, what would it be?" He asked me.

My jaw dropped and I was shocked at the question. It wasn't a bad question, but for some reason I hadn't been expecting that one. "The first time I had sex," I answered without hesitation. That would always be my answer. "Same question," I told him and downed my shot. He waited for me to pour myself another drink before I nodded to him to answer.

He thought about it for a moment before a dark look passed through his eyes and he shook his head at me. "Ever leaving home and leaving Daryl with our ass of a father. Why the first time ya had sex? Isn't that supposed to be sweet and precious or whatever for a girl the first time?" He asked me. He was right, that was exactly the way that it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be wonderful and precious but it had been stolen from me. Sex had never meant anything other to me than a release of my anger. It hadn't meant anything to me until Daryl had come along. Most things hadn't meant anything until he had come along.

The same dark look passed over my face that had been on Merle's a moment before. I nodded to him and drank the shot that I had just poured. "Yeah, that's the problem. It wasn't," I told him. I handed him my glass and nodded over to the bottle that was almost drained by now. "Hand me another one," I told him and he quickly did so. "So what is that, three me, two you?" I asked him and he nodded. I shifted slightly and a searing pain shot through my hip. I hissed in pain and gripped my glass tightly. "I'm never gonna get my mind off this damn leg. Tell you what. Let's change the game. You tell me a story, I tell you one. For every story we tell, it's a shot," I told him. It wasn't exactly a game, more of a social drinking situation. But still, we would get our mind off of the horrors that we had just seen today.

"Gonna be some short stories kid," Merle told me.

I nodded at him and picked the glass up, ready for it to be my turn. But it was Merle's first. "That makes two of us," I told him. We were both in the same position. We just wanted to drink and be in the company of someone. We just wanted to know that even after everything that had happened, that we weren't alone.

Merle swirled the amber liquid in his glass around for a moment before he scoffed and looked back up at me. "When I was eleven I got arrested for the first time. I stole a Hershey bar from some gas station because Daryl wanted it. He was too young to have it though. He wasn't even one yet," Merle admitted. I laughed loudly and grabbed my hip from the throbbing pain.

Forcing myself to stop laughing, I kicked him lightly in the leg and shook my head at him. "That's terrible. It's like feeding chocolate to a dog," I told him. He merely shrugged and tipped his glass back. Immediately after, he refilled his glass and nodded to me. "Alright. When I was three I wanted to get out of having to go to nap time for preschool so I forced myself to throw up on my teacher to get out of it. She called my dad and he thought it was the funniest thing that he had ever heard. It was one of the few happy memories that I have of my parents," I told him. It had been hilarious, but I had thought that my mom might explode at first.

He laughed at my story and I smiled. I grabbed my glass and drained it quickly before filling it back up again. The drink still burned, but it was a good burn. "Disgusting, but nicely done," he told me. "When I was eight I brought home this stray dog that I loved more than anything. I had him for three weeks before my old man found him. He forced me to get rid of the dog," Merle told me. "Damn cute dog too. Every girl on the block used to come up to me to pet him."

I laughed and watched as he took his drink. "What a Merle thing to do. But I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully the dog had a good life somewhere else," I told him and he nodded at me. "So when I was twelve I was helping my mom make dinner and she asked me to put a boiling pot of water on the stove. I did and everything was fine for a minute. But then the stove went up in flames. There had been leftover oil on the stove. Mom never let me cook again after that. I never wanted to cook after that," I told him. It was true. Even years after that, while I was in college I was always making frozen dinners every night or going out to eat.

I took my drink and listened to Merle's raspy laugh. "That's good darling. So you and Daryl are gonna live in the trees and eat squirrels every night and roast them over a fire? What a sweet life that'll be," he told me with a devious smile.

I laughed as well and shoved him off to the side. "Shut the hell up," I told him. All right smart ass, how about you go with an embarrassing story?" I asked him.

He seemed to think about it for a moment before a goofy smile crossed his face. Whatever it was that he was remembering, it was a good memory. "When Daryl was five I came home for his birthday. I had gone out with our mother to get him a cake. When she wasn't listening to them I had told them to give him a cake with flowers on it. Anyways, we didn't see the cake until it was opened at his party. It had pink and yellow flowers all over it and everyone laughed at Daryl for hours. He blamed me for it for months, but he forgave me. He got me back a few years later by drawing a heart in chalk on the back of my leather jacket that I would wear when I went out to bars. Didn't even realize that it was there for days," he told me. He took his drink and I handed him the bottle.

I smiled at the story and hid my face in my drink. I could imagine the two of them being together all the time. They must have been closer than they let on, growing up. "Very cute. My turn I guess. When I was eight I was the lead in a play and I had to hold hands with this boy. He told me that my hands were clammy and I didn't like to be insulted even the tiniest bits. So in the middle of rehearsal I reached around and slapped the boy in the face," I told Merle as I downed my drink.

Merle barked out a laugh and I smiled at him. That had been the funniest thing that had happened to me that summer. I spit out a tiny bit of the liquor from laughing at my joke, and finished the drink after I took a few deep breaths. "Always been tough huh?" He asked me and I nodded. Alright, back when I first was in high school this girl came up to me and told me that she thought that I was disgusting and my little brother was pathetic. I was so angry with her that I grabbed her stuff, tore it apart, and shoved her into the lake. I got in a shit ton of trouble, but I had never seen Daryl so happy.

I smiled at the story as Merle took his drink. He stood and walked over to the bar, hopping back over and rummaging through the bottles. He finally grabbed one and brought it back over to us. "Jameson. Another good choice. Well, that was not exactly sweet, but your heart was in the right place. You know, when I was five I went to the park for the first time and my mom was so caught up with her job that she forgot me there. I freaked out and thought that I would have to live in the woods. I slept with my parents that night because I was so afraid of them leaving me," I told Merle before I took a drink of the Jameson. It burned as it slid down my throat but it was everything that I needed right now.

Merle poured me another drink and smiled at me. "You were better off without them. No real parent should ever be able to do something like what they did to you," he told me and I smiled shyly. "A few years before the outbreak I was in a bar with Daryl and this damn guy came up to us shouting about how we were with his women. Would have never laid a hand on those girls, they looked like Chewbacca. Daryl sat back while the guy yelled at us, but right as I was about to take a swing, he stepped in. Never been so proud of him," he told me.

I smiled at the thought. Despite the fact that I didn't want Daryl fighting, I was proud that he had stood up for something that he loved. For his own family. "He's a good man, Merle. You taught him well," I told him. "I used to play the flute. I was good too. I had gotten an invitation to Julliard that summer. I was still at home though and my dad wanted me to go. He told me to go, but I was too afraid. I always regretted not going.," I admitted to Merle.

Merle smirked at me and laughed as I downed the drink. "Pretty and talented. Daryl chose well," he told me as he drank his glass, despite the fact that he hadn't told a story.

I smiled at him and laid my hand gently on his leg. "Thanks Merle," I told the older man. Despite the fact that we hadn't started out on the right foot, we were good friends now. Hell, he was ne of the people that I cared about most in this world. I had already lost Daryl, I couldn't lose Merle too.

For hours we talked with each other, laughing and dancing around. With an alcohol haze like the one that I had, my hip no longer hurt. I stood and danced back and forth, going under Merle's arms and doing a few slow dances with him. We were both tinkering on the edge of complete drunkenness, but we managed to keep ourselves together. For a while at least. Merle found two large coats in the back room and placed one over me. He awkwardly stumbled over the bar and fell as he leaped over, making me laugh harder than I had in a long time. He grabbed two bottles, without looking at the labels, and brought them over to us. I smiled as he laid the glass bottle down next to me and I cuddled into the couch, taking slugs of the liquor.

I didn't know when it had happened, but I must have eventually blacked out. I woke up the next morning with dry eyes to Merle wiping down the floor. I looked over at him to see what he was doing, but I immediately wished that I hadn't. He had clearly drank too much as there was liquid vomit all over the floor. I groaned and leaned back over the couch, forcing myself to keep whatever was in my stomach down.

"So I guess that means that I win right? I haven't vomited yet, so hey, I win." I laughed and my head dropped back onto the couch. Screw the bullet wound, my head hurt worse than it ever had before.

"Fuck off," Merle groaned at me. The rest of the day went similarly to that. Both of us moved around sluggishly as we gathered the all of the food, water, and any halfway decent clothes that we could find. There were a few pairs of spandex shorts that I grabbed throughout the day and there were a few pairs of low cut shirts that worked. They weren't clothes that I would want forever, but they would work for the time being. At least until we could get out and get to a mall or something.

The rest of the day went in similar fashion with neither of us talking that much, and both of us not eating. I had drank a water when I woke up and an incredibly flat soda before I laid down that night. We had woken up around three in the afternoon so it wasn't like we had that much time to do things that day. I went back to sleep on the same couch that I had been on the night before and sighed. We weren't making any progress. We couldn't keep sitting here. I knew that I was healing but it was holding us up. The rest of our group that had made it out was moving all around Georgia right now. They were all probably in the areas surrounding the prison, hoping that we would find something to bring us together. By the end of the week, we needed to get out of here. Our group would never find us here. I slipped my eyes closed and yawned deeply. I'm coming for you Daryl. Not yet, but I'm coming.

ONE WEEK LATER...

Merle was shaking me harshly and I was groaning. With the storm that had passed through last night I had barely gotten any sleep. And now that I was finally sound asleep, I had this moron trying to wake me up. What the hell kind of world was this? Merle had told me that he was just going to scout out the area, look for any hints that people had crossed through. What had happened that was so important? "Damn it Merle, leave me alone. Give me five minutes," I groaned to him.

Merle grabbed me and pulled me clean off of the couch, my robe falling off of me. He stood me in front of him and put a hand on my shoulder. "Girl, I found something. There's a sign, about two miles from here. I almost missed it, but someone made sure that we wouldn't. It says 'Sanctuary. Those who arrive, survive.' There was a note written under it. 'Glenn, go here.' It's Maggie's hand writing. I recognize it. If I saw it there's a good chance that other people saw it too."

Daryl. Maybe Daryl had seen it. Maybe he and Beth were headed there now, hoping that Merle and I would follow. We had to go. "Give me a minute, let me get the stuff together," I told him as I ran to grab our stuff. Merle grabbed my arm before I could though and he pointed over to two packs that were sitting. "Alright then. Let's go." I gathered my leather jacket in my arms and pulled it on. It was starting to get a little cold at nights so I didn't want to get stuck without anything to cover myself with. Under it I was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans and a cropped white shirt with a crossed back. Merle had found all of the clothes in a bag that had belonged to one of the dancers. I felt bad wearing it, but clearly she wasn't wearing it anymore.

Merle tossed me a pack and I grabbed it, tossing it over my shoulders. He grabbed his pack as well and looked over to me. This place had been good to live in for a while, but it was time to move on. Some part of me would miss it though. It was so much simpler than running a place that held seventy people. Most of whom couldn't take care of themselves. Merle grabbed something off of the counter and held it up. "You sure you don't wanna bring the leopard one? I think Daryl will love that one," he snickered at me.

I rolled my eyes and caught the thing. It was a leopard print thong that had bright red diamonds on the front that read, entry. Shaking my head, I tossed the garment back at him and rolled my eyes at his laughter. He was such a child sometimes, despite the fact that he was over thirty years older than me. "Fuck you," I growled at him.

Merle laughed at me and pulled at the lock on the gates so that we could get out. He unlocked the gate and popped the door open a crack to check for walkers. "Now I'm sure you wouldn't be with my baby brother if you'd let me," he told me with a wink as he undid the sliding lock above the door.

Shaking my head as he opened the door, I shoved past him. "You're repulsive," I told him as I stepped out of the area. I had my bow in hand and was ready to pull out an arrow at any time. I stopped in my tracks though as I realized that the sun was almost down. It was nighttime? "Did I sleep through the day?" I asked Merle.

"Yeah girl. It was already past noon when I went out here. I was out for hours before I found that sign. Almost missed it too. Come on, it has a map to the place that's apparently sanctuary. It's called Terminus," he told me. I thought about the words that Merle had told me were painted on the sign. It was the same thing that we had heard when we were in the car, heading to get the medicine. They had their place so together that they were able to get a radio signal out. And they were trying to recruit people. They must have been trustworthy of Maggie had found them and was now trying to get him to come to her.

Was this place really safe though? Or was it another false hope? Like Woodbury had been for Andrea and Michonne. The sun was sinking rapidly as Merle and I made our way to the sign that he had spotted. I hoped that this wasn't something else to get excited about and it just ended up being a dead end. We needed hope now more than ever. Merle grabbed my arm and I turned to look at him, but his call was too far away to be standing right next to me. "Rain! Watch out!" He yelled at me.

I nearly screamed as I realized that a walker was holding my arm. I yanked my arm away from the walker, being careful not to get a scratch on myself. The walker stumbled back from me and hissed. I brought the blunt end of my bow back and swung at the head of the walker like it was a baseball. The head of the female walker crunched in and deflated like a balloon. Walker guts splattered on me, but it was better than me being walker food.

Breathing out heavily, I went to turn back to Merle but was shocked when another walker launched itself on top of me. I was knocked off of my feet by the walker and I screeched as I hit the ground. The walkers head hit my shoulder from the impact and when it looked back the front of it's forehead had been dented by my shoulder. I grabbed the walkers head and nearly threw up as the skin peeled away from its face. The skin finally came off of the face of the walker and the thing jumped forward at me. I managed to push the head back in time, barely keeping the teeth off of me. I felt them graze my arm and I struggled to throw the walker off of me.

After what felt like an hour, I finally threw the walker off of me and pushed my knee into its forehead. The brains squished and the walker fell limp. I sighed and grabbed my bow from the ground, turning back to where Merle had been standing last. He was fighting off two walkers and I took a deep breath in. I grabbed an arrow and waited for Merle to turn one of the walkers to me. He realized that I was waiting for him and he threw a walker at me. I shot the arrow off quickly and watched as the walker fell. Merle pierced the skull of the one remaining walker and it dropped to join the others.

I sighed and walked over to Merle. Had it not been for the moonlight glinting off of his knife I wouldn't have been able to see him at all. "You OK?" He asked me as I walked up to him.

"I'm good. We should camp out tonight. Take turns keeping watch. Get back on the path to the sign tomorrow. When we can actually see in front of us." Merle nodded at me and the two of us set up our camp. It wasn't really much of anything. It was more the two of us just laid down our packs and used them as pillows. We were only going to be here the night and it probably wouldn't be a very good sleep. We were both too anxious that by tomorrow we might at least be reunited with one of our group members.

I offered to take the first watch since I had slept through most of the day, and Merle nodded to me gratefully. He laid down in the dirt and I took a seat on the wood log that was laid out next to my bag. I went to reach into my bag for my water, but just as I did, I heard a loud shout that couldn't have come from someone more than a few yards away. It had sounded like it had come from the main road. Merle sat up immediately and looked into the distance.

It sounded like there was a commotion. It could have been our group. But what if it was something unfriendly? Then we were dangerously close to it. With nothing else to say, I kept my eyes deadlocked in the direction that the voices had come from and kept my voice as low as possible. "Someone's here," I whispered.


	39. Nerves

I stood slowly and listened for another shout from the voices. For what seemed like hours Merle and I waited for another shout, but nothing ever came. Crouching lowly I made my way over to Merle and attempted to look through the trees. But it was pitch black and we were too far away from the main road to see anything. I heard a few more mutterings from the people that were out on the road but there were no more shouts like there had been. Whatever had caused all of the commotion at first had clearly calmed them down. Either that or they had realized that they were doomed to attract every walker in the area if they kept up all that racket.

It would probably be a smarter idea if we stayed silent and waited for the noises to go away, but I was curious. I had been alone with Merle for a week and I wanted to see who these people were. The voices hadn't sounded familiar but there was always a chance that it was someone from our group. And if it was, this may be our only chance to get back together with them. "Should we go check it out?" I asked Merle as quietly as I could.

He seemed to bat the idea back and forth before he turned to me and nodded. He grabbed his bag and when I went to grab mine he shook his head. I cocked my eyebrow but he shook his head at me once more. "Don't. Just in case something is wrong and I lose my things we should have something to come back for. C'mon. Stay low and stay quiet," he told me as he pulled me through the trees. Quietly the two of us were able to make quick work of the forest and arrive at the side of the road.

Merle pulled me behind a bush and we silently watched the road. There was a small car that was stalled out on the road and I could see numerous figures standing around. I could see that there was one man who seemed to be towering over the reset. He was carrying a compound bow and was slowly glancing over the rest of the crowd. There was a few men that were standing around him, who all seemed to be towering over the figures of three smaller people. The whole thing looked like an execution. Hell, maybe that's what it was.

There was a tiny figure that was being held down besides the car that was too hard to make out the features of. They looked young though. There was someone next to them that was also being held down as well, but they were bigger. There was a man in the middle of the road that was looking towards the woods but the man that seemed to be in charge was standing in front on the kneeling man. The man with the compound bow laughed darkly before moving away from the kneeling man and I gasped.

I took a hard look at the man that was only about fifteen feet from me. He had long brown hair with flecks of grey and a growing beard. He had dark eyes that looked angry and he looked like he had beaten half to hell. "Is that Rick?" I asked Merle. The man shifted his face and I gasped. "It is!" I hissed. Rick's face was bloody and he had a dark black eye. What the hell had happened to him? And if that was Rick, who were the other two people that were with him? I glanced off to the side and realized that one of the figures had the shape of a younger child and the other had long dread locks. It was Carl and Michonne. At least that meant that we knew for sure that three of our group members were alive and well. Well, they were alive at least. "He has Michonne and Carl with him. What are they doing?" I asked Merle. Not that he had any idea, but I felt the need to ask.

Merle glared at me for the stupid question and I shrugged my shoulders, going back to watching the confrontation. "Oh, dearie me," the man that seemed to be the leader of the larger group said as he turned to Rick. "You screwed up, asshole. You hear me? You screwed up. Today is a day of reckoning, sir. Restitution. A balancing of the whole damn universe. Shit, and I was thinking of turning in for the night on New Year's Eve. Now who's gonna count down the ball dropper with me, huh?" He asked as he turned to the rest of his group who all laughed with him. "Nine Mississippi. Eight Mississippi," the man began to count down as he held a gun to Rick's head.

I began to stand and run forward to Rick but Merle held me down. I tried to pull away from him but his grip was too strong. What the hell was he doing? We couldn't just let this man shoot Rick and do God knows what to Carl and Michonne. Just as I was about to pull away from Merle a familiar voice made Merle lose his grip on me and I fell to the ground with a small grunt. "Joe! Hold up," a voice that brought a thousand emotions called out.

Quickly, I jumped up from the ground and shoved Merle out of my way so that I could look out at the group. Standing out in the open was the man that I loved. Daryl. He was staring the man named Joe down angrily. He looked healthy, if not sad. But he had probably thought that he had lost everyone. That he had lost me. I'm right here Daryl, and I will get to you. "Oh my God. Daryl," I breathed out. I couldn't believe that he was right in front of me. But where was Beth? Hadn't she been with him? Or maybe the two had gotten separated before the end of the attack. It didn't matter. Daryl was here right now and we could find Beth, and everyone else, after.

Merle grabbed me and yanked me back down. Once more I grunted as I hit the ground roughly. God, my bullet wound had just healed and I was sure to tear it back open at this rate. "Stay down," Merle growled at me.

Shoving him slightly I pushed myself back up so that I was squatting again. Despite wanting to jump out and save the day, I knew that I was more likely to get shot than help anyone out there. "Are you nuts?! He's right there. They all are!" I hissed at Merle as I pointed out to the road, praying that I wasn't being too loud.

He shook his head and held my hand down to the ground to make sure that I wasn't going to jump up again. "Just wait. Just for a minute," he told me quietly. I huffed but stayed down anyways.

The man named Joe turned to Daryl angrily and raised his shoulders as if to ask why he was interrupting the whole process. "You're stopping me on eight, Daryl," he said slowly as if he was testing his patience.

"Was he with these people?" I asked Merle again, still knowing that there was no way that Merle would know the answer. Merle hushed me and for a moment I thought that he might shoot me. I knew that I was being annoying but this was nerve wracking. We were watching this whole thing go down and no one had any idea that we were here.

Daryl held his hands up like he was in surrender and shook his head at Joe, looking down at Rick. I could tell that Rick was shocked to see Daryl. So clearly he had been with these men, and Rick must have done something to piss them off. But what the hell had happened? None of this made any sense. "Just hold up," Daryl said to Joe softly.

Pointing down to Rick harshly, I kept my hand tightly on my gun. There was no way that I would let this man kill Rick. He was a good man that deserved to see his daughter again. He wasn't going to die on this road, execution style. I would kill Joe before he ever laid a hand on Rick. "This is the guy that killed Lou, so we got nothing to talk about," Joe told Daryl as he pointed the muzzle of his gun besides Rick's temple.

Joe snorted at the small twitch that Rick made and I audibly growled. Daryl looked like he was about to blow but I had to give it to the man. He was managing to keep his temper in check. Now where had that temper been when we had met almost two years ago? "The thing about nowadays is we got nothing but time," Daryl said to Joe. Well spoken, Daryl. Despite both Dixon boys being high school drop outs they were some of the most intelligent people that I knew.

Joe rolled his eyes at the interruption of what should have been an easy kill. This won't go easy for you, asshole. "Say your piece, Daryl," Joe told him sounding extremely exasperated.

Daryl looked around the area where they were all stopped. His eyes lingered on Rick's the longest, the sorrow evident. His eyes breezed past the bush that we were hiding in and I wanted nothing more than to jump out and tell him that I was here. We were both here. "These people, you're gonna let 'em go. These are good people," Daryl told Joe.

The entire group waited in silence for a moment to see what Joe would do. The man laughed and I saw the anger cross Daryl's eyes as the rest of the group began to laugh as well. Joe finally stopped laughing and the rest of his group ceased their laughter almost immediately. "Now, I think Lou would disagree with you on that. I'll, of course, have to speak for him and all 'cause your friend here strangled him in a bathroom," he growled, pointing at Rick. So that was what had happened. Somehow one of Joe's men had cornered Rick and my former leader had retaliated. Hate to break it to you, but shit like that happens these days.

Daryl stepped forward to Joe and I prayed that he could see me. But I knew that he couldn't. The bush that we were behind was thick and it was too tall to see over. "You want blood, I get it," Daryl said and I looked at him like he was nuts. Rick was his best friend and I knew that he cared about Michonne and Carl too. What the hell was he doing? It looked like Rick was curious too. "Take it from me, man. Come on," Daryl said to Joe, dropping his crossbow and leaving himself wide open to an attack.

If I had been watching the scene unfold in a movie I would have slapped myself in the face for acting so foolishly. But I had to save Daryl. There was no way that I could sit by and watch Daryl get himself killed to save Rick. I loved Rick, but there was no way that I would let Daryl go. Not when I knew that he was alive. Before Merle could grab my arm I raced out from behind the bushes as two men grabbed Daryl and another punched him in the stomach. Merle hissed my name and tried to grab me, but I was determined now. Daryl bent over as I ran up to the group. "No! No! Stop!" I yelled and everyone turned to me. The opposing group were looking me up and down with appreciate glances and Joe was giving me a curious look. Rick, Michonne, and Carl were all looking at me like they had seen a ghost and Merle was behind me looking like he could strangle me. Daryl slowly looked up at me and when the two of us connected eyes, it was like none of the rest of the world existed. He looked at me with a small smile and I felt the tears rise to my eyes as I looked at him. He was here and he was alive. "Please, let him go," I begged Joe without taking my eyes off of Daryl.

The road was completely silent, but even then I barely heard Daryl. "Rain," he breathed out so quietly that I had thought his voice was the wind for a moment. His eyes flashed over to his brother briefly and he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. They quickly glanced back to me and I saw everything that he couldn't say. That he loved me, that he was sorry, that we would be OK, and that he would make these people pay for whatever they had done. I knew that my eyes were reflecting the same.

Joe looked past both Merle and I and smirked. "And who's this?" He asked, pointing back to Merle. Daryl stayed silent so Joe took it as a sign to continue. "Is this the brother that you told us about? Yeah, I see a small similarity there," he said. "And how about her? A friend of yours, Daryl? Perhaps the girl that gave you that?" Joe asked and my eyes shot to Daryl's pocket. It looked like a small rock that he was protectively covering. It took me a moment but I finally realized what it was. A whetstone. It was the whetstone that I had given him when we were still at the Greene farm. I couldn't believe that he had kept it this long. "She's quite the beauty," Joe said as he approached me. I backed away, but I quickly realized that it was a mistake. "Grab them," Joe called nonchalantly.

"No!" Daryl yelled as he tried to jump forward to us. I heard Merle struggling behind me, but with only one hand, fighting was only so easy. And these men were big. Another man walked towards me and I tried to grab my gun, but the man was faster. He tackled me onto the ground and I hissed in pain when I hit the asphalt. The man was practically sitting on me and he must have weighed damn near two hundred pounds. He was crushing me and I could barely breathe. I saw Daryl struggling but the two men were still holding him back. I tried to buck the man off of me, but it was no use. He was just too heavy.

Joe laughed at our group, knowing that he was winning this fight. I was going to kill him. I was going to kill Joe as soon as I got this fat lard off of me. And I would end him slowly. "This man killed our friend. You say he's good people. See, now that right there is a lie. It's a lie! Come on," Joe called and the men that were holding Daryl in place knocked him to the ground and jumped on top of him. They were throwing punch after punch at him and I could see the resolve in Daryl begin to fade out.

I tried to lunge forward, and I was making a bit of progress, but it wasn't enough. If I could just reach my gun I could end this. But it was squashed under me. "No! Daryl!" I screamed as loudly as I could. Part of me hoped that I would attract walkers and they would cause some distraction, but naturally just when I needed them, they wouldn't come. "Get the hell off of him!" I yelled as the men continued to beat Daryl to a bloody pulp.

Joe stood before Rick and smiled as he watched the beating. Rick and Michonne were both struggling to get to their group mate and Merle looked like he was about to explode. "Teach him, fellas. Teach him all the way," Joe told his followers. "Oh and make sure she has a good view. I want her to see the entire thing," Joe said as he turned to me. The man that was sitting on me lifted me up and I grunted as I tried to grab my gun. But he had seen it coming and he grabbed my hands easily. He lifted me onto my knees and grabbed my hair, forcing me to watch as the men continued to kick and punch Daryl.

"No!" I screamed, trying to move away from the man that was holding me in place. But now that he had me in a perfect position, there was no way that I could even make a budge.

I wanted to cry but I had to keep myself somewhat under control. If there was any chance that I could save us, I had to remain calm. Even when I was ready to kill everyone here. "Come here, boy," a voice called from the other side of the road and for a brief moment my eyes shot away from Daryl and locked on the man that had spoken. He was a fat older man and was now making his way to Carl. He grabbed the younger boy by the ankle and dragged him into the middle of the road.

My heart stopped as I realized what was going to happen. That man was going to rape Carl. How sick could one person get? I fought even harder to get away from the man that was holding me, but his grip only tightened. There was no way that I would let what had happened to me happen to Carl. He was just a kid. He didn't deserve this, any of this. Rick suddenly became fiercely protective as well as he fought to get to his son. "You leave him be!" Rick yelled as he tried to fight his way over to his son who was being pinned down by the fat man who was hushing the younger boy.

Once more Joe laughed at Rick as he pushed his head back and put his fingers to his lips. "Shh. You'll get yours. You just wait your turn," Joe smirked as Carl cried out. I wasn't sure if the man was hurting Carl or if the younger boy was just scared, but this man better pray that none of us ever got our hands on him. No one would ever lay a hand on that boy and get away with it.

Rick jumped forward and managed to catch Joe around his leg. "Listen, it was me. It was just me," he begged. I knew that Rick would rather die than let anything happen to his child. Either one of them. He must hate himself right now for not knowing the fate of his infant daughter. I could only imagine the stress.

The leader stopped and ducked down in front of Rick, meeting his eyes. Rick was pleading with angry eyes that the man let his son go and take him. But Joe was merely smirking at the thought of seeing Rick crack and crumble. "See, now that's right. That's not some damn lie," Joe said to Rick. I glared at the man but it didn't matter, he wasn't even looking in my direction.

Joe smiled at Rick and came painfully close to our leaders face. It looked like Rick was ready to tear Joe's head off and I didn't blame him. Was he really condoning this? I knew that there were no rules in this new world, but there were some things that should never be accepted. And child molestation was one of them. It seemed that Rick was going to go for pleading with Joe one last time as his eyes softened and he looked at Joe like he was another human being, not a threat. "Look, we can settle this. We're reasonable men," he said softly.

For a moment I thought that Joe might accept Rick's offer as he smiled at our former leader. But his eyes quickly darkened as he stood and looked around at our group that was scattered around. "First, we're gonna beat Daryl to death and make his beauty here watch. Or maybe we'll leave him alive just long enough to watch what we do to her," he told me with a slimy smile. I tried to recoil, but the man's grip on me was too tight. "Then we'll kill his brother. Then we'll have the other girl. Then the boy. Then I'm gonna shoot you and then we'll be square," Joe said as he leaned down to Rick again.

"Let him go," Rick begged with a dangerously low growl as he stared at Carl blankly. I knew that he couldn't believe what was going on right now. I couldn't believe it either. Had I not been feeling my hair tearing out piece by piece I would have thought that this was a dream. But damn, at this rate I would be bald by the end of the night. Bald and dead.

The huge man that was laying on top of Carl growled at the younger boy and leaned into his ear. I fought harder to get away from the man but his grip was still too tight. Carl locked eyes for a moment and I nodded at him, silently telling him to calm down and that everything would be OK. "Stop your squirming," the man hissed into Carl's ear as the boy tried to reach for his knife and the younger Grimes dropped his eyes from mine, hiding his face in the road, probably praying that if he closed his eyes he would wake up in his cell at the prison.

"Let him go," Rick repeated slowly.

No matter how hard I struggled to get to Carl I seemed to only be hurting myself. The younger boy was whimpering as the man pushed his hair back from his face. The men that had been beating Daryl to a pulp earlier were now concerned with keeping him at bay. It seemed that Daryl's protective instinct had come into full force. The man that way laying on top of Carl laughed as he laid his hands on Carl's waist. My heartbeat sped up as I struggled to get to Carl even harder, but a sudden gunshot sent my head spinning. It had been close by and for a moment I feared that Joe had shot Rick. But when I turned back I realized that Rick had head-butted Joe and in the shock of the blow Joe had accidentally pulled the trigger on his gun. Carl attempted to scurry away from the man in the panic, but the man held onto him tightly. "I got him. Oh, it's gonna be so much worse now," he growled as he pressed his hands into Carl's side and the boy cried out. Carl began to whimper loudly as the man stood up and kicked the younger boy. "Shh. Come on, get up! Come on. Let's see what you got. Shh," he hissed.

The fat man fiddled with his belt and I realized that all of my group had begun to panic at the thought of what was about to happen. His belt buckle clicked open and he began to grab at Carl's pants when the cries began from the rest of the group. "Get away from him before I-" Rick began before Joe laughed and grabbed Rick, wrapping an arm around my former leader's throat.

Joe leaned into Rick placing his ear by his mouth acting as if he couldn't hear what our former leader was saying. "Huh? Right over here," Joe asked, leaning closer in to Rick's mouth. "What the hell are you gonna do now, sport?" Joe asked. I fidgeted slightly, trying to get away from the man who was holding me down, but just as I was about to kick my foot back into his knee, something happened that I would have only ever imagined would have come out of a horror movie. Rick leaned back, looking somewhat dazed, and bit into Joe's neck. I screamed along with Joe as Rick tore out a huge chunk of flesh. Oh my God, Rick had bit out the man's jugular vein. He would bleed out within minutes. Joe gurgled as Rick let the man slip out of his grip. Rick grabbed the gun that Joe had been holding and turned it on Joe, shooting him in the face, ending his miserable life.

In the confusion the man who was holding me in place let my hair slip slightly and I took the chance while I had it. Turning on my knees slightly I hooked my leg behind the man's and yanked it. The man took a hard fall to the ground, releasing my arms and I immediately grabbed my gun. The man was faster than I had expected though. He grabbed my gun and shoved the butt into my face. I groaned at the impact and felt blood rushing down my nose, but this fight wasn't over. I threw a leg up and my heavily booted foot went soaring into the face of the man. He grunted at the hit and fell onto his knees. I grabbed my gun off of the ground and pulled the trigger without aiming. I had hit the man in the knee. He was screaming in pain and I immediately shot him in the head. He silenced as the life flew from him, but I didn't stop shooting. Round after round I blew into his head and the man's corpse shook with each blow.

I felt a hand wrap around my waist and I screamed, trying to turn the gun on my new attacker. When I caught sight of the face though I realized that it was Daryl. I dropped my gun to the ground and launched myself into his arms, crying his name softly. "It's OK. I've got you. I've got you. I'm here. I'm not leaving. I love you. It's OK," Daryl hushed me softly as he stroked my hair. He had my head buried into his arms and I took in the feel of him. I had thought that I would never see him again.

"I'll kill him. I'll I'll kill him!" Rick yelled and I pulled away from Daryl, turning to the noise. Daryl and I had fallen to the ground in exhaustion and Merle was sitting with us, pulling Daryl into a quick hug. The brothers kept me close as Rick crawled over to the man that had been so close to assaulting his son. "Let the boy go. He's mine," Rick said to the man, out of breath but determined to save his son. The man backed away with horror in his eyes and Carl immediately shot over to Michonne, the woman grabbing him in her arms and shielding his eyes from what was to come.

The man backed away as Rick crawled over to the man, a knife in hand. "Stay back. Stay- Please," the man begged as Rick approached him. But Rick was beyond reasoning. Our former leader grabbed the man by the head and slammed his knife into him. Over and over the man's guts splattered everywhere and he went from a horrible human being to a pile of lunch meat. I looked away from the scene, sick from the sight of the man. While Carl hid his eyes in Michonne's shoulders and she hid her eyes in his hair, I hid my eyes in Daryl's shirt, comforted by Merle's hand resting lightly on my back.

For the rest of the night, long after the confrontation with Daryl's brief group members, we all laid in the road, too shocked to do anything. Once we all had finally gotten up the strength we moved up, pushing the bodies off the road and throwing them to the woods for the walkers. It would make a suitable meal for them. Daryl had pulled me to the side after I had rolled Joe's body down the hill and had kissed me like it was the last kiss that we would ever have. I had melted into him and confessed that I had never thought that I would see him again. He had told me that he had vowed to spend the rest of his life looking for me. That there was nothing for him if he lost me. I didn't know what it was, but I had blushed like a small girl had been kissed by her crush for the first time.

I watched as I figured that Daryl fiddled with what looked like the whetstone in his pocket. It was mid-morning now and we were all so exhausted that we were just sitting around. We had no idea what to do. Rick had told us that they knew about Terminus too and we had explained the sanctuary to Daryl. Despite not knowing much about who these people were, we knew that they were our best chance at finding the rest of our group. We had to try there.

For now we were all sitting together, not knowing when we would be ready to hit the road again. We had to take a break. Too much had happened in these past few hours. It had gone from just Merle and I too Merle, Rick, Michonne, Carl, Daryl, and I. Michonne was with Carl walking around the woods. The pair were talking but I had no idea what about. Probably what Rick had done to Joe. Merle was with the pair as well, but he was trailing behind, fiddling with his metal stump. Rick and Daryl were sitting together at the base of the truck that Joe and his group had been using. I was sitting above the pair on the hood, Daryl's head resting against the toe of the shoe. Normally I would tease them about the brooding silence, but for now it was appropriate. "I didn't know what they were," Daryl told Rick, breaking the silence.

Rick looked over at the man and nodded to him. I knew that Rick didn't blame Daryl for what had happened. He was just curious. We all were. How did a man like Daryl wind up with the likes of men like that? "How'd you wind up with them?" Rick finally asked Daryl, voicing my thoughts.

The look on Daryl's face told me that he didn't want to talk about it, but he was going to anyways. Daryl was fiercely loyal to Rick. If our former leader asked him to jump off a cliff, he would. That, I had no doubt of. Daryl sighed lightly and shook his head. "I was with Beth. We got out together. I was with her for a while," Daryl answered softly, staring at the ground.

"Is she dead?" Rick asked, looking at the other man.

For a while the two men were silent and I had taken Daryl's silence for a yes. It seemed that Rick had as well until Daryl shook his head and sighed once more. "She's just gone," he told Rick, seemingly devastated that he had lost the young girl. I assumed that he had grown rather close with her during the separation because of the way that he was acting. I was sure that he would be destroyed if he lost anyone, but this was more than that. She had been close to him. "After that, that's when they found me. I mean, I knew they were bad, but they had a code. It was simple. Stupid, but it was something. It was enough," Daryl said softly.

Rick nodded before he looked to Daryl once more with sorrow and understanding clear in his eyes. "And you were alone," Rick said and Daryl nodded. Despite the fact that Daryl had been surrounded by about seven men, he had been truly alone when he had been taken in by Joe and the rest of his men. Or rather people who called themselves men.

Daryl nudged my foot slightly and I laid my hand on his head, twirling a long piece of straggly hair in my hand. "They said they were looking for some guy. Last night they said they spotted him. I was hanging back. I was gonna leave. But I stayed. That's when I saw it was you three," Daryl informed Rick.

"Right when you saw me," Rick sighed.

"I didn't know what they could do," Daryl said with sorrow in his voice and eyes. He thought he had let Rick down. He thought he had let us all down. But that wasn't the case at all. He was just trying to survive.

Rick grabbed Daryl's shoulder and shook his head at the older man. "It's not on you, Daryl. Hey. It's not on you. You being back with us here, now, that's everything," Rick said with sincerity filling his eyes. "You're my brother," he told Daryl. I smiled brightly at the two. Not that long ago they had been fighting with each other constantly and shoving guns in each other's faces. And Shane had been Rick's best friend and brother. Now it was Daryl. "And you," Rick said looking up to me. "You're a brash, annoying little sister," he told me.

The smile dropped from my face and I swatted Rick's head lightly. Even though I was no longer smiling, mirth was shining in my eyes. I loved these men. They were the family that I had never gotten. They were the family that I had always deserved. I knew that now. "Thanks, asshole. I missed you too," I jokingly said to Rick.

We all sat together in silence once more, enjoying the fact that we were together before Daryl turned to Rick with an understanding look on his face. "Hey, what you did last night anybody would have done that," Daryl told Rick. He was right. Maybe not to that extent, but Joe had forced Rick's hand. We would have all done some terrible things to save each other.

Rick shoo his head at Daryl quickly denying that it was something that any rational person would do. Not that any of us were really rational any more. "No, not that," Rick said.

"Something happened," Daryl said to Rick, referring to the horrible man that had tried to rape Carl. That would make any father cringe and do something that he had never thought was possible. Even the most gentle of souls would have turned into a monster at that point. "That ain't you," Daryl said to Rick softly.

Rick seemed to think on it for a moment before he shook his head once more. "Daryl, you saw what I did to Tyreese." I thought back and remembered that Rick hadn't stopped even long after he was no longer responsive. "It ain't all of it, but that's me. That's why I'm here now. That's why Carl is. I want to keep him safe. That's all that matters," Rick told Daryl and stood up. Daryl stood as well and offered me a hand off of the hood. We walked over and joined the other three, the air incredibly awkward after what had happened the night before.

"You okay?" Daryl asked Michonne as we walked up to the small group. I smiled at the woman and grabbed her tightly, hugging her for a moment before I released her. I pulled Carl into a hug as well and I noticed that the boy's grip on me was tighter than it had been in the past. That encounter last night must have really shaken him. I didn't blame him. Something like that was Earth shattering. It had happened to me, and I prayed that it never happened to anyone else.

After we had all finished our hellos, Michonne stood parallel with Daryl and nodded to him with a straight face. She seemed happy, but for some reason she couldn't seem to muster a smile. "Yeah. I'm okay," she told him.

Daryl nodded and I looked over at him. "I know," he told her.

"How?" She asked him, looking suspicious.

He shook his shoulders at her and motioned around us. "'Cause I'm okay, too," he told her. I knew what he was talking about. We were back together again. Pretty much unharmed. Despite a few black eyes, bloody noses, cuts, and bruises, we were all going to walk away from this unscathed. Well, physically at least.

No one said another word but we all knew where we were going. Terminus. We had to get there. If we were right Maggie was there with whoever she had made it out with and Glenn was there as well. He had been on the bus the last time that I anyone had seen him so maybe he was able to get everyone there safely. We walked along the woods, close to the road, but far enough away so that we could disappear if we needed to. These people seemed like they were trying to do something right in the world, but that didn't mean that we could be too cautious.

We had been walking for nearly an hour when Rick stopped us. We all watched him as we gathered around, everyone facing another direction to keep a watch on threats. "We're getting close," he told us and we nodded. The last sign that we had seen had said that we were only a few miles away. "Be there before sundown. Now we head through the woods. We don't know who they are," he told us. He was right, we needed to approach this place with extreme caution. It couldn't turn into another Woodbury.

"All right," Daryl said as we marched into the woods. Rick held out a bag for us to drop the weapons that we wouldn't be using. He had told us before we had made our way away from the area where we had been reunited that we should leave some weapons behind. Just in case somehow we got ours confiscated and we needed to get more. Begrudgingly, we had all agreed to leave the weapons that we felt we would use in a last ditch effort.

Sighing deeply I pulled my bow off along with my arrows. I was more removing them because I didn't want to have these people run their grimy hands all over my stuff. I dropped my weapon carefully in the bag and sighed deeply once more. I'll be back for you baby. Daryl removed his knife that he always carried on his side and Merle removed the blade from his stump, keeping his gun at his side. Carl took his machete off of his hip, along with his hunting knife and dropped them in the bag. Rick removed his machete as well and looked back at me. I didn't want to part with any more of my weapons but I knew that I had to. I removed my belt of throwing knives and dropped them into the bag along with my spare gun. Although right before Rick closed the bag, I grabbed one of them. I tucked the blade into the side of my boot and Rick nodded.

I glared at Michonne as she was the only one that was allowed to keep her weapons. Although since she only has one I suppose it's fair. Rick closed the duffel bag and threw it over his shoulder as he turned to us. Despite our nerves about going to this place, we had nothing. We needed this place. "We all spread out, watch for a while, see what we see, and get ready. We all stay close," Rick said.

Everyone nodded and Daryl grabbed my arm, pulling me into the edge of the woods where we were overlooking the back of Terminus. It was a large area of fences that surrounded an industrialized area. For a few minutes the two of us looked over the buildings, but no matter where we looked, I couldn't spot anyone. Were we wrong? Had the place gotten overrun? But there were no walkers anywhere in sight so that wouldn't make sense. Perhaps everyone just stayed inside. It was a good way to ensure that walkers and other people wouldn't see you. Maybe that was what we should have done with the prison. Maybe if we would have done that from the beginning we would still be there. But that chapter was closed, and hopefully today was the start of a new one.

Sighing, I leaned onto a tree and fiddled with the butt of my gun. There were just things about this place that didn't sit right with me. But maybe I was just still paranoid about the attack on the prison. I realized that Terminus was set in an old train station and I laughed. "You know," I said to Daryl, who quickly looked over at me. "Terminus means so many things. It was actually the original name of Atlanta was back when it was first settled. It also means a railway station that's an end of your destination," I told Daryl, pointing to the train tracks that lined the place. "There was a Roman God named Terminus too. He protected boundary markers," I told Daryl.

He looked at me like I had grown three heads and I shrugged my shoulders. "How the hell did you know all of that?" Daryl asked me and I laughed. In my freshman year of college my English professor had told me that I was a fountain of useless knowledge and that I should apply to be on Jeopardy. I had actually thought about it for a long time. But that was a past life.

"Because I read," I told him with a small nudge. He laughed at me and shoved me back, catching me as I began to stumble. He pulled me into him and I smiled. He was back here in my arms and that was all that mattered. He pushed my hair back out of my eyes and I blushed lightly as his hand ran over my face. He was giving me one of his rare smiles that I treasured so I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. He pulled my back into him and my hips dug roughly into his, but it didn't matter. One of his hands went to the back of my head and I felt his hand run through my hair, against my scalp, as he pushed me closer to him. He finally released my head and I pulled back. But I immediately remembered what had happened to me before we had gotten separated. "Daryl, what happened with Mitch. M-my father h-he told him to b-b-break me in any-y way that he could and I-I tried to fight him off but-" I stammered as tears rose to my eyes.

Daryl shook his head at me and forced me to look into his eyes. He kissed me lightly on the lips and wiped the tear that was in my eye away. "Don't apologize for what that bastard did to you. I would never be angry with you over something that he did. I killed him and you'll never see him again. And you're with me once more. That's all that matters," he told me and I smiled.

He winced slightly and I forced his head up into the light. He had a dark black eye that was slightly swollen and he had a nasty scratch over his left eye. It was still bleeding slightly and I shook my head. I grabbed the rag out of his back pocket and pushed him into the tree. He tried to get up and argue with me that he didn't need it, but one dark glare from me shut him right up. I pressed the rag gently against his face and sighed as he twitched at the pain. If Terminus ended up being what we wanted it to, then we would need to get to an infirmary. We were all slightly injured and some of us would probably need a few stitches.

I jumped as Daryl grabbed my hand and hissed when I pushed too hard into the wound and I gently laid his hand down. I knew that it hurt, but it was something that I had to do. We didn't want it getting infected. "Well if you wouldn't get into fights with the other kids I wouldn't need to do this," I teased Daryl. He scoffed and swatted my hand away. I slapped his arm away from me though and continued to work on his brow. The bleeding had stemmed but now I was trying to wipe the dirt away. "You know, I feel like your mother trying to clean you up after you slipped and fell outside," I joked around.

I caught the slight smile that crossed Daryl's face and I smiled as well. I glanced down and saw that he was still fiddling with what I assumed was the stone in his pocket. It must have become a nervous habit. "No. You're much better," he told me with a soft voice. I smiled softly and blushed again. God, what was my problem? I was acting like a little schoolgirl. I wiped his face down a few more times before I backed off and slipped the pocket back into his pocket. He laughed as I slapped his butt and he grabbed me.

Quietly screaming as he grabbed me and lifted me over his shoulder I laughed like a madman. It had been a long time since I had laughed like that. He spun me a few time before dropped me off of his shoulders. I tried to stand but my balance was off and I fell into his arms. He helped steady me and smiled as I slipped into his arms a few more times. I stared at him with an eye cocked as he gave me an odd look. He looked like he was contemplating something. I was about to ask if something was wrong when he brought me over to a beautiful willow tree that was beginning to wilt. It was dying, but it didn't matter. The tree was gorgeous and I smiled as the branches swayed in the wind.

The wind was blowing my hair in my face and I laughed at it. There was so much grease and dirt that had built up in my hair that I almost looked like a brunette that had just dipped her hair in the water. Daryl grabbed my hand and I smiled at him. If this was the way that he would act after we got separated maybe I should disappear for a few days every once in a while. He sighed and I cocked my head to the side. "I never thought that I would do this," he said softly with a laugh.

"Do what?" I asked him.

He shook his head at me and dropped my hand. I stood stupidly and waited for him to explain to me what the hell he was doing. "You asked me once what we were and I didn't have an answer for you," he told me. I nodded and waited for him to continue. I must look like a moron right now. "I have an answer now. I love you Rain," he told me and I smiled. I was about to tell him that I loved him too but he held his hand up to stop me. I stared stupidly at him once more. Nervously he sighed and I was about to ask what had gotten him so antsy today but he cut me off. Not with words, but with one little action. He fiddled in his pocket and wrapped his hand around something. He dropped onto one knee and my hand immediately shot to my mouth. He wasn't doing this. Was he really? I was dreaming. I was going to wake up in the strip club with Merle. This had never happened. I had never been reunited with him. He pulled out what he had been holding and my breath hitched in my throat.

So that had been what he was fiddling around with these past few hours. I awkwardly coughed as he unwrapped his hand and a small, black box sat in his hand. He popped the box open and I barked out a disbelieving laugh. Inside the box sat a gorgeous ring. It was simple, but stunning. The ring had a small diamond in the middle and even smaller ones that wrapped around the front of the white gold band. I could tell that the ring had been expensive whenever it had been for sale. "Rain Blake. I love you more than I thought that I could ever love one person. I never thought that I would do this, but here I am," he chuckled lightly. "I don't know what will happen later today but I know that when the prison fell I was terrified that I would never see you again. We might die tomorrow, but it doesn't matter. Because at least you know that this is what you mean to me. Will you marry me?" He finally asked.

Despite the fact that it was boiling hot outside I felt goosebumps raise on my skin. What the hell had just happened? The man that I loved had gotten down on one knee and proposed to me. I had never thought that I would get married. And when this had first happened, I had never thought that I would ever even get along with that redneck, Daryl Dixon. But here we were a year and a half later, and he was down on one knee asking me to marry him. He stared at me with worry in his eyes and I jumped. I had left him down on the ground with no real answer. I shook my head, probably too excited. I couldn't even speak right now. He jumped up and slid the ring onto my right ring finger.

He looked like he was going to say something to me but I cut him off. I launched myself into his arms and pressed my lips against him. He smiled into the kiss and grabbed me tightly. I didn't even realize that I was crying until I felt a water droplet splash onto Daryl's cheek. Through the kiss he wiped my eyes and I smiled. I heard a soft clapping behind me and I pulled away from Daryl slightly. Merle, Rick, Carl, and Michonne were standing behind us, smiling at the scene.

I laughed and stood away from Daryl, grabbing his hand. The ring glinted in the sun and I smiled. Michonne's eyes shot down to the ring and she looked up to me and smiled. I walked over to the woman and pulled her into a hug. She congratulated me and I smiled and thanked her. Carl pulled me into a hug next and I smiled at the young boy. He looked at the ring and smiled at Daryl, who he patted on the back. Michonne pulled Daryl into a hug and he smiled at the woman. Merle pulled his brother into a tight hug and laughed loudly. I walked over to Rick and gave him a hug. Rick hugged me tightly and lifted me for a moment. I laughed as he set me down and Daryl gave Rick a hug. The two embraced each other brotherly before I turned to Merle and smirked.

"Ah I always wanted a sister!" He yelled. Merle ran over to me and grabbed me. With one arm and the metal stump he grabbed me tightly and lifted me off of the ground. I coughed as Merle tightened his grip and began to see stars. His grip was so tight that I could hardly get any air into my lungs.

I tapped him on the shoulder, slightly blue in the face and he looked at me. "I... hate... you..." I coughed at him as he dropped me and I stumbled back to Daryl. Everyone laughed and smiled at the two of us. I didn't like to be the center of attention so I hoped that we would be moving on soon. The one thing that would make this day better was if we could reach the rest of our group. "So does this make us married or is there something that we should do? I mean there's no government anymore so there's really no marriage paper to sign or anything. Do we just say we're married?" I asked the group.

Merle, always one to take things upon himself grabbed Daryl and I and forced us to face each other, holding hands. I was about to ask him what the hell he was doing but he held up a hand to me. "Dearly beloved, we have gathered here to marry these two assholes," Merle began and we all laughed. He stood in silence for a moment, trying to find out what he should say next. "Anyone object?" He asked the three that were watching with amused smirks and they all shook their heads. "Good. You love him?" Merle asked me. I nodded and laughed loudly. "You love her?" Merle asked his brother, who nodded as well. Daryl was bright red but grinning like crazy. "Wonderful! Now kiss," Merle instructed us. I brought Daryl into a quick kiss, only giving him a small peck before pulling away. He looked grateful that I hadn't made scene out of it. "I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Darlina Dixon!" Merle yelled.

Daryl punched his brother roughly and I laughed along with the rest of our split group. I pulled Daryl off of his brother and stood between the two. My hand wrapped tightly around Daryl and he smiled down at me. "Alright, as happy as I am for the two of you, how about we move this celebration inside?" Rick asked. We all nodded and turned to Terminus. Not knowing if the area had guards that were watching from afar we quickly ran to the fences that surrounded the area.

Daryl hopped over the fence and gave a quick look before nodding to us. Merle went over the fence and kept his eye on the buildings that made up Terminus. Rick helped Carl over next and Michonne after him. He nodded for me to go next and he gave me a boost. I quickly scaled the fence before flipping over the top and dropping down. Daryl grabbed my hips and slowed down my impact to the ground. I nodded my thanks to him and moved out of the way so that Rick could get over. Our former leader easily made his way over the fence before dropping next to us. We all looked around for a moment before Rick motioned to a large building to our left. It looked like the most likely building that someone would be in.

We silently made our way past the buildings, keeping low. Once we hit the building, I slipped my gun out of my holster and nodded to Rick that I was ready to go in. He kept in the front of the group with Daryl, Merle and I behind them, and Carl and Michonne bringing up the rear. We had to get in there fast, we couldn't dawdle. Rick broke through the doors as quietly as he could and we quickly made our way into the warehouse. There were gasps all around as we walked in and I took a look around as we all spread out. There was a woman that was sitting with an ancient looking radio and I cocked my eyes. She must have been the one that was sending out the sanctuary message. There were people that were walking all over but they all stopped to watch us.

"You here to rob us?" A man asked and I turned harshly to him. My teeth were grit tightly as he walked over to us. He looked like he was in his late twenties of early thirties. He had dark hair that fell in a way similar to Daryl, but he was much smaller. I couldn't tell if he looked trustworthy or not and the fact bothered me more than it should have.

We all stared at each other in silence before Rick stepped forward and shook his head at the man. I knew that he was trying to make a good impression on the man, but we had already screwed that up. We had stormed in here with our weapons out and these people thought that we were here to rob them. What could we say now to make them trust us? Rick shook his head and I wanted for his explanation. "No. We wanted to see you before you saw us," he answered honestly.

For a moment I thought that the man would order his people to attack us but he merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Was he actually OK with us beating his system? "Makes sense. Usually we do this where the tracks meet. Ahem. Welcome to Terminus. I'm Gareth," the man introduced himself. He looked over us for a while before his eyes landed on me. They looked me up and down with a sleazy smile and when they landed on the ring I saw him scoff. I twisted my ring nervously as my gut began to tighten. My group may not see it but this place was looking less and less friendly to me by the minute. "Looks like you've been on the road for a good bit," Gareth said to my group, tearing his eyes from me and giving us a sweet smile. Maybe he was just lonely? I couldn't blame him for that.

Rick nodded along with the rest of our broken group. We were all tired and we were ready for a damn nap. Shit, I was ready for a shower. It must have been at least a month and a half since my last shower. "We have," Rick told Gareth. Gareth nodded as Rick stared the man down. "Rick," our former leader introduced himself after a moment. "That's Carl, Daryl, Rain, Merle, and Michonne," he pointed to us as he went down our line.

Gareth nodded and his eyes stopped on me as he laughed lightly. "Interesting name," he told me and I glared at him. He smiled at me sweetly and for a moment I felt bad for glaring at him. Maybe I had learned to not trust people from my father. I should at least give Gareth a chance. He looked like he was trying to make a good impression on us. "You're nervous. I get it. We were all the same way," he told us like he understood where he was coming from as he motioned to everyone else that was standing around the room. I sighed deeply. So they had all been strays at some point. People like this were either the best or the worst.

"We came here for sanctuary," Rick finally announced, sick of us playing the beat around the bush game. It was time to get this show on the road. Either they were friendly of they weren't.

Gareth nodded and took a small step forward to Rick. "That what you're here for?" He asked.

"Yes," Rick simply answered.

Smiling, Gareth took a few more steps forward and our small group clustered together a little tighter. "Good. You found it. Hey, Alex," Gareth called and I looked at the man who walked up to us. He had short, curly, brown hair and sported a happy grin. He looked to be about the same age of Gareth. "This isn't as pretty as the front. We got nothing to hide, but welcome wagon is a whole lot nicer. Alex will take you, ask you a few questions. Uh, but first, we need to see everyone's weapons. If you could just lay them down in front of you," he said nervously. I could tell that they had had problems with this part before.

I didn't want to start a fight so I nodded at Rick. He nodded back to Gareth and laid his gun down. "All right," Rick said to the leader of Terminus. Merle laid his gun on the ground, Michonne dropped her sword, Carl his gun, and Daryl laid his crossbow gently on the ground. I dropped my gun and nervously rubbed my ankle against the handle of my knife that was hidden. Just in case.

With somewhat of a sorry expression, Gareth and his men walked forward and began to poke and prod at our weapons. "I'm sure you understand," he told Rick.

"Yes, I do," our former leader answered.

Gareth checked over Rick's gun for a moment before handing his gun back to him. Alex finished his safety inspection of my gun before he handed it back to me with a smile. I grimaced and snatched the gun roughly from him, hearing the small ting as the metal of the gun hit the band of the ring. I would have to get used to that. I turned as Gareth looked over the blood that was dried to Rick's face and he laughed. "I'd hate to see the other guy," Gareth said to Rick.

Rick growled lowly as he placed his gun back into his holster. "You would," Rick said dangerously. I thought back to last night and gulped deeply at the sight of Joe with half of his throat torn out, blood running down as Rick fought to get over to the man that had been ready to rape Carl. The whole night had been a nightmare. Hopefully today would go better.

"They deserve it?" Gareth asked.

The large room was sent into a deafening silence as they awaited Rick's answer. "Yes," he finally said. Rick waited as the rest of our group was handed back our weapons before he looked to Gareth with a dangerous glare. "Just so you know, we aren't those kind of people, but we aren't stupid either," he told Gareth.

Gareth smirked as Rick stared him down and he nodded to our former leader. "And you shouldn't be stupid enough to try anything stupid. As long as everyone's clear on that, we shouldn't have any problems," Gareth said as the smirk disappeared and a smile replaced it. "Just solutions. Okay. Follow me," he said as he began to walk out of the building. Everyone went back to their work and I heard the woman begin to fiddle with her radio. We followed Gareth as we walked out of the building and into the area that was wide open. The open air felt wonderful after the awkward meeting in the room before.

We all looked around but there wasn't much to look at. Mostly it was a bunch of grey and white buildings and the occasional person would pass us without a second glance. Maybe this place really was OK. Maybe I was just being paranoid. "So how long's this place been here?" Rick asked Gareth as he led us through the compound.

Gareth nodded at Rick and motioned all around us like this place was his baby. Maybe this was his baby. He was proud that he had done something that would help people. I suppose I didn't blame him for that. "Since almost the start. When all the camps got overrun, people started finding this place. I think it was instinct, you know? Follow a path. Some folks were heading to the coast, others out west or up north, but they all wound up here," Gareth told us.

We rounded a corner and were greeted by a woman that was cooking on a grill. I stared at the meat hungrily. I was starving. I couldn't even remember the last real meal that I had eaten. "Hi," the woman greeted us as she flipped the meat on the grill. Whatever she was grilling was huge. Did they have cows in the back of this place? The meat was too big to be from a squirrel or possum and it was too red to be from a fish or chicken. A cow or horse was the only animal that made sense. "Heard you came in the back door. Smart. You'll fit right in here," she told us with a sweet smile. I smiled back at her. I didn't know the woman but in some ways she reminded me of Jacqui. Despite the fact that I hadn't known the woman that long and her death had been ages ago, I still missed her. I missed everyone that we had lost.

Gareth walked up to the woman and laid a loving hand on her shoulder. I wondered if Gareth was the son of this woman. They looked a little similar but I couldn't be sure. Maybe they were just friends that had grown close after the world had gone to hell. "Hey, Mary, would you fix each of these new folks a plate for me?" He asked the woman who nodded and went to cutting up the meat, handing the plates to us. I grabbed a plate and a fork and stared at the plate. This didn't look like any beef that I had ever had. Maybe it was horse meat. I had never eaten it before so I didn't know what it looked like. I looked over to Daryl and Merle who were both looking over the meat like they had never seen anything like it before. Daryl shrugged his shoulders and I sighed.

"Why do you do it? Why do you let people in?" Michonne asked and I turned to the woman. That was the first time that I had heard the woman speak since we had gotten here.

Gareth shrugged as he pointed to around him. "The more people become a part of us, we get stronger. That's why we put up the signs, invite people in. It's how we survive," he told her and I nodded. He was right. Numbers were everything these days. There was no way that anyone could survive on their own. We all needed help from people. It was finding the good people that was the problem. With no rules or laws, people had reverted to their natural states. And that was dangerous for a lot of us.

"Here," Alex said as he handed Rick a plate. Rick's eyes shot down and I followed his line of sight. What did he find so fascinating? I realized that he was looking at a small pocket watch that laying in Alex's pocket. I stared at the watch for a moment before the realization hit me. I knew that watch. It was the watch that had belonged to Hershel. The old man had given it to Glenn when he had approved of the Asian man marrying his daughter. That was Glenn's watch. How the hell did this asshole get it?

I dropped my plate in shock and my sudden action made everyone look away from the two leaders. Rick grabbed Alex quickly, dropping his plate as well. I grabbed my gun and aimed it at Gareth as he aimed a gun at Rick's head. Rick was holding his gun to Alex as he struggled to breathe in Rick's grip. Everyone had guns and swords and arrows aimed at each other, but no one moved. "No. Where the hell did you get this watch? Where the hell did you get this watch?" Rick repeated when Alex didn't answer the first time.

Alex tried to grab onto Rick's arm to pull our former leader off of him but Rick's grip was too tight. "You want answers? You want anything else? You get 'em when you put down the gun," Alex told our former leader. Rick didn't loosen his grip though, he only tightened it around the man's throat.

Rick looked up and quickly I glanced up to follow his gaze. He was looking up on the roof where a man with a sniper riffle was leaning over the edge. I knew that this place wasn't good. And now we were about to rue ever coming here. "I see your man on the roof with a sniper rifle. How good's his aim?" Rick taunted as Alex began to panic. "Where'd you get the watch?" Rick asked one more time, his voice low and threatening. "Where'd you get the watch?!" Rick yelled when Alex refused to answer.

The people of Terminus began to move into our group and I moved my gun off of Gareth to a man that was creeping up behind Rick. The man stopped dead in his tracks and glared at me, aiming his gun at my face. But I refused to waver. I saw the panic in Daryl's eyes but I shook my head lightly. I glanced down at the ring on my finger and took a deep breath. Even if we die today. I know how he felt this entire time. "Don't do anything! I have this!" Gareth yelled to his men who began to back down. "You just put it down. You put it down! You want to listen to me. There's a lot of us," Gareth threatened Rick.

"Where did you get the watch?" Rick repeated to Alex, not wavering in the slightest from Gareth's threat.

The man struggled against Rick's grip once more and panicked as Rick dug the butt of his gun farther into the Alex's temple. "I got it off of a dead one. I didn't think he'd need it," he answered. Liar, try the truth. Rick clearly didn't believe him either as he pushed the gun so hard into Alex's head I thought that he might split the man's skull.

Rick looked around and I followed his line of sight again. "What about the riot gear? The poncho?" He asked. I looked over and realized what he was talking about. There was riot gear that had come from our prison. I knew that gear, it was the same gear that Glenn and T-Dog had worn while we were clearing it out. And the poncho had been Daryl's. The last time that I had seen it he had given the thing to Maggie one night when she was cold and on watch.

Alex looked at Rick like he was nuts. "Got the riot gear off a dead cop. Found the poncho on a clothesline. Gareth, we can wait," Alex said to his leader and I raised my eyebrows. What was he talking about? That they could wait. What the hell did he mean? This place was making less and less sense the longer that we were here.

"Shut up, Alex. You talk to me," Rick growled in the man's ear.

Gareth stepped forward to our leader and shook his head as if he was disappointed that this had ended up this way. "What's there left to say? You don't trust us anymore," Gareth said to Rick as he approached the man.

"Gareth," Alex said slowly.

"Shut up," Gareth snapped at the man.

"Gareth, please," Alex begged with his leader who merely ignored him.

Sighing deeply, Gareth stepped as close as he dared to Rick before looking him in the eyes with a nasty grin. I wanted to kill Gareth where he stood but it wouldn't do anything rather than start a fight. And I wasn't willing to start one yet. There was still a small chance that we could get out of this. "It's okay. It's okay," Gareth said, holding his hands up to his people so that he could talk without any chance of someone firing. "Rick, what do you want?" He asked our former leader.

"Where are our people?" Rick snapped.

"You didn't answer the question," Gareth said to Rick with a smirk. I growled and without warning one of the snipers shot at Rick. Rick had seen it coming and had ducked behind Alex's body. The man fell dead onto Rick who used his body to shield the other bullets. I ducked down and shot the man that had come up behind Rick. There was gunfire all around us as we all shot at each other. Every once in a while one of the Terminus residents would fall, but luckily none of our people ever did.

I turned my back to the sniper on the roof and shot. I hit the man in the shoulder and I watched as he ducked. I heard him yelling and I couldn't help but to smirk. I felt a hand on my arm and I jumped, but it was only Daryl. I sighed as he grabbed me and pulled me to where the rest of our group was waiting. "Go, go!" I heard one of Gareth's men yell as we tore out of the main area.

Daryl dragged me behind a large group of steel wheels. There were shots banging off of the metal and I knew that we could only hide here so long. Eventually they would catch up to us and kill us. "Come on!" Daryl yelled as he dragged me from behind the wheels. I grabbed onto Michonne as we ran and pulled her with us. Rick and Carl caught up to us quickly, Merle behind them and we all began to run through the maze of the buildings. We were trying to head to the fences, but they were on the other side on the complex. I took a sharp turn but just as I did I came face to face with a sniper. They shot down at us but every shot missed. They were all too low. They were trying to hit our feet? What kind of sense did that make? Then it dawned on me. They weren't trying to kill us, they were herding us. Just the way that a sheep dog herded sheep to the barn.

I stared at the sniper before Daryl caught my arm and dragged me behind him once more. I wanted to stop and see what would happen but it probably wasn't a good idea. Just because they weren't trying to shoot us didn't mean that they wouldn't hesitate to kill us. "Come on! Here! Come on, this way," Rick said as he led us through the train cars that were no longer being used.

As we passed one of the cars I realized that it was shaking slightly. What the hell? Were they keeping animals in there? "Help! Help!" Voices called and I jumped. They were keeping people here. What the hell kind of people were they to keep people in train cars and offer sanctuary? I turned a corner once more and stopped dead in my tracks as we breezed past the train car. Daryl looked like he was going to kill me for stopping but I shook my head as the rest of the group stopped to grab me and drag me behind them.

I raised my hand and pointed them to what had made me stop. "Oh my God. Look at this! They're killing people here! Dismembering them!" I yelled. In the corner of the area there was a pile of human limbs and torso's that must have been at least a few feet high. My breath hitched in my throat as I stared at the carnage. I stared at it for a while before it finally hit me. The meat that Mary had been cooking on the grill. That was why it had been so big and no one had known what it was. I thanked whatever God that was there that I hadn't eaten the meat. It was human meat. That's what those people being kept in the train cars were here for. They lured people here, treated them nicely and then probably pounced on them. They held them captive and then ate then when the time was right.

"What the hell?" Daryl asked with wide eyes as he stared at the pile of bodies. These people were cannibals. This whole story sounded like it was a bad joke, but it was nothing more than a nightmare. We had to get out of here.

There was a banging from the next train car that we passed and I stared at in shock. "Let us out! Help!" Voices called from the inside. I felt bad for the people that were trapped but we didn't have time to slow down.

"Keep going," Daryl told me as we began to run again. We ran behind buildings and took sharp turns over and over again but we seemed to only be running in circles. Daryl found a small opening and he pulled the door open. Please God don't let anyone be in there. We all dashed into the room and I stared at the walls in shock as we walked in. There was notes written in blood that trailed down the walls and there were candles that were still lit that were laying all over the place. There was even a pentagram that was painted in blood on the floor. Probably from someone else that they had killed.

Daryl spun around as he stood near me and I stared at him in shock. "What the hell is this place?" He scoffed as he kicked at the floor. What the hell had happened? This morning all had been normal and now we were about to die at the hands of psychopathic cannibals. Had someone told me about this day two years ago I would have thought that they were reading me something out of a poorly written movie that was never going to make it past the editing phase.

I ducked down and caught my breath and Michonne ran her hands over the notes. She turned back to us and shook her head, looking more than just a little confused. "These people, I don't think they're trying to kill us," she said slowly.

Rick shook his head and paced for a few moments before he looked down at his feet as if to make sure that there was no bullet wounds that he had been too caught up with to attend to. But we were all fine. They hadn't come close to a fatal shot. "No, they were aiming at our feet," he agreed with her. I sighed and propped myself against Daryl. We had to get out of here before they found us.

"There. There," one of Gareth's men yelled. Speak of the Devil.

"Go!" Rick yelled as the gunfire began to fall on us once more. We all dashed back out the door that we had come through and turned the first corner. I hoped that we might be coming up on the fences but we were dead wrong. As we turned the corner we were cornered by all of Gareth's men. We tried to run and turn back but it was too late. The rest of his men had caught up with us. We all had our weapons raised but it was a futile effort. We were pathetically outnumbered by his men. I watched as Gareth took his place on the roof of the warehouse that we had started in and he smirked at us.

He eyed our raised weapons and his smirk turned to a sneer. "Drop your weapons!" He yelled. We all stared at him angrily, holding our weapons tightly. "Now! Now!" He yelled and we all complied. His men ran forward and grabbed our weapons. In the panic of grabbing the weapons I was tempted to hit the man that grabbed my gun, but that would only cause more problems. "Ringleader, go to your left. The train car, go. You do what we say, the boy goes with you. Anything else, he dies and you end up in there anyway," Gareth threatened. Rick moved over to the train car and I watched as he stood at the base of the steps where one of Gareth's men was waiting. "Now the archer," he called. I watched as Daryl moved off to the train car, his eyes kept locked with mine as he fell in line behind Rick. "Now the cripple," he said and Merle moved away, grumbling. "Now the samurai," he said to Michonne. Once she had taken her spot behind Merle I waited for him to let me go. "Perhaps I'll keep the princess to myself," he said with a bright smirk.

My hands curled into fists and I grit my teeth. "Fuck you! Go to hell," I hissed up to him. There was no way that I would go anywhere alone with him. I was not going to let myself get defiled like that again. Not after what had happened with Mitch. That would never happen to me, or anyone that I knew again.

Gareth smirked and I heard him laugh under his breath. "Harsh darling. Stand at the door, ringleader, archer, cripple, samurai, princess, in that order," he said. I nodded and walked over to the door standing behind Michonne and waiting for whatever Gareth was going to order us to do next. There had to be a way out of here, but I couldn't think of it yet.

"My son," Rick pleaded.

Gareth shook his head and pointed Carl over to the train car. "Go, kid," he said. Carl walked behind me and I grabbed his hand quickly, giving it a squeeze before dropping it. "Ringleader, open the door and go in," Gareth ordered.

"I'll go in with him," Rick growled at the man.

He rolled his eyes and turned to one of his men with a short laugh before looking back at Rick with an angry glare. "Don't make us kill him now," Gareth warned. Rick nodded and slid open the door to the train car. He walked in followed by Daryl, Merle, Michonne, myself, and then Carl. We all stood at the front of the car and the door slammed shut. I gulped and found Daryl's hand in the dark of the train car. He grabbed my hand back and tightened his hold on it as we saw movement from the back of the train car.

I watched as a man with dark black hair walked forward and stared at us. It took me a moment before the realization set in and I smiled at the sight of him. "Rick?" Glenn asked as he stepped into the light. "You're here. You're here," he said breathlessly as he came forward and grabbed Rick, pulling him into a tight hug.

More figures walked forward and I smiled at the sight of them. Maggie was the first to come forward completely and I ran to her, breaking away from Daryl momentarily, and jumped into her arms. The two of us held each other tightly and laughed happily before I released her and turned to the figure behind her. Behind her was Bob and despite the fact that the last time we had spoken I had nearly died at his foolish act I still grabbed him and pulled him into myself. Sasha stepped forward after and I smiled at her, grabbing her and hugging walked over to me after I released Sasha and he pulled me into him tightly. He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and I laughed lightly. Despite the terrible things that happened today, we were still a big, fucked up, family.

After I pulled away from Glenn I turned back and looked at the four figures that I had never seen before. Well, one of them I knew. It was the girl that had been with my father when he had attacked the prison. She must have somehow weaseled her way in with the group. There was another woman about her age with dark hair and deeply tanned skin. There was a man with black hair and mousy eyes that immediately gave me the creeps. And then there was a huge man with bright red hair. He looked like he had been army at some point. I looked over at Glenn and he looked to Rick. "They're our friends. They helped save us," he explained.

"Yeah," Rick said softly as he nodded to the four new additions to the group. At some point I knew that I would introduce myself to the strangers, at least before we were barbequed, but this seemed like the wrong time. "Now they're friends of ours. For however long that'll be," Rick said with a deep sigh.

My breath hitched slightly as I felt a hand on my arm. Daryl was holding me tightly and I smiled, leaning onto him. Maggie came over after and dropped her head on my shoulder. The three of us stood against the wall together for God knows how long, just staring at the walls of the train car. There had to be something that we could do, we just needed time to think of a plan. But I had no idea how long we had to make one. I had my knife, but one knife wasn't enough to take down all of the Terminus residents. I watched as Rick and a few others worked on getting the doors open, but it was no use. They were bolted.

The rest of the group gave up quickly and began to lean against the walls with the rest of us. Our hope hadn't run out though. We still had Carol and Tyreese out there. Hopefully they could find us. I watched Rick as he leaned against the wall, pretending like he was looking out a window. "They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out," he growled darkly.

Everyone leaned forward at our former leaders words, curious what he had meant. I smiled at Rick. There was no more council. Our strong leader was back. We would get out of here. "Find out what?" Glenn asked as he stepped forward.

Rick stared at the wall for a few more moments before he turned back and looked at the rest of us. I stood tall and proud, knowing that we were going to get out of this. "They're fucking with the wrong people."


	40. Terminus

We sat in the train car in silence for a while and I relished in the feeling of being back with my group, despite the situation. After a few minutes Daryl patted me on the shoulder slightly and I nodded, knowing that he was going to talk to Rick or Glenn. I leaned off of him and he grabbed my hand as he leaned back on his heels. I smiled at him as he squeezed my hand gently and released. As he walked away I began to twist the ring on my finger slowly, knowing that it was going to become a nervous habit. I wasn't used to having something wrapped around my finger all the time, but it felt right. I smiled to myself at the events of today and yesterday.

Despite the fact that so much bad had happened, things were still nowhere near as bad as we had seen before. After the attack on the prison I had thought that we would never see each other again. And despite how much I loved Merle, the two of us probably would have drank ourselves to death after a while. But Daryl had finally given the two of us a title and we were back together again. The only people that we were still missing were Tyreese, Beth, Carol, and Judith. But we would find the three of them. They weren't dead. They were only missing. And Daryl knew for a fact that Beth wasn't dead, she was just missing. I was sure that we would find her, it just might take a while. But I was determined to make sure that Maggie wasn't going to be the only surviving Greene.

The girl that I had in mind shifted slightly and stood next to me. I pushed myself up and stood with her, leaning against the wall of the car. She glanced down at my hand that was nervously twisting the ring and her mouth spread into the biggest smile that I had ever seen grace one person's face. I realized that she had seen the ring and I put my hand to her mouth, praying that she wouldn't scream, and she didn't. But she did jump up and down, laughing giddily through my hand. The rest of our group members turned to us, as Maggie was making quite the scene and I felt my face light up a brilliant red. Daryl was staring at me, wondering what the hell was wrong with us, and Glenn was looking at Maggie like he was worried she was going to have a stroke. Hell, at this point she might.

It seemed that Daryl finally realized what was happening, and his face quickly matched the redness that had spread over mine. Glenn's eyes followed his wife's line of sight and he let out a disbelieving laugh. Daryl tried to move out of the center of the car but Glenn caught him by the shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. Daryl's face showed that he was extremely humiliated and I mouthed to him that I was sorry. I didn't know how everyone else could tell what had happened, but as I looked back at Maggie I realized. The hand that was covering her mouth was the hand that the ring rested on. I tore my hand away from her mouth quickly, and covered the ring with my other hand.

Maggie jumped a few more times before she raised her hand to her mouth. But it still didn't stop her from making the announcement that didn't even need to be said. "He proposed to you!" She shrieked and I rolled my eyes. So much for subtly telling everyone like I had been planning to do if we made it out of this. "Oh my God, when did this happen? Why didn't you tell me this immediately?! When did he do it? How did he do it?" Maggie asked, clearly out of breath at how excited she was. I understood why the girl was so happy, things like this never happened in a world like this. But I was mortified at the smiles and smirks that were being tossed from Daryl to myself. My group loved us, and they loved to tease us whenever they got the chance.

Moving out of the center of the small car, I dragged Maggie with me and pressed the girl into the corner of the train car. "Maggie do you really think that this is the best time for this?" I hissed at the woman. She laughed and grabbed my hand, turning the ring around, trying to get the light to bounce off of it. Had I not known her better I would have thought that she was a professional jeweler the way she was babbling. Why the hell was she talking about carrots? We didn't have any food. I looked out of the corner of my eyes and saw that Merle, Bob, Rick, and Glenn were all standing together, patting Daryl on the back. The man with red hair walked over to the group, along with the man with the greasy black hair and I smiled at how embarrassed Daryl was. He looked like he just wanted to slink back under a rock and die.

My best friend had calmed herself down and was smiling at me with the smile that had won over Glenn's heart. "Rain, it's because of what's going on right now that makes it the perfect time to do this. So how did it happen? How did you even manage to find him? I found Glenn with the help of them," She told me. I looked back and smiled at the four strangers. Like Rick had said, it didn't matter that we had never met before, we were in this together and we were friends now. Perhaps in time we would become family just like the way the rest of us had. I mean at one point, Glenn had smashed a metal bat over my head. Now we were closer than I had ever thought was possible. And I had wanted to kill Daryl the first time that I had met him, now we were married.

I laughed and shook my head at the girl. Maggie was the type of friend that I didn't have to talk with every day, but I knew that she would always be there for me. She was the type of person that could make me smile just with a quick glance as we passed by each other. There weren't many people that had ever been able to do that to me. Today, there were even fewer. Maggie, Daryl, Merle, Carol, and Glenn were the only ones that knew how to do that. Sometimes there was Beth and Rick as well, but they had both changed lately. Beth was no longer here and Rick had changed more than I thought was ever possible since the first day the two of us had met. But that's what this world does. It changes you.

Sighing, I gave Maggie my hand and she took it, looking the ring over. "I was with Merle for a while. My father had shot me in the hip during a fight with him and I found Merle after and we got out together. We were doing just fine hiding together and we moved on after a week. We were hiding in the woods after a run-in with walkers when we heard voices shouting. We went to investigate and we realized that it was Rick, Michonne, and Carl. They were being held by this group. Daryl said they called themselves the Claimers. They were going to kill Rick and them because he had apparently strangled one of their men days before. Their leader, Joe, was about to shoot Rick when Daryl came out. He asked them to take the blood from him. Long story short, Merle and I came out of hiding and there was a fight," I told her, avoiding the part about how Rick killed Joe. "After that we went out to investigate the fences near Terminus. We saw the sign that you left for Glenn," I told her. "And I'm sorry about Hershel," I told her. My father had been the one to kill the kind old man.

Maggie sighed and shook her head. "Don't apologize for him. That wasn't your fault. He would have done it anyways, even if you didn't exist. Anyways, I'm sorry. I should have never lead you all here. I didn't think that this was what these people would be like. They seemed sincere," she told me with a guilty face.

I grabbed her hand and shook my head. "Look Maggie, it wasn't your fault. You didn't know what these people were. None of us did. But anyways, let's go to something happier. I split off with Daryl for a moment and was fixing his black eye. He pulled me under a willow tree and he confused me for a minute and then he was down on one knee. He gave me the sweetest proposal that I could have ever thought of. Rick and all of them saw and we had a quick celebration. Then we came here. And now here we are," I told her keeping the long story short.

The girl that I had seen with my father's men walked over to the two of us and stood in front of me with an absolutely ashamed face. She shuffled on her feet for a moment before seeing my ring and smiling. "Congratulations," she told me quietly. I thanked her and waited to see what else she would say. "Look, when Brian or whatever his name was came, I didn't know what to think. He was out on the streets when my sister and I found him. He was on his own and looked like he was going to die any minute. We should have let him. But he came into our lives and for a while he kept my father alive. But it was his time to go and Brian was there for us. Lily and Meghan, they fell for him. We all did. He made himself seem like the best person. But then he wanted to go to war against you all. And I saw what he did to his own daughter and I-I just couldn't believe it. I didn't help in the fight but I'm so- so-"

For a while she fought to get her thoughts together but I held up a hand and stopped her. She looked like she was about to cry and I didn't want to see that right now. I knew that she was trying to apologize to me, but it wasn't her fault. She had nothing to apologize for. My father's actions had nothing to do with her, she had only been trying to survive. And he had gained her trust early on, so she had wanted to help him. I didn't blame her. "Don't say it. You have nothing to apologize for. You only did what you thought was right. And you made the right choice. It's nice to meet you," I told her, holding my hand out.

She smiled gratefully and grabbed my hand. I shook it for a moment before she dropped my hand and laughed slightly awkwardly. My eyebrow cocked as I watched her eyes dart briefly to my chest and shoot back up. I returned my face back to normal, but I was smirking on the inside. She was gay. It didn't bother me one bit, I thought that a glance from a girl was bigger than a compliment from a guy. Besides, gay girls were always the most fun. And the group could use more of that. "I'm Tara Chambler. It's nice to meet you-" she stopped short when she realized she didn't know my name.

Smiling, I laughed and popped my hip out to the side causing my shirt to ride up and expose the Pheonix tattoo on my abdomen. I looked up as the Spanish girl that I hadn't met yet walked over to me and I was immediately jealous. I wish I was still wearing shorts, it was damn hot outside and it was even worse in here. I had thrown my jacket to the side, but my legs were sweating from the heat of the train car. "I'm Rain. Rain Bl-" I stopped myself as I realized that Blake was technically no longer my last name. Not that I was married legally or anything, but there was no government that I would have to go through to change my name anymore. Just like Maggie was technically now Maggie Rhee, my last name had changed as well. I let the new name roll around on my tongue for a moment before it finally felt right to say it. "Rain Dixon," I told her, making it seem completely official.

Maggie let out an incredibly girlish, small squeal and I nudged her in the chest roughly. She coughed and shoved me back and I laughed, stumbling back over to her, and throwing my arm over her shoulder. "That's a pretty name. I'm sure it must be nice for you to get to leave the worst part of your past behind you," the Spanish woman told me.

Nodding at her I took in a deep breath as the reality of the situation finally set in. Every member of the Blake family was gone. There was only one of us left and I would never be known as a Blake anymore. They were the monsters that I had sworn I would never become. I was no longer the afraid and beaten little girl whose father was her worst nightmare. I was no longer afraid to love. I was not Rain Blake. I was strong now, I had loyal friends who were more of a family to me than my blood had ever been. And I had a wonderful man who would stick by me until the day we died. Even if that day was today. I was Rain Dixon. "Thanks," I finally told the woman. "For years I was ashamed to ever be known as a Blake. The black sheep of a family that hated each other. Today, I'm proud to be a Dixon," I admitted.

Glancing to my left I saw Merle and Daryl talking with the rest of the boys. Merle seemed to be relentlessly poking at Daryl, probably teasing him about being a pussy for proposing to me, or something of that nature. Daryl punched his brother and I giggled at the raucous that came from the boys. It was the first time that I had seen them all enjoy each other's company in a long time. Those were my idiots. My husband and my brother. "That's sweet of you. I'm glad to hear that at least one of us could have a happy ending. And damn, he has a good taste in women," she told me with a laugh as she looked me up and down. I could tell that she wasn't gay, only giving me a compliment, but it was sweet of her still. We needed more women in this group, and I was more than happy to welcome the two new girls. "I'm Rosita Espinosa," she told me, giving me her hand.

I took her hand and gave it a shake before dropping it. For a while we all stood around and talked, but as the hours went by we all moved on. I received congratulations from the rest of the group and I smiled happily at everyone that came up and talked with me. I even met the two men that were our newest additions. The man with black hair hadn't spoken to me much, but I had at least learned why he was here. His name was Eugene Porter and he apparently knew the cure to this disease. I had asked him what it was but he had told me that it was classified. It was clear that we were going to move on to Washington D.C. if we ever got out of this place. He looked like he was a little off, but he seemed kind enough. He had congratulated me, but had asked if I thought that being married was such a good idea. He had told me that it would only make me worry too much about Daryl. I had merely shaken my head, laughed, and walked away.

The red-headed man had congratulated me last and I smiled at him. Despite the fact that neither of us had even known the others name he had grabbed me and given me a huge hug. It was clear to me that he had been a father before all of this by the way he interacted with me. His name was Abraham Ford and he had been a Sergeant in the United States military before all of this. It was obvious that he would be useful to our group for a long time to come. We had talked for a while and I knew off the bat that we would be good friends. He bade me a goodbye and I took a spot next to Daryl. I slipped my knife out of my boot and he laughed at me. I smiled and nudged him lightly as Maggie came to sit with us.

Rick and Abraham were standing in the corner together, talking for the rest of us to hear. Rick had come up with a plan so that we could get makeshift weapons and ambush the Termites when they came to check on us next. I knew that it would work, we just had to be careful. I was twirling the knife in my hands but I stopped and looked over my shoulder when Rick had asked what the Termites had done when Abraham and the rest of our group had first met them. "They seemed nice enough, but I was ready to go. We just got here, but, damn, it was time to go. When I told them about DC, a wink and a nod from the head asshole in charge, they pulled their guns and it was right back to our regularly scheduled shit storm," Abraham told our leader. He nodded and I laughed. It sounded just like something that an ex-military man would say.

Sasha and Michonne were sitting together in the back corner of the room, Sasha twirling a small piece of metal she had gotten from the train car. The two women had spent most of the day isolated. I didn't blame them, this was a hard situation. Michonne wasn't used to being caged like this and Sasha had no idea where her brother was. "Before they put you in here, you didn't see Tyreese?" Sasha asked. I couldn't tell if she was hoping that Michonne had seen him or not.

There was a beat of silence for a moment before Michonne shook her head. "No," she told the other woman.

She nodded for a moment and sighed. "Good," she said shortly. That was either good or bad for us. It meant that at least he was safe from these people, but it also meant that we might not have a rescue party coming to get us if this plan failed.

Pressing my palms against my eyes, I rubbed them roughly and saw stars when I dropped my hands. I dug the point of my knife into my palm and spun the blade against my skin. I wasn't hurting myself, but I needed something to do to entertain myself. I was going to go stir crazy in here. Maggie looked over to Daryl and the man looked back at her with curious eyes. "You were with Beth weren't you?" Maggie asked Daryl and he nodded. I grabbed his hand, running my thumb over his palm, and he nodded at her. "What happened?" She asked with tearful eyes. I wrapped my other hand around her, dropping my knife and I pulled her into me.

He sighed deeply before staring down at the metal floor. "We were hiding out in a funeral home. There was scratching at the door and I thought it was this dog that had come to the building earlier. I opened the doors and it was a walker herd. I fought them off and told her to run. She did and I thought that we were going to be safe. But just as I got out I saw these people driving away with her. They had to have taken her because she left her pack. Black car with a white cross painted on it. I tried to follow it. I tried," he told her with a defeated sigh. He had been so determined to catch up to Beth's captors but it hadn't worked. And now he was facing her distraught sister. It was too much for him to handle right now, but he was determined to try and offer Maggie whatever help that he could.

For a while Maggie just stared at the floor, kicking her feet back and forth. I knew that she was upset about the loss of her sister, but Maggie knew that we weren't heading to D.C. until we found Beth. She was a part of our group and there was no way that we were leaving here until we had her back with us. Especially if we had no idea what the people who had taken her were like. That cross on the car could either mean something really good or really bad. "But she's alive?" Maggie finally asked.

Daryl nodded and looked back at her. "She's alive," he told her softly and Maggie nodded.

There was a loud screech and we all jumped up from where we had been sitting. I could hear that right outside of the train car there was someone that must have been holding a hand radio. None of the voices were clear but it was easy to tell that there were people sent to check on us. I stood up and grabbed my knife tightly, making my way to one side of the door. They were definitely coming to check on us. But this time they had no idea that we were ready for them. They had no idea what we were capable of. "What are you doing?" An unfamiliar male's voice asked someone on the outside of the car.

I tried to listen for an answer but I couldn't hear, the whispering in the train car was too loud. Rick was looking out the door and I followed his every move. He was watching the people that were outside with urgency. When he turned back to us he looked like he was ready for a fight. "Everybody shut up. Shut up!" Rick hissed to our people who were still chattering with each other. Everyone ceased their conversation immediately and stood, facing the door. Their makeshift weapons were out and they were ready. "All right, got four of them pricks coming our way. Y'all know what to do. Go for their eyes first. Then their throats," he growled.

I nodded at him and held my hands up about my face in case they came into the car, guns blazing. But they seemed like the type to bleed us out first. "Put your backs to the walls on either side of the car now," a man outside of the train car called to us. I smirked, knowing that none of us were listening. There were footsteps on the roof and I looked up in shock. What the hell were they doing? They always came through the front with guns aimed at us. There was a bright light as the top door opened and I grimaced at the light. There was a small crack on the floor and I rolled my eyes as the door closed once more. I looked at the small canister that had landed on the ground for a moment before I realized what it was.

It seemed like Rick had caught the threat too as he shoved Glenn back and we all jumped away. "Move!" Rick yelled. It was a damn smoke bomb. I jumped away as a loud bang sounded and my ears rang. Damn that had been loud. The car was almost impossible to see and I didn't know what was happening. I heard the doors slide open and the men who walked in were all wearing gas masks. I struggled to get my bearings together as the men ran in, but I was still shaken from the bomb.

The men that were walking in were carrying out the men of our group and I struggled to get to them. I saw a man grab Rick, and despite his struggling, there was no way that Rick could beat the two men that had grabbed him. He was still disoriented from the bomb. The men went after Bob next and were able to grab him and pull him out of the car. Glenn was next and I saw Maggie panic, trying to get to him. Daryl was getting pulled out after that and I began to panic. I stumbled to him and grunted as the men pushed me back. I stumbled but advanced towards the man once more. Just as I got within arm's reach of Daryl, another man grabbed me and pulled me out of the car.

I stumbled as I was thrown down the stairs and tried to scream, but I was quickly gagged. Daryl saw that I had been pulled out of the car as well and he tried to get to me, but the men had too tight of a grip on him. We were brought through the compound and finally ended up in a warehouse similar to the one that we had been in yesterday. But this one was out of a nightmare. I heard my group mates fighting and grunting against the men, but I was too busy looking around to be struggling against the men.

My vision was back to normal as I gazed around the room in shock. It looked like they had dragged us straight into a horror movie. There was a huge tub that looked like a trough that pigs were fed out of. There were four men that were bound, just like we were and I saw that Rick's eyes locked onto one of the men. He had short blonde hair and was wearing a white wife beater. He looked terrified and I tried to see if I recognized him, but I had no idea who the man was. I looked away from the trough and nearly threw up. There was a man who was dressed like a butcher and was using a mechanical saw to tear apart a human torso. There was blood everywhere and I gagged, looking back to the trough quickly.

One of the men that had led us in here grabbed the men and dropped them onto their knees and throw them in front of the trough. I waited for them to move me as well, but they merely held me in place. Daryl turned back to me and I nodded at him, silently telling him that we were going to make it. I didn't know if that was true or not, but I was determined to attempt to get us out of here. The man that was holding me tied my hands behind my back and tossed me behind him. I let out a muffled yell, expecting to hit the floor, but I hit the metal of a fold-able chair. I shimmied in the chair slightly before I was sitting straight. I glanced around for my knife, which I had lost in the confusion, and saw that the man who had been holding Bob was now in possession of it.

One of the men held their hands up as a man with a butcher's knife walked up to the man at the end of the trough. "Okay, hold up," he said, scribbling something on his notepad. I was trying to get out of the chair, but it was no use. Three men were surrounding me, making sure that I couldn't get up. "All right," he said, waving his hand. The man who was over the trough whimpered as the man with the knife pulled him up by his hair and held the knife to his throat. My eyes widened as the man began to scream and the knife at his neck slid across. I nearly screamed at the sight as the body of the man was dropped and he slumped into the trough, the blood draining from his body and being sent to the bottom of the trough. My God, they were bleeding people just like you bled an animal after a hunt.

The men in my group looked at the blood in panic and began to struggle to get away, but there was no way that they were getting away from the Termites. I struggled to get to the man with the knife, but one of the men that was standing behind me was pinning me to the chair. I growled deeply in my throat, they were not doing that to my family. Another man strode into the room, without a care in the world and looked at the trough before looking away. The man with the knife slit the neck of the next man and I gulped. Only one more person before he got to Glenn. I was not letting that happen to Maggie. "Hey, guys. What were your shot counts?" The man asked.

"Thirty eight," another man answered from the back of the room as the man with the knife slid it over the next man's throat and dropped his body roughly.

The man who was draining the bodies dropped the body of the man that Rick seemed to have known and grabbed Glenn by the hair. My group member began to struggle, as well as the rest of us did, but nothing worked. Just as the man with the knife held it against Glenn's throat, Gareth walked into the room and called out. "Hey!" He yelled to the man with the knife. "Your shot count?" Gareth asked and the man lowered the knife. For the first time since I had met him, I was actually thankful for the leader of Terminus.

The man that was holding the knife dropped his hands to his side, releasing Glenn, and his eyes widened. "Crap, man, I'm sorry. It was my first roundup," he said. I let out a huge breath, thankful that Glenn was left intact for the time being. It seemed like he was thankful too as his breathing was labored.

Gareth shook his head and patted the man on the shoulder. "After you're done here, go back to your point and count the shells. Kaylee won't be gathering them until tomorrow," Gareth said and the man picked his knife back up to his side.

I could see that Bob was struggling with his gag and I shook my head at the man. It was no use. We were stuck here for now. "Hey," he called as Gareth walked by. His voice was muffled but it was still easy to hear him in the relative silence of the room. "Hey, let me talk to you," Bob yelled once more and Gareth turned to him for a moment.

He flashed my group member a small smirk before shaking his head and moving on, headed to a man that I didn't recognize. "Four from A, four from D?" Gareth asked. I cocked my eyebrow for a moment, wondering what he was talking about when it hit me. They had grabbed four men from one train car and four from ours. But they had grabbed five. I made five. Why wasn't he counting me? I didn't know why, but I knew that it wasn't good.

"Yeah," one of his men answered.

I was looking around the room for something that I could use as a weapon, but there was nothing. These people were smart. Smarter than I wanted to give them credit for. "Hey, let me talk to you for a minute," Bob called once more, but Gareth still ignored him. But Bob was determined to get Gareth to listen to him. "Let me talk to you for a minute. Let me talk to you for a minute," he continued, despite the fact that the Terminus leader clearly did not want to speak with any of us. He just wanted to make a meal of us.

Rolling his eyes, Gareth slowly walked over to Bob and leaned down in front of him with bored eyes. I wanted nothing more to claw them out, but that wasn't an option right now. "What?" He asked like Bob was wasting his time.

Bob shook his head at Gareth who still looked like he could care less. "Don't do this. We can fix this," Bob pleaded with the leader of Terminus who slowly stood up and shook his head down at Bob.

"No, you can't," Gareth responded as he began to walk away.

In a last ditch effort to save us, Bob pulled himself up slightly and began to yell at the Terminus leader. "You don't have to do this. We told you there's a way out of all this. You just have to take a chance. We have a man who knows how to stop it," bob confessed and I nearly slapped him. Of course I couldn't reach him. Why the hell would he have told these people that? Gareth turned to Bob with a tiny amount of curiosity, but there was mostly doubt in his eyes. "He has a cure. We just have to get him to Washington. You don't have to do this, man. We can put the world back to how it was," Bob promised.

Gareth seemed to think it over for a minute before he shook his head. It seemed like he had thought about it for a moment, but he was determined to finish what we had all been foolish enough to start. "Can't go back, Bob," Gareth said with an angry look. I knew that they hadn't always been like this, something had happened to them. But it didn't matter what had happened, nothing was so bad that they had to stoop to cannibalism and killing innocent people who were only here for help.

The Terminus leader began to walk down the line to our leader, but Bob was still determined to get him to follow our lead. "We can! You don't have to do this!" Bob yelled.

It didn't matter though, Gareth continued walking and ignored the cries of our group member. He flashed me a smile and I looked away, waiting until he had turned to Rick to look back. He leaned down in front of our leader and I watched with intent as he gave Rick a nasty sneer. "We saw you go into the woods with a bag and come out without it," Gareth told Rick with a smirk. "Had to pull my spotters back before we could go look for it. What was in it?" He asked, but Rick remained silent, an angry glare on his face. "You hid it, right? In case things went bad? Smart. Still, we'll find it. But it's too dangerous to go out there right now. What was in it? I'm curious. And it was a big bag. You really gonna let me do this?" He asked, motioning the man with the knife to hold it up to Glenn's throat once more.

Panic flashed through Rick's eyes briefly, but he kept his face calm. Glenn managed to keep calm as well, knowing that our leader knew what he was doing. As long as he didn't let the anger get the best out of him. "Well, let me take you out there. I'll show you," Rick said with a mean grin on his face. I shook my head, hoping that he wasn't going to do anything stupid.

Gareth breathed out a little snort and I grimaced at him. He was so confident that he was going to be able to win this fight. But we were going to win. We had not survived this long just to die at the hands of some asshole. Not after I had just gotten married. "Not gonna happen. This might," Gareth said as he raised his hand for the man to kill Glenn.

"There's guns in it," Rick said quickly, and Gareth raised a hand for the man to stop. Rick smirked at the man and I waited for whatever it was that Rick wanted to say. "AK-47. 44 Magnum. Automatic weapons. Nightscope. There's a compound bow, throwing knives, a longbow, and a machete with a red handle," he said with a smirk. "That's what I'm gonna use to kill you," he said with a deadly serious face.

Instead of frowning like I had thought that Gareth would do, he chuckled at Rick's threat and let out a low sigh. "Thanks," he told Rick with a grin. He stood from our leader and pointed to two men that were standing by the trough. "You have two hours to get them on the driers," he said, pointing to us like we were already dead. "You get to come with me," Gareth said, grabbing me by the arm. I yelped through my gag, but nothing came out. I saw Daryl start to struggle, but he was being held tightly in place. "I'm gonna go back to public face. Now's the time we can get messy, but we need to dial it all in by sundown," Gareth said as he dragged me to the door. I fought roughly against him and he let me slip a few times, but he managed to keep me in his grasp.

"Got it," one man said.

"Yes, sir," another followed with.

The man with the knife once more raised his knife to Glenn's neck and I took in a deep breath as Gareth pulled me out of the room, but a huge blast shook the earth. The butcher fell onto his back and Gareth lost his grip on me. I jumped away from him but was thrown to the ground by another man. Gareth walked out of the room, in search of whatever had made the bang. The room was plunged into silence as we all waited for what was to come. To my shock, there were screams that began to echo through the compound and I knew that something bad was happening out there. Was Terminus under attack? Who the hell had gotten to them?

Then it dawned on me. Carol. She and Tyreese were still out there somewhere. Maybe they had seen us come in and they were here to rescue us now. It was a farfetched thought, but it was a reasonable one. There were loud shouts and hisses coming from outside and I realized what had happened. Somehow walkers had gotten into the compound. We sat together in silence and waited. And then there was a bang at the door. One of the men walked over to the door and despite the shouts of the rest of the Termites, he opened the door.

Walkers came streaming into the room, many lit on fire, and they went for the first person they could find. I backed away from a walker that went for the man who had tripped me and I smiled. Serves him right. I fought to get my hands free first and after a moment of struggling, I pulled them free. I jumped up and pulled my gag off, turning to see that the men of my group were taking on the butchers of the Termites. Daryl called my name and I turned. He slid my knife against the floor and I grabbed it, jumping up and throwing the knife at one of the Termites. It struck him through the skull and I smiled. I ran over to the man and ripped it out of his eye socket.

A growl came from behind me and I turned to see one of the walkers that had been lit on fire. I stumbled back from the walker, not wanting to accidentally light myself on fire, and ran back. An arm caught me and I panicked for a moment, but it was only Daryl. He grabbed my shoulders and I nodded at him, realizing who was holding me now. He pulled me behind him as we tore out of the building. On our way out, I slashed at the man who had nearly killed Glenn, leaving a deep cut in his thigh. He screamed, but we were already gone.

I was sprinting at the front of the group, heading back for our train car. We had to get our people and get the hell out of here. As I ran into the yard of Terminus I gasped loudly. The entire yard was on fire with walkers everywhere. Glancing over to my right, I realized what had happened. Someone had blown one of the gas tankers. The explosion had blasted down the fences and had attracted walkers. The walkers had come through the fire and now they were causing even more trouble than usual.

Glenn caught up with me and the two of us led the chase over to the train car. As we rounded a corner, still inside the warehouse, we came to what looked like their meat preparation room. There were torsos of humans hanging around the room on hooks and the smell alone was making me gag. "What the hell are these people?" Glenn asked.

Rick stepped around the corner of one of the torsos and jumped. "They ain't people," he told us. I walked to catch up with him and saw that it was a man who seemed to be struggling to stand. He had clearly been bitten by a walker and I raised my knife to prevent him from turning. "Don't. Let him turn," Rick told me. I nodded and slipped my knife back into my boot. "Cross any of these people, you kill them. Don't hesitate. They won't," he told us. The gunfire was still ringing outside of the building, and I could hear a group of the Termites yelling through the walls. "If we run, we can get by them. They're distracted," he told us.

We all nodded and ran out of the building, past the Termites who were too busy fending off walkers to pay any mind to us. We snuck by and quickly made our way to the train cars. There was loud bangs coming from the train car that we were passing and I stopped, along with Glenn. We might not owe anything to the people inside of this train car, but they were still people. They hadn't done anything to us. We weren't that hard that we wouldn't help innocent people.

"We got to let those people out. That's still who we are. It's got to be," Glenn said and Rick nodded. The shouts continued as the men went to work on the locks that held the doors together. Rick managed to pull them apart and swing the doors open. Glenn was standing in the front of the doors, helping the people out. "Come on, come on, come on," he muttered as the group all ran out of the car. None of them were saying any thanks, but it didn't matter. We were all in a rush to get the hell out of here before the Termites pulled themselves together.

I had thought that the car was empty but just as Glenn and Rick joined Daryl, Bob, and myself once more, I saw another figure making their way out of the car. "We're the same! We're them!" An older man with long white hair yelled as he ran out of the car. He looked like he hadn't eaten in days and the poor man looked like he had gone insane while trapped inside of the car. He ran out and stared at our group with an odd excitement in his eyes. I reached down and pulled out my knife, waiting for the man to make a move.

The man began to stagger forward and Daryl pulled me back, along with the rest of the group. Nothing good was coming from this man. "Back off!" Rick yelled as the man advanced on us once more.

He began to laugh madly and my eyes widened. I had never seen someone that was actually insane, but I knew that this man was far past saving. "We're the same," he giggled madly once more as he began to approach us once more. There was a loud snarl that came from our sides and I turned to see a walker stumble towards the man and pounce on him. The man screamed as the walker ripped out his throat and I gagged at the sight. It had been a while since I had seen a walker death that bloody.

"Come on," Daryl told me as he dragged me behind him once more. There was gunfire all around us and I knew that we were running right into the middle of the fight. This wasn't going to end well for us. There had to be another way to go. We couldn't run right through the brunt of the walkers, there was too high of a chance that one of us would get bitten. "We got to double back," Daryl said before we had gotten too far into the thick of the fight.

Rick looked at his right hand man like he was nuts and shook his head. "A is that way," Rick pointed to the way that we had been running. It was the shorter way but it wasn't worth going through there. We would get caught up. "We go back, we don't know where we are," Rick said, trying to argue his point. But unfortunately, he was alone in that fight.

"We don't really have a choice, do we?" Glenn asked and our leader begrudgingly nodded. There were loud gunshots that were coming from our backs and Glenn held up a hand. "Wait here," he said as the man disappeared around a corner. We waited for a moment for him to come back and when he did he nodded at us to follow. Just as we began walking though, Glenn's eyes widened and I turned back. "Rick. Rick!" He called out. A walker was approaching our leader and I let my knife fly into the walker's forehead. It dropped and Rick grabbed the knife, handing it back to me and thanking me.

We stood together for a moment and I heard one of the snipers up on the roof of the building we had just come out of yell. "Reloading!" He screamed before the gunfire began once more and I yelped as a bullet skimmed the ground, right near where I was standing. There was screaming coming from all around us and I sighed. Terminus was falling. There was no way that they could ever come from this. Hopefully the walkers would get them all.

"We're going to have to double back," Glenn repeated and we all nodded. We went to turn around and run back, but just as we did, one of the group of Gareth's men that were still standing cornered us.

"Drop your weapons and turn around. I want to see your face. Now!" The man yelled. We turned to him and I smirked when I realized that it was only three men. As quickly as I could, I pulled my knife up to my face and launched it at the man who had yelled to us. He fell sharply and I grimaced at the squish of blood. I ran up to him and grabbed my knife, along with his pistol and stood back up. The rest of my group had overpowered the other two easily and were now stripping them of their weapons.

Once everyone had gathered something to defend themselves with, we went sprinting through the compound. I didn't know which way we were going, but it didn't matter. We came across some of the surviving Termites, but it didn't matter. They were frazzled without their leader and we were on a mission. We quickly shot them down, as well as any walkers that got too close. Within two minutes we had arrived back at the car that held the rest of our group and I quickly made my way up the steps. Daryl met me at the top and we heard the bangs that were coming from the inside of the train car.

The two of us broke the locks off of the doors and we easily slid them open. Our group looked ready to kill us, but they all sighed at the sight of us, lowering their makeshift weapons. "Come on!" Rick yelled as our group poured out of the car. Once everyone had poured out of the car, Rick pushed us into the right direction and we all began yelling to one another. "Fight to the fence!" Our leader yelled over everyone else's shouts. Somehow we all heard him and went dashing to the fences, which luckily weren't too far from us.

I saw the Termites gaining on us, being led by Gareth and my heartbeat quickened. "Go, go, go! Carl!" Rick yelled, throwing his son over the fence. We were all practically throwing each other over and I'm sure that it looked rather comical. But it was working. We were getting over and we would be out of here in no time. "Come on. Let's go!" Rick yelled to Eugene, who was taking too long to get over the fence. Abraham practically threw him over and I nearly laughed as he hit the ground. "Up and over. Let's go!" Daryl helped lift me up onto the fence and I flung myself over. Glenn caught me as I landed and Daryl was over next. He grabbed onto me after he landed and smiled at me, thankful that we had made it out. Rick turned back to Gareth before he hopped over the fence and shot his gun. The bullet hit their leader in the shoulder and like clockwork, Rick was over the fence. "Move!" He told us as we all sat there, staring at him.

Without needing another warning I took off like a bullet and sprinted through the woods. We hadn't gotten very far yet and I could still hear the voices that were yelling to each other in the flaming ruins of Terminus. "Let's go! Move!" One man yelled.

"Come on! Right here," a woman yelled after him.

Not willing to see what they were all yelling about I took the initiative to lead us back to where the weapons were buried. Like a bat out of hell I sprinted through the woods with Glenn close on my tail. He grabbed my arm to slow me down and I turned back, forgetting that we probably had some slower runners now. It didn't matter anyways. We were close to where we had buried the weapons bag and there was nothing chasing us anymore. At least that we could see. Carl, Eugene, Abraham, and Bob panted as they caught up. I smiled at the group and began to search the area for the small mound of dirt that Rick had left as a marker. Daryl, Rick, Michonne, Merle, and Carl joined in on the search and the rest of our group looked at us like we were mad.

The red head kicked dirt up around him as we searched through the dirt and he scoffed. "The hell are we still around here for?" He asked with his large arms crossed over his chest.

Our leader seemed to finally spot the area where he had buried our extra things and he smiled to himself as he leaned down. He dug out the dirt once more and reached the bag quickly. He handed me the duffel bag and I opened it to the group. Carl grabbed his knife and Daryl grabbed his knife as well. Merle grabbed his attachment for his stump and I pulled out my bow and arrows, with my extra gun, and throwing knives. The new members of the group looked impressed as I strapped my weapons on. "Guns, some supplies. Go along the fences. Use the rifles. Take out the rest of 'em," Rick said as everyone else grabbed a spare gun from the bag.

"What?" Glenn asked. I looked up at our leader with a shocked face as well. We had made it out. Wasn't that good enough? It was an attitude like that that was probably the reason that my father wasn't still alive today.

Rick sneered at the thought of letting the remaining Termites live and I felt my breath catch in my throat. That was a dangerous road to go down. "They don't get to live," he growled as he loaded his gun angrily. For a moment I was brought back to my father, but I knew that Rick wasn't like that. He would never lay a hand on Carl the way my father laid a hand on me.

The clearing in the woods was silent for a while as Rick loaded his gun. Maggie finally stepped forward and smiled at Rick as sweet of a smile that she could muster. She grabbed his arm gently and shook her head at him. His eyes softened when he looked at her, but he still looked determined to find Gareth, and finish what he had started. "Rick, we got out. It's over," Maggie said softly. It was obvious that she was trying to avoid another huge fight.

For a moment I thought that Rick might actually listen to her as his eyes had softened dramatically, but they hardened once more and his eyes turned to narrow slits. "It's not over till they're all dead," Rick seethed.

"The hell it isn't. That place is on fire. Full of walkers," Glenn hissed at our leader as he stomped up to Rick and threw his hand back at the direction of the ruins of Terminus.

Once more Abraham scoffed and I could already see a rivalry forming between the leader of our three new additions and my own leader. The ex-military man scoffed and stomped his heavily booted foot in the dirt. "I'm not dicking around with this crap. We just made it out. The fences are down. They'll run or die," he said. He was probably right, but part of me almost wanted to side with Rick. What if the Termites made it back and regrouped? What if they found us and decided to finish what they started? Would it just be best to end it now?

A branch snapped behind us and every one of us that was standing in the clearing whipped back to where the noise had come from. A small figure stepped out of the bushes and my face immediately widened into a huge smile. Carol stepped through the woods, smeared in what looked like walker gore. Daryl brushed past me lightly and ran up to the woman. They embraced each other and I smiled. I knew that Daryl had a soft spot for the woman, he had since we had lost Sophia. The two let each other go and they smiled between each other for a moment before Daryl stepped to the side.

Running up to Carol, I embraced the woman tightly and she laughed in my ear. I hadn't seen her during the attack my father had set on the prison, but maybe I had just been too caught up to realize that she was still with us. She kissed me on the cheek and I smiled, returning the gesture. She finally released me and I took a step back. I raised my hand to wipe some dirt off of my eye and Carol grabbed my hand quickly. She looked at the ring and then looked up at me with a questioning face. I nodded at her and she shot a huge smirk over to Daryl, who merely looked away from her. She laughed and looked back to me as if she was asking where it had come from. "I'll tell you later," I told her softly and she nodded.

Rick came up to greet the woman next and the two of them hugged for a moment before he released her. He looked guilty and I couldn't help but wonder if something had happened when I was out. But he shook his head at himself and laughed. "Did you do that?" He asked, referring to the attack at Terminus that had saved our lives.

The woman nodded and I barked out a laugh. I patted the woman on the shoulder and went to stand with Daryl. "Damn Carol, I always knew you had a real bad ass under that sweet demeanor," I told her with a smirk.

She laughed happily before she grabbed Rick on the arm and turned back to the rest of the group. "You have to come with me," she told us and we all nodded. Abraham gave me a look and I nodded at him, letting him know that it was safe to go with her. We all walked with Carol and I took a look at our group. We were huge now. It had been one thing when we were all at the prison, but now that we were out on the road there were just so many of us. There was Carol, Rick, Carl, Michonne, Sasha, Bob, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, Merle, Abraham, Rosita, Tara, Eugene, and myself. That was already fifteen people. And we were still missing Beth, Tyreese, and Judith. If we found them all it would bring our total count up to eighteen. That was too many people to be all living out on the road.

Slowly we all walked through the woods until Carol ducked under a fallen tree. I followed her and stared at a pretty log cabin that sat in the open. I was hoping that she wasn't expecting us to all fit in there. She led us up to the door and she pulled it open, calling in. I waited in anticipation for what was going to come out. When the door opened my face split into a wide smile. Tyreese walked out of the cabin with a healthy Judith in his arms.

Rick turned to Carol in shock and she nodded. Both he and Carl ran up the steps and thanked Tyreese. He handed her off to her father and brother and took a step back. "Judith. You're okay," Rick cried as he pet the top of her head. He had her pressed close to him and Carl was smiling down at his sister, planting small kisses on her forehead. She was crying softly and I smiled. They were finally whole again. Now we just had to get Beth back, and we would be together once more. Tyreese stepped off of the porch and ran over to his sister. The two hugged tightly and I smiled at her. He released her and walked over to us. I hugged him quickly and his eyes shot down to my ring. He smirked at me but didn't bother to say anything, which I was grateful for. "What happened?" Rick asked, his hands lingering around Judith's throat, but his eyes set inside of the cabin.

I looked up and realized that there was a man slumped over against the wall. Tyreese shook his head and I realized what Rick had been talking about. There were slightly purple marks around her throat and I felt my breath catch in my throat. What the hell had happened to her? Tyreese sighed and looked at Rick. "There were a bunch of walkers out here and he got his hands around Judith's neck," he told our leader, pointing back to the man that was slumped over. Rick went to investigate but Tyreese grabbed his arm and shook his head. "No, he's dead. I- I had to. So I did. I could. I don't know if the fire is still burning," he said and I cocked my eyebrow.

"It is," Carol answered.

Glenn sighed and stepped into the center of the people who had gathered together. "We need to go," he said and I nodded. The only question was, where? We had to go to D.C. but we couldn't go yet. Beth was still out there somewhere. But we had no idea where she had been taken. She could be anyways.

I watched as Rick moved away from our group and I followed his steps. He headed to the edge of the clearing, where a sign that was advertising Terminus stood. He shook his head at the sign and I sighed. At least we had been one of the lucky few to ever make it out of that place. Rick leaned down and grabbed a handful of the red dirt. He began to cross out the words, along with the map, and I sighed. "Yeah, but where?" Daryl asked, voicing my thoughts.

He came to stand next to me and I brushed my hand over his arm lightly. He stood pressed up against me and I sighed deeply. We all sat in silence for a while, no one knowing where the best place to go would be. Rick still wanted revenge on Gareth and his men, but it wasn't safe to hunt them down. For now we just had to walk and find somewhere new. We had found the prison, we would find another place to live safely. "Somewhere far away from there," Abraham answered. He sighed as we all sat down on the steps. "We'll talk to him. Not just yet," he said quietly and the rest of the group nodded.

Leaning my head on Daryl's shoulder, I smiled as his thumb ran over the ring. I was watching Rick as he covered the sign in the red dirt. He had crossed everything off except the large sanctuary across the top. He grabbed one more handful of dirt and drew a large no across the top of the sanctuary. I nodded as Rick came to sit with us. Terminus had been our last chance at living somewhere. But we weren't going to give up. We were going to move on because that's who we were. We were fighters. We would get up and move on. We would find Beth and we would get to D.C. We would end this. We would live.


	41. Oh Father

We had moved on from the little cabin in the woods and were making our way down the highway. Rick had called for our large group to take a break and I sighed deeply. The pants that I was wearing were clinging to my legs and I was sweating heavily under them. Rosita had been kind enough to let me borrow her shorts and I made my way into the woods so that I could change. I left my weapons with Eugene, except for one knife and made my way through the woods. Once I thought that I was far enough into the woods, but not so far that I couldn't hear my group's conversations, I turned back and unbuttoned the jeans.

Pulling them off, I awkwardly jumped out of them, nearly toppling over. I chuckled at my own clumsiness and grabbed the shorts off of the ground. I was about to step into them when I heard a twig snap. I grabbed my knife quickly but when I turned back it was only Daryl. He smirked at my stance and I laughed. Here I was, knife in hand and caught with my pants down, literally. I dropped the knife back into the grass and I started to step into the pants, but Daryl caught my hand and forced me to drop them.

I turned to him with an eyebrow cocked and he smirked at me. He stared deep into my eyes and moved closer to me, running his finger over my ring. I grabbed the angel wing vest that he always wore and pulled him into me. He had been so broken about losing Beth that he needed to forget about it. If only for a minute. The guilt would destroy him and I wasn't going to watch him do that to himself. I had thought that he would just stand there, but he caught me by surprise. He put his hands against my shoulders and pushed me back. I stumbled slightly but it wasn't a far trip back. He pushed me into the tree behind me and I felt the bark pierce my skin. I wasn't complaining though.

For once Daryl's face didn't light up when I cocked my eyebrow at him, he only gave me a smirk in response. I supposed that it was because he figured that we were married now, but that didn't matter. All that mattered right now was that we were together and for now, we were safe. He ran a finger over my bare hips and hooked a finger into the band of my underwear. I laughed and waited for what he was going to do next. Without any warning, he slammed his body against mine and our mouths met. My entire body was being compressed into the tree but it felt just right. His hand slipped from my hip to behind me, lingering on my back. He slowly slipped his hand onto my ass and I blushed at the underwear that I was wearing.

When Merle and I had been at the club I had gotten the chance to get all new clothes, and that included what went under them. But it was a strip club, and there was only so much choice. It had been the only underwear that had even mildly cover anything. He pulled away from me with a laugh and I shook my head. "Shut up," I growled at him and pulled him into a kiss. He grabbed under my thighs and lifted me up. I laughed into the kiss and he let one hand wander while the other kept me up. I laid one hand on his chest and began to unbutton his shirt. It was dangerous, considering walkers could be anywhere near us or any member of our group could come here to check on us.

But I didn't care. It had been too long that I was away from him and in the short time we'd been back together, we hadn't had any time alone. Plus, what was the old thing that people did hundreds of years ago? It was something about a marriage wasn't real unless the couple had consummated it. I hooked my legs around his waist so that I could let go of his shoulders. He backed his torso away from mine so that I could reach his shirt better. I quickly undid the rest of the buttons and he helped me discard the garment. I ran my hands back over his chest and back, letting my hands trace the scars on him. He had once been ashamed of them, and I knew that he still was, but I had them too. He knew that he wasn't alone.

His muscles tightened as my hands traveled over his scars and I lifted one hand to his face. He grabbed my hand and pulled away from me as if to ask permission. I laughed and nodded at him. He pulled me from the tree and I gasped as he dropped the two of us to the ground. He softly laid me down and placed himself between my legs. He grabbed the bottom of my shirt and I leaned up, letting him lift it over my head. My hands dropped to his pants and he eased up, letting me unbutton it. We both grabbed our weapons and laid them near us, just in case something decided to interrupt. He hooked his hands back into my remaining bottom and I felt him tug lightly. I leaned up to give him one more kiss as we easily shed the rest of our clothes.

I had no idea how much later it was, but we couldn't have been too long as none of our group members had come searching for us. Daryl helped me off of the ground and tossed me my clothes. I left the jeans in a pile on the ground, figuring I wouldn't need them. They were just something extra to carry. I turned to Daryl to see if he was ready to leave and he nodded at me. Before he let me walk by him though, he stopped me and pulled a few stray leaves out of my hair, and helped straighten my hair back out. I thanked him and he grabbed me by the waist. He pulled me into him and we shared a tender kiss.

Once he let me go he ran his hand over my ring and I smiled at him. "You know, this ring really is beautiful. But this, us, it means more to me than just a little ring. It means everything to me. I don't know what I would have done if I'd never met you. I mean, I'd be dead. I know that. I love you," I told him and I saw his eyes light up. I was incredibly embarrassed to say all of this, but I wanted him to know how much he really did mean to me. "And I know that you still think you're not worth anything. You're worth everything. You're the best man that I know. And I'm proud to say that I'm a Dixon," I told him quietly.

He was silent for a while and I wondered if I had made him too uncomfortable. But finally he kissed me softly on the lips before pulling away. There was no smile on his face but I could see it in his eyes. "And I'm proud to say that you're one," he responded. I kissed him once more and we began to make our way back through the woods to where we were stopped. "Rain Dixon. I like the sound of that," Daryl laughed as we caught sight of the camp.

Laughing, I squeezed his hand as we made our way through the last of the woods and Daryl parted from me, going to talk with Carol. I walked by Rosita, going to thank her for letting me borrow her shorts. She looked up from her conversation with Abraham and smirked at me. My face lit up and I prayed that there was nothing that revealed what I had just finished doing. She laughed at me and shook her head. "Keep the shorts," she told me. I opened my mouth to say something but I just sat there and stupidly stared at her. She held up a hand and laughed once more. "Girl I don't blame you. He's your husband, I would have done it too. But seriously, keep them. They look better on you anyways," she told me with a genuine smile.

I thanked her and greeted Abraham briefly before making my way over to Maggie and Glenn, sitting with the pair. Rick had announced that we would only be stopped here for a little while so I was sure that we would be on the move again soon. Glenn threw a shoulder over my arm and I smiled at him. He was clasping Maggie's hand tightly and with his other hand he twirled my hair. I laughed as he flicked it back and forth and I rolled my eyes. Glenn had grown up a lot since I had met him, but I still saw the childish side of him from time to time. The three of us sat together for a while before Rick finally gave the order for us to move on.

We all stood and packed up anything that we had before we moved on. Daryl joined up with me and he handed me my knife that he had been borrowing earlier. I grabbed it and sheathed it, thanking him silently. As we walked I took a look around. I recognized where we were. I had gone camping with my family a few times here as a child. When I was young we had lived in northern Georgia. I had only been about six when we had moved to Florida, but I still remembered this place. Probably because it was one of the few happy memories I had with my family. We had been happy when we lived here, but things had gone downhill quickly from there.

A low growl startled me out of my thoughts and I looked up. A lone walker was marching up to us and I sighed. At least it was only the one. I stepped forward to shoot the thing but Michonne stepped forward first. "I got it," she said softly. She reached for her sword and sighed, dropping her hand. She had lost it when we were in Terminus. She grabbed her gun instead and slammed it over the head of the walker. It fell to the ground and Michonne placed the gun back in the holster. I saw Abraham lean over to Rosita and say something, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.

As we continued walking on the highway, the sun sank in the distance and we were losing light. I knew that we would have to stop soon. It was too dangerous for a group our size to be walking around in the dark. Rick called for us to stop about half an hour after the sun had finally set and we all sighed. It must have been a little after nine at night and we had been walking all day. Daryl, Carol, and I volunteered to keep watch for the night and Rick thanked us as he went off to bed with his family. Glenn and Maggie were the next two asleep, cuddled up together and I smiled at the pair. Tyreese, Sasha, Bob, and Michonne fell asleep next and Tara followed them not long after. Eugene was the next asleep and I watched as Rosita followed him. Abraham was the last asleep and once he finally fell asleep I walked over to where Carol and Daryl were standing together, keeping watch.

Carol looked upset and I wanted to know what it was. But still, I didn't want to just intrude on their conversation. I slowly walked up and waited for one of them to say something. Carol turned to Daryl with an irritated look and quickly turned away from him. "I don't want to talk about it. I can't. I just need to forget it," she said sadly.

I cocked my eyebrow to the side, wondering what they were talking about. Something had clearly happened when I had been out and after my father had kidnapped me, but I had no idea what it was. Daryl nodded to her and sighed deeply. "All right," he told her. Carol was gripping her gun tightly and Daryl was propping his crossbow up by his knee.

Slowly I approached them and Carol gave me a sad sigh. "You know, you still haven't told me how this-" she started before there was a soft rustling of the trees. We all turned to the trees and waited for another noise to come. It felt like we were being watched and I prayed that I was wrong. A twig snapped in the distance and Daryl motioned for us to stay. He walked into the woods and I held my gun up, waiting for any sign of trouble from him. We waited for a moment and I could hear him stomping around, close to our camp but it seemed like he wasn't able to find anything. He would have called to us if he had found something.

Both Carol and I were holding our weapons, waiting for any sign of a struggle. After what seemed like an eternity, Daryl emerged from the woods with his crossbow in hand and shook his head. "It's nothing," he told us. I shook my head. Someone had been there. It wasn't right, when we heard something like that there was always something like that. And there was no way that it was a walker, it would have come straight for us. It wasn't an animal either. That crack had come from a boot stepping on it. Someone was watching us. The only question was, who was it?

Nervously, we watched the woods for damn near two hours. But we never heard another sound. The woods were silent other than the occasional bug or owl. Finally I sighed and gave up watching the woods. I sat down in the dirt and scanned the woods slowly, making sure that nothing was going to get to us. Daryl walked the woods around the camp, determined that something was still out there. Carol worked with him for a while, but she finally gave up as well.

She sat with me eventually and smiled as she watched me twisting the ring on my finger. She placed her hand on mine, preventing me from twisting the ring and she straightened it out. "Don't do that. It's a nice ring," she told me with a smile and I nodded at her. "Nervous habit right?" I nodded to her once more and she sighed. "When I was with Ed and I knew that he was upset I would do it all day long. I was always so nervous for what would come later," she admitted. I grabbed her hand and she laughed lightly as to not disturb anyone. "But I know that your marriage will be happier than mine. He would never lay an unwanted hand on you," she told me and I thanked her. "Alright, enough of me talking. Tell me how this all went down," Carol told me with a smirk.

I smiled at the older woman and shook my head. "I had been with Merle. We were together for about a week. My father had shot me and I was recovering. When we moved on we heard voices. It was these people that were keeping Rick, Michonne, and Carl captive. They were going to kill them. Daryl stepped in and tried to have them kill him. Then I stepped in. Long story short, we killed them. Afterwards we were all sitting together. Daryl pulled me to the side and he pulled me under a weeping willow. He was ranting all of these sweet things to me and then he told me that he wanted me to know how he really felt. So he got down on one knee and proposed. They all saw and Merle gave us an interesting ceremony," I told her with a small laugh.

She nodded and gave me a small side hug. "Well Merle does tend to have a way with words." I laughed and nodded. The two of us sat together for the rest of the night, watching as the sun rose. Our group slowly began to stir and wake. I stood and went to head over to Daryl, but before I made it very far Carol grabbed my arm. I cocked my head to her and she smirked. "Also, I expect that when there's a little Daryl or Rain teetering around that I will be the godmother," she told me and I snorted.

There was no way that I was ever having kids. I wasn't good around them, any kid that I had ever seen I had made cry before this had all happened. And the only reason that I got along with Carl was because he had always acted like an adult. I had never even held Judith before. I shook my head at Carol and she sighed. "I don't think that day is ever going to come," I told her seriously.

She smirked at me and walked past slowly. "We'll see. You know, they say people who are damaged make the best parents," she said to me. As I made my way over to Rick I thought about it. Was that true? Would I make a good parent? No. Not in this world. I had killed people and I would kill more. I had been abused physically, emotionally, and sexually. My empathy these days was only spread over a select few people and I didn't even think twice about killing a living person now. Hell, I wanted to kill a living person. Gareth. If he wasn't dead already. Plus there was a chance that I could end up like Lori. I couldn't even imagine what my death would do to him. There was no way that I could ever have a kid. It just wouldn't work. There was no way.

Daryl had volunteered to go hunting and I had kissed him quickly, telling him to be careful. If there was something out there, I didn't him to run into it. We were now packing up the camp and I was stamping out the fire that was slowly dying. Rick called for us to leave and I nodded at him. Daryl wasn't back yet but we were going in the direction that he had gone. Apparently we were supposed to meet up with him in the woods. I held my bow tightly in one hand and twirled an arrow with the other. I was still paranoid about last night, but maybe it really had just been our imaginations.

When I had walked up to Rick earlier he had told me that Daryl had searched the woods as hard as he could. Merle had as well. Both were excellent hunters and neither of them had found anything. It didn't make sense because I knew that I had heard that branch snap, but maybe I was imagining what had made the noise. In reality it could have been a deer or even a horse. And both would have run from us. I was thinking over what else could have made the noise when there was a rustle behind us. I turned back and raised my bow quickly. But it was only Daryl with a handful of squirrels.

Our group sighed and dropped their weapons. I shook my head and dropped my arrow back into my sheath. Daryl held his hands up and snorted at the group. "We surrender," he said jokingly. I rolled my eyes and shoved him gently as he stepped over to me. The rest of the group laughed as well and placed their weapons back in their holsters. He glanced over at Rick and shook his head at our leader. "No tracks. No nothing," Daryl said, referring to the noise we had heard last night.

Rick nodded and hit his boot against the grass a few times before looking back up. "So whatever you heard last night-" he began before Daryl cut him off.

"It's more what I felt," Daryl answered.

The group shuffled for a moment as we waited for someone to say something else. No one had any idea where this noise had come from and it was unsettling for everyone. If it was a treat we were completely blind to it. "If someone was watching us, there would have been something," Rick finally said. He began to walk and I stayed close behind him. After a moment though he looked back and realized that the group was spread pretty far apart. He whistled and everyone looked up. "Keep close," he said quietly.

Everyone caught up and I noticed that Abraham was walking quickly so that he could catch up to our leader. The man slowed besides me and grabbed my arm quickly. I smiled at him and he returned his own before walking past me and falling into step besides Rick. Daryl looked at me as if to ask if I trusted the red headed man and I nodded. Abraham seemed good enough. I mean he was risking his own life to get a man he hadn't even known to Washington D.C., albeit it was to get a cure, but he could have easily told Eugene to shove it. "Ready to get some concrete under your feet?" Abraham asked as we made our way back to the road.

Our leader led us past a few trees before he finally turned to Abraham and nodded. "I think it's time," Rick finally answered. I could tell that something was bothering the man, but I couldn't tell what.

Abraham laughed loudly and nodded to our leader. Rick looked grateful for the conversation, but he also looked exhausted. I didn't blame him. He had been through a lot these past few days. "That is sweet music to my ears, Officer. Take the next road we come to, try to get back to going north till we find a vehicle," Abraham said. My eyebrows raised but I kept silent. So that was what the man was trying to do. He was discreetly trying to get us to move on to D.C. Well as hard as he tried there was no way that we were going to leave here until we knew for sure what had happened to Beth.

We hit the road once more and I sighed. I remembered traveling this road all the time when I was a kid. I would play I Spy with my father and it was always a tree that he spied. It was probably the most boring game that we could have come up with, but it was my favorite thing to do. Once I had moved out and had traveled on my own down a highway I had wondered if he had ever played that game with Penny. Or if it only brought back painful memories for him.

"Good?" Bob asked and I turned back. He was walking with Sasha and the two were happily smiling at each other. It was the happiest I had seen her since we were on the run to the store when Zach had been killed. She had been joking with Tyreese and the two had both looked happy that day. For the beginning of it, that is.

Bob nodded to her and she nodded her head in response. "Good," he told her. What the hell were they doing? Tyreese was watching the pair happily and I couldn't help but wonder if something was going on between the two.

The two paused for a moment and Rick looked back. Once more the group had spread out and he rolled his eyes at us. I jumped forward to him and laid my hand on his shoulder, trying to get him relax. We didn't need a fight out here. Not right now. He nodded gratefully to me and I smiled at him. "Tighten it up," he called back to the group and everyone nodded. Quickly, the group all pulled into each other and now we just looked like one giant blob walking down the road.

As we walked I heard Sasha blowing air out and realized that Bob was watching her with a happy gaze. So there was something going on there. I had thought that Tyreese might be mad or protective over his younger sister, but it seemed like he had welcomed Bob with open arms. Even after everything that had happened. "Uh, wet socks," Sasha finally said and I raised both of my eyebrows. I was normally pretty good at judging what people were talking about, but I had no clue what was going on in the conversation between them.

Bob looked up to the sky for a moment, knitting his eyebrows before he looked back down to Sasha and smiled at her. She scoffed and his smile only grew. "Cool feet," he answered her.

Her face dropped and she rolled her eyes at his answer. Most of the group was watching the exchange between the two, smiling at the pair. "Mosquito bites," she answered him and I furrowed my brow.

Merle fell into step with me and looked at me like I knew what was going on. I shrugged at him and turned back to the pair that were goofing off. "Itching reminds you you're alive," Bob responded to her. The smile on my face widened as I realized what they were doing. Sasha was saying something bad about this world and Bob would say something that challenged it, making something good out of the bad. It was a cute idea and it gave you hope listening to them.

"Danger around every corner," Sasha said and I nodded to her. She was right. That was a good one. But I was sure that Bob would have a response just as good.

Grabbing an arrow back out of my sheath I began to twirl it and waited for Bob to come up with his response. He finally got his answer and turned to look ahead of him. "Never a dull moment," he said with a smirk and I laughed at him. I guess that was one way to look at it.

The girl scoffed at him and racked her brain for something else to challenge him with. "The hot sun beating down on you," she said and I nodded. She had a good point there.

Bob turned to look at her and motioned up to the sky. "Come on, a glorious tan," he told her with a smile. The entire group laughed as did Sasha and I smiled. It had been a long time since I had seen her laugh like that. She took a few steps towards Bob and gave him a kiss. I smirked as I watched the kiss and noticed that Tyreese was giving them an approving nod.

They finally pulled apart and Sasha laughed at the look that her older brother was giving her. "I said it and I meant it. No privacy," she scoffed and I barked out a laugh. She turned to me and I nodded. She knew as well as I did why I was laughing. When Daryl and I had disappeared yesterday afternoon it hadn't been hard to find out what we were doing.

Bob turned to me with a knowing smirk. Daryl dropped his head and Rick patted him on the back as he walked forward. I laughed and cocked my eyebrow, wondering what he was giving me that look for. "Captive audience," he told me more than Sasha. I gasped and laughed, running up to Bob and shoving him to the side. He laughed and made his way back over to Sasha who threw an arm over his shoulder after chastising him teasingly. "One more. One more," Bob pleaded excitedly.

Sasha shook her head at him and sighed. "He's a damn expert at that," Sasha said and I nodded. That was the way that I had always found Bob to be. No matter how bad things got for him, now that he was with us, he seemed to always be in a good mood. He was the exact type of person that we needed here.

"What was it?" Abraham asked and I shook my head. He may know what he was talking about when it came to fighting, but he definitely wasn't the brightest light bulb. At least he was a kind man. I patted him on the shoulder and he scoffed as I passed him.

Bob smiled at the man and I turned back to watching the exchange. I nodded to Daryl for his whetstone and he nodded back. He tossed the rock to me and I flicked it against my arrow. Once I was done I tossed it back to him and he easily caught it. He tucked it deeply into his pocket and I smiled at him. "A little game. Good out of the bad," Bob finally answered the red headed man.

Smiling at the pair I slowed myself slightly so I could walk by Bob's side. "I love that. What a great way to pass time," I told the man earnestly. It was a good idea. It was a way that we knew that there were still good things in this world.

The older man nodded to me and laughed. "It was a little something that we thought up while the group was separated. Helped keep us sane. You know we were playing one time and-" Bob began his story but he was cut off by a shrill cry for help that didn't sound too far off.

Anyone that had been talking before was silent now. The entire group stood still as we waited for another cry. "Help! Help, anybody! Help!" The calls came once more. It was a man and from the sounds of it, he wasn't far from here. I took off in a dead sprint and was quickly followed by Merle and Daryl. The rest of the group followed after and I heard their footsteps falling behind me. I waited for the man to cry out once again. He had been silent for a while and I couldn't tell exactly where he was.

A loud scream came from a few yards off and I turned to the cry. "Come on! Come on," I told my group before we tore across the woods. I jumped over a fallen log, my arrow nocked on my bow and turned to see the man. He was up on a rock and was surrounded by a small group of walkers. I did a quick mental count of the walkers and got to about eight. Easy job for us, but not for one person. Despite how high up on the rock he was, the walkers were getting close to him.

"Anyone, help! Help!" The man called and I stood behind the tree, not knowing if I should go out and help him yet. The walkers were snarling at him and the man looked like he was about to cry. "Help! Help! Help! Anybody, help! Help! Help! Help! Help! Help! Help! Help!" The man continued to yell and a loud gunshot behind me made my ears ring. Rick was now at the front of the group as he shot another walker down. I took a step out and shot an arrow through the skull of a walker that was getting close to the man's abdomen. He screamed and looked up to me. I shook my head and shot another arrow, taking down a walker that was now stumbling towards us.

Our group took care of the rest of the walkers easily and when the last had fell, Daryl began to collect the both of our arrows. Rick nodded to me and I nodded back to him. I nocked an arrow and tightened my hold on it, aiming at the man's head. "Whoa! Whoa! We're clear. Keep watch," Rick told Daryl and he nodded, placing my two arrows into my sheath. I looked over the man and snorted at what he was wearing. He was dressed as a priest and I cocked my eyebrow. He still believed in God? Even after all of this? "Come on down," Rick told the man who shakily climbed down from the rock. His feet hit the ground and he straightened up. Right as he stood though he bent over and threw up. I stepped back slightly and nearly vomited myself. Normally I would have been disgusted at the act but I had been caught by walkers before and it was a horrifying feeling. "You okay?" Rick asked as the man stood up.

He finally stood straight up and looked to Rick first. "Sorry. Yes. Thank you," the man said and I looked over his features. He had dark skin and a small amount of facial hair. He was wearing a full suit with a priest's collar. He looked a tiny bit familiar but I couldn't place my finger on it. "I'm Gabriel," the man said and a million bells went off in my head. I did know him. He looked over to me and his eyes widened at the sight of my arrow. His fear quickly turned to confusion and then recognition. His eyes widened and I wanted to look away from him but I forced myself to stare him down, hoping that he wouldn't say anything. "Don't I know you?" Gabriel asked.

"No," I answered quickly. It had been a long time since he had last seen me and I hoped that he would believe me and just think that I was some look alike. My group was looking between the two of us with shocked faces and I shook my head. Daryl walked up to me and his dark glare was fixated on Gabriel.

But he never noticed. His eyes were still on me and I could tell that he didn't believe that we had never met. "Really? Are you sure? You look familiar," Gabriel said once more.

"I don't know you," I told him with a glare, challenging him to say more.

He shook his head at me and I saw his terrified face spread to one of happiness. "No, I do know you. I remember you. My, you've grown since I last saw you," he said with wide eyes. He looked me up and down and I could see the shock in his face. I was sure that I looked incredibly different since he had last seen me. I didn't even know how he recognized me. "Your mother and father used to come into church with you," he said and my face darkened. Every shocked face turned to me, but I ignored them. "Brian and Mary wasn't it? It must have been eighteen years or so since I last saw you. It's Rain, isn't it?" He asked and I slowly nodded. "I remember telling your parents what a beautiful name they had given you," he told me with a bright smile and I nodded.

His smile brightened and he looked at me like he was expecting me to drop my arrow, but I wasn't. I knew Father Gabriel that was true. But that had been in another life. I was a new person and he might be as well. "Yes. You were only beginning working at the church at the time. I used to believe in everything that you said to me about the Lord," I told him with a tiny sneer. He had been my favorite person at the church back in the day, and he had only just gotten out of school. He used to tell me about how much the Lord loved me and how He would always watch over me. For the longest time I had blamed God for what had happened to me, but I finally realized what it really was. There is no God. Gabriel's faith was just misplaced.

The Father's face fell as he looked to me. "Used to?" He asked me and I nodded at him. He sighed and shook his head slowly at me. "Just because the world has become this doesn't mean that you should lose your faith in-" he began and I quickly cut him off. I wasn't going to listen to this lecture. Not now. Not in front of my group.

"I lost my faith a long time ago," I told him.

He sighed and shook his head once more. He looked like he was wracking his brain for something to say and when he did, he smiled, seemingly knowing something to say that would break the awkward air. "How are your parents?" He asked me with a small smile. My entire body stiffened and I gulped deeply.

"Dead," I answered him simply. The shock was written clear across Eugene, Abraham, and Rosita's face and for a moment I wanted to slap them. But I quickly remembered that they had never known my father. They hadn't been around when Brian Blake had become The Governor. They were lucky.

He sighed deeply once the shock left his face and he walked forward. My grip on my bow tightened and he nodded at me as he approached me. He touched my shoulder lightly and frowned at me like he was trying to help me mourn. "I'm so sorry to hear about that," he told me with said eyes. I scoffed at him and he back off like I had burned him.

Shaking my head at him I took my arrow off of the string to my bow and flipped it back into my sheath. I slung my bow over my shoulder as well and I sighed. His face visibly loosened when he realized that we no longer had weapons pointed at him. But he still had a long way before any of us would ever trust him. I backed off slightly and he watched me closely. "Don't be. They deserved to die," I told him and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Daryl grabbed my shoulder and I sighed deeply. I would hear about this later, but for now I prayed that the conversation would be kept on Gabriel.

"Do you have any weapons on you?" Rick asked eventually, breaking the silence and taking the faces off of mine. I was shaking slightly and I hoped that no one had noticed. Here was another reminder of my old life and I wanted nothing more than to shoot the Father right where he stood. But I wasn't going to do that. Not unless Rick told me too.

Father Gabriel laughed at Rick and shook his head at the man. I knew that the Father would never hurt another soul and that meant that he had laughed because he wasn't carrying anything on him. But that didn't matter, we could never be too safe. "Do I look like I would have any weapons?" Gabriel asked seriously.

Our leader's face darkened and Gabriel looked like he might pass out where he stood. "We don't give two short and curlies what it looks like," Rick told the other man with a slight sneer.

The Father was pushed to the ground and I watched as Rick looked him over for any kind of weapon. Gabriel's face was in utter shock at the fact that we hadn't believed him and I nearly laughed. Welcome to the new world, Father. "I have no weapons of any kind. The word of God is the only protection I need," he said as Rick finished the search. He finally stood and let Father Gabriel take a few steps backwards.

Daryl snorted from behind me and motioned to the bodies of the walkers. "Sure didn't look like it," he growled to the Father. I dug my nails into his hand and Daryl hissed in pain, pulling his hand away from me. Once I was sure that he would say nothing else I grabbed his hand back and ran my hand over the scratch marks. He shoved into me and I gave a small smirk.

Father Gabriel looked at Daryl with an even face and shook his head. "I called for help. Help came," he explained to my husband, who merely scoffed in response. "Do you have- have any food? Whatever I- I had left, it just hit the ground," he stuttered and I looked around. He was right, there was some food that was on the ground. Glancing around I realized that it was very possible that Gabriel had been on the move. But why? He looked like he had been doing well wherever he was keeping up. What the hell would make him leave?

We all stared at him for a moment before Carl began to walk forward. I thought that Rick might stop him for a moment so I grabbed our leader by the arm and shook my head at him. He was on thin enough ice with his son, he didn't need to make it any worse. "We've got some pecans," Carl told the Father and he gave him a tiny handful of the nuts.

Smiling at the boy Gabriel took the handful gratefully and turned to the rest of our group. "Thank you," he told Carl, but I knew that he was saying it to the rest of us as well. We were the reason that he was even alive right now. Judith began cooing and I turned to the young child. Carl was holding her in his arms and he began to rock her back and forth, hoping to silence her. "That's a beautiful child," Gabriel said and Rick nodded to him. "Do you have a camp?" He finally asked.

"No," Rick answered quickly. I scoffed lightly and shook my head. We had a home but because of my father we now had nothing. And we had lost friends and family in the fall of the prison. "Do you?" Rick asked Gabriel.

For a moment Gabriel was silent and I waited for him to say something. He finally nodded and I smiled. If he had some place to go did that meant that we would finally have another safe place to stay? "I have a church," he answered Rick, looking to me. My smile dropped off of my face and I felt my heart sink. I couldn't go back to that place. There were too many memories there. Too many memories of a false life.

The rest of the group seemed happy at the revelation as smiles were sent back and forth between our group members. "Hold your hands above your head," Rick said and Gabriel nodded. He looked concerned but I knew that Rick was doing. He was going to ask the Father the three questions that he would ask people who wanted to join the group back at the prison. Their answers determined what Rick would decide to do with them. "How many walkers have you killed?" Rick asked Father Gabriel.

"Not any, actually," Father Gabriel admitted and my eyebrows raised. I knew that he wasn't a violent man but he hadn't even killed one walker? How the hell had he survived this long without even protecting himself? I couldn't even count the number of walkers that I had killed. Shit, I didn't even know how many living people I had killed.

It seemed that his answer had shocked everyone as whispers were shot between our group members. Rick finished looking Father Gabriel over from the front and he nodded. "Turn around," he ordered and the Father nodded, doing as he was told. "How many people have you killed?" Rick asked and Gabriel turned his head back quickly. I could tell that he was shocked. But what was he expecting? Even if he had kept himself locked up this long hadn't he seen how horrible people were? We were worse than walkers. We still had a conscience and the scary thing was that people had learned to ignore it. I had learned to tune it out. But in this world we were forced to do things that our former selves would have never thought of doing.

"None," Gabriel finally answered, as if the question had somehow offended him. Maybe it had, but that was too damn bad. Part of me wondered if Father Gabriel was grateful that we had rescued him or if he had wished that we had left him to die. I wasn't sure which I preferred. But at least this way we had saved his life.

Rick nodded and patted down Gabriel's leg before standing back up. "Why?" Our leader asked.

Gabriel turned to Rick quickly and shook his head at him with a face that looked shocked that Rick had ever asked such a thing. "Because the Lord abhors violence," Gabriel answered as if it was the simplest thing to understand.

The two stared each other down for a while before Rick finally seemed to accept the man's answers. My breath was tight in my throat as I was hoping that this would go well. Father Gabriel and I had never exactly been friends but he was a good man. He didn't deserve to just be shot because Rick hadn't liked his answers. "What have you done?" Rick asked and Father Gabriel gave Rick a questioning glance. "We've all done something," Rick clarified for the other man.

I was twisting the ring on my finger once more as I waited for Gabriel to give his answer. "I'm a sinner. I sin almost every day. But those sins, I confess them to God, not strangers," Gabriel said. I glared at him and he shot me an apologetic glance. I knew what he was talking about though. I had been closed off when I had first met the group too. The only reason that I had really opened up was because I had been constantly arguing with Daryl. It was amazing how things had changed.

"You said you had a church?" Rick asked and Gabriel nodded. Without another word he began to lead us to the church and I took a step ahead to fall in step with Gabriel. Despite the fact that it had been a long time since I had ever been to the church, I still remembered the way there. The group walked in silence for a while before Rick finally looked back over to Father Gabriel. "Hey, earlier, were you watching us?" He asked and I raised my eyebrows. It would explain things. But Father Gabriel wasn't a hunter or tracker, there was no way that he would have been able to find us. And there was no way that he had heard us. We weren't being that loud.

Gabriel turned to Rick in shock and shook his head. I sighed as the mystery continued but I had known that it wasn't Gabriel. Whoever it was had clearly known what they were doing. We would have never known had they not made the mistake of stepping on the branch. "I keep to myself. Nowadays, people are just as dangerous as the dead, don't you think?" He asked Rick.

Our leader seemed to think on it for a minute and I knew what he was going to say before he had ever even answered the Father. "No, people are worse," he said. I nodded at him. He was right.

The group walked in silence for a moment before Gabriel shook his head. "Well, I wasn't watching you. I haven't been beyond the stream near my church more than a few times since it all started. That was the furthest I've gone before today," he answered and I nodded. It was easy to tell that he wasn't used to being out. "Or maybe I'm lying," he said and my head shot in his direction. "Maybe I'm lying about everything and there's no church ahead at all. Maybe I'm leading you into a trap so I can steal all your squirrels," he said and my brow furrowed. He laughed lightly at his own joke but sobered as he realized that none of our members had found his jape very amusing. He looked to me and I shook my head. It had been a long few days and here was a new man that they didn't know. This was no joking time. "Members of my flock had often told me that my sense of humor leaves much to be desired," Father Gabriel said sadly.

The group stopped and stared angrily at Father Gabriel, who hung his head in shame at his pathetic attempt at a joke. "Yeah, it does," Rick answered him with an icy bite to his words. The rest of the walk was made in silence and when we finally hit the church, I was flooded with old memories. It looked exactly the same. A little white church in the middle of the woods. Nothing fancy or elaborate, just the way that a church should be. "Hold up," Rick said to our large group as we made our way up to the doors. "Can we take a look around first? We just want to hold on to our squirrels," Rick said and Gabriel nodded, allowing us to walk in first.

Rick, Carol, Glenn, Michonne, and I walked in first. I made my way into the building and I was filled with nostalgia. In eighteen years the place had hardly changed. There was still the small podium in the front of the church with the large, wooden pews lining the isles. It had never been much, but it had been enough. Like a robot I walked over to the third pew on the left side of the building and made my way to the edge. Right where I had left it all those years ago. My name written on the bottom of the pew in Sharpie. My mother had found out and we had laughed about it for hours. That day we had sworn that we would never tell my father about that. And it was the one promise that she had kept to me. He had died not knowing about this one little thing.

I heard Rick whistle to the rest of the group, signaling them to come in. There was a soft padding of boots behind me and I knew that it was Daryl. He read over my shoulder and I heard the short puff of air he let out. "Rain Blake," he read softly. He turned me to him and laid his hand gently on the ring on my finger. "That isn't you anymore. That little girl is gone. The woman standing in front of me is much better," he told me and I smiled. I kissed him gently before gathering in the center of the room with the rest of my group. Rosita handed me her water bottle and I thanked her, taking a few long swings before handing it back.

Daryl stood against the pew at the front of the church as the rest of the group finished their search of the church. "I spent months here without stepping out the front door. If you found someone inside, well, it would have been surprising," Father Gabriel said as he watched us pick apart every inch of his home. The place that I had once thought of as a second home.

"Thanks for this," Rick said and Father Gabriel nodded to him.

The group slowly began to congregate in the center of the room and I moved in closer to Daryl to give Maggie room to stand. She smiled at me and I nodded to her. She didn't bother saying anything to me though, seemingly realizing that this place brought back unwanted memories. "How'd you survive here for so long? Where did your supplies come from?" Michonne asked as she came forward to the rest of the group and set her glare on the Father.

He sighed deeply and shrugged his shoulders. "Luck," he said and I raised my eyebrows. I had never known him to be one that believed in luck. When I had known him he had thought that everything that happened was because God had made it so. "Our annual canned food drive," he said and I nodded. That made more sense. "Remember that, Rain? Your family would bake cookies for all those who donated," Gabriel said and I found myself nodding. I remembered that far too well. "Things fell apart right after we finished it. It was just me," he said with a sad sigh and I nodded. He had been alone for so long. I couldn't believe that he hadn't just lost hope. I knew that without my group I would have lost hope a long time ago. I would have given up. But I was glad that I hadn't.

A small cry came from across the room and Rick looked over to see his daughter crying in the arms of Tyreese. Rick stepped over our large group and held his hands out to the other man. "Come here, Judith," Rick cooed his baby daughter as he lifted her up into his arms and began fiddling with her, trying to prevent her from crying.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Gabriel was watching the exchange with a smile. He had always liked kids. It explained why he had been good to me when I had come here. "The food lasted a long time. And then I started scavenging. I've cleaned out every place nearby. Except for one," Gabriel said, suddenly peaking everyone's interest.

"What kept you from it?" Rick asked. He still held Judith and rocked her softly, but his focused had shifted from his daughter to the potential food. Part of me wanted to slap him from ignoring her cried, but without the food we wouldn't last much longer.

Gabriel looked up and shook his head. "It's overrun," he answered with defeat in his eyes. That was a problem but with this many of us it might actually be an easy job.

"How many?" Rick asked.

For a moment Father Gabriel seemed to think before he looked back at Rick with a slightly unsure face. "A dozen or so. Maybe more," he answered and I nearly scoffed. That was no problem. We wouldn't even need everyone with us for a run like that. I had thought that when he had said overrun he had meant about fifty. Although for one person, twelve walkers was a pretty big challenge.

It seemed that Rick was thinking the same thing that I was as he finally nodded to the man that I had once called a friend. "We can handle a dozen," he said and I couldn't help but laugh at the elated look on Father Gabriel's face.

Sasha stood and I watched as she pulled Bob to his feet as well. He looked like he was about to slap her for what I was sure to be a volunteer and I laughed. They really did make a good couple. I was glad that the two of them had somehow realized that they should be together. "Bob and I will go with you. Tyreese should stay here, help keep Judith safe," she said, now volunteering her brother. But unlike Bob, Tyreese didn't seem to mind the volunteer.

"That'll be okay?" Rick asked, making sure that Sasha wasn't overstepping her boundaries. But I knew that Tyreese had been the one to save Judith from the prison and I was sure that he had grown rather close to her since then.

The other man nodded and smiled at Rick, letting him know that it was fine with him. I was sure that he was happy to play babysitter every once in a while. Despite the fact that Judith was Rick's daughter, we all cared for her like she was ours, in our own ways at least. I mean I had met my father again after years of not seeing him. If I ever got the chance to see her grow up I was going to make sure that I told her that story. "Sure. You ever need me to watch her, need anything for her, I'm right here," Tyreese said and I smiled. It seemed that the two had moved past their spat at the prison.

Rick smiled and placed his hand gently in Tyreese's shoulder. "I'm grateful for it. And everything else," our leader said to the other man. There was the classic Rick that I had met a year and a half ago.

"I'll draw you a map," Father Gabriel said and we all turned to him. With the group having been so focused on watching Tyreese and Rick interact we had almost forgotten about Gabriel. Even though it was his place that we were all residing in now. I wasn't sure how this place would sleep all of us comfortably, but I had seen plenty more people in here before. I was sure that we would make it work somehow.

Rick turned his gaze on the Father and glared at him. I knew that he didn't trust Father Gabriel and that was why he was going to force the man to come with us. "You don't need to. You're coming with us," he said and I nodded. I knew our leader too well.

If it was possible, Father Gabriel paled and shook his head wildly. He was scared and he had every right to be. He had never really been out there and he had never seen what it was like going up against those things. They were straight out of nightmares. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times as he tried to find his words and Rick only stared him down. "I'm not gonna be of any help. You saw me. I'm no good around those things," he tried to reason with our leader.

Rick shook his head at Gabriel and walked by. "You're coming with us," he said. I sat in the pews and watched as the group got ready to go. Sasha, Bob, Michonne, and Rick were ready quickly and I smirked as Father Gabriel tried to tell them one last time that he would be no good. But the group just ignored him and handed him a small knife which he was hardly able to take. I wished them all a good luck as they left and I gave Gabriel a wink as he was practically pulled out of the church.

Once the doors shut I laid back on the pew and shut my eyes. The sun was setting outside and I shook my head. It would be dark by the time that they got back. I hoped that they brought back water. Most of us were dehydrated and there wasn't much water left. There was the stream not far from here and I knew that it would be the best thing to go get water from there in the meantime. There was the thump of a boot and I felt the bench creak from where Daryl had sat himself on it. I cracked an eye open and saw that he was staring down and me with an appreciative smile.

He grabbed my hand and I smiled at the warmth radiating from him. "Carol and I are going to go out and get some water until Rick and them get back. You wanna come?" He asked me and I nodded. He helped me up and we briefly told Glenn our plan. He wished us a good luck and we were out of the door. Carol had found four water jugs for us to bring and I smiled at her. It wouldn't keep us for long but it would keep us until we got something better. Without a huge group slowing us down we were able to trek through the woods quickly and get to the stream that Father Gabriel had mentioned. I smiled at the stream as I remembered my father teaching me to fish on it.

Quickly I filled my jug up and Carol took it from me. I nodded to her and splashed my face, clearing off some of the dirt, blood, and sweat. The first thing that I would do when we got to Washington was take a shower. A long, hot, steaming shower. God I missed those. You never know what you have until it's gone. There were plenty of things that I missed. Going to the movies. My phone. Music. Air conditioning. Trashy television. Traffic and construction. Studying. Bars on school nights. But as long as it meant that I would meet these people, I would always give it up. No matter what.

"Hey, I get it. You don't want to talk about it," Daryl said and I turned. I was about to ask him what he was talking about when I realized that he was talking to Carol. I swear, one of these days I will figure out what they are talking about. I was sick of not being in the loop. I was always the one that was in the loop. "You okay?" He asked her as we got back onto the road that would lead us back to the church. Just as I had thought, the sun was down and I hoped that the group with Rick was back by now.

She looked at him and then quickly looked away. "Gotta be," she told him, mimicking what he had once told her. He glared at her and I smiled. At least now he knew how it felt when someone you loved said that to you.

We walked on the road for a bit and I saw the outline of what looked like a car. We began to make our way towards it. If the thing was working that was great news for us. It was a means to start our journey to D.C. After we find Beth, that is. Every fiber of my being believed that she was still alive and that we would find her. "We get to start over. All of us with each other. You saved us all by yourself. We got lucky. We all should be dead," Daryl told Carol as we walked up to the car.

"I'll try it," Carol said as she walked around the side of the car and grabbed the keys, twisting them. Carol tried the ignition but the rumble and false start told us that the battery was dead.

"All right," Daryl responded to her. I walked around to the back of the car and popped open the trunk. There was a small emergency starter in the back and Carol walked around my side.

She looked over the little device with me and she nudged me to the side lightly. "I'll check it," she told me and I nodded. That was fine, I didn't really know how the thing worked anyways. She grabbed it and checked the power button. There was a tiny bit of battery and I smiled. It wouldn't get us too far but it would work for a little while. I'll check it.

We both looked through the junk that was piled into the back but unfortunately nothing looked to be of use to us other than the car. "Hey," Daryl said as he walked up to us. He grabbed my hip tightly and I smiled at him lightly. They were clearly having a moment and I didn't want to ruin it. But I did really want to know what was going on. I made a vow that sometime soon I would make it a point to ask what the hell had happened when I was out that no one had told me about. "We ain't dead. And whatever happened, happened. Let's start over," he told her gently.

Smiling at Daryl, Carol turned to him with a sad smile on her face as well. Say what you may about Daryl he did always know what to say to people. "I want to," she told him with an exasperated sigh. They went to close the trunk but I grabbed the battery. Daryl took it from me and went to installing it. I knew that it wouldn't take long, which was a good thing. With it being this dark and this late I knew that it was dangerous for any of us to be out here.

Daryl went to screwing with the battery in the car and a moment later he popped back up. He grabbed the towel out of his pocket and wiped his hands off. "Well, you can," he told her as he tucked his towel back into his pocket.

Carol hummed at him and looked back over the car. It looked to me like it was in good running condition but I had no idea if it was going to get us even out of Georgia. The last thing that we needed was to get stranded on foot in a place that we hardly knew. "We should leave this here for backup in case things go south at the church," Carol said and both Daryl and I nodded at her.

Turning to the side slightly I smirked. I was proud of Carol. She had come so far in such a short amount of time. A year and a half ago she had been afraid to even get out of her abusive ass of a husband's sight. And then when Ed had died at the hands of a walker she had barely been able to lift up the axe. When she had lost Sophia she had been broken, but she had come back from it. She was strong now and seemed to be one of our best shots. Shit, she had been the one t save us from Terminus. We would be their lunch right now if it wasn't for her. "Want me to carry one of those?" Daryl asked Carol, motioning to the four jugs that she was carrying.

She turned quickly from him, moving the jugs out of his reach. "No," she playfully told him as if he had offended her and I laughed. Daryl looked confused and I patted him on the shoulder as I passed him.

Daryl led me into the woods as Carol fidgeted with the car and I nodded to him. We walked into the woods a little bit and I stopped him with a sour look on my face. He turned back to me like he was shocked that I was angry with him. He was about to ask me what was wrong but I held up a hand to stop him. "What the hell happened when I was gone? Or when I was out? And don't you dare tell me that it was nothing. Something is wrong with her and clearly you know. So come on, tell me. What is it?" I asked him. I crossed my arms and popped a hip out, tapping one foot impatiently.

I most likely looked ridiculous but it didn't matter. One way or another Daryl was giving me an answer about what had happened. He was not getting out of these woods until he told me. He sighed and shuffled on his feet for a moment before he looked me in the eye with a sad glance. He opened his mouth to say something, but right as he did there was a sound of commotion coming from the road. Daryl grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the woods and I sighed deeply. Seriously?! Right when I was finally about to get an answer.

We ran out to the road and I saw Carol with her knife in hand. I looked down at the ground and saw that there was a walker that was no laying in front of her and she was staring at it like she had never seen one before. "What are you doing?" Daryl asked her.

She looked up at us in shock and I cocked my eyebrow. What the hell was wrong with her? She stashed her knife as she walked over to us and I put a hand on her arm, hoping that nothing was wrong with her. This was much different than I had ever seen her act before. "I don't know," she said like she was trying to shake herself from a dazed state.

Daryl sighed and began to lead her back to the church. "Come on," he told her softly and she began to follow us, walking like she was in some sort of trance. We had barely been walking for a moment when I heard the sound of an engine approaching us. We were down in the ditch between the road and woods so we were safe but we still looked up in wonder. The car sped past us and I watched as it took off down the road. It was a solid black car with a white cross painted on the back. The whole thing sounded familiar, but where. And that was when it dawned on me. Daryl had said it to Maggie. Those people were the same ones that had taken Beth.

At the same moment that the recognition dawned on me it seemed to dawn on Daryl too. He ran up the ditch and I followed him closely as I ran back up it as well. "Whoa, whoa!" Carol yelled as we both ran to the road. Daryl watched as we ran after the car. It was definitely what he had described. Daryl turned back and slammed the butt of his crossbow against the headlights of the car. I jumped at the noise and Carol stared at him in shock. "What are you doing? What are you doing?" She asked him when he gave no answer.

He turned to her and pointed to the direction that the car had driven off in. "They got Beth. Come on. Come on, get in," he told us. Carol nodded and jumped into the back as I took the passenger seat. Daryl jumped in and quickly revved the engine. The tires squealed as we pulled off of the side of the road and took chase to the people that had taken Beth. I leaned back in the seat and watched as the odometer ticked to over one hundred. Hang on Beth, we're coming.


	42. Grady Memorial Hospital

The odometer hovered at around one hundred as we drove down the road and I watched the car disappear ahead of us. We weren't that far from the car but Daryl was smart enough to leave some distance between us. I had no idea what he was doing with the lights at first but now I knew that he had done it so that these people wouldn't be able to tell that we were following them. I placed my hand on Daryl's, hoping that he would slow down slightly. If these people braked suddenly we might go flying into the back of their car. We could kill the driver and then we would have no idea where the hell they were from

Daryl took my warning and slowed his speed a little. Not by much though, we were still going at around ninety miles an hour. I knew that he was doing it to keep up with the people in front of us but I didn't want him to accidentally kill us. We were headed right to downtown Atlanta and I wondered where exactly it was that these people were holed up. Downtown was dangerous so maybe they were just going to take us around the beltway. Hopefully wherever it was wasn't too much farther. The car was getting low on gas and if the sun came up we wouldn't be able to follow them.

Turning back slowly I realized that Carol was watching the car in front of us angrily. I didn't blame her. If it wasn't for these people we would all be together. But they took her for no reason. I prayed that nothing had happened to Beth that had ever happened to me. I had been cold at the time, I had learned how to handle it. But Beth, she was getting stronger but she wasn't mentally strong enough to make it through a sexually abusive situation. It had taken me years and the end of the world to get over mine. "So it was just you and Beth after?" Carol asked Daryl, who nodded without taking his eyes off of the car in front of us.

"Yeah," he told her as we stormed past another two exits. With every minute it seemed that it was more and more likely that we were headed into downtown Atlanta. I sighed deeply. We hadn't been there in over a year and I could only imagine what it looked like now without any care from people, overrun by walkers.

I looked up in the mirror and watched as Carol nodded, still looking out the window. It looked like she was keeping a close eye on the signs too. "You save her?" She asked, without taking her eyes off of the road.

It dawned on me that I had never really known how the two of them had gotten out. I knew that Daryl had killed Mitch and I knew that Beth should have been on the bus, but I had no idea how the two had met up. Maggie had told me that everyone on the bus had died and it had broken my heart. They had been the old, the young, and the sick. And they had been taken over by walkers. Glenn and Beth should have both been on that bus. I suppose it was a good thing that they weren't. Glenn was back with his wife and we still had hope that Beth was alive. She was just missing for now, and we were about to find her.

I watched as Daryl's hands tightened on the wheel and his teeth grit together. Losing Beth was a hard thing for him, but he needed to know that we were both here for him. And between the three of us we would save her. "She's tough. She saved herself. We were out there for a while. We got cornered, she got out in front of me and I don't know, she was gone. I came out and a car's pulling out with a white cross on the window," he explained. I wondered what the cross was for briefly. Were they people who thought that they were helping in the world? They could have at least looked to see if she was with someone. But like Daryl had said, they were surrounded by walkers. There might not have been any time to wait around.

But that didn't excuse that they had just taken her. Carol leaned forward and stared at the back of the car that sported the cross. At least they had done one thing to help us out. "Just like that one?" She asked, pointing to the car.

"Yep," Daryl answered simply.

We sat in silence for a while and I felt Daryl's hand trace over my own, picking at the ring on my finger before he raised his hand back to the wheel. I thought back to the church and wondered if Rick and the rest of the group was back yet. We hadn't told them where we were going and as far as Glenn knew we were just getting water. We might end up being gone for a day or two and that wouldn't look good. "Rick's gonna wonder where we went," Carol said, voicing my own thoughts.

There was a light ding and I looked down at the panel on the front of the car. A little orange light in the shape of a gas pump had popped up and I sighed. We must only have about a gallon or so of gas left. And that wouldn't last us long. I prayed that wherever these people were hiding out was close. If we ran out of gas we would lose them and we might not ever find them again. I poked Daryl on the arm and pointed to the gas meter and he sighed. "Tank's runnin' low," he announced to Carol.

The older woman looked around my seat and I moved so that she could get a better look at the gas meter and the car in front of us. "We can end this quick. Just run him off the road," she suggested. I turned back to her with a cocked eyebrow and she shrugged her shoulders. It wasn't a bad idea but we ran the risk of killing the driver or severely hurting one of us if he chose to fight us. It might work but it would have to be a last resort in the event that we did run out of gas.

It seemed that Daryl agreed with me as he shook his head at her and glanced back to her in the mirror. "Nah, we're good for a bit," he answered her.

She scoffed and I turned back to her. Clearly something bad had happened to her recently because this wasn't the Carol that I knew. She wasn't the type of person to just suggest running someone off of the road and risk killing them. She was the type to carefully plan something out. Or at least that's what I thought she was like. But maybe this was the real Carol, finally coming out to play after all her years of being pushed down by Ed. "If they're holding her somewhere, we can get it out of the driver," she tried to reason with Daryl.

"Or we could kill him," I answered back to her quickly. She looked at me in the mirror but I avoided her gaze. I did make a point though to question her about what the hell had happened that had made her so cold?

Daryl looked at me and nodded. "She's right. And yeah, that might work, but if he don't talk, we're back to square one. Right now we got the advantage. We'll see who they are. If they're a group, see what they can do. And then we'll do what we gotta do to get her back," he said and Carol nodded albeit begrudgingly. The car drove straight down the highway for a while and finally I saw the wheels begin to turn and watched as it turned off to Atlanta. So they were hiding in the city. "They're heading north, I-85," Daryl announced for Carol, who couldn't see the signs.

They drove straight through the city for a while and I watched the buildings pass. It was hard to believe that it had been about a year and a half since we had been here. I looked straight up at a skyscraper that we were passing and gulped. Although it had been forever ago, I knew this place. It was the building that we had been in when Rick had chained Merle to the roof. That was where he had lost his hand. And not even twenty four hours after we had lost Merle, I had met the man that had changed my life forever. I glanced inside the building and felt my throat tighten. I could just barely see the jewelry section of the store and I saw the empty mannequin neck that had once held a small mermaid charm. A charm that rested around Amy's throat. I missed the young girl but in a way I was happy that she had died when she did. This world was horrible and Amy wasn't the type of person who was cut out for it. None of us really were. But at least now she was with her father and Andrea.

Turning back away from the building I watched as the car in front of us came to a stop and Daryl stepped on the brakes. We watched for a moment but nothing ever happened. The car just sat there and Daryl let his hands drop off of the wheel as he stared. "What the hell's he waiting for?" Daryl asked and I shrugged. One man stepped out of the car and I shrunk back in my seat slightly. Even though it was dark outside there was still a chance that they could see us. A second man stepped out of the car and I watched as they met up with each other on the side of the car. "There's two of 'em," Daryl said and I nodded.

"Is that a cop?" Carol asked and I looked over their bodies. They were dressed in a full police officer uniform and I nodded. She was right, they were dressed like any other cop that I had ever seen. And I had seen plenty.

A loud bang came from my window and I jumped. Daryl caught me around the mouth, making sure that I didn't scream and I nodded my thanks to him. He let go of me and I looked out the window. It was a male walker who was banging against the window at us. Damn it, go away, we can't have them seeing us. Glancing around the walker I watched as the men dragged bicycles around the area and I cocked my eyebrows at them. What the hell are they doing? Finally they walked back over to the side of the car and while one went back into the car the other came out with something that was wrapped up. My eyes widened as I realized that it must have been a body that they were carrying. A grim part of my mind pleaded that it wasn't Beth. Once he had dropped the body, he climbed back into the car and I heard the engine rumble to life. They peeled out and Daryl waited for them to disappear out of sight before he grabbed the key once more.

Daryl sighed as they drove away and he placed his hand over the crank for the engine. "They might've seen us," he said and I muttered under my breath. If they saw us they would have already torn out of here. "Aw, shit!" Daryl yelled as he cranked the gas over and over again. I looked over to him and he shook his head at me. Carol leaned forward as well to see what the problem was. "Tank's tapped," he told us and we both fell into our chairs, fed up with this chase.

A light roar of an engine was heard and I turned back. The car was disappearing through the city and a light smile finally fell over my face. They were here in the city, and it hopefully meant that we weren't far. We could find them but it would have to wait until the morning. We would just risk injury or even worse if we tried to hunt them down at night. We would have to find somewhere and then start up again in the morning. "They'd have taken the bypass and they didn't. They must be holed up in the city somewhere. We gotta move, find someplace to hole up till sunlight," Daryl said and I snorted at the fact that it seemed like we were mentally linked.

He stared at me like I had grown a second head and I shook my single head at him. It was the wrong time to make a stupid joke like that. I turned back and watched as Carol looked over the city. Her eyes fell on a building not far from us and her eyes lit up. "I know a place just a couple of blocks from here. We can make it," she said softly.

Both Daryl and I nodded and we waited for Daryl to open his door. Before he did though, Carol rolled her window down and stabbed the walker that was still banging against the window. It fell heavily and I jumped out of the car. I pulled out my bow and nocked an arrow, waiting for Carol to point me in the right direction. "Two more," Daryl called and I turned back. There were two walkers that were making their way over to the car and I nodded. Aiming at the first I loosed my arrow and the walker fell. Quickly grabbing a second arrow I aimed and let the arrow go, the second walker falling right over the second.

Both Carol and Daryl nodded, impressed at my display and I took a small bow. They laughed and Daryl grabbed my arrows as Carol walked over to me and patted me on the shoulder lightly. Daryl came over to us next and slipped my arrows into my quiver. I thanked him lightly and we began our trek to Carol's hide out. We walked through downtown Atlanta and I was shocked at how deserted the whole place was. The last time that we had been here it was almost impossible to move without getting spotted by a walker. But Rick had said it almost a year ago, and he was right. The walkers were moving out of the cities because there wasn't enough food. It was good and bad. It meant that it was easier for us to get into the cities but it meant that the walkers were now everywhere. Although there were less of the herds.

Turning around a large office building we walked down a street with a bunch of smaller shops. We seemed to be headed right for a large office building and I looked for a sign for what it was, but there was nothing. If there had ever been a sign it was long gone now. Right before we got to the office building though I caught a small wedding shop out of the corner of my eye. I turned to the store and smiled. Maybe if we ever got to D.C. and were successful I would go shopping in one of those stores.

Letting my inner child out I began to plan my dream wedding in my hand. I would go wedding dress shopping first. In all of my life, since the last day that I had ever gone to church and had departed Georgia, I had never worn a dress. There had been no purpose for me to ever wear one. I worked in a gun shop and spent my weekends at the indoor or outdoor range, or drinking by myself. I wasn't looking to impress anyone. Most days I always wore shorts and a t-shirt or a vest. If it was cold I would wear jeans and a leather jacket. If we ever got the chance to get married I would want a form fitting dress with a little bit of sparkle. I would bring Maggie, Carol, Beth, Sasha, Michonne, Rosita, and Tara with me to look for the dress. I would hope that Rick would walk me down the aisle too.

A stupid grin spread over my face as I fantasized about the perfect ending for Daryl and I and the man in question poked at me to get my attention. I shook my head free of my thoughts and nodded to him. We were at the front of the building and I peered in. It looked like a typical business office that you would see in a metropolitan area. I tried to pry the doors open but they were locked. I scoffed at the building. Really? You had to lock it before you went running for your life? Grunting, I leaned down and pulled a bobby pin out of the back pocket of Rosita's shorts. I thanked her silently and slipped the pin into the lock. I snapped the pin in half and bent the top half in the middle. I pointed the bent piece to the right and slipped it into the lock. Pushing down on the bent part of the pin, I slipped the straight piece of the bobby pin into the top part of the lock and wiggled it around.

After a minute of fidgeting with the lock it finally clicked open and I smirked. Daryl laughed and Carol brow went up and I laughed as we walked into the building. Hey, I went to prison. Despite how terrible the experience was I did learn a few useful things. So many times I had been locked out of my apartment after doing laundry and forgetting my key that I had become a master at lock picking. Daryl walked over to the body of a walker that had clearly once been a security guard. He grabbed the keys off of the walker's belt and showed them to me. I scoffed and shoved him as he walked by me and I heard Carol laugh behind us.

As we walked through the building, Daryl unlocked door after door at Carol's command. Clearly she had been here before as it seemed that she knew the place like the back of her hand. I tried to think back and remember if she had ever told me about any job that she had ever had before but as far as I knew she had been a housewife. She had told me once that she just stayed home with Sophia and helped the young girl with schoolwork and chores. Carol had never had a job that I knew of. But yet she knew this place. And it didn't look like a tax collector's office or anything like that. I knew where that building was and it was on the other side of the downtown area.

Daryl opened another door and we stepped through. Carol was looking into the windows of the rooms that we walked by and it seemed like she was looking for a particular one. "You used to work here or something?" Daryl finally asked and I turned to her, waiting to see if she would actually answer.

"Something," she answered simply, ending the conversation there. I didn't want to keep pushing her, knowing that whatever this place was, it was a sore spot with Carol. But that wasn't the type of person that Daryl was. I knew that he would want to keep prodding at her until he at least found out where we were. She was one of his best friends and I knew that he cared. But still, we didn't want to fight right here.

We turned the corner of the hallway that we were in and I looked out at the city through a large window. You could see all of Atlanta through the window and I nearly threw up. The entire city was in ruins and it looked like the place had had an atomic bomb dropped on it. But that was pretty close to what had happened. A bomb had been dropped on Atlanta to try and stop the spread of the virus. But nothing had come of it. The city only looked like a war zone now. "What's this place?" Daryl asked and I turned away from the window to look at him. I sighed deeply, I knew that he wouldn't drop this.

Carol had been looking out the window as well and she shrugged her shoulders gently at him. "It's temporary housing," she said and I knitted my brows. Temporary housing normally meant that it was for people who were either homeless or they were trying to get away from something. I knew that Carol had never been homeless so I wondered if she had come here one night after a fight with Ed. It made perfect sense. She had probably gotten Sophia away from her father in a drunken rage. Carol had been such an amazing mother and I admired her. I only wished that my mother had cared enough to do the same.

Sighing deeply I tried to look at Carol but her eyes were focused on a door that was only a few feet down from us. "You came here?" Daryl asked her and she nodded at him slowly.

Taking a few steps down to the door she looked into the window of the room and I followed her, Daryl trailing behind me slowly. "We didn't stay," she answered him before pushing the door open. We walked inside and I smiled at the room. It was tiny and bare, but there was a small dresser and a bunk bed. I moved over to the dresser and pulled it open. There were a few tops in there and I made a mental note to check through the drawers later. As much as I did like this shirt, I felt like I was about to go to the club, not fighting for my life in the damn apocalypse. "I'll take the top bunk. I think that one's more your style," she said. "You should sleep. Both of you. I'll take first watch," she said and I nodded. It must have been the middle of the night and I knew that the sun would be coming up in a few hours. We needed the sleep now while we could get it.

Daryl walked back over to the door and opened it. The door was incredibly thick and looked like it could stop a bullet. It had a heavy lock on it as well and I sighed. There was pretty much no way that anything could get in here. The doors locked whenever you closed them and this room alone was tight and secure. We would be fine here for the night. "This is locked up pretty tight," Daryl said as he closed the door.

"I know," Carol answered him.

He sighed and went to stand next to her and I watched them closely. I knew that he was trying to get her to calm down and open up, but it didn't seem that there was any way to get her to talk right now. This place was clearly bringing back painful memories for her. Just like the church had brought back them for me. "Then we're good, then," Daryl said to her. It was easy to see that he was trying to get her to sleep through the night and get rest, but I knew that she wasn't going to budge on this.

She knew what he was trying to do too and she put her hand on his shoulder as she walked by. "I'll keep first watch. I don't mind," she told him softly before going to look through the same drawers that I had just been pawing through. She pulled out a few shirts before grabbing a black one and tossing it to me. I held it up and smiled at it. The shirt was tight fitting and it was low cut in the front. There was a small cut out by the upper back and I knew that this would be easier to move around in. I wouldn't constantly be worried about popping out of this shirt, unlike the one that I was in last.

Thanking her softly, I turned to the wall by the bed and pulled off my shirt that I was wearing now. "Suit yourself," Daryl said before turning back and heading to the bed. His eyes locked on me for a moment and I smiled, staring down at my feet. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw that Carol was smiling at the two of us and I laughed quietly. I pulled on the shirt and shimmied into it for a moment before straightening it out and I smiled. The shirt fit perfectly and I wondered whose clothes that I was wearing and if they were even still alive.

Tossing my other shirt into the corner I dropped on the bed next to Daryl and sighed. It felt so good to be out of the sweaty shirt that I had been wearing for about a week. But my greasy hair still fell over my shoulders and I grimaced. It felt like I had just climbed out of a pool of grease. The next time I got the chance, I needed a bath. Even if it was just in the river near the church. "You said we get to start over," Carol said, shaking me from my thoughts. He nodded to her and I watched as she sighed. "Did you?" She asked.

He grabbed my hand and I realized that his version of starting over was trying to make a life that involved another person. A woman who he could call his wife. Carol followed his hand and I saw the spark of life that lit in her eyes when she watched the exchange. She had told me before that she thought that we made a gorgeous couple. And hell, she had basically told me that she was expecting us to have children. Maybe, but not in this world. "I'm tryin'. Why don't you say what's really on your mind?" He told her with a soft gaze.

She sighed and walked over to the two of us. She sat on my side and I let a hand linger on her hand. She smiled sadly at me and then looked back down. "I don't think we get to save people anymore," she admitted. My eyebrows raised at her announcement and she looked at me with shame in her eyes. I couldn't believe that she didn't think that we could save people anymore. She had saved us. And did that mean that she thought that our effort to save Beth was futile?

Daryl seemed to have the same look in his eyes that I did as he turned to her. "Then why are you here?" He asked her. He didn't sound angry at her, he seemed like he was more disappointed in her.

"I'm tryin'," she told him, repeating what he had said to her a while earlier.

I stood up from the bed and laid my bow down on the ground and cracked my back. When I had pulled the arrow back the second time I had overextended my arms and now I was feeling it. It was a stupid mistake that my father would have yelled at me for. But it didn't matter, he was dead now and he was never coming back. "When we were out by the car what if I didn't show up?" Daryl asked and I turned back to the pair. Carol had looked like she had been about to let the walker get to her. But she had snapped out of it when Daryl had called her name.

For a moment she thought and stared at her hands. She looked heartbroken and I felt my heartstrings tug for her. I was still blind to whatever had happened while I was out, but it had definitely been something hard on her. The room was silent for a minute before she shook her head. "I still don't know," she answered honestly.

As she let her head hang, Daryl patted her on the back and rubbed his hand slowly. I walked back over to the pair and dropped next to Carol. Right when I was about to pull her into me though, there was a loud bang that came from outside of the room. I groaned and both of my group members laughed at me. We stood and walked out into the hallway. I glanced both ways and cocked my head as I had missed what was making the noise at first. But when I looked back at the door that we had come through a few minutes before I saw that there were a few walkers that were clawing and trying to get through. I took a few steps forward and realized that it was two child walkers along with a female walker. A mother and her two children. This was a safe place. That's what it had been.

My hand lingered around on my knife but it wasn't worth it. They weren't bothering us. If we needed to we could take care of them in the morning. Carol walked past me though, with her knife in hand. I grabbed her arm and she stared at me. I shook my head at her, telling her silently that she didn't have to kill them. There came a time where it wasn't worth it. We could still be human. Kill only when we need to, not just when we want to take anger out. Daryl came up to her as well and towered over the two of us. "You don't have to. You don't," he told her and I sighed. She dropped her knife to her side and sheathed it, nodding at us and walking away.

Without another word, she grabbed her riffle from the room and walked back into the hallway. I was slightly nervous about what she would do but I knew that she wouldn't go out and kill the walkers. More than likely she was just thinking about what it was that had happened to her. Daryl hopped up into the top bunk and I followed him up. At least tonight we would get to sleep in an actual bed. For the first time since we had first called ourselves husband and wife, we had a real bed. Climbing up into the bed behind Daryl, I laid down next to my husband and took a few deep breaths. His hands wove their way through my hair and we laid with our legs intertwined.

His free hand grabbed my ring and began to twist it lightly and I smiled. Leaning my head up so that we were looking at each other, I brought my lips to his lightly and he tipped my head back. For a while we lay together with our bodies locked together and after a moment he turned us over so that I was on my back and he was hovering over me. He kissed me again and I wanted nothing more than to wrestle him out of his shirt, but Carol was right outside the door and for some reason, it felt inappropriate right now. So instead I rolled him onto his back and I laid gently on top of him.

Smiling up at me, I brushed his long hair out of his face. It had darkened since I had first met him but I liked it better. He looked tougher and that was a look that I had always thought suited every man. I heard Carol's footsteps outside and I was slammed back into reality. Slipping off of his side slightly, I hooked a leg over his and sighed. "Daryl, something happened while I was out. After I got infected by the virus. Something happened with Carol. What was it? She's so different and I know that it wasn't anything good," I told him. I was sick of being left out of the loop. I wanted to know what had happened while I was out and damn it, he was going to tell me.

He sighed and pushed me onto my back. He laid a hand above my head and hovered over me, laying on his side. "People were broken after you were infected. I was broken. I thought that you were never going to wake up, Hershel thought that you only had a little bit of a chance of waking up. He was shocked when you did. But in the meantime, while we were out getting medicine, Carol and Rick went out to get something to tide everyone over until we got back. He figured out that she had done something. He asked her about it and she admitted it," Daryl told me and I waited for him to continue.

The silence continued and I smacked him on the chest. He looked like I had offended his great ancestors and I scoffed at him. "Well keep going! Don't just stop at the best part of the story. It's like when you're watching a new episode of some TV show and then all of the sudden a weather alert that isn't even in your area comes on!" I told him. That used to happen to me all the time and it always made me angry beyond belief when it had happened.

Daryl's eyebrows raised and I rolled my eyes at him, motioning for him to continue. "She killed David and Karen," he told me. For some reason, it wasn't a shock. She had just seemed too calm when Tyreese had brought us out to see the bodies. "She did it to stop the spread of the virus. And Rick banished her for it, afraid that she might do the same to the others who contracted the virus. She was on her own for a while and then she met up with Tyreese, Lizzie, and Mica. The two girls aren't here so we see how that turned out. Being on her own and losing the girls hurt her. She already lost Sophia and now she's lost two more. She's lost her way," he told me.

My heart dropped and I thought about what it was like for her to be out on her own after all of this time. And that meant that Lizzie and Mica were dead now too. I hadn't thought about the girls recently and hadn't even realized that they might have been alive. I had never really liked Lizzie, but that didn't mean that I wasn't sad that they had died. They were just kids and I wondered what had happened. They had probably been attacked by walkers and that was no way to go, especially for a kid. Daryl kissed the top of my head and laid me down gently.

My head rested on his chest and I heard the steady beating of his heart. It was comforting. It reminded me that there really was someone here. "Then it's up to us to help her find her way again," I told him quietly and I felt him nod. I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing. It had been a long day and I could only imagine what everyone back at the church was thinking right now. We had just gone out for a simple water run and now we wouldn't be back until at least midday tomorrow. Maybe longer. Sighing deeply once more my eyes began to get heavy and after a few minutes, I slipped into a deep sleep.

Groaning, I rolled over on the bed, expecting to hit Daryl but there was nothing else with me on the bed. Hopping off of the bed, I shook my hair out and looked around the room. My eyes were still blurry and the sunlight that was fading into the room was making me squint. Finally my eyes opened completely and I saw that Carol was looking at me with the same fuzzy look in her eyes that told me my noise had woken her up. My head cocked at her, I had thought that she was on guard the whole night. But I guess she had said that she would take first watch, I suppose that she and Daryl had changed out a few hours ago.

I wondered why no one had let me know about the change of guards that they had done, but it didn't matter. Carol stood and I nodded at the older woman. "Should we get him and tell him that it's time to go?" I asked her and she nodded. The two of us made our way out into the hallway, but Daryl was still nowhere in sight. Instead, there was smoke rising out in the yard and I looked down. Daryl was carrying the bodies of the walkers we had seen yesterday in sheets to the fire. He was burning the bodies. "Come on," I told her and we began to make our way down to where he was.

Once we made our way out of the building and down to where Daryl was, he was burning the last of the bodies. The smoke had gone white and I knew that it was no longer burning. That meant that we could get out of here at any moment. And the sooner we got out, the better. We needed the daylight to hunt for these people. "Thank you," Carol said to Daryl and he nodded at her.

Without another word, we walked back into the building and made our way into the room that we had just come out of. Quickly we all packed up our things. Not that we had much. More like weapons that we had left up here. Daryl was the only one with a real pack. Carol's was just a tiny bag and I had nothing other than myself. Carol grabbed her riffle, Daryl his crossbow, and me my longbow. Picking my shirt up from the corner of the room, I opened a drawer and tucked it neatly in, before closing the drawer. Daryl gave me an odd look and I shrugged my shoulders. For some reason it just felt wrong to leave the place a mess. It had been so perfectly clean when we got here that I felt like I had to leave it that way.

I grabbed my bow and pulled an arrow out of my quiver, just in case. We began to make our way out of the building, Daryl leading the two of us. Before we got to the entrance of the building he turned back to us. "That car was headed downtown. I say we get up in one of the tall ones, get ourselves a view, see what we see. We can stay close to the buildings and keep quiet, but sooner or later, we're gonna be drawing 'em." We both nodded and followed him out of the building. We were pressed right up against the building, watching closely for any surprise walkers. I was right behind Daryl as he peeked around a building. He turned back and I could see the frustration in his eyes. Walkers. "All right, we can get up there. There's a bridge," he said, pointing to a building a few yards away.

We both nodded and watched as he slipped his pack from his shoulders. He opened it and grabbed a notebook. I watched as he lit the thing on fire and tossed it around the corner. He held a hand back and motioned for us to stay still. We waited for a moment until he dropped his hand and motioned for us to follow him. We ran past the street and I glanced in the direction that the walkers must have been. I was right, it was a large herd of walkers that were now crowded around the notepad. We followed Daryl as he ran under a covered parking lot and dashed through it. There were cars parked here and there but I knew that most of them probably wouldn't work.

There was a door on our right and I shoved Daryl to it. He nodded and pulled Carol and I through the opening before closing the door softly behind us. Luckily, there was light streaming into the building so we weren't left in the dark. Taking a few deep breaths we nodded before we continued walking. It looked like a big business building that we were in, probably a bank headquarters. It was weird thinking that there was probably all of the money you could want in here, but it meant nothing anymore. At one point it had been the only thing that mattered to most people. Now it was nothing more than something to keep a fire burning.

We made our way up the stairs until we had hit the tenth landing, where the connecting bridge was. I breathed out heavily, feeling the burn in my thighs. I was used to running but I wasn't used to this many stairs. We finally hit the landing and Daryl carefully pushed the door open. There were no walkers thankfully, so we easily made our way into the hall. Right as we walked in though we realized that there were indeed walkers all throughout the hallway. But these walkers were all trapped inside of tents and sleeping bags. They must have been trying to hide out here when walkers had gotten in. I couldn't believe that they were still moving after a year and a half of nothing to eat. Of course they hadn't been exposed to the elements at all. But they were moving slow from a lack of food.

Grabbing an arrow out of my quiver I aimed it at the head of a walker that was struggling to get out of its sleeping bag. Both Daryl and I made our way through the area, taking out the walkers that were trapped. We ignored the walkers in the tents though, keeping as silent as possible so not to alert them. Of course they had an astounding sense of smell so I was sure that we had already alerted them. I grabbed my arrows and tossed them back into my quiver and we slowly made our way to the end of the hall. There was a chained door at the end of the hallway, but luckily there was a small opening. That must have been where the walkers that had attacked these people had gotten through.

I ducked down and looked through the opening first. It looked like a professional's office and I could tell that there were no walkers in the room. Easily, I ducked under and pulled myself through. Carol followed and after her was Daryl. Once the three of us were back together we stood and walked over to the window that looked over Atlanta. I sighed deeply at the sight of the fallen city. When I was young my family and I used to make trips into the city all the time and I remembered how gorgeous it was. Now it looked like a city that belonged to the dead.

My face hit the glass and I looked out over the city, trying to search for any indication of the people who had taken Beth. But if they were hidden under a garage or something like that there was almost no chance of finding them. I tried to look for people too, but the only movement that I saw was from the walkers. Carol walked up to me a moment later and Daryl joined us. "You still haven't asked me what happened. After I met up with Tyreese, the girls," she said to him.

He nodded to her and looked across the city. I could tell by the frown on his face that he couldn't see anything either. "Yeah, I know what happened. They ain't here," he told her with a small nod of the head.

"It was worse than that," she said grimly.

I turned to her with a shocked face. Daryl was mirroring my look as we both stared at her. I had thought that they had died from walkers and Tyreese and she hadn't been able to save them. I thought she just felt guilty. That was what he had implied last night. Although it looked like the news was a shock to him too. "The reason I said we get to start over is because we gotta. The way it was-" he began before he cut himself off and his eyes locked onto something in the distance.

Following his line of sight I tried to find what he was looking at, but everything was one big mess. I knew that I didn't have the best of vision either so it was easy for me to miss something from this far away. "You see something?" Carol asked him.

He stared out at the distance for a while longer before squinting and looking back to us. "I don't know. Hand me that rifle," he told her and she quickly handed him over her gun. I wasn't shocked that he had found the people, he was the hunter and he had an eye trained for things like this. He adjusted the scope for a moment before he seemed to find something. He pointed out and I followed his finger. "Right there. It's been there a while. Definitely one of 'em. It's definitely some kind of lead," he said. My eyes finally settled on what he had been talking about and I knew that he was right. It was a white van that was stuck over the edge of the bridge and on the rear windows were two white crosses. The same as the car that took Beth and the one that we had been chasing. "We should fill up," Daryl said and we both agreed.

Both Carol and I were over by the water fountain when we heard a small hum come from Daryl. I turned away, handing Carol her full canteen as I went to stand with him. He was staring at a painting that looked like a kindergartener had created. Yet I was sure that it was considered a masterpiece. "What?" Carol asked, still focused on the water.

Daryl stared at it for a moment longer before he scoffed. Carol came to join us and we all stared at the odd painting. "I bet this cost some rich prick a lot of money. Looks like a dog sat in paint, wiped its ass all over the place," he said. I barked out a laugh and Daryl smirked at me.

Once I had gotten myself back together, I looked over at Carol who was watching the painting with her eyebrows knitted. "Really? I kinda like it," she said. I couldn't help myself, I laughed loudly and I thought that she might smack me over the head. I didn't think that it looked like a dog had wiped its ass all over the place but it wasn't exactly impressive.

"Stop," Daryl told her, trying to fight back a laugh.

She stared at him with a scolding look and I almost smiled. She looked so much like a mother scolding her child that it was almost humorous. But this wasn't really a time for a joke. "I'm serious," she said and once more Daryl laughed. She turned to me and I had to fight to keep the smile off of my face. "You don't know me," she scoffed before exiting back through the hole, pushing her riffle at first.

"Yep, you keep tellin' yourself that," Daryl told her and I laughed at him, patting him on the shoulder. I pushed my bow onto my back and slid through the hole after her. Once I stood up I was about to ask Carol why she looked so tense when I realized what it was. There was a boy in front of us that looked only a little younger than me. He was probably about Beth's age. The boy was holding a gun and I reached to my thigh to grab my gun, but he aimed his gun at me and I quickly removed my hand from it. He didn't look like the type to shoot us for no reason but I didn't really want to test that theory.

Finally Daryl slid through the hole and once he caught sight of the scene, he raised his crossbow. I pushed his weapon down and stared him in the eye. "Daryl, don't," I told him softly. If it was possible I wanted to try to avoid a fight. Plus this guy was only a kid. I was sure that none of us really wanted to kill him.

With a slightly shaky hand, he motioned to Daryl, who was still crouched. "Get up," he told my husband who slowly stood, watching the kid with tense eyes. "Hands up, all three of you," he told us and we nodded at him. I raised my hands to right above my shoulders and watched his sight line. Currently he was staring at Daryl's crossbow. "Lay down your crossbow," the boy ordered and I scoffed. This kid was seriously brave to take on three people that could clearly overpower him. I glanced down at his leg and realized that he was favoring his right. He must have injured the left recently.

Daryl's grip on his crossbow tightened and I knew that he was batting the idea back and forth about whether or not to give the weapon up. We could shoot the kid here and end it, but none of us really wanted to do that. We had enough blood on our head, we didn't need this kids on our hands too. "You got some sack on you," Daryl scoffed.

The kids face fell and he looked at us sadly. I could tell that he was terrified of us but he was doing a good job at being brave. Not that it mattered. I was still going to punch his daylights out if I ever got the chance. "Look, nobody has to get hurt. I just need weapons, that's it. So, please, lay down your crossbow," he basically begged. I glanced over to Daryl and could tell that he looked torn about whether or not to drop it. Finally he angrily laid the weapon down and stood once more. "Back up," the kid ordered, grabbing the crossbow and backing off of us. "Sorry about this. You look tough. You'll be all right," he told us as he began to back off even more.

Grabbing an arrow for dramatic effect, I grabbed an arrow out of my quiver and held it out to the boy. Wearing the nastiest glare that I could, I leaned into the boy and pointed it. "If I ever see you again, I'm gonna cut your God damn head off," I hissed at him before slipping the arrow back in my quiver. I smirked at the fact that he looked like he might have pissed himself.

Daryl angrily leaned towards the kid but stopped as he raised Daryl's crossbow. I knew that he wouldn't shoot it, but that didn't mean that we shouldn't be too careful. Everyone can surprise you these days. "Three bullets. We're in the middle of a city," Daryl told the kid who shrugged his shoulders. The boy turned and began to run and I watched as Carol pulled her gun out. Daryl quickly knocked it to the side and she turned to glare at him.

Jumping up, I tried to run after the boy but was stopped dead in my tracks as he cut open the tents that were caging the walkers and the hungry monsters began to make their ways towards us. Without enough time to grab my bow, I pulled out a knife and sank it into the forehead of a walker. I watched as Daryl ran up and stabbed another and I heard Carol's gun go off, telling me that she had taken one down as well. We made quick work of the walkers and when we were done, I was seething. Maybe Daryl should have let Carol kill that boy. I mean, he had tried to kill us. Well maybe not kill us but he had definitely been trying to slow us down.

Daryl turned to Carol angrily and I was surprised that she didn't back down from his glare. Instead she only matched it as she looked to him with her hands on her hips. "He was stealing our weapons," she growled, trying to justify her actions." Did you think I was gonna kill him? I was aiming for his leg," she explained to him. I snorted, like he wasn't having enough problems with his leg. I had watched him run out and he was limping heavily on one leg. He was injured, just like I thought.

He sighed and shook his head at her, taking out his knife now that he had lost his crossbow. We would either have to hunt that kid down or find him a new one. "Could that have killed him?" Daryl asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and slipped her gun back into her holster as she avoided Daryl's gaze. Her isolation had made her cold, even to the people who loved her the most. "Maybe, I don't know. But he was stealing our weapons," she attempted to justify her actions to him. I shook my head and walked away slightly, letting them duke it out.

"He's a damn kid," Daryl growled at her as he walked to catch up to me. Easily we began to make our way out of the building, stepping over the bodies of the walkers that now littered the ground. We made our way back to the place that we had come from and I pushed the door to the staircase open, slowly descending to the first floor.

The thumps of our feet were loud as we quickly made our way down the staircase so that we could get to the van. I was nervous about it, the damn thing had been hanging off of the edge of the bridge. One wrong move and we could send it toppling over the edge. "Without weapons we could die. Beth could die," Carol again justified her actions to Daryl. I rolled my eyes at the pair, listening to them bicker with each other was like listening to two young kids fighting over which show to watch.

Turning back to the pair I saw that they were walking in tandem and Daryl was staring at her. "We'll find more weapons," he told her and she scoffed.

We hit the bottom landing and made our way to the doors. It looked like the herd of walkers that had been here before were gone. I sighed deeply and smiled. That would make this a million times easier. We slipped out of the doors and made our way over to the bridge. It wasn't too far from here so we would probably be there in a matter of minutes. "I don't want either of you to die. I don't want Beth to die. I don't want anybody at the church to die, but I can't stand around and watch it happen either. I can't. That's why I left. I just had to be somewhere else," she said sadly. I turned to Carol in shock as we headed to the beginning of the bridge and I grabbed her arm, squeezing it.

Joining me in comforting our group mate, Daryl walked onto Carol's other side and looked her in the eye. He wasn't much of one to be touchy with another person, but his eyes told you everything that you needed to know. He was everything that a good man should be, for a friend and a wife. "Well, you ain't somewhere else; you're right here. Tryin'," he told her, repeating what they had both said yesterday.

She smiled at both of us but her eyes didn't hold the same sweet look. They were hard. The way that I knew mine were too. Most of us were hard now, we just had our moments of softness. "Look, you're not who you were and neither am I. I don't know if I believe in God anymore or heaven, but if I'm going to hell, I'm making damn sure I'm holding it off as long as I can," She said quickly. I laughed lightly and patted her on the back.

I sobered though when I remembered the church that we had found when we had lost Sophia. Carol had been so devout that she had gone in too pray for her daughter's safe return. Maybe that was when she had started to lose her faith. "All right, let's get this done," Daryl said as we approached the van that was perched precariously on the edge of the bridge.

Lightly, I put a hand on the bridge and nudged slightly. It began to creak and I could see the tires lift off of the ground a tiny bit. My breath sucked in as I prayed that I hadn't just shoved the car over the edge of the bridge. After a moment of balancing, it fell back onto the four tires and I let a breath of air out. "It's not stable," Carol announced and I turned back to her with an unamused glance. Behind her I realized that there was a herd of walkers headed right for us. Probably the same herd that we had snuck by earlier. Damn karma. "I'm lighter," Carol announced as she opened the door and hopped into the back.

My breath hitched in my throat as I watched the walkers head towards us. A few more joined the group that was headed to us and I pulled my gun. There was no way that I would lose all of my arrows to them. "There's more coming. We're gonna have to fight through," Daryl yelled to both Carol and I. I noticed that as Carol moved forward the van was beginning to tip over the edge of the bridge. My eyes widened as I jumped into the very back of the van, evening it out. Carol looked to me and nodded her thanks and I nodded back to her.

"Yeah, I see 'em. We have to go," Carol said and I nodded. I turned back to look in the van and realized that there were medical supplies all over the place. What the hell? Were these people saviors of some sort? If so, they shouldn't just take people like it seemed that they had done with Beth.

Daryl hopped into the van as well and I closed my eyes tightly as the van began to shift. We needed to get out of this van before the walkers caught up to us. I was not dying after all of this work that we had done and I was not dying right after I had found my happily ever after. "GMH, what's that?" Daryl asked and I turned to him. He was holding a small pamphlet with those letters on the front and a huge building was across the front. "A hospital?" He asked me and I shrugged. That was what it looked like and it would make sense with all of the medical supplies that littered the van.

I stared at the pamphlet and moved to the side as Carol walked over and looked the pamphlet over. "I don't know. Grady Memorial, maybe?" She asked us and I nodded. I had heard the name before but I had never been there. I was pretty sure that my mother had gone there when I was born though. "Grady, the white crosses- it might be where they're holing up," she said and I nodded. It was our best shot. We could check out the hospital right after we got out of here.

Once we were done searching the van I jumped back out and yelped as I saw that the walkers had gotten too close to us. We were surrounded and there was no way out. Daryl and Carol jumped out of the van too and both stood by me. I grabbed my gun and held it out to the walkers. I had nine bullets and Carol had three. We needed to make them count. Daryl took out his knife and ran up to the closest walker, taking it out. Without needing another warning, I began to shoot at the walkers, making sure that I wasn't shooting near him. Carol ran out of bullets first and backed off. I ran out next and felt my stomach rise as the walkers began to close in on us.

Carol grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me into the van. I squeaked at the sudden movement and tumbled into the back of the van, sliding in front of Carol. "Daryl!" We both yelled. My husband jumped and turned to us, running back to the van, abandoning his fight with a male walker. "Go, go, go, go!" He yelled to us and we backed into the van as far as we could without tipping it. He jumped in and slammed the doors right as the walkers caught up. They began to bang and push on the back of the van and I felt my heart rate quicken. They were slowly pushing us over the edge of the bridge and we might not survive the fall. "Anything we can use?" Carol asked as we searched the van for potential weapons, but there was nothing. Not to take out all of the walkers.

"Nothin' but what we got," he answered her as he began to run up to the front of the van. I knew that we had no choice. We were going to have to go over the edge of the bridge. I just prayed that we survived the fall. "All right, buckle up," Daryl yelled at us and we both nodded. I ran up to the front of the van and Carol followed me. I jumped into the middle of the bench and Carol followed me. There weren't enough seat belts in the front so we crushed ourselves together and wrapped the seat belt around the both of us. "You both hold on," Daryl said as we began to tip from the walkers pushing.

The car began to tip over the edge and we all yelled as the van finally began to fall. Daryl threw his arm over the both of us and braced himself with the other. I could hear both Carol and my own screams as the van fell through the air. My screams were silenced as the front of the car smashed on the concrete. My head snapped forward and flew back as the van fell onto its tires and we all breathed out raggedly. I couldn't believe that it had worked. "We're okay. We're okay. Holy shit," I gasped lowly.

There was a loud bang on the roof and we both looked up. Walkers were falling off of the bridge and landing on the concrete besides us. I gasped and shoved Carol to the door of the van, trying to force her out before the walkers could get their bearings back together. Carol threw the door open as Daryl jumped out of his door. I flew out of the van next and began to run behind them out of the area. We headed back downtown and I knew that we were no longer being followed. But that didn't matter. We continued to run until we were only a few blocks away from Grady Memorial Hospital. We all slowed down and breathed heavily as we dropped by a building.

I leaned onto the edge of the window and dropped my head between my knees. My thigh was killing me because when the van had landed it had crushed my leg. The adrenaline had stopped the pain for a while but now it was kicking in. Luckily I didn't think that my leg was broken as I could still stand. A few serious painkillers and I would be feeling much better. Carol looked like she had injured her shoulder as she was trying to roll it. "God. Ow," Carol and I both said at the same time.

We turned to each other and smiled sadly. "Here," Daryl said to me and handed me the canteen from his pack. I took it gratefully and took a long swig. Once I was done I handed Carol the canteen and she shook her head to me, pushing the offer away.

"I'm fine," she told me and I sighed, handing it to her anyways.

She smiled at me and I shrugged my shoulders. It was no big deal, I just wanted her to be healthy. This run was proving harder than I had expected and I knew that we needed to be careful. Daryl turned to look at her and raised his eyebrows at her as she moved her shoulder back and forth, grimacing at her pain. "Prove it. How bad is it?" He asked her.

"I've had worse," she answered slowly. I sighed at the thought of her going to the hospital at the hands of her late husband. I knew where she was coming from. So did Daryl. But we had all grown past that. She had become the strong woman she was meant to be, I had become the brave woman that I always knew I was, and Daryl had become the loving man that had always been pushed down. And now, the broken people of the group were together. It was like a scene out of a movie.

Daryl scoffed and I patted him on the shoulder with one hand and rubbing my thigh with the other. "Damn, that was stupid," he said and I laughed loudly, shoving him to the side.

Standing slowly, I grimaced at the pain that shot through my leg and I forced myself to get over it. I had gone through much worse wounds, and this was nothing compared to being shot or stabbed. And I had had the pleasure of receiving both, multiple times. "Remind me if this world ever goes back to normal that I'm the only one who gets to drive," I told Daryl with a glare.

Both Carol and Daryl laughed and I smiled at the ground. Daryl grabbed me and slung his arm over my shoulder for a moment before he dropped it off of me. Carol patted my back and I smiled at her. "We made good time down," she joked and both Daryl and I laughed. At least we all had our sense of humor. "There's only three blocks between us and Grady," Carol announced and we both nodded.

"We need to find a place nearby, scope it out, see what we can see," Daryl told us and I nodded, standing and turning to a large building that looked like it could take us right to Grady. And this was we would be under cover. They would have no idea what was coming. Hopefully we could get in, grab Beth, and get out.

Carol looked to Daryl and stared at him like he was nuts. It seemed like we had all being doing that pretty frequently recently. "You really think we're gonna find out what we need to know just by watching?" She asked him and he nodded. I rolled my eyes, walking forward to the building, but Daryl grabbed my arm before I could get too close.

Staring at him for a while, he finally let my arm go and I turned to him. He nodded to me and I smiled. "It's where we start. Come on," he told us and we followed quickly. Running across the street to the building, we ducked in and I pulled out my knife, just in case. There was a walker on the ground that was so weak it couldn't even get up. The thing still had a machete in its hands and Daryl yanked it from the corpse. He raised the machete and put the walker down silently. There were huge windows on the far side of the building and we walked across, spotting the hospital. The street it was on was lower than ours so we were looking down over it. There were other crosses on the cars and my eyes darkened. This was them. Beth was somewhere in that hospital. "It's them. All right. Let's see what we see," he said as we made our way down the window, checking for any signs of life. "You said I ain't like how I was before?" Daryl asked Carol.

"Yeah," she nodded slowly as we continued to walk across the glass.

He stared at her for a moment and I saw the curiosity in his eyes as he looked her up and down. "How was I?" He asked her. I couldn't tell if he was offended with her or genuinely curious.

She turned to him and smiled. "It's like you were a kid. Now you're a man," she told him and I smiled. I grabbed his hand lightly and ran it down his fingers before I dropped my hand back to my knife. "And Rain, you're the same." I cocked my head at her as I waited for her to explain herself. "When you first came here you were stone cold, it didn't seem like you cared about anyone. And there was still the beat down little girl that the Governor raised. And then you changed. You cared more than anyone else and you became the heart of the group. And we all grew to love you," she told me with a smile.

I grabbed her uninjured shoulder and pulled her into a hug. Despite the fact that we were both tough women, we were each other's family and we loved each other unconditionally. No matter what either of us had done. "What about you?" Daryl asked after I had released Carol.

She sighed and I watched the pain reflect in her eyes. I knew that she didn't want to think about her past, I understood that, but talking about it was the easiest way to move past it. "Me and Sophia stayed at that shelter for a day and a half before I went running back to Ed. I went home, I got beat up, life went on, and I just kept praying for something to happen. But I didn't do anything. Not a damn thing. Who I was with him she got burned away. And I was happy about that. I mean, not happy, but- And at the prison I got to be who I always thought I should be, thought I should've been. And then she got burned away. Everything now just consumes you," she said sadly.

"Well, hey we ain't ashes," he told her softly. I smiled at the pair and turned back to the window, but was shocked when there was a soft crash in one of the hallways off to the side. Quickly we made our way over to the hallway and we slowly slipped into the room. Daryl went in first and Carol and I followed. He was staring at a walker that was pinned to the wall and I stared at it.

The walker was dead and I approached it slowly, ripping the arrow out from the wall. The walker fell to the floor and I backed off, looking over the arrow. It was Daryl's. That meant that the kid wasn't far from here, he had been the one that had just made the noise. "Is that yours?" Carol asked and Daryl nodded to her.

Handing the arrow back to Daryl I frowned as I looked around. I got an eery feeling as I thought about the kid that had cornered us earlier. He could be anywhere around us right now and he could have an arrow pointed at any of our heads. "You guys. We should be careful, that was from that kid and he was just here. He could be-" I began before gunfire started around the corner of the hallway. We took off running and I sprinted around the corner. The kid that had taken Daryl's crossbow was fighting with a walker and I debated whether or not to help him. Right as I decided to help him though, he broke free of the walker and shoved it to Carol. "Carol!" I yelled as I ran to get to her.

"No! Get the kid! I got her!" Daryl yelled to me and I nodded. I chased after the kid down a few hallways, sprinting as fast as I could. I knew that I was faster than the kid as I was right behind him. I could almost grab him but it didn't matter either way. There was a bookcase blocking his only exit. He slammed to a halt and tried to move the bookcase but it was futile. He panicked as he saw me gaining on him and he tried to move out of my way at the last second, but he was too slow.

Slamming into him, he flew forward into the bookshelf that easily toppled over. I backed off before it fell but the kid was too slow. He was trapped under and I smirked as the door behind it flew open and a walker struggled to get in. The kid's eyes widened and he cried out as the walker thrashed against the door. I grabbed Daryl's crossbow off of the ground and turned back. My two group members had caught up with me and were staring at the scene. I handed Daryl his crossbow and he took it gratefully. "Plea- please. I had to protect myself," the kid begged with tears in his eyes and I almost felt bad. He was just doing what he had too to stay alive.

But he had crossed the wrong people. Daryl raised his crossbow and I watched as the kid panicked, trying to free himself from the bookshelf, but it was too heavy. "Why you followin' us?" Daryl growled at the kid.

He began to panic heavily and thrash around under the bookcase. But it was doing nothing more than making it easier for the walker to get in which only made him panic more. it was a vicious cycle. "I-I didn't, I swear! I thought you followed me," he tried to justify and I scoffed at him. Now he was doing nothing more than trying to save his hide.

"Bullshit," Daryl snapped at the kid.

Thrashing around even more wildly I was extremely tempted just to shoot an arrow into the head of the kid to get him to be quiet. "Come on, man. Plea- please! Please, please," he begged. He kept looking in my direction, clearly hoping that I would save him, but I shook my head. He had nearly killed Carol and he had probably been about ready to kill me before I had toppled that bookcase on him. If he would have asked us for help in the first place it might not have come down to this.

For a moment the two stared at each other and I knew that Daryl was throwing the idea back and forth. But he had nearly lost two of the most important women in his life to this kid. I knew that there was no way that he was going to help the kid. Not without a push from Carol or myself. "Nah, I already helped you once. It ain't happenin' again. Have fun with Hoss over there," he motioned to the walker that was almost through the doorway.

It seemed to take the kid a moment before he realized that we were really about to go and leave him to the mercy of the walker. "No. No, no, no. No. No, no, no! Please! Please! Please! I'm sorry, please! Please! Please, please!" He cried as Daryl turned to walk away. I was torn between going with Daryl and helping to the kid, and it looked like Carol was torn too. The walker had almost broken through the doorway and I could see the kid looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

The humane part of me knew that we had to help this kid. Dying at the hands of a walker was about the worst way to go and I sighed. I patted Carol's arm, letting her know to stay where she was a keep watch over the kid. I ran over to my husband and grabbed his arm, pulling him back to me. "Daryl. Daryl. Stop," I pleaded with him as he turned back to me.

"You both almost died 'cause of him!" He yelled at me, snatching his arm away from me.

I shook my head and grabbed him back to me, looking in his eyes. I made sure that my ring was in view, hoping that I could pull at his heartstrings. "But we didn't," I told him, resting my hand on the side of his face.

He stared at me for a moment before he kissed the top of my forehead and pulled away from me. "Nah, let him be," he scoffed as he began to walk away from me once more. I turned back to the kid and saw that the walker only had to get another foot through the door and he would be on top of the younger man.

"I'm sorry. Please, I'm sorry!" The kid yelled as the walker finally stumbled through the door and fell onto the bookshelf. It's jaws jumped towards the kid who was howling in fear at the walker.

"Daryl!" Carol yelled to us and I saw that he turned and aimed his crossbow up. I ducked to the ground and heard the crossbow fire over my head. He dropped the crossbow and I turned back to look at the kid. The walker was on top of him with a bolt in its head. The boy was breathing out heavily and I sighed. I knew how afraid that kid had been. It was terrifying to be in face of death with a walkers jaw only inches from you. We had all been there before.

Daryl hooked his crossbow over his shoulder and scoffed as we walked over to the kid. I lifted the body of the walker up off of him and the kid looked at me with grateful eyes. I rolled my eyes at him and held a hand up, stopping him from whatever he was about to say. Daryl, Carol, and I all lifted the bookshelf and I grunted at how heavy the damn thing was. I could only imagine what it had taken for someone to move this damn thing in the first place. "Come on, just a little more," Daryl grunted as the shelf began to lift.

Finally it lifted completely off of the ground and the kid was able to slip out from under it. He shook his arms and legs out, making sure that everything was still working and he looked up at us with a smile. He was tall, towering over me and standing at about Daryl's height. He looked kind enough but I knew that we couldn't trust anyone these days. "Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you," he groveled to us.

"You okay? You okay?" Carol asked him and I smirked. Every once in a while I still saw her motherly side pop up. Just like when she had talked to me about children the other night.

The kid walked over to the window and I watched as he looked over the window. There were cars circling around the building and I felt myself growl in the back of my throat. This stupid kid had attracted people and now this was going to make our rescue a thousand times harder. "I'm still here. I gotta go. I gotta go. They're gonna come," he mumbled and I had to resist shooting him with an arrow. "They probably heard the shot. If they find me-" he continued on before Daryl cut him off.

"Who?" He asked the younger man.

He turned back to us and I saw the fear in his eyes as he continued to glance out of the window. "Them, people at the hospital," he told us slowly. My eyes widened as I realized that he had come from Grady Memorial Hospital. He might know Beth. And if he was running from them with such fear I knew that they weren't good people.

The kid began to run but before he could get away from us Daryl yelled to him. "Wait, wait, wait, just tell us- is there a blonde girl there? You see a blonde girl?" He asked as the boy turned back to us. I saw the recognition dawn in his eyes and I knew immediately that he knew who we were talking about.

"Beth?" He asked and elation lit across my face. "You know her?" He asked and the three of us nodded. "She helped me get out, but she's still there," he told us and we nodded.

Carol was looking out the window and I saw her eyes widen as she followed something that was clearly moving. "They're coming. We gotta go now. We gotta go. We gotta go. The building next door has a basement. It's clear. We'll be safe," she told us and we all nodded. Without another word we dashed back down the hallway and sprinted through the main room, avoiding any open spaces that we could. If we could avoid these people seeing us this could still be easy. We made our way to the doors and I could tell that the kid would slow us down with his badly injured leg. That damn shelf hadn't done anything in his favor.

We hit the doors and I turned back when I heard the screams of the kid. Turning back I saw that he had fallen and was struggling to get up. I rolled my eyes and began to run back to them with Carol behind me but Daryl waved us off. "Go, I got him. Come on, get up. Get up," Daryl told the kid as we ran to the doors.

The older woman was in front of me as she swung the doors open and headed to the building across the street. Without any warning though, I saw the front of a car turn around the corner, rocketing by. It was headed straight for Carol and I. I tried to speed up and grab her but it was too late. The old station wagon barreled into Carol and sent her flying and hit me roughly in the hip. I screamed as I went flying across the street and hit the ground roughly. My hip was in searing pain and I wondered briefly if those assholes had broken it. My vision was completely white and I tried to shake it free, but the pain was blinding.

Determined to get back to Carol though I forced myself to look straight ahead as I saw Carol, passed out, and being placed on a stretcher and two men pushing her into the car. "Carol," I muttered as I fought to get to her. The men that had grabbed her came over to me and I felt my heart rate quicken. They grabbed me under the arms, taking much less care with me than they had with Carol. "Get the hell off of me! Let go of her! Damn it! Fuck you, asshole! Get off of me!" I screamed at them, thrashing around despite the pain that shot through me with every movement. They led me over to the car and I stared in horror at the white cross that was painted on the back. They shoved me into the car and slammed the door. I fought to get out of the car but it became obvious that they had disabled the locks. "Who the hell are you?" I asked the two men as they revved the engine and began to drive.

A man in his mid forties, dark hair, and a mean face turned to me. "Officer's O'Donnell and Alvarado," he said pointing to a Spanish man with dark hair and a soft stare. I glared at the two men and balled my hands into fists. "We're here to help you and you friend. You are both hurt and need medical help immediately. We can get you to a hospital where we have the tools to help-" he began before I let my anger get the better out of me and I punched the passenger, O'Donnell, in the face. He reared back and I saw the panic in his partners eyes. "God damn it! We're trying to help," he hissed at me.

My eyes darkened as I leaned forward to the man, looking to see if there were any viable wires that I could pull. I could have yanked the wheel to the side but I didn't know what kind of state Carol was in, and I couldn't risk further injury on my part. "We don't need your help! Let us out of this damn car!" I yelled as I turned back. I could see Daryl yelling at the younger kid as they talked angrily back and forth.

The man named O'Donnell turned back to me as his partner continued driving to Grady Memorial and gave me what I'm sure was the sweetest look that he could muster. "Trust me, you need us," he told me and once more I reared my hand back and punched him in the nose. I felt his bone crack under my hand and I smirked. "Ah!" He yelled as he grabbed his nose. "Would you get her to stop punching me!?" He yelled to Alvarado. The last thing that I saw was a hand reeling towards the side of my head before everything went black.

"Would you stand up?" I heard Alvarado hiss as my vision began to return. I groaned as he pulled me into the hospital and my nerves immediately stood on end. I was here and Carol was being wheeled in right ahead of me. I tried to struggle with him but his grip on me was too tight and it hurt to stand on my own anyways. My hip was aching and I prayed that while I was here these people would give me some kick ass painkillers. There were doctors and cops walking everywhere and they were all staring at me. They looked well dressed and well groomed and I felt the need to scream at them. But Carol was wheeled into a room and my eyes shot to her.

Right before I was taken into the room I caught a flash of blonde hair just like my own and I turned to the side quickly. A girl a few years younger than me strode up to us and stared at me like she had seen a ghost. "Beth," I breathed out slowly.


	43. Broken

There were people standing all around us that were staring at both Beth and I but my eyes were fixed solely on the younger girl that I had been afraid that I was never going to see again. She had a long scar under her right eye and I knew that she had been cut recently. But it was stitched well and appeared that there was no infection present. She was wearing a hospital shirt with the ugly blue scrubs that most nurses wore. And had her long blonde hair was down and falling around her shoulders. She was staring at me like she had seen a ghost and I couldn't help but wonder if she thought that she would never see any of us again. I mean she had been here at least two weeks. Here, by herself. At least she had been with the kid.

Her eyes traveled over me as well and I slipped my hand behind my back. I wanted to tell her about the marriage but now wasn't the time. Her eyes brightened and mine did as well. My eyes shot behind her to a woman in a police outfit with her dark hair slicked back into a tight bun. Her eyes were locked on me and I immediately knew that this was the woman who was in charge of this place. Turning away from the older woman I walked up to Beth and grabbed her tightly.

Our arms wrapped around each other and I heard her sniffle lightly into my shoulder. Her arms were tight around my waist and I pulled her to me with my arms wrapped around her neck. She pulled away from me slightly but our arms still held the other tightly. With my left hand I brushed under her scar lightly and tilted her head up. It looked like she had been badly cut by something. I wondered if it was something that these people had done or if it had happened back when she was with Daryl. It looked recent but I wasn't absolutely sure. We finally released each other and Beth stared at me for a moment. "How- How did you get here? How did you find me?" She asked me, stuttering over her own words.

Smiling at her I went to say something to her but before I could the older woman walked up to us and I noticed that Beth had stiffened completely. She clearly was either afraid or uncomfortable with the situation. "Hello, I'm Dawn," the woman said to me and I nodded. I knew that I had to be cautious around this woman that I didn't know. "It's nice to have you here. We're very sorry about both you and your friend. My drivers weren't paying attention. We have some painkillers if you'd like?" She asked me. I shook my head at her. It hurt but I wasn't taking anything that these people were offering. I'd feel better in a few days. "Beth, who's your friend?" She asked the younger girl.

It was easy to tell that the woman scared Beth and I was sick of this. They had taken my group member, hit my other group member with a car, and separated me from my husband once more. Beth looked like she was about to say something to Dawn but I pushed her back and stepped in front of her. I noticed that the other cops and doctors had stopped what they were doing and were now smirking at me, but it didn't matter. My eyes were firmly locked on Dawn. "My name is Rain. And this," I continued as I pointed over to Beth. "Is my group member. You took her and I intend to take her back. And I will use whatever means are necessary," I hissed at Dawn.

She stared at me and smirked. "What a lovely name. Please do tell me how you intend to get her away from here. It seems to me that it's only two of you against all of us. And you with no weapons. We saved Beth from walkers and she owes us her time here. And now you. We saved you after you were hit by the car. You owe us," she told me with a dark smile.

Stepping up to her quickly I saw the fear that shot through Dawn's eyes and I knew that I had her cornered. But she was trying to look brave for her people. She stood straight and towered over me, but I wasn't afraid. "You have no idea what's coming to you. I will kill you and everyone here. You've made a bad enemy. You stole her from a good man and you stole me from nothing. I've taken nothing from you and I owe you nothing. Let us go and nothing has to happen," I told her, hoping that she would take the diplomatic solution.

With a laugh she shook her head at me and turned back to Beth who was standing behind me, watching the exchange with intent. "Beth, do me a favor and take her away from here. When she learns to behave like a proper lady who is thankful for being saved I think she'll make a good addition. Oh, and we didn't take Beth. She was being overpowered by walkers and had her arm broken. We were saving her," Dawn told me and I had to fight everything in me not to tackle the woman right there and kill her.

Thankfully Beth grabbed onto my arm and pulled me away from Dawn. We walked through all of the people that were lining the halls and I turned my angry glare from one person to the next. Most people turned away from my gaze but a few were matching it. Beth led me through the halls and I was watching where we walked. The hospital were completely unfamiliar to me but I knew that I had been here once before. Twenty three years ago I had been born here. It was amazing to think that the world had changed so much in that short of a time span. We walked through a few more winding hallways and I realized that the farther back that we went the less people there were. And back here it seemed that most people looked like they didn't want to be here.

Beth pulled me into a room right off of the main hallway and I slipped slightly as she turned quickly. I squeaked as my foot slipped and my hip twisted painfully but I caught myself on her arm. Glaring at Beth, the younger girl stared at me with a sorry look on her face and I sighed. She brought me over to a bed and the two of us sat down. I wanted to go check on Carol and make sure that she was OK but I knew that we needed to talk about everything that had happened first.

Falling onto the bed I turned to Beth with one leg hooked under the other and I smiled at her. She smiled back at me but I knew that she wasn't happy with what I had said to Dawn. More than likely I had started something that wasn't going to end well for us but it was something that I had to do. Dawn needed to know that she was fucking with the wrong people. Beth was only a little part of something bigger. "You shouldn't have done that," she told me like she was scolding a young child. "But thank you," she told me and I smiled at her with a shrug that she laughed at. "Now how did you get here? How did you know where to find me?" She asked me and I smiled.

Shifting so that I was laying against the wall and Beth was sitting cross legged in front of me she held her hands in her lap. I twisted my ring around my finger and made sure to keep it out of her sight for now. I wanted her to know but for the moment I should tell her what had happened since she had been gone. "Yeah, I guess a lot has happened since you went missing. I should start from the beginning," I told her and she nodded at me. "Well first of all, everyone is back together again," I told her softly making sure to keep my voice low to make sure that if anyone was listening in they wouldn't hear us talking.

The younger girl's eyes brightened and I was glad that it was the first thing that I had told her. She needed to know that everyone was safe and once we got her out of here we would all be together once more. The only thing we would need then was to head to D.C. And now we would have Beth with us. "Everyone?" She asked me with a smile.

I nodded at her and she breathed a puff of air out with a smile. "Yeah Beth. Everyone. Daryl joined up with another group after you two got separated. Rick, Carl, and Michonne all met up with them while Daryl was gone and they turned out to be not so good. Merle and I had been separated together and we watched on. When Daryl stepped out I revealed myself and we fought the men. Needless to say, we won. Once we were all together again we found a sign for this place called Terminus. It had a thing that said those who arrive, survive. We thought it was true so we went there. Turns out that they were nothing more than monsters. They had originally been a group who had taken people in. But they were sacked and after that they learned to not trust people. They kept the signs up and lured people into the place and turned around to eating them. They had turned into fucking cannibals. The only good thing that came out of that place was that we were reunited with Glenn, Maggie, Bob, and Sasha," I told her.

Her pretty bright blue eyes widened and she smiled at me brightly. I knew that she was excited that I had mentioned that her sister was alive and well. "Maggie was there? She's still alive?" She asked me.

Nodding at her I gave her a large and happy smile. "Yes she is. But anyways there were a few new people that we met. There's Tara, who was with my father when he attacked. She was the one that Rick called out," I told her and she nodded. I was glad that she at least knew what I was talking about. "Then we met a few others. There's Sergeant Abraham Ford who is tough as nails but very funny. I like him. Then there's Rosita Espinosa. She's about my age and I think you'd like her," I told Beth and she nodded. "And we met Eugene Porter. He's got a plan and that's what Rosita and Abraham were doing with him. He knows how to stop this thing. They were taking him to Washington D.C. That's what we're going to do once we get out of here," I told her.

For a moment I could see the gears turning through her head as she thought about it. I knew that it was shocking. Had we not been in such a dire situation I would have thought that he was lying. But Eugene seemed smart and I wasn't surprised that he knew what he was doing. "There's a cure?" She asked quietly and I nodded.

"That's why it's so vital that we get you out of here. We need to get on our way and figure out how we get to D.C." She nodded at me and I sighed. "Anyways, we escaped with the help of Carol, who was watching us get captured by this man Gareth and his men. We got out and then she showed us to Tyreese and Judith. We're all together. And we've found a place to stay for now. When we get out of there we'll head there first. It's a small church that is being held by a man that I knew before the outbreak when I was a kid. Father Gabriel, he's good man," I told her and she nodded at me.

Her leg extended and I watched her with a smile. It might not be in best of situations but I was glad that I was with the younger girl. I was fond of her but I had never gotten to spend that much time with her. Once we got out of here I intended to start spending more time with her. "So how did you get here? I mean how did you know where to go? And why didn't all of you come here to come after me?" She asked continuously and I laughed at her.

Holding my hand up she smiled and hushed herself. "I know, it wasn't really a plan to come get you yet. We wanted to come get you but we had no idea where you were. But Daryl, Carol, and I were out getting water and when we were on our way back we saw a car go by with a white cross on the back. Daryl knew that they were the same people that had taken you. We followed the car and hid out in the city for about a day before we realized that you were here. We got intercepted by some kid and saved him. He said that he knew you. He was going to take us to you and help the rescue but he fell and Daryl grabbed him. He told Carol and I to keep running. Right as we got outside she got hit by the car and they smashed into my hip. And now here we are," I told her.

She nodded, taking everything in before sighing. "We'll have to check on Carol soon and see what's going on with her condition. I'm glad you're OK at least. The boy that you were talking about. He was my age right, dark skin and short curly hair?" She asked me and I nodded. "Noah. I'm glad that he's safe," she said and I nodded. So now I knew that his name was Noah. "Are they coming for us?" She asked me and I nodded at her. With a deep sigh she leaned forward and I noticed that her eyes locked onto my finger. She grabbed my hand and pulled it to her face. "It's beautiful! Did Daryl really give you this?" She asked me with a bigger smile than I had ever seen grace her face.

Handing her the ring she turned it over and smiled as she held it up to the lights. I could see the lights reflecting in her eyes and I smiled at her. The ring was something that was so Beth it was shocking. "Yeah. After we took down the people who had been with Daryl he pulled me under this willow tree and said things that I would have never expected him to say. Then he went down on one knee and proposed to me. I stuttered for a while before I said yes. Rick, Merle, Carl, and Michonne were all watching and they applauded. Merle being the idiot that he is married us with the most ridiculous ceremony that you could think of. But it was everything that I could have ever wanted," I told her with a huge smile at the memory of the day.

She held her hand out to me and I took the ring back, slipping it onto my finger. She watched me as I stared at the ring and sighed. I missed my husband and everyone else. But it meant the world to me that I now knew that Beth was safe and sound. All I had to do was get her out of here. "Rain Dixon, it has a pretty ring to it. Much better than Blake," she told me with a smile and I nodded. "He showed me the ring before we got separated," she told me and me eyes shot up to her. "He told me that when he saw you again he was going to propose to you. I'm so glad that he got the chance to give it to you. He really wanted you to know how he felt about you," she told me with a smirk.

Laughing loudly, I shoved her to the side and she fell onto the bed. She laughed as she sat back up and I threw my hand over her shoulders. "I can't believe you knew! He must really trust you," I told her and she nodded. Something had happened when they were together but it wasn't any of my business. Just like the conversations that Merle and I had told each other, I knew that the conversations that Daryl and Beth had had were going to stay between them. "Hey, we're both going to get back to him. And I'm going to make sure that you get to have a long life with your sister," I told her with a smile.

Smiling at me she grabbed my hand and pulled me off of the bed as I stood with her. "I know that you will. You're tough and have a bigger heart than anyone would ever think. We'll get out of here. But there's one thing that we have to take care of first. Carol. We need to head to her room and check on her," she told me and I nodded. The two of us made our way back down the hallways and we passed plenty of people that were staring at me like I was some monster. I wanted nothing more than to attack one of them and get my weapons back but that wasn't going to work out in our favor. Beth turned into the room that Carol had been wheeled into and I looked down. She was hooked to a beeping monitor and had tubes sticking out of her. I sighed and laid my hand on her forehead. She was hot but I was determined to make sure that she lived.

"Excuse me. I'm just checking on her," someone said and I glanced up. An older man that was wearing a lab coat walked in and I stared at him. There was a tag on his coat that read Edwards and I stared sideways at the man. By the way that Beth was glaring at him I could tell that they weren't on the best of terms. But I was sure that she wasn't on the best of terms with anyone in here.

Beth grabbed my arm as we walked away and I stared at her. "Come on, let's go." We walked out of the room and headed down a hallway and I stared at her. "He crossed me after I had trusted him. I don't wanna be around him any more than I have to," she told me and I nodded. We made our way down the hall but voices made us stop.

We walked over to the area that we heard the voices in and we leaned onto the wall. Dawn and O'Donnell were inside a small office that I assumed was Dawn and the two looked like they were in a heated discussion. Part of me wanted to back away from the room but I knew that it was better that we listen in. We could learn something valuable. "That's your plan, huh?" Dawn asked O'Donnell angrily and I could tell that we had stumbled across something tense.

Beth turned to watch the scene as well and we stared at the pair trying as hard as possible to remain silent as we leaned onto the wall of the room. This clearly wasn't a conversation that had been meant to be overheard and I was shocked that they hadn't either closed the door or moved somewhere more private. He stared at Dawn for a moment and shook his head. "Look, we are doing everything we can. Licari is out in the sedan right now. If there is a sign of Noah, we are going to find him," he said and my head snapped to Beth. If they were looking for Noah that meant that they were after Daryl as well. And if they found the boys there was a good chance that they might accidentally be led back to the church where Judith was. The last thing we needed was for them to get a hold of a baby.

The leader of the hospital laughed and shook her head. "You just told me that your plan was counting on him screwing up," she said to him with the raise of her arms and a loud scoff. I smirked with my head aimed to the ground, glad that they had no real plan to capture Noah. Hopefully the boys would head back to the church and recruit everyone else for the day. They could get here and save us, today if they moved fast. If we were careful there wouldn't even have to be any blood spilled. But it didn't usually work like that. I could still hope though. She laughed and turned for a moment before facing O'Donnell once more. "That's some active police work right there. Was there anything else?" She asked him, pinching the bridge of her nose.

The ex police officer nodded his head at her and I watched as his eyes briefly darted over to the door. I pushed Beth back and we hid for a moment before looking back into the room My stomach tightened and I knew that this was going nowhere fast. "Yes, actually, there was. The patient in exam room two, she was half dead when I brought her in. She's not looking so good," he said and I felt my heart leap into my chest. Was Carol really that bad at the moment? It didn't matter, she was strong, she would get better. She had too.

It seemed that the leader of the hospital was as disgusted with his lack of faith as I was as she turned to him with a glare on her face. "This ain't Pin the Tail On the Donkey," she snapped at him and I leaned back, impressed with her. She was one that I had taken to be prim and proper. I hadn't expected her to lose her temper over something like some woman she didn't know.

The man scoffed at her reaction and walked over to the door. Once more Beth and I ducked down, but we watched the interaction carefully. "Are we really gonna keep wasting valuable resources on this lady?" He asked and I felt my blood boil. That was my family that they were talking about. "How much electricity does your DVD take?" He asked once more and my mouth went dry. She had a damn DVD player? Are you fucking kidding me? The only electricity we had used at the prison had been for necessities.

""Excuse me?" She asked him and he scoffed at her.

Without realizing that we were there he stepped past the door and circled her desk a few times before stopping in front of her and pointing into the corner. I followed his hand and saw that he sure as hell was pointing at a DVD player. I shook my head with a smirk, that was the same one that I used to have in my apartment. "We have very limited resources here. You charge it every day," O'Donnell told Dawn and for once I found myself siding with him. Not that he should kill Carol, but he was right. She was wasting what little resources they had.

She stood so that she was standing in front of the DVD player and glared at her partner. "Are you kidding me?" She asked him before Beth jumped through the door and walked into the room. I tried to grab her but I was too late. "Beth," I heard Dawn say as my group mate stood at the edge of the room and stared at her captor. Shaking my head, I stood and walked into the room with her and Dawn's eyes shifted from the younger girl to me. "And Rain," she said with a sigh.

Before speaking Beth turned back to me with a nervous glance and I nodded at her. I could tell that this separation had made her stronger than the little girl that she was before. She needed to say something to the leader that proved to her that they hadn't rescued some poor little girl from being devoured by walkers. We had to show that we were a force to be reckoned with. Both of us. "That woman has been here one day," Beth told the two others as she turned back to them.

"Beth," Dawn sighed, trying to get the younger girl to stop talking.

I went to walk up besides Beth and I noticed that Dawn dropped her hand to her hip. It was hovering right over her gun and I smirked. So the woman was afraid of me. Good. She should be. She had no idea what I was going to do to her and her people the minute that I got my guns back. "What good is this place if it doesn't try to save people?" Beth angrily asked.

For a moment I thought that Dawn was going to listen to the younger girl and support Beth in their attempt to save Carol. The room was silent for a moment before she finally shook her head and turned to O'Donnell, who was watching the scene with curiosity. "Turn off the machines," she told him and I saw the joy flash through his eyes. I began to walk forward to the woman but Beth grabbed my hand and forced me to stay where I was. "Tell Edwards to take the patient off of his rounds. If she pulls through on her own, then fine. But you're right. She's not worth the effort," Dawn said and my jaw nearly dropped to the floor. What the hell kind of hospital was this?

O'Donnell smugly walked out of the room and brushed by me with a smirk on his face. I growled and shoved into him as he walked and he smacked into the door. Beth giggled and I turned to the man with a bright smile. It looked like he might hit me back but he only grunted and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Dawn sighed and leaned onto her desk and Beth stormed up to her. "You just killed that woman," she told the leader of the hospital.

The leader leaned off of the desk and stared at the younger girl. She walked up to Beth like the girl had just slapped her and leaned over her. Beth wasn't that short but Dawn still towered over her. I felt my fists ball up at the sight and I stood ready to jump in if need be. "Who do you think I have to side with?" Dawn asked Beth with the shake of her head.

Shaking her head at the older woman Beth leaned up and I saw that Dawn backed away from her slightly. I smiled in pride at the fact that Beth was finally growing a backbone. Despite the fact that I had always been fond of the girl I had always thought that she was the weakest of us. But she was growing into her own skin now. "Tell him. Tell him you changed your mind," she hissed at Dawn. Part of me thought that Dawn would take the advice but I knew women like her. She held her power of authority on thin lines. She did what she did not because she was a leader, she did it because she knew that it was the favorite opinion with her people. That wasn't what a real leader did. That was what a coward did.

Lurching forward to Beth, Dawn leaned over the younger girl for a moment before turning back. I walked up to Beth and patted her on the back as I felt her release a shaky breath of air. "You don't know how fragile this thing is. There's nothing I can do," she said and I knew that I was right. She was a coward, not a leader. "So you'll just have to do it," Dawn said and I cocked my eyebrow. She leaned over her desk and grabbed a drawer. She pulled it open and grabbed a small box, opening it and grabbing a small key before shutting the drawer. "You're gonna save that woman's life. This is to the drug locker. I don't even trust Edwards with this. So take it," she said as she handed Beth the key.

The radio that rested on Dawn's hip began to buzz and I looked down to it. She grabbed it and fiddled with the dial on the top before a voice came through the channel. "It's Shepherd," the deep voice of a man called. "I'm on roof detail. Just heard a gunshot maybe a mile north-northeast," he said. I turned to Beth and she was staring at me with the same face that I was giving her. There were plenty of people that it could have been, but I knew who it was. It was our group coming to rescue us.

Pinching the bride of her nose once more I almost felt bad for the woman. I knew how irritating it was when things weren't going your way. And I could almost guarantee that I had had more shit thrown in my face in a week than she ever had. She grabbed the radio set and picked it up, holding the small electronic thing to her mouth. She hit the transmission button and I watched the anger flash through her eyes. "Grab Lamson, take a car and track it down," she told him.

"Yes, ma'am," the man responded before the line went dead and Dawn placed the radio back into her belt with a sigh. I watched as she walked back over to her desk and took a seat behind it.

Beth walked over to her desk and I did as well. But instead of walking up to her like the younger girl did, I took a seat. It felt so nice to sit in an actual chair. I was so used to sitting on a metal bench, or a lumpy bed, or the hard ground. It had been forever since I had sat in a fluffy chair. It felt like luxury to me. I guess it just showed how much things had changed in a short time period. "Why are you doing this?" Beth asked our captor as she crossed her arms over her chest.

The woman's eyes briefly flashed to me and I glared at her. My finger was twisting my ring once more and Dawn's eyes fell onto it. I laid once hand over my ring and Dawn shook her head at me. "I thought you were weak. You've proved me wrong," she said to Beth. The younger girl nodded and made her way over to me. She nodded at me and I stood, knowing that her nod was my cue to take our leave. Before we got to the door though, Dawn's voice stopped us. "You know, Rain. There aren't many people that I don't understand immediately after meeting them. But you're one of them. I don't get you. I can tell that you care, but you look like you might rip off my head at any given notice. You seem like too sweet of a person to have seen hardships that would turn you into this cold girl standing before me," she told me.

My eyes darkened and I turned away from her, grabbing the door handle and pushed it open. I was just going to leave and ignore what she had said to me, but something came over me. Without turning away from the door I let my head hang to the floor. "You have no idea what I've seen or done. Things that would make you run screaming from me. Things that would have killed you. The only reason that I'm still alive is because I have something that you lack. Control. But once I get anything back I intend to take out my years of anger on you. And when that time comes you'll wish that you had never been born," I told her.

Part of me wanted to turn back and look at her face but I refused to look any amount of weak. I walked out of the door and Beth followed, shutting the door behind us. I knew that she wanted to say something to me but there were no words for anything that I had just said. The younger girl pushed in front of me and led me back to the area where Carol was laying. But instead of heading to her room, we brushed past and headed to an office with the name Edwards on it. She pushed open the door and I saw the same man that we had seen in Carol's room earlier sitting at the desk. "Beth," he said in surprise before he looked over at me. He gave me a once over and nodded. "And you are? I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting each other," he told me.

"Rain," I answered him simply.

He held out his hand for me to shake but I merely stared at it. He seemed like a nice enough man but no one crossed any of us and got away with it. He lowered his hand awkwardly and smiled at me. "What a lovely name. I delivered a baby here a long time ago with that name. That was when I was a younger man and just starting out," he told me and my eyes widened. I had been born here a long time ago. Twenty three years, or something like that.

Was there any way that this was the man who had delivered me. He looked to be around his fifties so there was a good chance that he had been around his twenties when he had first started here and delivered that baby. And I knew that Rain wasn't a common name. "What was the father's name?" I asked quietly. Beth was staring at me but my eyes were locked firmly on the doctor.

His face dropped as he thought back and I knew that I had stumped him. It was a long time ago but I just had to know. "Oh my, that was such a long time ago I'm not sure if I remember. But it was one of the first babies that I delivered and she was so pretty. That, I remember. What was it? Blaire? No that wasn't it? Blake maybe?" He asked no one and I felt my heart leap. "I think that was his last name. Is that your father?" He asked me. I wanted nothing more than to ask him what the family had been like. How they had looked at their child and anything that they had said to her. If they had really even loved her.

But instead I kept my face even and shook my head at him. His face dropped at the thought that I wasn't the child and I sighed. It wasn't worth getting into that discussion. "No. I'm not a Blake," I told him and he nodded at me.

Cutting us off from our stare down, Beth walked over to the doctor and motioned towards his seats. "Can I?" She asked and he tore his face away from mine. I walked over to Beth and took a spot next to her as her hand softly landed on my arm. She knew that my family was a sensitive spot for me. For the longest time they had been my only weakness.

"Yeah, sure," he said and we both took a seat. It was odd seeing and hearing the formalities that were still used in this place. I suppose after such a long time of being on our own and having no real leader to look up to it had become custom for us to do whatever we pleased. Unlike these people we were down and dirty. Our methods were primitive and we fought like animals. We never asked where we needed to sit or what we should eat. We had turned into wild people but we still held onto our humanity. We would never turn into the Termites.

After a few beats of silence Beth finally leaned forward and I closed my eyes for a moment. God I was so tired. I hadn't gotten that much sleep last night and it had been quite a while since I had gotten to sleep in a real bed. The couches at the club weren't bad, but it bothered me thinking about what had happened on them. My skin began to crawl and I opened my eyes, looking at the doctor who was behind his desk and focused on Beth. "The woman in exam room two, what medicine would you give her?" She asked, getting down to business.

The man's brows furrowed as he stared at her for a moment before he finally shook his head at her. I knew that he was getting suspicious and the vicious part of me thought that it would be smart to just threaten him and knock him out once he had given us the answer. But Beth was going to be diplomatic about it. "Dawn called it," he said and I rolled my eyes.

Glancing over to Beth I saw that the irritation was beginning to surface in her eyes. I wanted to laugh at the younger girl. With every passing moment she was becoming more and more like me. But I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. "I know, but if you could, what would you give her?" She asked him.

He shrugged at her and my hands went to the rails of my chair. I gripped it tightly in irritation and let go quickly when I heard the snap of wood. Edwards glanced over to me but I glared at him and he turned away from me quickly, startled at my look. "She was in a car accident. She suffered internal injuries. It's just a guessing game," he told her with a sad glance.

"So guess," she told him and I smirked. That's my girl.

His stare turned suspicious and I waited for what he was planning to do. "You have the key," he said slowly and I started to stand. Beth put a hand gently on my leg and I begrudgingly sat back down. "Did you take it or did she give it to you? Because if she gave it to you, she did not do it out of the kindness of her heart," he said and I felt my eyebrows raise.

"Don't," Beth snapped, shutting the doctor up immediately. She had only told me that he had betrayed her but I had a feeling that this ran deeper than just a simple betrayal. Although Beth was a fiercely loyal person so I couldn't say that I was shocked at her actions. "Just tell me what medicine," she ordered him.

He stared at her sadly and for a moment I saw pity flash through her eyes. I wondered if she had thought of him like a second father. With Hershel dead and her being away from the rest of the group I knew that it had to be hard on her. I didn't blame her. It was hard to lose a parent that actually cared. I hadn't had any, but I had been devastated when Dale had died. I hoped that somewhere out there he was with his wife and they were happy. "I was trying to save my life. I'm still wondering if I did," he told her sadly but she ignored him. "Epinephrine drip, five milligrams. She won't wake up right away, but it'll ease her blood pressure so she'll have a shot," he told her and Beth nodded. Maybe this was his way of trying to make it up to her. "Hey. Good luck," he told us as we headed out of the office.

We stepped through the threshold of the office and I closed the door behind us. We began to walk down the hallway and Beth turned to me. She was so used to having someone else making the plans that this was a totally new concept to her. "Hey, this is yours. I'll follow what you say boss," I told her with a small wink. She let me know that she had a plan and I nodded to her, waiting in the small room that she had put me in. About ten minutes later Beth came back to the room and dragged me out.

We ran down the hallway and slipped by a few officers that were bent over a heavy set man who was in the middle of a coughing fit. I looked to her in concern but she merely pulled a strawberry out her scrub and I laughed. She had paid the man off to be our distraction. She laughed at my face and pulled me down the hallway. We slipped into a small office on the side of the of the hallway and waited for a few officers to pass us. Once they had we jumped out of the room and Beth led me down a hall. I motioned to her which room it was and she pointed to the last room on the left. I took the key and sprinted ahead of her. I slid as I passed the door and hit the ground on my knees. I hissed at the pain but ignored it. Quickly I raised the key and turned it in the slot, pushing the door open.

It fell open and I smirked. Knocking the door I walked in and Beth joined me, pushing the door closed behind her. We stepped into the room and scanned the shelf quickly. There wasn't much traffic in this part of the hospital but that didn't mean that we should dilly dally. I looked over the shelves but couldn't find what Edwards had told us to grab. After a moment though, Beth called to me and I walked over. In her hands was the medicine that we needed. I motioned for her to run back and get it to Carol while I locked up. She nodded and took off down the hall.

I slid the bottles back into their places and looked the room over. It looked like nothing had ever been in here and I nodded to myself. Turning out of the room, I closed the doors and leaned down to lock it. Quickly the lock clicked and I slipped the key into my pocket. I headed down the hallway, keeping my head low and dashed into Carol's room. I did notice the man reassuring the officers that he was fine now and I smiled. Beth was leaning over her drip and had just finished administering the medicine. I sighed and leaned onto the girl. "She's going to be OK," I said softly and Beth nodded to me. "Hey, I'm proud of you. You've come a long way from that girl back at the farm," I told her quietly.

The younger girl nodded at me and let her head fall softly on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into me. She put her hand against her face for a moment before she looked back up to me and sighed. "You know Rain, I would have never made it here on my own if it weren't for you." I raised my eyebrows at her and she smiled. "Everything that I've done recently has been because of you. Any brave thing that I've done has been because of you. You're the reason that I fight so hard now. Want to know what I saw the first time that we met?" She asked me and I thought about it for a moment.

Laughing slightly I sat on the chair that was next to Carol's bed and Beth joined me in the other one. "Yeah, bleeding with all sorts of profanities spewing from my mouth and so tired that I probably looked drunk. Yep, I'm a real good role model," I told her with a laugh ans I kicked my heels up onto the bed that Carol lay in. My shoes were dirty and I felt bad for getting the dirt on the sheets, but then again what did I really care? These people deserved it and much more.

Beth smiled at me and shook her head. "You're always the first one to have some smart ass comment," she told me and I gave her a cheesy grin. "But that isn't what I remember. I remember a pretty girl that stumbled into my house with bullet fragments in her hip. She was dehydrated and starved and wounded, but she refused to sit or get treatment. Instead she made sure that all of our resources were spent on one boy that she had no real connection too. She was covered in blood and dirt and was staggering around while pushing against the wall to keep standing. She never even accepted a chair to sit in. She was, and is, the strongest person that I have ever met. And every day I fought to become just like her," Beth told me with a smile.

Tears filled my eyes and I laughed and wiped them away. There weren't many people that could bring me to tears with simple words, but Beth had just become one. "Thank you Beth. I'm glad that you have someone to look up too. But don't follow in all of my footsteps, OK?" I asked her and she nodded. I stood and offered her my hand and the young girl took it. "Now, this isn't over. Carol will hopefully be up soon and we need to be ready when Rick and them get here. They were the ones that the gunfire came from. Let's go see what our dear little friend Dawn is up too," I told Beth with a smirk.

Beth smiled at me and nodded. The two of us made our way out of Carol's room, closing the door softly behind us. We made our way to Dawn's office and before I could even peak in through the door I could hear her talking to someone on her radio. Beth and I stood at the door as Dawn angrily fiddled with the radio. "Shepherd, Lamson, what's your 20? I need status on that gunfire. Do you copy?" She asked the men on the other end but no reply came. She sighed and hit the transmission button once more. "Licari, do you copy? Does anybody copy?" She asked but there was still no answer. "Damn it," she sighed as she slipped the radio back into her belt.

We walked into the room and Beth impressively managed to slap on a concerned face. She really was becoming a force to reckon with. Maybe she was starting to take after me. "Something wrong?" She asked as we strutted into the room and took our spots. Beth picked up a small stapler that was on the ground and began to straighten up the room. I stood off to the side and leaned against the door as Dawn watched the younger girl float around the room.

Once more Dawn sighed and I had to resist throwing something at her. What the hell did she have to be upset about? My father had tried to kill me, my husband had nearly been beaten to a bloody pulp, and I had been captured by psychopathic cannibals. I could guarantee that she had been having better days than me. "They don't always radio back and it drives me crazy," she said and I breathed out heavily. Give me a damn break. "Wait, no, no, no. Beth, no, not there. Up by the badges," Dawn said and I looked over. Beth was holding some glass figure and she placed it by a photo. "Thank you," Dawn said quietly.

I watched as Beth picked up the photo and looked it over a few times. I walked over to her and stared at the photo but the man meant nothing to me. I had never seen him before in my life. But clearly Beth knew this man somehow. Or at least she had an inkling of who he was. "Is this Captain Hanson?" She asked Dawn, showing the photo to the older woman.

Like clockwork Dawn sighed once more and I was about ready to strangle her. I knew that everyone in my group sighed a lot too but it was incredibly annoying when Dawn did it. Like she had the hardest life on the planet. But this was a castle compared to everything that was going on out there. "Did someone say something about him to you?" She asked my group member.

Beth shrugged and put the photo back down as she turned to Dawn. "Just that he used to be in charge," she said. Ah so that was it. Dawn hadn't been the first person to rule this place. This Captain Hanson had been the first owner. People here had probably gotten sick of something that he was doing so they had risen up and overthrown him. Probably killing him in the process. And then Dawn had taken over. Now she was afraid the same thing was going to happen to her. It all made sense now.

It seemed that Beth had come to the same conclusion as she glared darkly at Dawn. "Well, you'll hear stories about him. About me. About what I did," she said with a sad look on her face. She sighed once more with a heavy exhale and I felt my right eye twitch. Beth was watching me and laughed lightly as my eye twitched for a moment but quickly sobered as Dawn looked back at her. "He was my mentor. My friend. I miss him. That's the part the stories leave out," she said and I sighed. I knew how the little details being left out could change everything.

The room was quiet for a moment before Dawn walked away from us and Beth followed slowly. I knew that the young girl was genuinely curious as to what was happening in Dawn's mind right now. I wanted nothing more than to stab the woman but hey, whatever Beth wanted was fine too. "What happened to him?" Beth asked and Dawn sighed deeply. Once more my eye twitched but neither one of them was facing me to see it this time.

Dawn sighed as she turned to the younger girl with a sad smile on her face. I could tell that this was a soft spot with Dawn and I understood that. There were some things that were harder to talk about than others. "They risk their lives every time they go out there. It has to be worth it. It has to matter. He lost sight of that. So he lost them. Beth, in this job you don't need their love but you have to have their respect. Otherwise, the day is gonna come when you need backup and you don't have it," she said and I let a crooked smile pass over my face. That was the spot that she was in right now and it was going to bite her in the ass. Today, hopefully.

"And what comes next?" Beth asked, shattering the silence.

For a moment Dawn just stared at her before she shook her head and walked away from Beth and past me. She looked at me for a moment before nodding and taking her seat at the large black leather chair that was behind her desk. "Everybody goes down," Dawn said softly before turning her chair away from us. "Hanson lost his way. That's what happened," she said to no one in particular. Knowing that Dawn was done talking for now I grabbed Beth's arm and led her out of the small office. She sighed as we shut the door and began to walk down a hallway that I had never been down before.

We took a few steps around the corners and I heard voices yelling down the hallway. Pulling Beth with me around the corner I stood back as I saw Officer O'Donnell hovering over the man that Beth had recruited to be our diversion for the medicine. What the hell was he doing to the poor man? I didn't care about people that I didn't know, but this man had helped us save Carol. O'Donnell laughed cruelly as he grabbed the man by the collar and towered over him. "No, Percy, tell me. Should I use smaller words? Is the directive fix the hole in my sleeve too complicated for you?" He sneered and I scoffed. This was all about some damn hole?

Slowly I moved out from behind the corner and Percy immediately caught my eyes. I nodded to him but a cough from O'Donnell made him snap back over to the officer. He shook as O'Donnell leaned over him with a devious smirk. "I'm sorry. I forgot," the older man stammered as O'Donnell scoffed at his pathetic excuse.

He grabbed the older man close to him and sneered in his face. "Well, here's an idea. Don't forget," he hissed and I stepped up to the two men. Beth followed me and stood behind me. I was standing in front of her, making sure that O'Donnell was staring at me and not her. "What about you?" He asked me and I cocked my head at him. "You any good with needle and thread? Either of you?" He asked as he looked around me and stared darkly at Beth.

Sidestepping so that once more O'Donnell was forced to stare at me again. He grabbed my arm and without thinking I raised my hand to his throat, digging my nails in. I knew that it was painful as he grimaced at me but I merely continued to push my nails in. His grip was constricting but I was ignoring the pain. The officer finally released Percy and I nodded to the heavier man to get away from us. "You will let go of me if you intend to remain in one piece," I hissed to O'Donnell.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw O'Donnell raise his hand and my heart jumped. Right as he was about to bring his hand down onto me I heard a loud cough come from behind us. The officer dropped my arm and I released his throat. As he pulled away from me I saw the deep red marks that I had left and smirked at him. That's what he deserved. "I need her. I need both of them," Dawn said and the other man nodded slowly. "Sorry, we have a lot of work to do. Come on, girls," Dawn said and we followed her down the hallway. We walked down the hallway back to Dawn's office and I watched as she opened the door. "Percy's going to be okay," she said as she turned back to us.

"Nothing's okay," Beth said before turning away from the woman. She began to walk down the hall and I sighed, turning to follow her. Easily I met the young girl's pace once more and she walked down hall after hall. She seemed to be leading me to a hall that was off of the main area that had once been used for check in. We finally turned down a deserted hall and she led me over to an elevator that was opened, but with no car waiting. She sat on the edge and I glanced over. There were bodies all down at the bottom of the shaft and I could hear the growls of walkers. I snorted lightly. What kind of cool down spot was this? "What did I say?" She asked me and I sat down next to the younger girl, swinging my legs slightly. "Brave," she told me and I snorted.

What I had done wasn't brave. The man could have killed me, he was carrying a gun after all. I didn't really know why I had done it. I mean he was the man that had hit Carol and I with the car and I could tell that he was a little too interested in Beth. Shaking my head at her I let an arm fall behind her back. "Not brave Beth, stupid," I told her and she looked up at me. "There's a fine line and sometimes it's hard to differentiate the two. I still don't think that I've learned," I told her with a tiny smile.

It was true. I acted far to rashly sometimes. I suppose that it was something that came from when I was living on the streets. There was no time to waste out there. "You know, if I die because I did something stupid I won't be upset," she told me and my head shot up to her. She was not going to die. Not on my watch. Neither of us would, nor would Carol. We were going to make it out of here in one piece. "I wouldn't want any of you to be upset either. This life is too short to waste and I know that so far that's exactly what I've done," she sighed.

Grabbing her arm I forced to look at me and I shook my head. "Stop that. You've done more than you can imagine. You touched our lives here. I don't know what would have happened to Daryl if you weren't there with him. I owe you everything for what you did for him," I told her with a sigh and she smiled at me. I pulled her into a hug and the two of us sighed deeply. "So what is this?" I asked after a few beats of silence, pointing down the elevator shaft.

She glanced down and shook her head. I saw some of the bodies moving and I looked back up. It was sad to see what became of people once they turned to walkers. It's why we killed some of our people out of mercy. "It's where they throw the bodies when they can't save people. They become walkers but their bodies are so mangled when they hit the ground that they just lay there. Every once in a while they clean it out. It's sad really," she told me and I nodded. It was an ending made for an animal, not a person.

We sat together in silence for a while as we stared down the shaft. I wondered about the gun shot. Had it been from our side or theirs? I could only pray that they were here and close. This place was making me more and more nervous the longer that we were staying here. There was an air that made the place totally unsettling. I wasn't sure how long we had been there, swinging our legs back and forth while staring down the shaft. "Are you going to jump?" Dawn asked from behind us and my shoulders tensed.

Beth continued to stare down the shaft and Dawn came to take a seat besides the younger girl. "I wanted to be alone," she said and Dawn stared over at me. I glared at her, challenging her to say something and she merely nodded. "You left your elevator key where it was," Beth told the leader and I just stared. For some reason I had no idea what they were talking about.

Shaking her head at the younger girl I watched as Dawn shifted to her and turned so that she was looking at both Beth and I. "Well, I know you're not going anywhere. Either of you," she said with a smirk and I had to do everything in my power to not toss her into the shaft. We could always just say that she fell and we couldn't grab her. But O'Donnell would be an even worse leader.

It seemed that Beth was as angry about the answer as I was. "Neither are you," the younger girl snapped and I smirked. She was right, she was slowly becoming braver. It was about time, it had been a long time that she had been with us and I knew that she was never one to be the first to step up and solve a problem. She was slowly worming her way into being a valuable group member. "You you keep telling yourself you have to do whatever it takes just until this is all over. But it isn't over. This is it. This is who you are and what this place is until the end," Beth told Dawn and I saw the older woman's face fall.

The hall was silent for a moment before a cruel sneer snuck across the brunette woman's face. "This place saved you. I saved you. Twice," she said to Beth giving me a pointed look and I ground my teeth together. "The others don't know what you did. They think Joan was trying to get back at me and that Gorman and Jeffries were in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said and my eyes widened. What had Beth done before I had gotten here? It didn't matter, whatever she had done I was sure that it was well justified.

"That's what happened," Beth answered and I nodded slowly.

Dawn was staring at my group member and she gave a dark scoff. "Bullshit," she growled and I had to hold the edges of the elevator shaft so that I didn't push Dawn off of the floor. "I saw the smashed jar. I closed up my office and I fixed it before it could be a problem. You're a cop killer," she sneered and I saw the shock that crossed over the younger girls face.

Had Beth really killed someone? If so that made it the first living person that she had ever killed. Killing a walker was one thing, they were really more of monsters than people. But a living person was something completely different. Thinking back I remembered the first people that I had taken a hand in killing. Dave and Tony back at Hatlin's. That seemed like another life, not something that had happened a little over a year ago. I had changed so much in that short time. "I would never kill somebody," Beth denied with an angry stare.

Shaking her head, Dawn leaned over to Beth and stared at her. "But you did. What do you think would happen if the others found out?" She asked and I knew that Beth was shocked beyond words. "I protected you. And we helped that patient. I didn't have to, I wanted to. But there's a way things have to happen here. Don't you get that?" She asked sadly and Beth merely stared at her. I stood and Dawn followed my movements, clearly not trusting me yet. I didn't blame her the slightest bit.

There was the slam of a door off to the right and all three of us turned quickly. Coming out from the door, O'Donnell was stomping out of a room that I had thought was empty. He walked up to us and immediately Beth stood as well. I wished nothing more than for me to have my gun on me. It did not look like he was here for anything good. "What are you gonna do?" He yelled to Dawn and she drew her gun out, pointing it at the man. He merely scoffed and shook his head at her. "No, Dawn, what are you gonna do? Starting with them," he growled pointing to both Beth and I.

"They are both my wards," she said and I felt my blood boil. I was not her ward. But I knew that she was only saying those things so that she could avoid a fight. Swallowing my pride I ignored the comment and stood back with Beth at my side. "It's my call," she said slowly and I knew that Dawn was nervous. It looked like O'Donnell knew it too.

He scoffed at her and shook his head. "Fine, but your people deserve to know who they're working for," he hissed at her. He wasn't wearing his belt with the gun on it and I was grateful. This would go south fast if he had any type of weapon on him. He gave her a nasty grin and motioned behind him. "So, you gonna tell them or am I?" He asked her and I growled deep in my throat.

She stared at him in shock and shook her head like she had never seen this man before. I had known that he was bad news from the start. "You don't get to threaten me," she hissed at him with her gun raised to his heart.

Shaking his head at her he moved to the side and Dawn moved with him. They were now moved so that Beth and I were almost in the middle of the confrontation and I knew that we should move, but it was almost like I was frozen in my spot. "That's not a threat. But these are the facts. You look like shit. The guys are talking. They think you're cracking. This is Hanson all over again. It's time to make a change," he told her and I saw the fear flash through her eyes. It was exactly what I had thought earlier.

Dawn moved forward so that she was standing close to the man and I stared at both. "O'Donnell. You're wrong. I'm nothing like Hanson. I was the one who killed him, remember that?" She asked him and I saw his face fall. His death was clearly a sore spot with most of the people here. "I was the only one who could go through with it," she told him with a scoff.

"Lower your weapon, Dawn," he ordered her.

She growled at him and kept her gun pointed to his heart. "All I have to do is shout. All I have to do is say you came at me," she said and I shrugged, surprised. She didn't seem like the type to kill him and then lie about what had happened, but I wouldn't be shocked if she did it now. She was trying to protect herself, and us, from O'Donnell. "Beth, Rain, get out of the way," Dawn told us and we both moved back.

He shifted on his feet at the sight of her gun and gave her the cruel smile once more. I could tell that he doubted her and I knew that it wasn't a good idea. All four of us were not going to come out of this unscathed, and it would not be Beth or I. To hell with the other two. They had screwed us over enough. "You're not gonna do this," he told her with confidence seeping from his voice.

She shook her head and pushed her gun behind him. "You're not giving me a choice. Go," she told him, trying to solve this diplomatically. But that wasn't the way that this was going to go down.

Stepping up to her Dawn kept her gun raised but I could see it in her eyes. She wasn't going to shoot him. "We were rookies together," he told her and I shook my head. It reminded me of Rick and Shane. Best friends before the breakout, but things changed so much and so did people. "You knew my wife. You were here in this hospital having cigars with me in the parking lot when my kid was born." Dawn opened her mouth to say something but O'Donnell raised his hand to cut her off. "Don't. That guy is gone. We're supposed to protect people. To help them. But look at you. You're beating the old man," he growled at her.

Meeting his gaze she took another step to him and I sucked in my breath at how close the two were to each other. "You're laughing with your buddies about that poor girl getting raped. That's who you are now," she said and my eyes darkened. I knew that he was that type of person. He had just given me that feeling that he wasn't one to take no for an answer. He could rot in hell with Mitch and my father.

"So who the hell are you?" He asked her.

Smiling at him she set the gun at his head and for a moment I saw the fear pass through his eyes. But he smiled and I knew that he doubted her. "Somebody who's not gonna let it happen anymore," Dawn said and for a moment I was proud of the woman. She was finally standing up for herself and that was what a real leader did.

Growling at her, he shook his head and stared down the barrel of her gun. I knew what it was like to have a gun pointed at you, but I also knew what it was like to have someone about to shoot me that would really pull the trigger. "That's not what this is about. It's about holding on to what you have," he told her and I shook my head. None of us had anything anymore. Only each other.

"What the hell do I have?" She asked him and I nodded.

He moved towards her and my eyes tracked his every movement carefully. "This isn't you. After Hanson, you changed," he told her and she shook her head. Without any warning he jumped up to her and smacked the gun out of her hands. I tried to grab it but he had cracked the slide and I yelled in frustration. They were tangled together and trying to push the other towards the elevator shaft. I stared at Beth, wondering if we should do something. She stared back at me and I shrugged. O'Donnell could rot for all I cared, but for some reason I didn't think that Dawn deserved to die like this. "You think you're better than us?!" He yelled at her. Beth ran up to held and I tried to grab her but she easily pulled away from me. She tried to separate the pair but O'Donnell grabbed her and shoved her off of himself. "Stay in your lane, bitch!" He yelled to her and she flew back to the ground.

The younger girl gasped and I noticed Dawn turn back to her. "Beth!" She yelled and I ran to help the younger girl up. But just as I got to her she motioned for me to go back to help the woman. I ran over and ducking past them, I swung my palm up into the man's temple. He howled in pain and released Dawn, who stumbled back. I pushed the woman behind me and she ran to help Beth up. O'Donnell quickly recovered and swung at me. I hooked my leg around his and pulled him to the ground. He fell back, but right on top of me. I screamed at the sudden pain that shot through my ribs and I pushed him to the side. He was so concerned at the fact that he needed to get to me that he didn't realize that I was rolling us right to the elevator shaft.

Glancing back I realized that we were right on the threshold of the shaft. I flipped us once more and his legs flipped off of the ground and he slipped into the shaft. I thought that it was over but right as he fell through he grabbed my leg. We both screamed as he pulled me into the shaft with him and I heard the shouts of Beth and Dawn as well. We fell slowly and I felt the weight from O'Donnell tugging painfully at my leg. I yelled at the heavy tug of his weight and pulled my leg up. With one harsh movement I shoved my heel into his face and he howled in pain. Over and over I kicked in the face until he finally lost his grip and fell. I sighed at the loss of the weight but I grimaced at the sound of his screams and the harsh thud that came as he hit the bottom of the shaft.

There were the growls of walkers below us and I felt my heart pounding. My grip was only so good and I knew that it would give out soon. Finally I saw Beth and Dawn lean over the shaft and both women grabbed my arms. They pulled me up and I groaned as they slipped me over the edge and we all fell heavily to the floor, leaning on each other. Beth grabbed me in a hug and I sighed in her ear, shaking slightly from the encounter. "Thank you," Dawn said softly and I scoffed at her. Quickly I stood and took a moment to gather myself.

Once I knew that my feet were back and my bearings together I stormed down the hall and heard Beth's footsteps catch up with me. I was heading to Carol's room to make sure that the woman was doing better and hadn't slipped out of consciousness and into the veil since Beth and I had been gone. We made our way through the winding halls and both turned into Carol's room. I strutted in with Beth at my side and I dropped into the chair. Carol was moving slightly with the noise but she looked like she was still fast asleep. Hopefully she would be up soon though. Beth leaned against the wall and I let my head fall into my hands.

The door of the room was pushed open but I refused to look up. It didn't matter who it was. "I'm sorry Rain. I didn't mean for that to happen," Dawn told me and I felt my teeth grind together. I just wanted her away from me. For damn near two years I was always within an inch of death. For one day I just wanted to sit in a house and make food that I couldn't cook and burn it and laugh with my husband. I wanted to watch a movie and bring our friends over and drink and have a good time. Then I wanted to have some drunk fun with him and go to bed in an actual bed and wake up and go to work with a hangover. For one day I just wanted a normal life. "It's okay to cry," Dawn said, snapping me out of my unrealistic thoughts.

"I don't cry anymore," Beth answered Dawn quickly. I glanced up and saw that the younger girl was propped on one foot in the corner of the room and was staring harshly at the floor. I wondered if she was angry about what had happened to me.

Sighing deeply Dawn took a stand besides me and I had to resist punching her. If I hit her at just the right angle I could drive the bones that made up her nose into her skull and kill her. I shivered slightly when I realized how that thought hadn't even bothered me in the slightest. I was turning cold. "I do. I just don't let them see it," she said. The older woman was holding a drink and I stared at it. "It's from my own stash. There's no strings," she told me but I shooed the drink away. I didn't need to be drunk right now. "I know now why you covered for me. You weren't protecting me. You were protecting yourself," Dawn told me.

Snorting slightly I dug at the dirt under my nails and made it a point to not look at the older woman. It was funny that she seemed to always be the one that was the reason that I was getting screwed in this place. "Is that so?" I sneered at her and I heard the soft sigh she made.

I watched as her foot turned from me and I knew that she had given up on making conversation with me and was now going to give it a shot with Beth. "Gorman, Jeffries, O'Donnell they were problems for you," Dawn said and I was shocked that she was the one to accuse Beth of what had happened back at the elevator. Dawn had been the reason that he had come after us. "And now they're not. And you didn't have to do the dirty work. That's how things get done here. Everyone uses people to get what they want. You're not the ones who have to remember. Is that what happened with Edwards and Trevitt? He used you?" She asked my group member.

Beth stared at the woman angrily and I knew that this was going to get nasty soon. They clearly were done with being nice to each other and I didn't blame either of them. This was getting tired as they went back and forth between friendliness and pure anger. "I'm gonna get out. Just like Noah," she told the older woman and I nodded. We both were.

"He'll be back," Dawn said with the most confidence I had ever heard from one person who seemed to be so weak. I couldn't believe that Dawn could stand there like that after everything that had happened.

The two stared at each other and Beth leaned forward to Dawn like she was ready to challenge the older woman. Every moment I saw Beth becoming braver and it was astounding to see how much she had changed. "He's going home," Beth told the older woman.

Dawn shook her head at the younger girl and I felt my blood boil. She had no idea when to quit. "They always come back. They don't ever get far because they can't. But really they don't want to," Dawn said and I shook my head. That was utter shit. I wanted to get out of here and I would. And I would never want to come back.

"He's going home," Beth repeated.

Dawn laughed and circled so that she was standing to face the both of us. "I was like the both you when I was younger. Nobody could tell me anything. I'm not stupid. You know her," she said to us, pointing to Carol. "Obviously if Rain knows her and you know Rain the three of you all know each other. And somehow you all wound up here. Maybe that means something. Beth, you can be a part of this thing. Both of you. This is important. Maybe the most important thing you do in your life. And what you did back there, Gorman and O'Donnell hurt people. The world didn't lose anything when they died. And you're wrong about what happened. I didn't use you. And I will remember," Dawn said before stalking out of the room.

Muttering to myself I stood and watched as Beth pulled her clothes that she had been in out from under the bed. She changed quickly and I walked outside at the knock on the door. A woman that I had never seen was handing me my weapons and I stared at her confusedly. But right before I asked what she was doing I saw a large group of people that were standing outside of the door. The first thing I saw was the long brown, curly hair. It was Rick.I grabbed my weapons and glared at the woman but she merely shrugged. My knives weren't in the pile and neither were my arrows. They had given me my gun back but the magazine was empty. I scoffed but ran back into Carol's room. Beth was slipping a pair of scissors into her cast but I chose to not question her.

Another nurse walked into the room and helped us lift a slowly waking Carol into a wheelchair. This was it. We were getting out of here. Beth was back in her jeans and a yellow collared shirt and her hair was back up in a ponytail. She looked like herself again. She smiled as I tucked my bow and gun to my body and we both gave Carol a huge smile. She gasped at the sight of Beth and I nodded to the older woman. We were going to be OK. Beth grabbed the handles of Carol's wheelchair and we began to walk out of the room. As we left I saw that our entire group was standing down the hallway, waiting with the people from the hospital standing across from them.

We made our way through the crowd and stood in the front by Dawn, looking at our group. For some reason it shocked me that they were standing here in front of them. I hadn't even been gone a day but it seemed like I had been gone forever. I was shocked to see that most of the group was missing. Rick was here and standing in front, looking relieved to see us but angry beyond belief. Noah was here too and he looked ecstatic to see his friend. He gave me an apologetic glance and I shook my head. No need to be sorry. What was done was done. Sasha was there as well with a nasty gash in her forehead and so was Tyreese. Daryl was standing right behind Rick and I noticed that his eyes landed on both Beth and Carol with pure relief. He looked over to me and I nodded to him. His eyes darted down to my ring and he sighed. There were two men with the group as well that I didn't know. They seemed to be with Dawn though.

We hadn't even been married a week and I had already been captured twice. Granted once he had been with me and the other time hadn't been my fault, but still. It seemed like this would never go back to the simplicity of something like when we had lived at the farm. That had been paradise compared to this. "I'm Rick Grimes. I was a deputy in the King County Sheriff's Department," he said and I nodded. It was a good thing to say. "I'm here to make a proposal," he told Dawn with a glare.

She stared at our group nervously and I smirked. I had told her that she had made enemies with the wrong people. She was about to find out why. "Lay your weapon on the ground," she ordered and I saw the fury flash through all of their eyes. I nearly laughed at the unanimous look. That was exactly what I had expected my family to do.

The hall was silent for a moment before Rick finally nodded and dropped his gun to the floor. "All right," he said as the rest of the group slowly dropped their weapons and stood back up, staring down the people of the hospital.

"What's your proposal?" Dawn asked.

I realized that she was blocked from seeing the officers that my group had with them. The only reason that I could see her was because I was standing on the edge of the room and I could see past Daryl and Noah. "You have three of my people, I have two of yours. We want to make an exchange. Then we'll be on our way. No one gets hurt," he said. I could tell that she was going to have an issue with the fact that it wasn't technically an even trade.

She tried to look past the group but she couldn't see the men that were in the back of the crowd. "Who?" She asked with the slightest hint of a hiss in her voice. She was angry because she was losing, and she knew it.

Rick nodded back to the group and Daryl grabbed the two men, pulling them with him up to the front. I saw the anger cross her face and I nearly laughed at her. "Officers Shepherd and Licari for Beth, Carol and Rain," Rick said. Officer Licari was a heavy set man that appeared to be in his mid thirties and was balding. Shepherd, the man that was on the radio earlier, I realized was not a man but a woman with dark hair and a thin body. "You picked up two women yesterday after your people hit her with a car," Rick said angrily.

My eyes widened at his words and I turned to look at Beth. We had stayed up all through the night? It had felt like the day had been dragging on but I had thought that it was just because I was annoyed with being here. I guess my fatigue was explained now. We had been awake for an entire day without sleeping. "How exactly is this a fair trade? That's two of my people for three of yours. What do I get for the extra person?" Dawn asked and I whipped around to her.

But her eyes were locked on Rick and the rest of my group. Daryl took a step forward but was pulled back by Rick at the sight of the other side grabbing their weapons. "How about you get to keep your head?" He hissed at her and I saw the fear cross her eyes. I smirked at her reaction and nearly grabbed Daryl into a hug.

He looked to me and I motioned for him to calm down. We wanted this to go as easy as possible. Dawn noticed our quick exchange and I instinctively covered the ring on my finger that she had spotted earlier. "So this is the man that the ring is for?" She asked me and I stared at her angrily. "He's very much a proper fit for you. I'm sure you both make a lovely couple," she told me with a nasty smirk and I had to resist the urge to smash my bow over her head. "Anyways, moving on. Noah, he's with you? That's how you know?" She asked Rick turning back to the group and I slowly let my hands fall out of the ball that they were in.

"Yes, he is," Rick said and moved to the side so that Noah could step out into view.

She nodded and stood with one hip out as she glanced over the rest of the group that was standing before her. "What about Officer Lamson?" She asked her people.

"He was attacked by the dead before we got to him," Rick told her.

She stared at our group but no one was willing to move. Everyone was waiting to see what was going to happen. "Where are your people?" She asked and I tuned in, also curious as to where everyone else was.

There was a soft gunshot out in the distance and I jumped slightly. God I hoped that it was one of her people. "They're close. Radio your lieutenant," Rick ordered, not realizing that Dawn was indeed the leader here.

"Where's Lamson?" Dawn asked once more.

I rolled my eyes at this. It was getting stupid and repetitive. This needed to end now. Shepherd stepped forward and walked a tiny bit closer to her leader before Rick stopped her. "Rotters got him," she said and I shrugged at the name that they had for the walkers. It was better than biters. I had always thought that it was a stupid name for them. "We saw it go down," she admitted.

Dawn sighed and shook her head. For once I agreed with her. This was getting stupid, it was taking far too long to make a simple trade. If we kept going at this pace we were never going to get back to our group. Something was going to blow up first. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. He was one of the good guys. One of yours for one of mine," she said and I finally nodded.

"All right," Rick said and he grabbed Licari and forced him forward. "Move," he growled at the man and he slowly made his way over to Dawn. He walked by and Beth pushed Carol's wheelchair to the middle of the hallway. Daryl came forward to grab her and gave the girl a reassuring nod. He grabbed Carol's shoulder as he wheeled her back to our side and turned. Shepherd was moved to Dawn next and I nodded at Beth to move first. I wanted everyone safe before I moved.

Before Beth could make her move though, Dawn grabbed both of us by the shoulders and nodded to us. "Glad we could work things out," she told us and there were a few mutters of agreement. She released us and I went to shove Beth forward. But a small whisper from our side made both of us stop in our tracks. "Now I just need Noah. And then you can leave," Dawn whispered and I turned to her so fast that I had thought I might have whiplash for a moment.

I knew that this wasn't going to work just like that. "That wasn't part of the deal," Rick hissed and I saw his hand twitch for his gun that was currently on the floor. Daryl was staring her down harshly and he stepped in front of the younger boy.

Dawn shrugged her shoulders and stood her ground. I watched as Beth stared at the woman and for a moment my mind flashed to the scissors that she was hiding in her cast. "Noah was my ward. Beth took his place and I'm losing her, so I need him back. Plus, it should be a fair trade. I still have Rain and you have Noah. Three for three," she said and I saw Daryl's eyes light with seething anger.

"Ma'am, please, it's not-" Shepherd began before Dawn cut her off.

"Shepherd! My officers put their lives on the line to find him. One of them died," she growled and I saw Shepherd shrink back into herself. The poor woman actually looked like a decent person and I wondered how she could have put up with Dawn for so long.

Daryl stepped forward and I could tell that he had actually grown rather fond of the kid over the last day and a half. Maybe they had been given time to bond while they were gone. "No, he ain't staying," Daryl hissed.

"He's one of mine," Dawn told him with a shrug.

My eyes darted back to Noah and I saw that he was looking back and forth between everyone who was talking. The poor kid was torn between staying somewhere that he didn't want to be and potentially starting a fight. "You have no claim on him. The boy wants to go home, so you have no claim on him," Rick told her with his jaw tightened.

Dawn shook her head and turned away from the group. "Well, then we don't have a deal," she said with the arrogance dripping from her voice. I couldn't believe her. These were her people and she was just going to leave them with us, not knowing what we would do to them. I was wrong, she had no redeeming qualities. She was nothing more than a pathetic coward.

"The deal is done," Rick growled to Dawn who turned back around with a triumphant smile on her face. If nothing else my group could run and they would have Carol back. Beth and I could distract the rest of the hospital people. We would get them out of here safely and later on we could find a way out of here by ourselves.

I saw Noah walk past the front lines of my group and I felt my heart drop into my stomach. The look on his face told me everything that I needed to know. He was going to sacrifice himself for us. "It's okay," he said as he walked by everyone. He passed me and gave me a sad grin and I shook my head at him. He couldn't do this.

Beth watched Noah walk past and she grabbed onto his arm. "No. No," she told him and he smiled at her. He pulled her into a hug and I felt a twang in my chest. They could have been together. I saw the beginnings of a relationship there. But because of Dawn she was going to ruin Beth's chance at love. Well, her third chance at love. But still.

"I got to do it," Noah told her.

"It's not okay," she told him, clearly desperate to get him to stay.

He pulled her arm gently off of his and I sighed when I saw the broken look in her eyes. She was so determined to get him to come with us but the boy had made his choice. We would just have to roll with it and thank him for letting the rest of us be together. Maybe it was his way of saying he was sorry for the car accident. "It's settled," he told her before he turned away and made his way to Dawn.

"Wait!" She yelled and he turned back to her for a moment before she ran up to him. I followed, making sure that I could keep a close eye on Dawn. The last thing that we needed was an accident right now.

He grabbed her into a hug one last time and when he released her he gave me a hug as well. I patted him on the back and gave him a sad smile as he turned back to Beth. "It's okay," he told her before walking back over to Dawn.

Dawn smirked as he walked up to her and she patted the boy on the back the same way that he had done with me. "I knew you'd be back," she told him even though she was looking over at Beth. I felt my blood boil and I knew that Beth's was as well at her words. She was mocking us for what she had said earlier.

Beth walked up to Dawn and I watched carefully as the girl stood in Dawn's face. I moved back over to the pair and stood next to them, watching the scene carefully, not really trusting either of them. "I get it now," Beth told her.

The younger girl's hand moved down and I watched as the scissors slid out and she carefully folded her hands over the blade. I watched, mesmerized as I waited to see if she would really do something. The hall was silent and I finally saw Beth grab the handle and point the blade. It seemed that everything moved in slow motion as she moved the blade out slightly. "Beth no!" I screamed as the girl dug the blade into Dawn's shoulder. I jumped to the side to knock Beth out of the way but I heard a gunshot go off. I hit the ground harshly and rolled to get to Beth. She was laying on her side and Dawn was on the ground as well. The room was silent as I slid over to the younger girl, stumbling over a shocked Dawn. I noticed that blood was on my hands and I began to tear up. I rolled Beth over and saw it. Dawn had shot her straight through the head as a jerk reaction. Beth was dead. And I hadn't been able to save her.

"Rain move!" I heard the distorted voice of Daryl call. I jumped off of Dawn and watched as Daryl raised his gun and shot Dawn in the forehead just like she had shot Beth. The room was ringing and I saw everyone move for their guns, but everything was dizzy. The shot had been right next to my head and it had been loud as hell.

"No! Hold your fire! It's over. It was just about her," Shepherd said and everyone dropped their weapons. I crawled back over to Beth and cradled her body in my arms. Daryl came over and I realized that he was crying as well. He leaned down next to me and I wrapped an arm around him as we both leaned over Beth. "Stand down," Shepherd said softly. The only noise that there was now was the crying and sniffling coming from our side of the group. Beth had been so young. She was foolish to do that. She didn't deserve this. I should have been faster. I could have stopped her when I saw her take the scissors. "You can stay. We're surviving here. It's better than out there," Shepherd told us and I looked up to her with a small shake of my head. After this, there were too many memories here.

I heard the footsteps of Rick walk up to us and he leaned down with us to check on Beth. He sobbed for a moment before he stood back up and looked to the group from the hospital. "No. And I'm taking anyone back there who wants to leave. If you want to come with us just step forward now," he said to them. Only Noah took up his offer.

Daryl grabbed Beth in his arms and picked her up bridal style, cradling her body to his chest. Suddenly my mind shot to Maggie and my heart dropped to the floor. "Is she here?" I asked Rick. It didn't seem like he nodded to be told who I was talking about. He nodded at me and I sighed heavily. "I'm going to go out and tell Maggie. She doesn't need to see her sister like this. She deserves to hear it first," I said softly before standing and making my way over to the rest of the group, Daryl and Rick in tow with me.

They all nodded and I turned to Daryl, wiping the tears from my eyes. "Be careful," he told me and I nodded. Softly, I padded out of the hall and headed out to the entrance of the hospital. There in wait was the remainder of our group. Rosita, Eugene, Merle, Michonne, Carl, Judith, Father Gabriel, Glenn and Abraham were all standing together. And right in the front of the group was Maggie who stared at me happily. For a moment I looked over the group and wondered where Bob was.

My friend came dashing up to me and I caught her in an embrace. She probably knew that something was wrong by the way that I was moving so slowly and I knew that my face was still trying to catch up with what had happened. Maggie looked so happy and I almost couldn't bear to tell her what had happened. "Rain! Oh thank God you're OK! You nearly gave us a heart attack! We thought that you guys were all dead in there. We heard two gunshots, is everyone OK?" She asked as she pulled away from me.

Holding her by her shoulders I looked into her eyes and fought with myself over how to break it to her. I wanted to do it as easily as possible but I knew that I didn't have much time before the others came out here. "Maggie look. There was an issue with the trade," I told her and her face immediately sobered. I looked back and saw that everyone else was staring at me curiously. "The woman that runs the place wanted three people for her to give up her three. We had to settle things violently," I told her softly. I wanted to ease her into it.

"Well, what happened?" She asked me with teary eyes. She didn't even know what had happened but I was sure that my face was giving away the fact that it hadn't gone well. "Is- is Beth OK? Is everyone OK?" She asked me and I found it nearly impossible to spit the words out. "Rain, please tell me what happened," Maggie pleaded with me. I finally got my words together but right as I was about to break the news to her, I heard the door to the hospital open. Fuck, I was too late. Rick walked out first and right behind him was Daryl, with Beth's corpse in his arms. She turned to me and I shook my head. "Beth... No! No! No!" She screamed.

She tried to run to her late sister but I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down. She didn't need to see Beth. Not like that. She wouldn't have wanted it. "Maggie don't!" I yelled as the last remaining Greene struggled against my grip. Glenn ran over to us and helped me keep his wife down. We were trying to hide her face from the scene but it wasn't easy. She cried loudly into my shoulder and I cried as well. I couldn't believe that I couldn't save her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I tried to save her. I tried but I couldn't," I cried into Maggie's ear. I saw Daryl had dropped onto his knees with Beth in his arms and I sobbed. What were we doing? We were broken.


	44. Virginia

It has been seventeen days since we left Grady Memorial Hospital. Seventeen days since Daryl shot Dawn. Seventeen days since Beth had been killed right in front of me. Seventeen days since I had found out that Bob had been bitten by a walker. He had been found by the Termites out in the woods and they had attacked him. While they had him with them they had eaten his leg. Rick and the others had found them and brought them into the church. There Rick had lived up to his promise and he had killed Gareth with the red handled machete. They were gone and Bob had died that day as well. They were gone but it made no difference to me anymore.

No one was speaking to each other. Only enough so that we knew what we had to do. I hadn't said more than twenty words to Daryl in the past two and a half weeks. We sat together most of the time but it was only a stony silence. He was in pain over her death and I wasn't ready to talk about my last day with her yet. After the death of Bob and Beth the group had made the decision to move on to Richmond, Virginia. It was where Noah was from and his family had last been there. Beth had apparently told the boy that she would get him there when she left Grady. We were honoring her last wish by bringing him to his family.

Once we got him there, safe with his family we would move on and head to D.C. Eugene had apparently spilled the beans and told the group that he didn't have a cure. It was only a way to keep himself safe. It was a good plan on his part but it crushed our hope. Still, Georgia had too many memories for us and the best chance at finding any civilization was Washington D.C. Right now we were in Richmond and Glenn, Rick, Tyreese, and Michonne were escorting Noah to his home. They had been gone for a few hours and I was getting nervous but they knew what they were doing. Everything would be fine.

As we waited I sat in the car with Daryl next to me in the backseat. My hand was on his thigh and he was staring at the back of the chair in front of him. I had been trying to think of something to say but I couldn't. Maggie had been in the car too but she had left to sit in the grass by herself. She was crying and I was watching her closely, just in case. In the car ahead of us I saw Sasha stretched out. She had been silent since Bob's death and I knew that it was taking a toll on her. Their deaths had taken a toll on everyone. But it was mostly Daryl, Maggie and Sasha. I had been checked out too but I was slowly coming back.

Turning away from where Maggie sat I faced Daryl and tried to get him to look at me. Sighing deeply at him I reached into his pocket and grabbed the box of cigarettes and his lighter. I wasn't much for smoking but this seemed like an appropriate time. I lit the small cigarette and took a long drag before blowing out and handing it to Daryl. He took a drag himself before handing it back to me. Taking another drag I blew the smoke out and turned to him. "I knew that she was going to do something like that. She may as well have told me. She said that if she died she wouldn't want us to be upset. She would want us to remember her life. Daryl, look at me," I told him and he finally glanced over to me. "I know this hurt you, it hurt me too. But you're going to say something to me. I haven't heard you speak in two weeks. Please, say anything. Yell at me. I don't care. Just say something," I begged him.

He was silent for a moment before he sighed and shook his head at me. He grabbed my hand and began to twist the ring around on my finger. I had been messing with it so much lately that it had rubbed the skin raw in some places but I ignored the small pain. "We've lost so much Rain. We lost the prison. We lost each other. We lost Beth, we lost Bob," he said softly. Merle was in the front seat and normally I would have expected him to chastise Daryl for his sorrow. But lately even the eldest Dixon had been silent.

Shaking my head at him I climbed into his lap and grabbed his face to force him to look at me. Quickly, I put the cigarette out against the window and tossed it to the floor. In the back of my mind I thanked myself for being short. "We did not lose each other. I am right here and you are right in front of me. We did lose them and it hurts. It always hurts when we lose someone. I know you loved her and I loved her too. But we are here with each other, together. People who are married are always there for each other. And I will be here for you. Whether or not you want me," I hissed the last part.

I wasn't mad at him I was more mad at the situation. He had done nothing wrong but my anger was going to slowly start coming out. "Why did you say yes?" He asked me and my mouth dropped. He grabbed my hands off of my face and pulled them down, resting them against my chest, right on top of my heart. "That day under the willow tree. You said yes. Why?" He asked me again quietly.

Had Daryl been anyone else I would have slapped him. But he looked genuine confused so I forced myself to calm down. Still though, my face contorted angrily. "Are you that thick? I love you. Like I never thought that I could love anyone. I know that you're ashamed of your past. You think that you're weak and that you don't deserve love but you deserve it as much as the rest of us. Come here," I told him sadly and pulled him into me. He rested his head at the crook in my shoulder and neck. I let my fingers trail over his shoulders and rest in his dark brown hair. I twirled his hair in my fingers and I felt him bunch up my shirt. He pulled away from me and I cocked my head at him. He looked down at my body and I followed his gaze.

His hand rested on my stomach and he pulled the fabric off of my body and I smiled at him. He laughed as well but his face remained the same, with the hollow look. "That's mine," he said softly as his eyes trailed over the shirt and he smiled slightly. I had needed to borrow the shirt a few days ago when I had fought off a walker and it had gotten its peeling skin all over my other shirt. The new one was a beige button down with the sleeves torn off. I had the first few buttons undone and the one on the bottom was undone so that my Pheonix peeked out. "It looks better on you anyways," he told me and I laughed.

Pulling him back into me he chuckled and his hand rested lightly on my hip. "Well maybe if you had looked up from your lap at all yesterday you would have noticed," I told him. He shoved me lightly and I laughed as I scooted back up his thigh. He placed his hand on the back of my head and pulled me to him. Our lips met and Merle scoffed but I ignored him. He had probably done this plenty of times to Daryl. As we stayed locked together I could tell that he wasn't completely into the kiss but I appreciated that he was trying for me. Finally he pulled away from me and I smiled at him. There was a small commotion coming from outside of the car and we both glanced up. Tyreese was being carried to the cars and he looked half dead. Maggie stood and Sasha jumped from her car. Merle crawled out of the car and I launched myself off of Daryl's lap and the two of us bolted out of the car. "What happened?" I asked as I ran up to the small group.

I ran up to Rick and helped him carry Tyreese. "Noah's family is gone," he told me and I gulped. From the sound of his voice I could tell what had happened to them. I felt for the kid. Tyreese's arm was gone and I nearly sobbed. I knew what had happened to him. "We left him in Noah's house. He was looking around and a walker got to him. We cut the arm off but I'm not sure," he said loud enough for the group to hear. "Sasha maybe you should get back in the car while we-" he said softly to her but she quickly cut him off.

She ran up to her brother and stared at him with a hard face. "No. Leave him with me. I'll keep an eye on him. No matter what. I know what I have to do if he stops breathing. We need to go now. We're wasting time here," she said with an even voice. We all nodded slowly and I helped Rick load Tyreese into the car next to Sasha. He nodded at me for the help and I smiled at him sadly. I walked back to my car with Glenn and he motioned for me to get in first. Merle and Michonne were in the front seat together and Maggie, Glenn, Daryl, and I were all crowded together in the back.

It was a tight squeeze but it worked. We drove on for about half an hour and I watched the car in front of us closely for any signs of any panic. Sasha's head stayed faced down and I sighed, hoping that Tyreese was stabilizing. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Sasha stiffen and my breath caught in my throat. The car slowed until it stopped and I stared at Daryl. He nodded at me and we all hopped out of the car. Rick dragged Tyreese out of the car and laid his body on the ground. Slowly I took a few steps forward to his body. Sasha stared on with a broken look as Rick pulled the trigger of his gun. I jumped at the bang and stared sadly at Tyreese.

Glenn grabbed a sheet out of the trunk and I helped him wrap it around Tyreese's body. Rick grabbed the man's feet and Glenn grabbed his shoulders. They headed over into the woods and the rest of the group walked forward with them. Rick had one shovel that Abraham was carrying and I watched as he dug up a grave for Tyreese. Carl made the small cross and I watched as he stuck it in the ground where Rick was digging the grave. Once it had been dug I watched as the men laid Tyreese in his grave and I silently said my goodbye to the man. He had been kind and I would miss him. At least he would be with Karen now.

Not wasting time, Rick began to bury the man and once he had Sasha laid Tyreese's beanie over the cross. Father Gabriel took a step forward and stood over the grave. I stared sadly as he cleared his throat and began a passage from the Bible that I had heard at my grandfather's funeral when I was a child. "We look not at what can be seen, but we look at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary but what cannot be seen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Gabriel had said the same passage when the old man had died.

Each member of the group said their silent goodbyes to Tyreese before we all made the silent decision to leave once more. I sighed at the loss of one more of us. If we kept going like this we would be joining him soon. We hadn't eaten in a day and a half and we had no water either. We had at maximum, another day and a half before we would drop like flies from dehydration. I headed back to the car and jumped in with Daryl shutting the door behind me. The group once more headed to Washington and I took a deep breath. If we were lucky then this would be the last stop we would ever need to make. In silence we drove and I watched the trees fly by. I had never been this far north before and it was weird. If we had thought that the winters in Georgia were bad, these were going to be brutal. The car in front of us flashed their lights and we stopped. I got out and sighed as the group sat together. Maggie and Sasha both walked off into the woods and Daryl grabbed my arm, forcing me to follow him.

We walked into the woods together and split off from Sasha and Maggie. I was sure that the two were going off to mourn in private and I respected that. I had done the same when Sophia had died. Daryl stopped suddenly and dropped to the ground. I cocked my head as he began to dig and he pulled up a small worm. My eyebrows knitted as he folded it and swallowed it. I gagged heavily and turned from him. Once I was sure that I wouldn't vomit I turned back to him and he offered me a worm. I shook my head in disgust. I was starving but I wasn't that desperate yet. "That's disgusting. I'll wait for something else," I told him quickly.

He glared at me and stood with the worm in his hand. I backed away from him and knew that in the past he probably would have thrown the worm at me. It was a good source of protein but I still held out hope that we would find something to eat somewhere else. Maybe we could go hunting but we didn't know these woods. They were different than the ones down south. "Might not be something else. Eat," he growled at me as he held the worm out to me once more.

Shaking my head I pushed the worm away from me and gulped at the feel of its slimy skin. "I'll take my chances," I told him and he shrugged his shoulders. Without warning he downed the worm and I grimaced. We walked back over to the edge of the woods and met up with both Maggie and Sasha. The latter stormed by us and the former looked like she had gotten into it with a walker. We all headed back to the rest of the group and I sighed when I realized that they hadn't found anything either.

Everyone began to climb back into the cars at our arrival and I watched as Sasha fell into a stride with Maggie. The two walked a little ahead of us and I sighed as we headed back to the cars. Maggie turned to Sasha and I watched the two girls carefully. "It's been a day and a half. They didn't find any either," she said to Sasha as they hit the gravel.

Sasha stared at the other girl and cocked her eyebrow at her. It was the first expression that I had seen on her face in weeks. "How do you know?" She asked Maggie softly.

"I know. How much longer we got?" Maggie asked Sasha.

The dark skinned woman thought about it for a minute before staring off into the horizon and shaking her head. "Sixty miles," she said and I sighed. That was still a long way. But hopefully it would only take us an hour before we got there. Then it was a hunt for somewhere that we could find something to support our still large group. After so long on the road I was ready to take a rest for a few days.

Maggie shook her head and I stared at the girl. "I wasn't talking about that," she said before storming back to the car. I sighed and patted Sasha on the shoulder as I walked to the car and climbed in behind Maggie. Daryl followed me and slammed the door behind himself. I watched as Sasha climbed into her car and once more we were off. I watched the road once more and occasionally spotted a walker as we drove. With every month they looked more and more decomposed. I wondered if they would ever decompose so far that they would no longer be able to move. But it didn't matter. The old ones would just get replaced with new ones. The human race would die out before we ever found the solution to this problem. Dr. Jenner had been sure to tell us that there was no answer to this.

It had made me lose hope for a long time and Eugene had been the one to bring that hope back. But I should have known that it was too good to be true. Shame on me I suppose. The car made a sputtering sound and I glanced over Merle's seat. The gas meter was on E and I shook my head. The car in front of us was making the same sputtering sound and I kicked the floor angrily. Well that was the end of the cars. We still had forty miles to go and it would have to be made on foot now. We could barely move but it made no difference. We had no choice now. The group all piled out of the cars and began the long walk to D.C.

Like this day hadn't been bad enough. I blew a puff of air out and shook my hair out of my face. We walked with slow limps and I glanced around the group. We were so weak and I knew that we would never make it to D.C. Not without water. Most of us were barely standing and every once in a while the world would spin. There was a soft growling and I rolled my eyes and my mind's trick. But as the growling continued I turned back and spotted a rather large herd of walkers. I turned back to Rick and nearly fell at the quick movement. He shook his head at me and I nodded. "We're not at our strongest," he announced and everyone looked up. "We'll get 'em when it's best. High ground, something like that. They're not going anywhere," he said and everyone looked back at the road.

For a while longer we walked and I found myself walking next to Merle and Daryl. Merle was poking his finger with the tip of his blade and Daryl was walking with heavy steps. He would never admit it but I knew that he was exhausted. I turned to Carl and saw that he was running forward. He was holding Judith but had a small wooden box under his arm. I hated to admit it but I was jealous of the little girl. She was still on formula and didn't have to worry about water. "Found this when we were looking for water," Carl said to Maggie as he handed her the battered wooden box.

She grabbed it from his hands and I smiled as Judith cooed happily at her older brother. She was in such good hands. I wondered if she would still know us when she was an adult or if we would all be gone by then. Maggie looked over the box and I caught a small crank in the corner of the box. A music box. Where had he found that? "What is it?" She asked him.

He shrugged at her and shifted Judith in his arms. He looked like he was about to drop her but I knew that he was determined to keep her safe with him. "I think it used to play music. It's broken," he told her with a sorry glance.

She smiled at him and patted his back with a grateful glance. I couldn't help but to smile at the pair as well. He had done good. I hadn't seen Maggie smile since she saw me walk out of the hospital. "Thanks, Carl," she said to him and he nodded.

"I thought you might like it," he said with a smile and she nodded.

The group returned to silence before Gabriel sped up to stand next to Maggie and he fell into step with her. She stared at him and he gave her a small smile that she didn't bother to return. "I used to joke these things were leftovers from the days of hair shirts. Remember that, Rain?" He asked me and I shook my head. I did remember them but I wasn't in the mood to chat. "The church actually made shirts out of hair. So if you wore it, you could atone just a little for your sins," he informed Maggie.

Maggie quickly turned to Father Gabriel and my breath caught in my chest. We didn't need a fight to attract more walkers. We couldn't afford a fight right now. We would lose someone if we did. Her face went back to its even state once more and she looked to the ground. "I know what a hair shirt is. My daddy was religious. I used to be," she said darkly.

He looked on at her with a sad glance and I shook my head. It was the same look that he had given me. He hated it when people lost their faith but he would never hate them. He wasn't that type of man. He was extremely religious and I respected that he could keep it going in this world. "If you ever want to talk about your father or about Beth-" he began before Maggie cut him off.

"Please, stop," she said and I looked on in curiosity. I had thought that she would be angry but she looked more like she was about to cry. I didn't blame her. In a month she had lost her father and her sister. If I had loved my family more than I would have been the same way over Penny and my father's deaths. But we all hated each other. I had no reason to miss them. These people were my family.

He laid a hand on her shoulder and I watched carefully. The rest of the group were watching carefully as well. I didn't think that Maggie would do anything but it was just in case. "Whenever you're ready, I'm here," he told her.

She shook her head at him and stared at him angrily. "You never even met them," she hissed at him. I nodded slowly. She was right. Hershel had died before we had ever even met Father Gabriel and Beth had never gotten the chance to meet him. But he would listen to her forever if that was how long it took to get her back.

"I know you're in pain," he told her with sympathy dripping from his voice.

She whipped around to him and I jumped slightly. "You don't know shit," she hissed at him and I felt my hand drop to my knife. I wouldn't hurt her but I would protect Gabriel. "You had a job. You were there to save your flock, right? But you didn't. You hid. Don't act like that didn't happen," she said and my eyebrow raised. Clearly I hadn't been there to see something. But I didn't understand. Father Gabriel was a good man. What had he done that was so bad? When Maggie was better I would have to ask her.

The group fell into an uncomfortable silence and we continued to walk. We walked for a bit more before I turned back. We were still a good distance from the walkers but it was a sad sight to see. We were walking with the same movements as the walkers. If it wasn't for our beating hearts we would be them. "We look just like them," I said softly and Daryl turned to look at me and I looked back ahead of me. He shook his head at me and I shrugged my shoulders at him. "We don't get some water in us soon we will be them. We should go head out. Try to go get something. Scout the area if nothing else," I told him and he nodded.

Rick turned back at my idea and he nodded, calling for the rest of the group to stop. Everyone sighed deeply and dropped anything that they had before falling to the ground in the grass. The walkers were still hobbling towards us and I knew that our trip to the water would have to be fast so they didn't catch up. "I'll go with you guys," Carol said as we turned to the woods.

We began to walk and I nodded to Carol, patting her on the back. She smiled at me and wrapped an arm around me for a moment. I laughed as she pulled my shirt closed at the top and I pulled away from her. She was such a mother. "Thanks Carol," I told the older woman softly. She hadn't been awake at the hospital to see what had happened but she was still respectful of it. I had noticed that lately she had kept a close watch on Daryl and I. She was probably making sure that we didn't do something stupid.

Once we hit the woods deep enough we all split up to search for any sign of wet soil. If we could find anything that was wet it would mean that there was a water source nearby. Unfortunately for us it didn't look like anything was near us. The soil that I was searching was bone dry and it looked like Carol's and Daryl's was the same. "Anything?" She asked us as she glanced up from the ground.

I shook my head sadly and turned to Daryl. He shook his head as well and I sighed deeply. "No, it's too dry. There ain't nothing here," he said and under the emotionless tone of his voice I heard a thin anger. I knew that he was fed up with this and I was too. We had been on the road too long now and we were dehydrated and starving. We were nothing short of miserable.

Carol glanced up to the sky and shook her head. She was looking for any clouds but there was nothing. The sun was beating down heavily and it was unrelenting. There looked like there was no chance of rain. And at the moment that was our only hope for water. "Maybe we should start back," Carol said softly as we all stood together.

Daryl shook his head and I glanced over at him. "You two go," he said to us softly without looking at us. I sighed and Carol grabbed my shoulder as she walked by me and headed over to where Daryl stood.

She walked up to Daryl and stood in front of him. "I think she saved my life,' Carol said and I nodded. She was talking about Beth back at Grady. "Maybe Rain too. She saved your life, too, right?" She asked Daryl and he nodded. "It was hers," she said softly before handing Daryl Beth's old knife. He took it and nodded at the older woman. "We're not dead. That's what you said. You're not dead. I know you. We're different. I can't let myself- But you I know you. You have to let yourself feel it. You will," she said. Before turning to leave she kissed him on the forehead and headed back to the road. He turned to leave after her and I made a rash decision.

As he walked past me I grabbed his arm and stopped him. He stared at me and I sighed. "She's right you know. You're taking this too hard on yourself. It isn't your fault that she died. It was hard for me to realize too but I know that her death wasn't my fault either. There was nothing that we could do to stop it," I said softly. Daryl pulled away from me and began to walk and I caught his arm once more in desperation. He was pulling away and I couldn't let him. "Don't do this. Please," I begged him.

He stared at me for a moment before prying my arm off of his. But this time he didn't move away from me. "I should have watched you and Carol closer. I would have been able to spot the car and I could have stopped anything from ever happening. She would still be alive. And I wouldn't have lost you again. I vowed to protect you and I haven't done that," he said to me and I felt my heart drop.

I couldn't believe that he thought any of that. He his head was down to the ground and I grabbed his chin, forcing his head up. "Hey, look at me. You've done nothing wrong. Please Daryl. None of this was you. None of it is on you. You have protected me all that you can and more. You've done more for me than anyone else ever has," I told him with sincerity behind every word.

For the first time in a long time I saw fury light in his eyes as he looked at me. "Really?!" He yelled loudly as he pulled away from me. I stumbled back at his sudden outburst but I wasn't afraid. He wasn't mad at me. That I was sure of. He was angry with himself. "How many times have you gotten shot?! Kidnapped?! Your father. Martinez. Mitch," he said softer now and I felt my face drop. I had never realized that he thought that he was such a failure. He wasn't but he wouldn't take my word for it. "I left you once. You deserve someone that knows how to keep you safe. And happy," he said the last part so softly that I thought I might have imagined it. He began to walk away and I ran to catch up with him but I slipped and hit the ground on my knees.

His back was to me and I sighed as he walked off. I stood slowly and the world spun for a moment. I waited for my sight to go back to normal before I took off after Daryl. "Daryl! Get back here!" I yelled as I followed him through the woods. This was not the conversation that I was planning on. I hit the edge of the woods and caught sight of the group wrestling with the walkers. I sprinted to the road and caught sight of Daryl killing a walker that had almost bitten Rick. I pulled my knife out and threw it at a walker that had Eugene's arm. It dropped and he looked at me with a grateful nod. I turned and grabbed a walker that was wrestling with Tara. She stepped back and stabbed it before I let the thing fall to the ground. She nodded to me and I gave her a nod back.

I glanced back over my shoulder as the rest of the walkers fell and I turned to Sasha, who appeared to be the cause of the fight. Eugene walked over to me and handed my knife back and I grabbed it, sheathing it quickly. I watched as Michonne angrily walked over to Sasha, who was destroying an already dead walker. "Stop," she hissed as she pulled Sasha off of the walker.

Sasha pulled out of the other woman's grasp and I held the hilt of my knife tightly. It appeared that she had cut Abraham as she was swinging wildly. The girl was so devastated over the death of her boyfriend and brother but that didn't mean that she had any right to get someone else killed. "Just get out of here," Sasha sneered at Michonne.

"I told you to stop," Michonne growled before Sasha shook her head and walked off. I followed in her footsteps and we all once more took off to D.C. I felt like I was about to drop dead but I knew that I had to keep walking. Although maybe if I fell it would force Daryl to talk to me. It probably wasn't the best of plans though. As we walked it looked like we were making one giant circle but I knew that if we kept walking we would eventually hit the exit that would take us to D.C. We walked for what seemed like an hour before we caught sight of cars resting at the side of the road. Maybe this was the lucky break that we were looking for.

Sasha sat down by logs that were in the grass as we approached the cars and I stared at her. Some of us went forward to the cars and others slowly followed her for a break after the fight. It seemed that it had drained most of our energy. Just like I had feared that it would. I followed the others to help check the cars over but stopped when I saw Daryl walk over to Rick. I followed the pair and stood with them as Daryl walked over to Rick. My heart dropped slightly as I realized that he was purposely avoiding my gaze.

Daryl cleared his throat and motioned back to the woods that looked like the same that we had just come from. "I'm gonna head into the woods, circle back," he said to Rick and our leader nodded slowly.

"May I come with?" I asked Daryl with a small smile.

He looked pained but he shook his head and my stomach sank to the floor. Was he really determined to stay away from me because he felt that everything bad that happened to me was because of him? "No. No, just me," he said before turning away from me and headed for the woods. I battled with myself for a moment before I walked after him.

"Daryl-" I started but he cut me off quickly.

"Just me," he said quickly with a glare. I stopped in my tracks and watched as he walked away from me. He disappeared into the woods and I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. What the hell could I do to get him to come back to me? I stared where he had vanished for a few moments before shaking my head and turning. I debated on heading to the cars for a moment but with the shake of my head I walked over to where half of our group was resting.

Deciding that I didn't want to be near everyone else I sat slightly away and took a seat at the edge of the road. I dropped my head into my hands as I raised my knees to my chest and I fought tears back. I was sure that Daryl didn't mean too but he was making me feel guilty like it was my fault that she was dead. I heard Abraham talking with Rosita but I tuned out their conversation. I heard the loud thump of boots and I looked through my arms to see Rick take a seat next to me. He rubbed his hand over my back and I sighed at him. "Hey, whatever he said back there he didn't mean," Rick told me and I looked up. "Rain he loves you more than anything which is why he's pulling away. He thinks that everyone he gets near he'll hurt. Beth died because he couldn't protect her when they were together. Carol got hit by a car because he told her to run. He's hurt two of the most important women in his life. I don't know what he would do if he lost you," he told me and I stared at him.

Rick wasn't a psychologist but I was about to treat him like one. With a voice that was thick with tears I stared at him and saw the pain that was shimmering in his eyes. He didn't want to see me like this. "Why won't he even talk to me though? He thinks that he hurt me but the only reason that I'm upset with him is how he's acting now. I mean what if he-" I began to rant before Rick cut me off.

"What do you think that he can do? Merle looks like he's about to kill his brother for the way that he's been ignoring you," he said and I glanced over. Merle was sitting in the grass a bit away from us and was staring at the place that his brother had left from with seething anger in his eyes. I suppose Rick was right. Merle had said after all that he was fond of me. "If anyone can get through to him, it's Merle. Give him time and a little space. Daryl needs to heal, just like the rest of us," Rick said to me softly.

Nodding to Rick slowly I sighed and stretched out slowly. I missed the Rick that had once been my friend. The only Rick that I saw most of the time was our hard leader. Daryl walked back out of the woods and I glanced up, the two of us meeting eyes for a moment before he looked away. But still, he took a seat next to me and Rick left us. I waited for him to say something to me and right when he opened his mouth I heard a low growl. We all glanced up and caught sight of three wild dogs that were approaching us with their haunches raised. I knew that it wasn't good. That meant that they thought that we were a threat.

Slowly, as to not alert them I slipped my knife out of my sheath. Before I got a chance to throw one though, gunshots began to bang and I jumped. Once they had silenced I looked at the now dead dogs and turned back. Sasha was holding her rifle and was breathing heavily. The group was silent for a moment before Daryl moved forward to grab the first of the dogs. I stood after and helped him. One by one the group got to helping out. We skinned the dogs and I helped Daryl clean them. Merle was busy grabbing the edible meat and I sighed. There was a lot of guilt from eating once domestic gods but I couldn't afford to think that way. We were starving at this would at least solve the hunger problem. Now we just needed water.

The meat was quickly cooked and I watched as everyone grabbed their share of meat. It was a decent meal but no one wanted to actually eat it. Once the meat was in hands everyone quickly downed it, not wanting to taste it. The guilt was thick in the air. I finished my meat within the minute and looked up with a disgusted face. I loved dogs, I couldn't believe that I was eating them. "Your brother he tried to help me. I don't know if I'm gonna make it," Noah said to Sasha. I glanced up and watched as he refused another piece of the meat.

She turned to him and stared at him darkly. We all watched the exchange for a moment before she shook her head and pushed another piece of meat at him. "Then you won't. Don't think. Just eat," she told him and he nodded. Even faster than I had he downed the meal and swallowed with obvious difficulty. Once we had finished eating we all stood once more and began to set up camp for the night. I stamped out the fire and moved with the group as we all settled in. The meat had been good to get us up and moving once more but it was salty. And that meant that the dehydration would only get worse. I finally settled into the grass and sighed as I saw Daryl take the night watch. I briefly wondered when the last time that he had slept had been was, but I slipped asleep from pure exhaustion before I could come up with an answer.

The morning came too fast and I found it almost impossible to stand. But I forced myself to raise to my feet and not a moment later we were back to walking. As we walked I stood next to Daryl and he would occasionally take glance at me but he would never actually say anything to me. I wanted to say something to him but I had no idea what I should say. We walked for about an hour before Glenn walked up next to me and offered me the last tiny bit of water that we had. The bottle looked like Heaven as I smiled at him. I thanked him and took a tiny sip before handing it back. He grinned at me before handing it to Daryl who merely shook his head and pushed the bottle back to Glenn. "Daryl," Glenn said softly but he merely shook his head.

Once more Daryl shook his head and denied the water that Glenn was offering him. I could see the dark circles under Daryl's eyes and I knew that he was getting close to death. But he would never realize that. "No, I'm all right," he said and I caught sight of his knees buckling for a moment. He was dehydrated severely and now sleep deprived.

Glenn stared at him angrily and shook his head at the older man. Daryl tried to walk ahead but Glenn was able to quickly catch up to him. Glenn stared at Daryl sadly for a moment before shaking his head. "Daryl. Don't. Hey, we can make it together. But we can only make it together," he said and Daryl stood and stared for a moment. The group had stopped for a break once more and I watched as the two men stared at each other.

I waited to see what Daryl would do and it seemed that Glenn was waiting too. "Tell them I went looking for water," he said to Glenn quickly and walked off to the woods. I went to follow him, so that way we could talk in private, but a hand caught my arm and forced me to stay in my spot. I turned back and realized that it was Merle that was holding onto me.

Roughly I yanked at his arm, trying to get him to release me but he only shook his head and tightened his grip on my arm. "Let me go, Merle," I hissed at my brother-in-law.

He shook his head and pulled me back to him. "No. Look, he needs time to be alone and you need time to cool down. If you go in there after him all you're going to do is yell. Leave him be for now. I know that you want him to go back to normal but you have to let him be alone for a while. Take a rest with everyone else. You need it," he told me. His face softened at my face and he sighed deeply.

Slowly I nodded and he let out a breath before releasing me. Right as he let go of my arm I took off and darted into the woods, following the path that Daryl must have taken. I slowed down as the world began to spin once more and I waited until my vision had gone back to normal. Once my vision was back I slowly began to walk down the trail but stopped in my tracks as I heard a soft sobbing. I steadied myself and sighed. If I said anything to him it would have to be done nicely. I walked slowly towards his sobbing as hid behind a tree. Right as I stepped out to call his name I saw him rubbing a burning cigarette into the back of his hand.

I gasped in shock and dashed up to him. Roughly, I smacked the cigarette out of his hand and he stared up at me. He looked absolutely shocked and slightly horrified that I had found him there. I shook my head at him and out of fury I began to sob. I saw the broken look on his face as he stared up at me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me down to him. He pulled me over to him and I sat over him like I had the other day in the car. "What the hell were you doing?!" I shrieked at him loudly.

Through my tears I saw him shake his head and I could feel his chest rising and falling quickly. "Go back to the group, Rain," he told me softly and my tears finally began to fall down my face.

For a moment I actually thought that I might stand and leave him but I wasn't going to do that. "No!" I yelled at him and I felt him jump. "I am sick of you shutting me out like this. No more! Look at me," I sobbed as I grabbed his face and forced him to meet my eyes. "She wouldn't want this. She didn't want this. Right before we left Grady she told me that she if she died she wouldn't want the group to mourn like this. She wanted us to move on and live for her. She knew that something was going to happen to her during the exchange. For a while I thought that her death was my fault. I saw her take the scissors. I could have stopped her. But I know now that it wasn't my fault. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't even Dawn's fault. It was an accident. You can't keep blaming yourself," I told him softly as I began to calm down.

He sighed and we sat together in silence. "I should have never told her to leave when the walkers attacked the funeral home. I thought that it would be safer for her. But I was wrong. She was taken. I thought that you would be safe going to burn the bodies back at the prison. But I was wrong again. Your father grabbed you and Hershel died. I thought that it was the right thing to do, tell you and Carol to keep running. But she was hit by a car and you were both taken. See a common thread?" He asked me and I shook my head.

We all could blame someone's death on ourselves. "Daryl we've all made mistakes out here. Rick thought he could trust Shane. Carol thought that Sophia would be OK under those cars. Glenn thought that he was indestructible. Merle thought that he could take an army on by himself. Sasha thinks that she can get over Bob and Tyreese with anger. I thought that I could take the blame for everything. We've all been wrong," I told him sadly. We all had our own shit to deal with.

He shook his head at me and I watched his face carefully. He had tears that were streaking his face but he was no longer crying. I wiped them away and dropped my hands once more. "But you haven't been the reason that people have died," he told me.

Shock rocked me and I cocked my eyebrow. "Really? My father might have left the prison alone or the attacks might have been easier if I hadn't been related to him. Every death that he caused was my fault. Those are on me. And Lori? I was the one to kill her. We all have blood on our hands. Do you know the classic wedding vows?" I asked him and he nodded at me clearly not understanding. "For better or worse. That's one of them. Under the willow with Merle's stupid vows. Still, that's one of the vows that I was thinking about. I'm here for you. Together we will get past this. Don't push me away from you," I begged him once more.

This time he sighed at me and nodded. "I'm sorry," he said softly to me and I shook my head at him. I raised a hand and wiped a forming tear in his eye away and he nodded a thanks at me. He slowly moved into me and kissed me as softly as he had on our first kiss. I smiled into the kiss, knowing that he was coming back to me. My hands found their way up his back and rested in his long brown hair. I tugged on it gently and he laughed into my mouth. He finally pulled away from me and I smiled at the slightly swollen look of his lips. "We should head back," he said and I nodded, jumping off of him. He stood after me and grabbed my hand. I smiled at him and grabbed his arm with my free hand as we walked back to the group hand in hand. We made our way out of the woods and noticed the group standing around something that was laying in the road.

Daryl dropped my hand and we walked through the group. Rick glanced back at us and showed us a small piece of paper. I grabbed the paper and held it so that Daryl could see it. From a friend. I glanced down and saw the bottles of water and jugs stacked together neatly. What the hell did that mean? Well, it meant that someone was following us. But were they friendly? It appeared so. I tucked the paper in my pocket and turned to the group. Rick shook his head at the water and I stared at him like he was nuts. This was the only real water that we had and he was going to force us to give it up? "What else are we gonna do, Rick? We're severely dehydrated and this is a better option than dying from dehydration. That's a slow and painful process," I told him honestly.

He thought about my words for a moment before shaking his head sadly. I knew that he wanted the water but he didn't trust whoever had left it. I didn't blame him for being weary of the water. It was odd that it appeared here so suddenly but it might be our only chance for survival. "Not this. We don't know who left it," he said to me and I sighed deeply. Damn it.

The group stared at the water and I nearly laughed. It was like we were expecting it to do a trick for us. Eugene stepped forward and I watched closely as he stared down at the water. "If that's a trap, we already happen to be in it. But I, for one, would like to think it is indeed from a friend," he said and I nodded. He might be a liar but Eugene was smart. He was right. If this was a trap these people already had the advantage. They knew who we were and we were in the dark to them.

His old group member stepped forward and shook his head as he towered over Eugene. Abraham was huge, towering over everyone else in the group. He was about my father's height but ten times as friendly. "What if it isn't? They put something in it?" He asked no one in particular and I shrugged. There would only be one way to find out. Eugene picked up a bottle of the water and everyone visibly tensed.

"Eugene," Rosita warned as Eugene opened the bottle. We all waited with baited breath to see if anyone would stop him. I sure as hell wouldn't but it seemed like others were about to step in.

We all stared for a moment as Eugene raised the bottle to his nose and took a sniff. I scoffed at his actions knowing that if anyone had indeed poisoned these they weren't going to use something that left a smell. There were plenty of poisons that were odorless that they could use. "What are you doing, dude?" Tara asked the dark haired man.

He turned to her and shrugged his shoulders, dropping the bottle to his side. "Quality assurance," he told her like it was the simplest thing in the world. Eugene raised the bottle and I held my breath as he raised it to his lips. Right as he was about to take a drink though, Abraham raised his hand up and slapped the bottle from Eugene's hand.

The bottle went flying and I jumped back as it flew through the air. It hit the ground and I watched as the water poured out of it. Damn them if this water was safe to drink. We could have at least bathed with it. "We can't," Abraham said lowly as we all sighed. Leaving the water on the road our group began to walk once more and I sighed. Well there goes that plan.

We walked once more and I sighed as the shaking of my legs became even worse. This was the second day without water and it was getting harder and harder to move. I found myself caught between Daryl and Merle and I smiled at the pair sadly. Like a funeral procession we all marched forward. For damn near an hour we walked until the low rumble of thunder made me look up at the sky. Dark clouds were forming overhead and my heart lifted. A loud clap of thunder sounded and I smiled as rain began to fall. I laughed at the coincidence of my name and the weather and opened my mouth.

The water poured into my mouth and I took a deep gulp before opening it back up. What must have been at least ten gulps later my stomach began to roil from the sudden intrusion and I knew that it was time to stop. I grabbed my water bottle from my backpack and opened the cap. The entire group was laughing and I smiled at the turn of events. "Oh, God. I'm sorry, my Lord," Gabriel muttered at the edge of the group.

I smirked as the water filled in my bottle and I turned to watch the group prance in the rain. Although Maggie, Sasha, and Daryl were still frowning. I sighed at my husband and an idea suddenly filled my head. I let the bottle fill a little more before grabbing the top completely and screwing it off. I moved a few more steps to Daryl and without warning I threw the water in his face with a laugh and the stunned face that he was wearing. He shook his head and grabbed his rag and I sighed deeply. He led it out and I sighed once more. He only wanted to wash off. And then, without warning, he tossed it at me and the wet rag slapped me across the face.

The rag fell off of my face and I peeled the last corner off of me. The group was silent as they all stared at us. But a moment later the loud laughter started up once more and I laughed as well. Dashing over to Daryl, I shoved the rag back in his face and jumped onto him. He stumbled but was able to keep his balance. He pushed me off of him and grabbed me around the waist, twirling me around. I laughed and yelled, slipping from his grip and falling onto him. He laughed as well and I shoved him, tossing his hair around. We pushed at each other for a moment before Rick's voice called us from our ridiculous water fight.

"Everybody get the bags. Anything you can find," he ordered and I glanced up to the sky. On a second glance I realized that the storm that was coming was going to be a bad one. I nodded to Rick and walked over to grab my bottle off of the ground. I filled it up quickly before closing it off and dropping it back into my bag and standing once more.

We all began to move together and I heard Father Gabriel cry on my side. "I'm sorry," he yelled to the sky. I realized that he was no longer wearing his Priest's collar but I chose not to comment on the loss.

"Come on," Rick yelled over the pounding rain and we all nodded, sticking closely together. The thunder was banging loudly and we all went from glee to panic as we began to search frantically for a place to hide out for the night. I heard Judith crying and I turned back to see that Carl was covering her with a spare shirt. My heart dropped at the little baby and I knew that we would have to find a place to hide out soon. "Let's keep moving," Rick yelled as we headed into the woods.

The trees provided a little coverage but unfortunately that put us at a higher risk for lighting. We couldn't stay here for long, we would have to move on quickly. "There's a barn," Daryl called from my side and I glanced over to him.

Rick turned back to Daryl and over the loud scream of the wind yelled back. "Where?" He asked and Daryl walked ahead. He led us back to where he had burned himself earlier and I realized that there was a barn only a few feet from us. How the hell hadn't I realized that before? I guess I had been so busy with him that I hadn't even bothered to look around. Thunder continued to bang as we reached the barn. I pulled my knife out and nodded to Daryl as we swung the doors open. We threw them open and the group rushed in as walkers turned to us, snarling. A female walker hobbled up to me and I took her down quickly. She fell and I rolled her outside. Another walker came up to me and I easily slammed the knife through his jaw. He fell and I rolled him outside with the female.

The rest of the group easily took out the walkers and rolled them outside before closing and locking the doors. We all sighed and dropped our bags before dropping ourselves. I sighed and stripped off my guns and bow and arrows. Heavily, I dropped next to Daryl, watching as Abraham started a fire. He pulled me closer to him and I laid my head down in his lap as he laid back against the wooden post. I smiled brightly as his fingers pulled through my tangled hair. I slowly ran my finger over his thigh and traced my name into his pants. He shook slightly as my hand wound its way up his leg to the top of his thigh and I laughed lightly as he fought to regain his composure. He tugged on my hair and I went to slap him when I heard Rick cough.

He stood in front of the group and I sat up to listen to what it was he had to say. Daryl straightened up as well and we stared as Rick stood at the front of the barn. "When I was a kid I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in the war. He wouldn't answer. He said that was grown-up stuff, so so I asked if the Germans ever tried to kill him. But he got real quiet. He said he was dead the minute he stepped into enemy territory. Every day he woke up and told himself, "Rest in peace. Now get up and go to war." And then after a few years of pretending he was dead he made it out alive. That's the trick of it, I think. We do what we need to do and then we get to live. But no matter what we find in DC, I know we'll be okay. Because this is how we survive. We tell ourselves that we are the walking dead, "he said solemnly.

The straw next to me shifted and I watched as Daryl stood and shook his head at Rick. He stared at our leader and I watched them both closely. "We ain't them," he said to our leader darkly.

Rick nodded and then sighed, shaking his head. "We're not them. Hey. We're not," he agreed with Daryl as my husband stared straight ahead, the smile that had been on his face completely gone.

"We ain't them," Daryl repeated before walking to stand by the doors and I sighed. Rick shook his head and gave me a sorry glance before he walked off as well. I sighed deeply as I settled into the grass and got ready for a long night. I felt the grass shake and I looked up quickly, hoping that it would be Daryl making his way back to me. But when I glanced up I realized that it was only Carol. She smiled sadly at me and took a spot besides me. The older woman scooted in close to me and wrapped her arm around me. I smiled slightly and let my head fall into her shoulder. She kissed me on the temple and for a moment I wished that my mother had been Carol.

She grabbed the edges of my shirt and pulled them together, covering the bits of cleavage that were showing. I laughed and playfully shoved Carol. She was such a mother sometimes. Even if she had no idea that she was doing it. We sat together, huddled when I spotted Daryl run over to the barn doors. He glanced through the panels and began to push against the door. I looked over to the side and made a quick eye contact. She nodded to me and the two of us jumped up and ran over to the door. I hit the door and pushed along with Daryl and Maggie joined us next. The doors were rattling so hard that I thought that they might burst open.

Glancing through the panels I saw a huge herd of walkers were pushing against the doors. The storm was blowing them around and looked like it was about to uproot the entire wooded area. Quickly the rest of the group ran over to us and helped push back against the doors. But no matter how many people we got with us the doors still attempted to blow back open. The wind was screaming and the thunder was booming louder than I had ever heard. The doors were rattling as well and walker growls sounded like they were coming from all around us. I could hear Judith crying in the background and I shoved back against the doors even harder than before. The storm raged on for what seemed like hours and I never let up on my grip on the doors. I couldn't even remember letting go of the doors. It was just the scream of the wind and then black.

My shoulder was shaking and I groaned as light flooded my vision. I rolled over and realized that I was hitting something hard. "Hey, come on. Getting late. It's time to get up. Rain come on. I know it was a long night last night but we have to keep moving if we want to get to D.C." I sat up slowly and realized that I had been laying in Daryl's lap, fast asleep. What the hell? I didn't even remember falling asleep last night. All I remembered was the storm. Had it been a dream?

We were laying a few feet from the door and everyone else was gradually waking themselves and their neighbors up. Everything seemed so peaceful that maybe the storm had been a dream. Oh well, I wasn't about to question it and look like a lunatic. Daryl poked at me once more and I shooed his hand away from me. "Ugh I think I liked you better when you weren't talking," I grumbled at him.

He scoffed and flicked me in the side. "Thanks, asshole," he muttered at me and I laughed. Slowly I stood from my spot and offered Daryl my hand. He took it and I gave him a helping hand up. He gave me a quick kiss on the lips and I smirked as he walked ahead of me and made his way over to Rick. I followed him and caught up quickly. We made our way over to Rick who smiled at the pair of us. I was about to greet him when the barn doors opened. I turned and smiled at the sight of Maggie and Sasha walking into the barn with smiles. But standing right in between the two, with his hands raised up in surrender form, was a man that I had never seen before.


	45. A Rock And A Hard Place

In the middle of the entrance of the barn stood a man who was bound and smiling at the large group who stood in front of him. He had short, curly brown hair and warm eyes. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties and appeared relatively clean. I wondered if he was in a group or something of the sort. No one who was living on the road was that clean. He seemed to be friendly enough but then again, you really couldn't trust anyone these days. My mind instantly shot back to the water in the road that had come with the note, from a friend. Was he the friend? If so, how long had he been following us? He was down on his knees and staring up at us, his eyes slowly trailing over everyone. His eyes eventually landed on me and he flashed me a sweet smile. I wanted to smile back but I didn't know this man.

Instinctively, Daryl took a small step in front of me and I noticed that the man's mouth twitched slightly in amusement. Rick moved towards the man and gave me a small nod. I sighed but stepped past Daryl anyways. I knew what he wanted and it wasn't really what I wanted to do, but what Rick said went. Giving the man an even look I stood in front of him and grabbed my bow off of my back, nocking an arrow once I had it in my hands. I pulled back slightly on the arrow and grimaced when I saw the fear briefly shoot through his eyes.

Not that I blamed him, having an arrow pointed right at you wasn't exactly the nicest thing you could ask for. He shifted uncomfortably but I nodded at him, letting him know that I had a good grip on the arrow and wasn't going to release it unless he gave me a reason. "Hey," Maggie called out, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Everyone this is Aaron. We met him outside. He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear," she said and Sasha nodded. My head cocked to the side at the man and he nodded.

The chains that were around his hands rattled as he attempted to shake Rick's hand but he immediately stopped when he noticed that I tensed at his movement. He sat back on his feet and smiled awkwardly. "Hi," he said and I nearly laughed. It had been a long time since I had felt so awkward over a greeting. But at least he seemed to be handling it well. Judith began to cry softly and I heard Carl shush her. Aaron went to look at the infant but Rick immediately crossed over his view. Not that I blamed him. He had nearly lost his daughter too many times, he was just being cautious. "It's nice to meet you," he said to us and nods were slowly spread across the group.

Rick completely ignored the man's welcoming and stepped over to Maggie, being careful to avoid Aaron. "You said he had a weapon?" He asked her and she nodded. She reached into the back of her pants and handed him over a small handgun. He nodded at her and rolled the weapon over in his hands a few times before placing it into his pants and walking back to stand in front of where Aaron was kneeling. "There's something you need?" He snapped at the still smiling man.

"He has a camp, nearby," Maggie said and I turned to her. She was trying to get Rick's dangerous glare off of Aaron but there was no way that he was taking his sight off of the man. I nodded at her though, as she had confirmed my earlier thoughts that he had been from a camp of sorts. "He wants us to audition for membership," she said and I cocked my head.

Audition? What was this, Broadway? "I wish there was another word," Aaron called and I turned over to him. "Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights," he said and I couldn't help but let a small grin fall over my face. But it seemed that no one else appreciated the comical remark. "Um, and it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. But it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home. I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha, can you hand Rick my pack?" He asked the woman and she nodded. Rick grabbed the pack from her and looked back to Aaron. "Front pocket, there's an envelope. There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those," he said and I glanced over at the picture. It really was a community. A large one too. But there was no one in the pictures. "I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last-" Aaron began to explain before Rick cut him off.

"Nobody gives a shit," he growled and I rolled my eyes. I wasn't sure if I one hundred percent believed Aaron about him wanting us to join his community but it was worth listening too. If he was being serious and this wasn't one big set up, then there was a chance that this could be the home that we had been looking for since the prison. But there was also a chance that this could just be something else to follow in the footsteps of Woodbury and Terminus.

Slowly Aaron nodded and I wondered if he was slightly offended by the way that Rick was acting. Although I couldn't imagine that we were the first people to be suspicious of him. "You're absolutely 100% right. That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you will be. Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot-high, 12-foot-wide slab of solid steel framed by cold-rolled steel beams and square tubing," he told me and my eyebrows raised. It had been a long time since I was in school but construction had been my major. And I knew immediately that this place had to be secure. Nothing was going to be pushing those walls down. "Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so. Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival. The people. Together we're strong. You can make us even stronger. The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first construc-"

Without any warning Rick launched forward and drove his fist into the side of the man's head, punching him across the temple. I dropped my bow and ran forward, grabbing Rick and throwing him off of Aaron. "Rick!" I yelled at the older man who turned back to me in confusion. I set Aaron up gently and Maggie grabbed him from me. Angrily I whipped back to Rick and stormed up to him. "What the hell did you do that for? He wasn't doing anything he was just trying to explain to us what this community is," I hissed at our leader.

Rick was relatively tall and towered over me, but he had never scared me before. Even now, when he looked like he was ready to strangle me, I wasn't scared of him. I was just angrier that Aaron could wake up and choose to no longer want us in his community. This might be our only chance. "So we're clear, that look wasn't a "let's attack that man" look. It was a "he seems like an okay guy to me" look," Glenn said to Rick, hoping to diffuse the tension between the two of us.

Completely ignoring the Asian man, Rick slowly walked away from me and turned his back on the group. I tried to walk after him but Daryl grabbed my arm and forced me to stay by his side. I ripped my arm away from him and began to stomp back up to Rick when he turned back to give an order. "We got to secure him. Dump his pack," he said before sighing.

Scoffing deeply, I rolled my eyes and walked up to Rick, forcing the man to look at me. "You know you could have asked him to do that. He seems like a reasonable guy, I think he would have let you. There was no need to punch him, or that hard!" I yelled at Rick, who merely stared at me. "He doesn't exactly look like the world's best fighter. Oh and keep in mind it's one against all of us!" I yelled once more, motioning around to the rest of the group. Shit, even Eugene could probably take the man.

We both stared at each other for a minute before Rick sighed and shook his head at me. He placed a hand lightly on my shoulder and I stared at him, knowing that he was having a hard time debating on what should be done about Aaron. "We need to be cautious about him. You know that. Let's see what this guy really is," he said before walking past me and heading to Aaron's pack.

"Rick," Glenn called to stop the leader of the group but Rick merely ignored him.

He turned to the rest of us and grabbed Aaron's pack in his hand. I shook my head as he turned back to us and Rick gave me a questioning look. I shook my head at him and he sighed as he turned to the group. "Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are," he said worriedly.

I gave a quick glance around to gauge everyone else's reactions to Rick's worries and it appeared that all thoughts mirrored my own. Maggie slowly walked past me and grabbed my shoulder. I smiled at her as she passed me and she gave me the tiniest of smiles. That was the first time that Maggie had even acknowledged me since Beth's death and I was glad to know that she didn't blame me for the fate of her younger sister. "Me and Sasha, we didn't see him. If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've," she tried to reason with Rick.

Rick merely turned to acknowledge her before turning away. She sighed and I grabbed her arm as she walked past me, letting her know that he wasn't going to change his mind for anyone. One by one the group began to dissipate from the barn and I turned to Daryl, wondering what he was going to do. He grabbed my arm and pulled me outside with Merle tailing behind us. My brother-in-law grabbed my shoulder and smiled at me and I sighed. We walked out of the barn and I stopped dead in my tracks. The entire wooded area was blown to hell by the storm last night. Trees were uprooted and it appeared that the walkers had been thrown onto the branches from the wind. They were all impaled and unable to move. Maybe the storm was a blessing in disguise.

Sighing, I turned to the right and began to walk through the woods to see if I could catch any hint of where Aaron had come from or if there was anyone else in the area but any tracks that might have been there had been wiped out by the storm. Daryl and Merle were both close to me and I looked up at them. They both shrugged to me and I shook my head. There were plenty of places that they could be hiding and right now there was no way to track them. The three of us moved back slowly to the barn and Daryl placed a hand on my back as we walked. "You should have seen the punch coming. He only wants to protect his own. He's got all of us. Carl. Judith," he told me and I shook my head at my husband.

Both Merle and I stared at Daryl like he had lost his head. I couldn't believe that he was justifying Rick's actions. I understood that the man had a family to protect but that didn't mean that he had to physically harm a man who had done nothing to him. He might have blown our only chances at a real home. "So you approve of what he did back there?" I snapped at Daryl who turned to me quickly, clearly nervous. "Daryl, there was no need to do that. I had a bow on him the entire time. If he had done anything weird I could have shot him. He'd have been dead in a second," I growled darkly.

It wasn't like I was angry with Daryl, he had done nothing wrong. It was more that I was frustrated with Rick and his decisions but I was only in the spot to take it out on Daryl. Not that it was fair to him. "Well I for one think that Officer Friendly has gotten a damn good sense of what this world is about since I said goodbye to y'all in Atlanta," Merle piped up and I shoved my elbow into his stomach.

He stopped short and leaned over, coughing loudly. Daryl smirked at his brother and I gave a quick smirk. I couldn't imagine that I was the first woman to ever hit Merle but I was pretty sure that I was the first one he hadn't retaliated against. Maybe because I had saved his damn life. "Maybe it's best if you don't talk today. Everyone is tense enough with this guy being here," I said and heard Merle mutter a few choice words. For a while longer we searched and finally, after nearly half an hour I groaned loudly and smacked my hands against my thighs. "Alright I give up. If there's people here they could be anywhere. There's too many places that they could be," I sighed.

The two men that I was walking with nodded and we made for the short walk to the barn. We walked in silence together and I could tell that we were all tense from the new addition to the group in the barn. "Hey, you really think that this place could work?" Daryl asked me and I turned to face him. Sensing that the conversation was about to take more of a private turn, Merle sped up and brushed ahead of us. I smiled as he walked past, glad that he had understood what we both had wanted.

Once he was out of earshot I grabbed Daryl's hand and he looked down at me. "Look at everything that he's showing us, Daryl. The walls that look sturdy to me, sound pretty sturdy too. They have people that scout to find more people to bring into their home. It sounds legitimate to me. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to let my guard down. This could be the place. We could make a life here. Get to actually settle down," I told him and he sighed, shaking his head gently at me. Daryl tried to take a step away from me but I grabbed his arm, pulling him back into me. He laughed slightly and flashed me a rare smile that made me melt.

Slowly he pushed me back into a tree that had fallen and was now at my hip height. He pushed me back against it and I tripped, stumbling over the tree and sitting on the log. I laughed and wrapped my hand around his neck, pulling his mouth to mine. His hands pushed my legs apart and he stepped between them. His hands slowly traveled up my legs and I giggled as they poked at the top of my hipbone. For a few minutes we stayed locked together until my stomach rumbled and Daryl pulled away from me, laughing. "Well if this place is honest then the first thing we'll do is get you something to eat. Rain, that'd be nice, but we've been let down too many times already. Come on, there's no use in walking around anymore. There's too many areas that anyone else could be hiding in," he told me and I nodded.

He pulled me to my feet and the two of us began once more to trek back to the barn. Once the old wooden structure came into view I took a long look around it. It appeared that the storm had torn apart everything in the area except for the barn itself. Maybe there was someone that really wanted us to succeed. We walked into the room together and gathered around the group that were all waiting to see if anyone had found anything worthwhile. "Anybody see anything?" Rick asked, finally turning over to us.

I looked around to see if anyone had seen anything but all of the head shakes told me that everyone had come up with the same results that we had. "Just a lot of places to hide," Daryl finally spoke up and I glanced over at my husband. He gave me a nod and I smiled at him.

Slowly Rick shook his head and I sighed, knowing where this was coming. "All right, keep looking," he told us and I shook my head. Glenn walked up to Rick and I noticed that he was holding something white in his hand. It was large and I cocked my head to try and see what it was that he was holding out to our leader. "What did you find?" Rick asked and Glenn handed him over the object. Rick turned it over in his hand a few times and I finally realized what it was. "Never seen a gun like that before," he said softly.

I was about to pipe up and tell Rick that it was a flare gun he was holding. But before I got the chance, a small groan came from the corner of the room. I glanced over and realized that Aaron was finally waking up, He was now bound and laying on the ground, slowly blinking to clear his head. I ran over to him and checked the side of his head, making sure that Rick hadn't done any serious damage. He wasn't bleeding but there was a dark bruise that already outlined where Rick had hit him. "That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick," Aaron laughed as he looked up to me with gratitude.

I smirked at his remark and laid my hand gently on his head to see how tender it was. He recoiled from me and I gave him a sorry look. "Sit him up," Rick said and I grabbed his arm to help sit him up. I wasn't sure how good it was to sit him up after he had just suffered some severe head trauma but I also wasn't in the mood to argue with Rick anymore.

It seemed that Maggie shared the same concerns as me as she tried to help me raise Aaron. "I think it's better if-" She began before Aaron cut her off with a smile.

"It's okay," he said softly. We both looked at each other before nodding.

He groaned loudly as Maggie and I helped move him slightly. He was heavier than I had thought that he would be but he was still nothing compared to the time that I had had to lift Merle after we had both been shot. That had been a nightmare. "He's fine. Sit him up," Rick ordered and I sighed as we both pushed Aaron up. His hands were chained around the wooden post that held the barn up and I shook as we pushed him into a sitting position. He finally sat up against the post and nodded his thanks to both Maggie and I. We smiled at him and both took a few steps back so that he could speak with Rick freely.

As he shifted to make himself more comfortable I grimaced at the clear pain that Aaron was in. I felt bad for the poor man. If he was truly here to help then we had beaten him, interrogated him, and were now holding him hostage. I'm sure this was great for our candidacy to get into his place. "You're being cautious. I completely understand," he said and my heart broke.

After everything that we had put him through and everything that this poor man had seen, he was still understanding and he was still happy. How the hell did he manage to do that? "How many of your people are out there?" Rick asked and I immediately whipped my head to him. Aaron did as well, clearly confused why Rick would ask something like that. "You have a flare gun. You have it to signal your people. How many of them are there?" Rick asked the other man angrily.

He sighed deeply and I could tell that for some reason the question had gotten to him. Maybe someone that he was with meant a lot to him. A girlfriend or wife maybe? "Does it matter?" He asked Rick who looked extremely put out by the fact that Aaron was clearly uncomfortable with answering that question. I got nervous as I could tell that a fight was on its way.

Rick stared at the man and I felt my breath come in and out in ragged patterns. We had all just been in a fight, it would be nice if we could stay out of one for a while. "Yes. Yes, it does," Rick answered him slowly.

Something seemed to have changed in Aaron's disposition as he nodded slowly. He took a few moments to gather himself before smiling back at Rick and shrugging his shoulders. Clearly someone in his group meant an awful lot to him. "I mean, of course, it matters how many people are actually out there, but does it matter how many people I tell you are out there?" He said and I found myself nodding. I could see where he was going with it and he was right. "Because I'm pretty sure no matter what number I say eight, thirty two, zero. No matter what I say, you're not going to trust me," he said and even Rick found himself agreeing with the foreign man.

As Aaron returned to his former giddy state I could see that the mistrusting look had returned in Rick's eyes. "Well, it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face," Rick said to the man and I giggled lightly.

He was right. I had been punched in the face a few times since the start of the apocalypse and not once had I thought about smiling. There had been plenty of things that I had wanted to do but smile was never one of them. "How about a guy who leaves bottles of water for you in the road?" He asked and every eye in the group went wide. So it was Aaron who had left the bottles of water. That meant that he had been on our tail for at least a day. Probably more. But it also meant that the water had indeed been from a friend.

For a moment Rick processed what Aaron had just admitted to us. I saw the anger flash through his eyes before he calmed himself down and stared into Aaron's eyes. The two men were locked in a staring contest but the looks were vastly different. Rick seemed like he was about to pull the other man's head off, but meanwhile Aaron seemed to be nothing short of amused at our leader's reaction to his presence. "How long you people been following us?" Rick asked with a deep and angry voice.

I tried to keep an even face but I rolled my eyes at the conversation. It was obvious that this conversation was going nowhere fast. For some reason no matter what anyone said or did, we kept coming around to the same answers. "Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail," he said and I grimaced at the memory of the walker nearly taking a bite out of Rick. "Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors and you're people. Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me for saying it again, that is the most important resource in the world," he said and I let a tiny trace of a smile fall on my lips.

The man was funny, whether or not he knew it, and I was pretty sure that he had someone back in his community that he loved. I hoped that one day I would get to meet her. "How many others are out there?" Rick repeated, ignoring the jape about his earlier retaliation.

Aaron sighed, knowing that humor was not going to help anything in this case. "One," he finally sighed and Rick immediately scoffed. I turned to our leader with an angry glare but he ignored me. I really knew nothing about this Aaron but I genuinely believed that there was only one other person out there. "I knew you wouldn't believe me. If it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real? What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we'll get there by lunch," he told me and despite how much I tried to keep my reaction steady my face spread into a wide grin.

This was our one chance at actually finding a real home. Somewhere that we wouldn't have to live in fear of walkers finding their way in or any rival groups. It was a chance to have an actual life. Where Carl could be a kid again and Rick could safely raise Judith. I had thought that Rick would automatically dismiss the thought but it seemed like he was actually thinking about it. "I'm not sure how the fifteen of us are going to fit in the car you and your one friend drove down here in," he said to Aaron.

Aaron let a smirk slip across his face and I knew that he already had a plan to get all of us back to his community in one shot. And that was what we all needed. To get there together and in one piece. We had been separated enough lately. "We drove separately. If we found a group, we wanted to be able to bring them all home. There's enough room for all of us," he said to us with a smile.

Murmurs were exchanged throughout the group as everyone laughed and joked about what life would be like when we got to this new place. I let my mind wander for a moment as I tossed my hand through my hair. Immediately I recoiled and dropped my hands to my thighs. The first thing I wanted was a shower. God knows that I, and everyone else in the group, needed one badly. "And you're parked just a couple miles away, right?" Rick asked Aaron and I turned back to the talking pair.

Aaron nodded and I watched as the hope rose in his eyes. "East on Ridge Road, just after you hit Route 16. We wanted to get them closer, but then the storm came, blocked the road. We couldn't clear it," he said and Rick nodded.

"Yeah, you've really thought this through," our leader said slowly to Aaron. He still didn't seem to trust the other man but I could tell that the idea of an actual home was incredibly appealing to him. It wasn't surprising. He had Judith and Carl to think about as well as the rest of his group. It was stupid to give up what could be a safe place for us to live. After a year and a half of constant running.

Aaron saw the suspicion still tinkling in Rick's eyes and shook his head at our leader. "Rick, if I wanted to ambush you, I'd do it here. You know, light the barn on fire while you slept, pick you off as you ran out the only exit. You can trust me," he said softly with an almost pleading undertone. For once I actually found myself trusting the stranger, wanting to go to this place that he called home.

The barn was silent for a moment before Rick shook his head and began to walk around to the rest of the group. With Aaron tied up he had no need to worry about the man. "I'll check out the cars," he said before heading to the barn doors.

With a sigh Aaron sat up straighter and called out to the other man. "There aren't any cars," he said before Rick turned back with a dark glare set on his heavily bearded face.

"There's only one way to find out," Rick replied with a smirk.

With an angry sigh I watched as Glenn stepped forward to meet up with Rick. Our leader tried to walk around him but nothing was going to stop the other man. Glenn grabbed his hand and shook his head at the older man. Rick tried to pull away once more but Glenn had a tight grip on him. "We don't need to find out," he argued.

Rick stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. "We do," Rick argued back.

As Glenn gathered his thoughts I took a step closer to Daryl and I watched as Aaron's eyes followed me. His eyes dropped down to my hand and locked on my ring. Out of instinct I began to twist it around on my finger and Aaron gave me a friendly smile that I returned. Damn what Rick thought, Aaron seemed like a nice enough guy to me. "You know what you know and you're sure of it, but I'm not," Glenn said softly to our leader who stared back at the younger man.

The room was frozen in silence for a moment before Maggie stepped forward and gently diffused the situation. She put one hand on her husband's shoulder, gently pushing him away from our leader as not to make things worse. She stepped between the two men and faced Rick with a pleading look. "Me neither," she told him quietly.

He stared at her with a sad look before shaking his head and standing tall. He was determined to get his way, but we were all determined to get our way. "Your way is dangerous, mine isn't," he told her, hoping that she would understand.

She shook her head at me and I watched as she sighed deeply and turned back to look at everyone. Her eyes landed on Carl, who was holding Judith, and she turned back to let Rick see his children. "Passing up someplace where we can live? Where Judith can live? That's pretty dangerous," she told him and I saw the defeat light up in his eyes. "We need to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves. So that's what we're gonna do," she told him and he stared at her.

I was shocked that she was so determined to find this place. She hadn't really fought for anything since Beth had died. But maybe this was why. She was so determined to not have anyone else meet the same fate that her sister had. "Then I will, too," a voice spoke up and I turned back to see that it was Abraham who had spoken up. "I'll go," he repeated.

Everyone turned to look at him and Rick stared at his friend. Maggie and Glenn had already volunteered to go to the cars and check them out, and now Abraham was joining in on the hunt. "Abraham," Rick called out as he joined the couple by the barn doors.

The red headed man turned back to Rick and nodded as he grabbed the gun that was in his thigh holster. He gave me a quick nod and I smiled at the older man. He was a good person, I couldn't imagine what he had been like in the previous world though. He seemed to fit so well in this one. "Yeah. I'll walk with them," he answered and Rick nodded.

The room stood in wait for a moment before Rick turned back to the remaining members of the group. He scanned over us and his eyes stopped on me briefly before they continued to move. He was looking for someone else to join the group and I was sure that he didn't want me there. Probably because he thought that my desire for a place for us to live would cloud my judgement. That wasn't true though. I was rather fond of Aaron but I would kill him without hesitation if I saw the need to. "Rosita?" Rick finally asked and I looked up.

The Spanish woman nodded and went to join the other three. "Okay," she said softly as she brushed past me. I handed her one of my throwing knives, knowing that she had lost hers in a fight with walkers not long ago and the one she had now looked like it would break at any given moment. She took the knife from me slowly and turned it over. "Thanks," she said to me with a smile and I nodded at her.

She turned away from me and I watched my knife go with a sigh. I loved those knives but in the event that there was any trouble, she would need something besides the guns. They were helpful but they were loud too. "If there's trouble, you got enough firepower?" Rick asked the group and all of them went to checking their weapons for ammunition.

I could tell that there wasn't much but we had dealt with much less before and made do. Until we got where we were going this would have to work. "We got what we got," Abraham told Rick and the leader of the group slowly nodded. It was his way of telling us that if they got overrun, they were fucked. "The walkies are out of juice," Abraham informed the group as he went to playing with the large communication tool. I walked up to him and grabbed it, making sure that the dials were all set correctly. But every way that I turned it, the damn thing wouldn't light up. He was right. The batteries must have died, and we had no spare.

The group all nodded at the small search party that would be leaving to ensure that the cars were exactly what Aaron had promised us. I looked around the small barn and noticed that the looks were extremely mixed. Most of the group looked anxious but seemed to be ready to know the truth. Sasha wore the same dead stare that had been on her face since Bob had died. Maggie seemed to have finally let some life breath back into her, probably at the thought that she could finally be somewhere safe. The only ones that seemed completely ready to head away with Aaron were Michonne and myself. Odd considering we were normally the last ones to agree with a plan. "If you're not back in-" Michonne began before Rick cut her off.

He shook his head at her and walked away from where Aaron laid. He instead made his way to the middle of the barn and faced the rest of the members that would not be going on the search for the cars. "Which might be just what they want. If we're all in here, we're a target," he said and I sighed irritably.

Normally I agreed with Rick wanting to be cautious about what we should and should not be doing, but this was ridiculous. The man had to have some faith. Sensing that I was quickly growing impatient with our leader Daryl stepped forward and marched up to Rick. "I've got the area covered," he told Rick before turning back to me with a nod, which I returned.

After a moment of batting the idea back and forth in his head Rick finally nodded and sighed deeply. "All right, groups of two, find somewhere safe within eyeshot," he said and we all nodded. The group of four headed out of the barn and made their way to the cars that Aaron had told us about. Meanwhile, the rest of the group teamed up with one another to ensure that this whole thing really wasn't some elaborate ruse. I watched as Merle teamed up with Eugene and I snorted loudly. He turned back to me and I could tell that he was debating on whether or not to attack me, but he merely walked past me with the prodding from Eugene.

For a while I watched as the pair left the barn, Eugene prattling on about how Merle should look into getting his arm checked at. Merle on the other hand looked like he might throttle the other man. Daryl grabbed my arm and I jumped at the sudden contact. He smirked at me as he pushed me to the door. We took the space right in front of the door and Daryl handed me a rifle. I grabbed the gun and held up the barrel. I checked through the scope but nothing seemed to be anywhere around us. Sighing, I dropped the rifle to my side and strapped it over me. There was nothing in these damn woods other than walkers and animals. Rick was just paranoid.

The remainder of the group were spread around the barn but nothing seemed to be making any difference. No one had made any noise to tell the rest of us that they had seen anything. There was no one around us. Pissed off that Rick had been forcing us to act like this and turn Aaron into a prisoner of war I threw the rifle to the ground and dropped besides it. I held the gun close to me and kept it propped against my knee, just in case, but it was more so that it looked like I was still looking for something. I didn't need to be read the riot act by Daryl. The man in question took a spot next to me and I smacked my head roughly against his shoulder. Daryl chuckled at my actions and pushed my head up, looking over my face to make sure that I hadn't hurt myself.

He grabbed his rag and wiped my face gently and I grimaced at the dirt that he peeled off of my face. Sleeping on the ground and in cars these past few weeks had done no favors for me. I hoped that wherever we were going there were showers. Lord known I needed one. It wasn't just me either, we all needed one. And damn it, if I had to hold Daryl down in the bath tub I would. He was like a little child when it came to bathing and he needed to get over it. Daryl handed me a water bottle and I smiled at him, taking a small sip before handing it back over to him. He set it back on his holster before pulling me into him. Gently, I laid my head down on him and gazed through the scope of my gun. But just like before there was nothing to be seen.

We sat together for what must have been nearly two hours. The sun was beginning to sink and I knew that it wouldn't be more than another two hours before it had completely gone down. I suppose we wouldn't be heading to this place until tomorrow. Travel was too dangerous at night. I shifted the scope of the gun to the right a bit and saw the gentle rustle of the bushes. I jumped up from my spot and Daryl quickly followed. I held my gun to the woods but dropped it when I realized who it was that was strutting through the bushes. Glenn came first, with Maggie a step behind him and Rosita and Abraham trailed behind them. I glanced over to Maggie and she gave me a happy nod. I laughed and pumped my arm into the air. That was all the damn proof that Rick needed.

They headed to the barn doors and I ran around the outer edges, calling everyone back into the barn. One by one everyone headed back into the barn happily. I walked around to the back of the barn where Eugene and Merle stood watch and nodded to the pair. Eugene walked past me without even the slightest of questioning looks and I laughed lightly. Merle followed him but sent me a questioning look. I nodded to him with a smile and he laughed loudly. Despite the fact that I had done nothing, Merle pulled me into him and the pair of us happily dashed back to the entrance of the barn.

We were the last ones to head into the barn so I quickly pulled the doors closed behind us. Rick turned to the pair of us as we headed back into the center of the barn. I looked to him and he gave me the smallest of nods. "We're going," he said quietly and I smiled one of the largest smiles that I had ever given. Rick sighed and turned back to where Aaron was tied to the post. "So where are we going? Where's your camp?" He asked the man who gave a small smile, clearly happy with our decision.

Aaron sighed deeply but the smile remained on his face. "Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back," he said and I could see the angry look that crossed Rick's face. "I believe you're good people. I've bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends' lives just yet," he said and I nodded slowly. He was as protective of his people as we were of ours. I didn't blame him one bit for that. But he had to give us something to go on.

Slowly Rick walked up to where Aaron was sitting and shook his head angrily. I nearly ran up to Rick and kicked him but the glare that Daryl gave me made me stay in my spot. He knew what I was thinking. "You're not driving. So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how," Rick snapped at Aaron who seemed as fed up with this as I was.

But instead of letting his temper get the best of him like I was, he stayed calm. As much as I hated to say it I had inherited my attitude from my father. That and my eyes. But while his brown eyes were dark and brooding, mine were hardened. But if you looked hard enough they had a hint of life in them. "Go north on Route 16," Aaron finally admitted.

"And then?" Rick asked.

Our leader wore an angry look and I had to hand it to Aaron. He did well under pressure and in tight spots. He had the balls that most people didn't. "I'll tell you when we get there," he said and I could have sworn that I saw steam rising from the top of Rick's head. He didn't like being opposed, nevertheless by a stranger with an oddly happy disposition.

For a moment I thought that Rick might punch Aaron again, but he merely shook his head at the younger man and turned back to the rest of us. "We'll take 23 north," he said before turning back to the shocked face of Aaron. I began to step forward to Rick but Daryl grabbed my arm and wrenched me back to him. "You'll give us directions from there," he said to Aaron and I pulled my arm away from Daryl. I had about reached my limit with Rick, but one glare from Daryl was enough to make me stop in my tracks.

I noticed that Aaron was watching the silent exchange between Daryl and I with a smirk. For some reason he seemed to genuinely enjoy watching the two of us interact. I wasn't really sure why but I wasn't going to question it. With a small cough from Rick as a prompt, Aaron turned away from me and sighed deeply at our leader. "That's I don't know how else to say it- That's a bad idea," he said and Rick shook his head. "We've cleared 16. It'll be faster," he said gently, as so not to irritate Rick.

Briefly I wondered what Aaron had done before the world had gone to shit. Maybe he had worked for the suicide hotline or whatever that was. He seemed to have a natural talent for calming down situations. And he seemed to have a solution for anything that Rick was able to throw at him. "We'll take 23," Rick announced and I hung my head back in frustration. "We leave at sundown," he announced and my head snapped back up to look at him.

It had hurt slightly but I had to make sure that I had heard him right. Judging by the shocked faces of the rest of the group I assumed that I had heard him right. Well shit. Glenn stepped forward and nodded to me, letting me know that I wasn't nuts for being the only one to think that our leader was being too paranoid. "We're doing this at night?" He asked Rick softly, breaking the awkward silence.

Sensing that the rest of the group was questioning his methods, Rick turned to us with a sad look on his face. I wanted to punch the man but he was also my friend and the look he was giving me right now was breaking my heart. He didn't want to make us mad but he also wanted to protect what he loved. "Look, I know it's dangerous. But it's better than riding up to the gates during the day. If it isn't safe, we need to get gone before they know we're there," he said to us and I nodded.

This was hard enough and I was sure that my little tantrum was making this harder. He looked to me and I gave him a small nod, letting him know that I was behind him on this. He needed to know that someone was in his corner. "No one is going to hurt you. You're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger," Aaron said desperately but Rick ignored him.

He began to walk away but before he completely headed to the other side of the barn he turned back to Aaron. "Tell me where the camp is, we'll leave right now," he said to the other man. Aaron looked completely torn. He wanted to get us back in one piece but he also wanted to protect the people that he really knew. We were all strangers to him even though he had been following us. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. We all were. He finally dropped his head and shook it slowly, defeated. Rick sighed and turned to look at us. "It's going to be a long night. Eat. Get some rest if you can," he said and we all nodded.

Having lost my appetite I dropped to the ground and backed up to the wall of the barn. I sighed and dropped against the wall, watching Aaron closely. My psychology professor used to say that you could learn a lot from someone's body language but I had always thought it was a load of shit. And after watching the strange man for a few minutes, I decided that I was right. I had no idea what he was thinking, other than the obvious. Someone dropped next to me and I jumped. Daryl laughed at me and pulled me into him. I slapped his chest and he laughed as I laid against him. I fit perfectly into his side and I smiled at the fact. It was like we were two matching puzzle pieces. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up when it's time to go," he told me and I looked up to him.

I hadn't really thought about going to sleep, even though I needed it. I hadn't really slept that well the past few weeks. Well I hadn't really slept that well the past few months. Daryl hadn't slept at all the past few nights and I knew that he had to. "Daryl, you should get some rest too," I said and he shook his head. "I know that you didn't go to sleep last night and you were on watch the night before. You have to sleep or you'll die. Please? For me, get even an hour. Just try," I begged him and he sighed.

He was silent for a moment before he finally nodded to me and brushed the hair that had fallen in front of my face away. "Alright," he said and I smiled. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. I waited for a while before I felt his breath begin to fall in deep patterns and I knew that he was asleep. Once I was sure that he wasn't tricking me to get me to go to sleep I settled into his chest and let my eyes close. It wasn't a moment later before I was taken by the darkness.

It felt like it couldn't have been more than five minutes before my shoulder began to shake. I kicked my foot out at the source at the disturbance and I heard a small squeak. Glenn. I giggled slightly and I could tell that he was glaring down at me. "Very funny you dick. Hey, come on you two. It's time to get moving," he said and I sighed before pushing myself off of Daryl and standing. He joined me a moment later and yawned before grabbing his crossbow. "You ready?" He asked and we both nodded. "Good. Alright so Rick, Michonne, and I are going to go with Aaron. Everyone else will head out with Maggie. That means you two," he told us and we both nodded.

Slowly I walked out to the door and met up with where the rest of the crowd. Everyone looked either tired or nervous, but I could also tell that everyone was ready. Without saying a word to each other we all moved out. Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, Abraham and Rosita led the rest of us to the cars and I sighed heavily. It was damn near impossible to see anything and I knew that if we weren't careful it would be easy for any walkers to catch us off guard. Within twenty minutes we had all reached the cars. True to his word there was one smaller car and a larger RV. A Winnebago. I laughed lightly and noticed that older members of our group smiled fondly at large vehicle. With a nod to us, Rick, Michonne, Glenn, and Aaron climbed into the car. Daryl dragged me to the RV and I nodded at him.

Abraham took the driver's seat and I watched as Rosita took the passenger seat. Merle, Tara, Father Gabriel, and Eugene all took a seat at the table together and Maggie walked to the back of the RV, sitting on the couch. I took a seat next to her and smiled as she gave me a tiny nudge. Carol came to the back and joined us, forcing me to sit almost on top of Maggie. Carl took a seat on the floor with Judith in his arms and I smiled brightly at him. He gave me a tiny grin and nodded. Daryl came to sit with the younger boy and grabbed Judith from him. Noah and Sasha walked behind us and took a seat on the edge of the bed and I nearly laughed. This damn thing was like a clown car.

Once everyone was seated and tucked in place I noticed that Abraham motioned to Rick to start the drive. For a while we all made good time, headed to wherever it was that Aaron called home. I knew that we weren't far from D.C. and it would appear that if this fell through we would still be able to reach the city. Carol grabbed my hand and I smiled at the older woman. We were finally going to be somewhere safe. She had barely said anything since Beth's death, probably thinking that the whole thing had been her fault. But like the rest of us she was gradually healing. She was about to say something to me but just as she did I heard a loud curse from the front of the RV. The vehicle slid on the road and most everyone was thrown from their places. I hit the ground and glanced up to the glass.

Right in front of us was a swarm of walkers and I could no longer see the other car. Fuck. This was just like a repeat of what had happened when we had gone to get the medicine back at the prison. The car was swerving all over the road despite Abraham trying to counteract the movements. I noticed that Carl was having a hard time holding onto Judith, who had been handed back to him not long before. I crawled over to the younger boy and wrapped my arms around him. As we banged into the walls of the RV, Judith was cradled safely between us. Finally Abraham seemed to have gotten the spinning under control but without warning he slammed on the brakes and I went sprawling back. I hit the ground and watched as Judith slipped from Carl's arms and went flying to the ground. I pushed my arms out quickly and grabbed the little girl who bounced softly on my stomach.

She didn't weigh much but the force had still been enough to hurt. Carl jumped up and grabbed her off of me, thanking me silently. I nodded at him stood slowly, making my way to the front of the RV with Daryl at my side. He looked shaken by the encounter as well but he seemed fine. I walked up to the front of the RV on shaky legs and nearly fell as Abraham began to slowly drive once more. I walked up to the front and sat by the shaken pair. "What the hell happened? And where are they?" I asked slowly.

I glanced over at Rosita but she stared out of the window in silence. Shaking my head I looked over to Abraham, who seemed to have recovered from the surprise attack. "We were just driving and everything was fine but then walkers were all over the area. I tried to fight my way out of them and I think we lost them during it. We're in some industrial section but they couldn't have gotten far. We'll find them," he told me and I nodded softly. As we drove I kept my eyes faced forward and looked around. As we drove through a narrow street in the creepy looking area I caught a few walkers out of the corner of my eye not far from us. I glanced over at them and was about to ignore the foul little things until I saw the tinniest of movements under them.

"Abraham stop driving," I ordered the red headed man. He looked at me like I was nuts but stopped the RV anyways. As I watched the walkers swarm I caught sight of the head of a man. He was alive and trying to fight them off. "Open the doors," I told him and the man listened to me. He was about to call to me but I knew that the man didn't have long left. And that was when I realized that the car was on top of him. "Abraham, Daryl, Merle, come with me!" I yelled before dashing out of the door. I heard them calling my name but I ignored them as I ran. I slipped the bow off of my back and grabbed an arrow. I nocked it quickly and fired at the closest walker. The thing fell and I finally got a direct eye line to the man. "Hang on there!" I yelled to him and he nodded. Easily I took out the other two and stared at the man. His leg was trapped under the wheel of the car and he appeared to be in a lot of pain.

He tried to move as I collected my arrows but I shook my head at him. "Don't move!" I yelled at him and he stopped dead in his tracks. "Come on guys, lift it." The men in my group stared at me angrily but one glare from me and they all grabbed the other end of the car. I heard their grunts of exertion as they lifted the back end of the car and I ducked to get on the man's level, holding a hand out. "Alright, come on. Can't hold it for long. There you go," I grunted as I pulled him out. "Are you alright?" I asked as the other three dropped the car. He nodded to me and I nodded back at him. "Good. What happened to you? And are you alone?" I asked him.

Turning back I saw the rest of the group walking up to us. I let the man lay some of his weight on my shoulders and Merle came to grab his other side. Abraham pulled me away from the man so that they could all stand at the same level. I turned back to the man as we all walked to one of the storage units that was close by. The RV would be fine while we figured out who this man was. "I was just looking around and then all of a sudden there were rotters. I was trying to run away and I tripped. I couldn't get up though and they rolled the car on top of me. You know, I thought that I was dead until you guys came to save me. Thank you. No, I'm not alone. I have a friend out there somewhere," he told us and I nodded at him. At least he was grateful.

Daryl slid open the door to the storage unit and I walked with the new man as we entered in the unit. Merle and Abraham led him to a small couch in the back of the unit, behind a wall and I stood at his side with the rest of the group. "What's your name? And your friend's name too," I told him as my mind shot back to Aaron. Could this be the man he was telling us about?

He smiled at me and handed me his hand. "I'm Eric," he said. I didn't want to be rude to the man but I hadn't even known him for five minutes. I sure as hell wasn't going to shake his hand. "His name is Aaron," he told me and I nearly laughed. Well I'll be damned. The world may be screwed up but it was still way to small a place.

Making sure that it was the Aaron that we knew I thought back to our potential savior. "Short, curly brown hair? Mid-thirties? Awfully friendly no matter what the situation is," I joked around with the last part.

He laughed gently at me and I smiled as I saw the elation build in his eyes. I wondered for a moment if they might have been family but it was highly unlikely. They were too close in age to be father and son and didn't look anything alike so that ruled out siblings. Maybe they were just good friends. Like Rick and Shane had once been. "Oh yes that's him! Thank God, is he alright? Do you people know him? Where is the last place that you saw him?" He began to barrage us with questions and I laughed and held my hand up, effectively silencing him.

He smiled abashedly at me and I giggled at the man. He seemed to be friendly enough to me. He also seemed like he was much more naive then his friend. "Hey, slow down," I told him with a smile and he nodded at me. "The rest of our group is with him now. He was talking about bringing us to audition to live in your community. I take it you live there too?" I asked and he nodded at me. "He's fine though. We were caught in a pile of walkers and we got separated but don't worry. Our people know what they're doing and they'll make sure that he's alright," I told him and he nodded at me gratefully. I motioned for Maggie to walk forward and she did, giving the man a friendly smile. "This is Maggie, she's going to take a look at that ankle," I told him and he nodded.

He smiled at me gratefully as Maggie walked over to him and leaned down to his level, grabbing his ankle softly. He grimaced at the pressure but quickly recovered. "Thank you," he told the two of us, even though he probably meant it to our entire group. "And what is your name?" He asked me with a smile.

"Rain," I answered him and he smiled.

"That's pretty," he told me.

I blushed softly and glanced at my feet for a moment before glancing back up to him. "Thank you," I told him and he nodded. The group was silent as Maggie continued to roll around Eric's leg, checking for the problem. Knowing that the silence was making him uncomfortable I coughed and smiled at Eric. "So please tell me at this place you guys have a place where I can get washed up or something," I said to him.

He laughed lightly before cringing as Maggie pushed down on his leg gently. "There are houses where we can stick you all. Plenty to go around," he told us and I nodded. It sounded just like Woodbury. But that was a nightmare that was only a memory. "We have electricity from solar panels. Our televisions work, not that we can really watch TV, but there are movie collections that you can pick from. We just ask that you keep television use to a minimum," he told me and murmurs began to spread through our group. This place sounded like Heaven. "And yes Rain, there are showers with hot water in the houses," he told me with a smirk.

As soon as he mentioned showers I had to force myself to stay in place and not run off to the mystery spot. "I'm sold. When do we leave?" I asked facetiously and was met with a round of laughter.

Maggie giggled and grabbed my shoulder as she stood from besides Eric. "Slow down princess. We all want those showers," she told me and I nodded, slightly embarrassed. "Alright well it definitely looks broken. You're lucky though, this could have been a lot worse. Glad we were there to save you when we did. All you need is to get some rest, keep off of your leg and make sure to keep it elevated. You have anyone that can wrap it back where you're from?" She asked and he nodded.

I couldn't help but let out a little snort of disbelief. He had no idea how lucky he was that he had come out of that with nothing more than a broken leg. I mean damn, every time I seemed to get caught in a tight spot I nearly died. How was that fair? "We have a surgeon named Pete. I'll be able to go talk to him about getting it set and I'll be sure to pay him some visits. Perhaps you would want him to take a look at your arm as well," Eric said glancing to Merle. He nodded and twirled his finger around the tip of his knife. "Look, this place is a little off of the grid. I have a way to make sure that your friends and Aaron find us," he said and I cocked my head to the side.

"What's that?" I asked him and he motioned to his bag that was sitting on the ground.

Daryl stepped forward and grabbed the bag. Eric motioned to the front pocket and Daryl went to work. "In the front of my pack there's a flare gun. Aaron and I only use it in emergencies so they'll get here fast," he told us and I nodded. So that had been why Aaron had his flare gun. Not to signal an attack but to signal that one was in danger. It was smart. "There's only one flare though so make it count. You know how to work one?" He asked and we all nodded. It wasn't exactly difficult.

Daryl tucked the flare gun into his pants and nodded at me. "We do. We'll take care of it. You guys wait here. We'll be back when we've got them," I said softly and we both headed out to the street. We walked out into the main street and I watched as Daryl raised the gun and fired the flare into the air. I sucked in a breath and hoped that they would be quick to get here. There were other people around and the last thing we needed was to attract unsavory characters. Daryl tucked the flare gun back into his pants and I sighed as we made our way to the corner of the street.

I hoped that wherever they were it wouldn't take long for them to get here. I was ready to get everyone together and head out to this place. I just wanted the running to be over. "How long do you think they'll take?" Daryl asked me and I turned to him.

I shook my head and turned back to check if they were coming yet. But it hadn't even been two minutes. It would still be a bit before we saw them. "Not long. Not if Aaron will be as worried as Eric made it seem," I said. He looked to the ground and I walked back over to him. "Hey, this is a good thing. It is. The prison was good but it wasn't really a home. There weren't houses and we didn't really have anything. It was only a place to survive. This could be our chance to really live. And we could do anything that we wanted here. You know, people might not even be afraid to have a family," I said softly, turning away from him.

The area was congested with heavy air before I heard him take soft steps towards me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to look at him. I saw all of the conflicting emotions that were flitting in his eyes. "You want a family?" He asked me so quietly that it almost seemed like it had been nothing more than a whisper of the wind.

I laughed loudly and shook my head at him. "Hell no. I'd make a horrible mother," I told him and I saw that relief flooded his eyes. There was something else there too but before I could tell what it was, it had already disappeared. "Besides, I can't imagine how you are even supposed to raise a child. Judith is good enough for me," I said and Daryl snorted loudly. "Oh come on you looked rather taken with her after she was born. I mean you were the first one to volunteer to get her food and I know that you were one of the first ones to hold her. You held her before Rick did," I said to him softly and I saw a softness glaze over his eyes.

But quickly it vanished and they hardened once more. "We'd lost enough people at that point. Rick had already lost his wife. He didn't need to lose his daughter too. I just didn't want her to die," he told me and I snorted. It didn't matter what he said to me I knew that Judith was important to him and he loved her. But he would never admit that. There was a heavy fall of footsteps and I turned back to see that Rick, Michonne, Glenn and Aaron were running up to us. Daryl turned back and whistled to alert the others and I smiled at the small group.

Poor Aaron looked like he might have a heart attack and I nodded to him. Glenn grabbed my shoulders as he walked by us and Daryl and I brought the remainder of our group back to the rest. "Dad!" I heard a small voice call and I turned back to see Carl standing at the entrance of the building. Carl ran up to hug his father and I smiled at the pair.

As he let go of his son Rick looked down into Carl's eyes and took a deep breath. "Your sister okay?" He asked and I shuddered as I thought about how close she had been to falling and injuring herself.

Carl looked over at me and I smirked at him. He gave me a small wink and I laughed at the confused look that graced Rick's face. "Yeah. Yeah, we're fine," he said softly before turning as Aaron came rushing past us.

"Eric?" Aaron called in panic as we all ran back into the room. I raised my eyes as I slowly followed the panicking man. He had me seriously curious. Who was Eric to him? I had never seen two friends act that way towards each other and they seemed to have no connection through family. "Eric? Eric?" He called twice more.

The room was silent and stares were all focused on Aaron before the soft call of Eric broke the deafening silence. "In here," his distant voice called and Aaron immediately took off. I heard him call to his friend twice more and I slowly walked over to where Eric was lying. Daryl and Merle followed me and we hung on the outside of the room. This was their private moment but we were still being cautious with the pair. "I'm okay. Rain and the rest of her group saved me. I like her, she's sweet," Eric said and I smiled. "It's like a volleyball injury. It's a broken ankle. At least that's what Maggie said. I like her too. It's not a big deal," he reassured his friend.

It appeared that Aaron thought it was a huge deal as he leaned over Eric's ankle and gulped deeply. He was sitting on his knees on the ground and I watched the pair from behind the corner. "Oh, my God," Aaron breathed softly.

"I'll just go to the infirmary when we get back," Eric said like the whole ordeal had been no big deal. I scoffed darkly, knowing that Eric would have never had said that ten minutes ago. The guy had been trapped under a car and had nearly been a meal to three hungry walkers. Although I was pretty sure that he would never tell Aaron that.

Clearly upset that his friend was treating the injury like it was nothing Aaron let a glare cross his face before he sighed and calmed himself. "Oh," he said softly and Eric smiled down at him. "When I saw that flare go up, I- I thought-" Aaron started to say before his voice began to break. I cocked my head to the side wondering if the two were indeed brothers.

Eric let a smirk cross his face and I once more lost my train of thought. This was probably the one time that I had no idea how two people were related. "You were worried, were you?" Eric asked Aaron and I nearly laughed. What a little smart ass. Perhaps I would be good friends with the injured man after all.

Aaron sighed and sat on the edge of the chair. "Yeah," he said softly. Both men laughed before Aaron leaned down and let his lips meet Eric's. My heart nearly stopped at the sight and I could have smacked myself. Of course they were together. It was the only thing that had made any sense but I hadn't even bothered to think about it. I turned back to both of the brothers and giggled quietly at the looks on their faces. Daryl just looked shocked and uncomfortable while Merle looked disgusted.

My brother-in-law made a disgusted noise and I jammed my elbow back into his ribs. He coughed awkwardly as he regained my breath and I rolled my eyes as the two men pulled apart and began to talk once more. "Oh get over it. I can't imagine what some of the women that you took home looked like over the years, or what they had," I told him and I heard Daryl snort loudly and begin to laugh. I guess my assumption about Merle's taste in women had been right. "Yet you're freaked out by two men that love each other?" I asked as I noticed Eric handing Aaron a license plate. I cocked my eyebrow and shook my head. It wasn't my business.

Angrily, Merle shoved his brother roughly, who stumbled into me. Daryl stood up straight with a smirk on his face but Merle was too busy shooting daggers at me. "Shut up boy," he hissed quickly before turning back to me. "And I think we've all seen how terrible your choice of men is. You coulda had this, girl," he said before sliding his hands over his body.

Jokingly I leaned over and gagged, much to the amusement of Daryl. Merle shoved me and I laughed, but the moment was sobered as Rick passed us and stood in the doorway. I heard laughter coming from the other room and looked back in over Rick's shoulder. Maybe it's for the best. "That monstrosity out front can run. It's so ugly, it'll scare the roamers away," Eric said with a laugh before noticing that Rick was standing in the doorway. "Hi. I'm Eric," he said politely to our leader.

"Rick," our leader answered softly.

Aaron watched the exchange and smiled at Rick softly. "It's okay," he said gently to our leader, who nodded. I sighed and turned away from the three and headed back into the main room. Everyone was together chatting and I sat with Maggie and Glenn. A moment later Daryl joined us, followed by Merle. We all joked together for a while, spirits high about our new home before a small call came from the back of the small storage container.

I broke off mid-sentence and noticed that Aaron was standing at the far end of the room with his signature smile painted across his lips. "Excuse me. Excuse me. Everyone," he said a few times until the last of the conversations had dulled and all attention was on the man who stood smiling. "Thank you. You saved Eric. I owe you. All of you. And I will make sure that debt is paid in full when we get to our community. When we get to Alexandria," he said and my head cocked. Alexandria, Virginia. We weren't far from there now. "Now, I'm not sure about you, but I'd rather not do any more driving tonight. Maybe we can hit the road tomorrow morning," he said and small laughs were spread throughout the room.

Nodding slowly I dropped onto my back and Maggie laughed as she dropped next to me. I giggled as our contrasting hair tangled together in a pretty pattern of dark brown and light blonde. "That sounds fine. But if we're staying here for the night, you're sleeping over there," Rick ordered and both Maggie and I leaned up to look at our leader. We smacked heads and grunted at the impact but continued to look at our leader. Both Daryl and Glenn shot over to us but we waved them both off.

Once he was sure that his wife was fine Glenn stood and walked over so that he was facing our leader who apparently hadn't gotten over his hesitation about having Aaron and Eric together. I gulped deeply, knowing that this wasn't going to go over well with the pair. But Glenn was going to try and resolve it. "You really think we got to do that?" He asked Rick with a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look.

Rick shook his head and leaned into Glenn who stared him down. "It's the safe play," he said softly before turning back to Aaron with a shrug. "We don't know you," he told Aaron like it was the obvious fact of why the two couldn't sleep together.

For the first time in the short time that I had known Aaron I saw pure anger flash across his features, and this time it wasn't a fleeting look. He stood and marched to where Rick was standing with a look that could kill. But Rick wasn't so easily deterred. And we all knew that he would be able to squash Aaron. But still, the man had some major balls. "The only way you're gonna stop me from being with him right now is by shooting me," he said and I sucked in a breath.

Rick seemed like he was about ready to oblige by Aaron's statement before Glenn pushed the two men apart. "Whoa," he struggled as he shoved the men apart and turned to face Rick. "Rick, he told us where the camp is. And he really was only traveling with one other person. They're both unarmed. One of them's got a broken ankle. I want us to be safe, too. I can't give up everything else. I know what I said, but it does matter," he said to our leader.

The air was tense as Rick seemed to debate the issue for a moment. Finally our leader stepped back and sighed as he turned to face Aaron with a slightly sorry look. "All right," he said gently. I sighed and dropped back to the floor as Aaron went back to his boyfriend. Or husband, I was sure that I would find out eventually. The floor was hard and cold and the air was stuffy but it didn't matter. By this time tomorrow we would be in a place we could call home. I felt Daryl lay flat down behind me and smiled as one hand brushed against my neck. I sighed softly and slipped my eyes closed. From the exhaustion of the day and the lack of sleep over the past few months, I automatically fell into a sleep that felt like I would never wake from.

The next morning Maggie shook me awake and I grinned at her before shaking Daryl awake. I was still exhausted but that had probably been the best nights sleep that I had gotten in a long while. Slowly I rose from the ground and grabbed my weapons from Daryl. I thanked him softly before grabbing a small bottle of water from Eric. It wasn't much and I was starving, but it would work until we were able to eat in Alexandria. The drive wouldn't be a long one. As long as we left now we would be there within the hour. I paced as I drained the water bottle and glanced over to the side once more as I heard Noah and Aaron talking. Both were helping Eric to the cars and I sighed as we made our way out to the RV. I wanted this, but I was nervous.

The group reached the RV and everyone began to pile in. With five more than there had been before there was now almost no room to move around. Daryl walked into the RV and I followed him. He took a seat at the table and I joined him as Tara and Eugene sat with us. He was holding a deck of cards and talking to the other woman as he laid them out on front of her. I was about to ask to be dealt in when Eugene went to explaining the rules of the game that they were playing to pass the time. "Seven-card stud. Stares and squares. It's aces, cuatros, neeners, and two-eyed jacks," he said and Tara nodded. My eyes shot open as I glanced at her hand and I scoffed.

She was staring at her hand and glanced up to me for help but I merely shrugged my shoulders. I had no idea what kind of game the two of them were playing. "What the hell? How do you remember all of the rules?" I asked Eugene, who rolled his eyes at me. I had the nagging feeling that he thought of the rest of us as stupid guards but some part of me was still a little fond of the man.

Tara shook her head as she stared at her cards and began to try to order them. Though it quickly became apparent that she had no idea what she was doing with the cards she had been dealt. "Yeah I'm with Rain on this one. Not liking this game so far. So there's 14 wild cards? Are you serious?" She asked Eugene, who nodded.

"Serious as two copulating dogs," he said evenly and I recoiled in disgust.

He cocked his head at me, wondering why I had been so creeped out by his choice of words and I shook my head at the man. "Couldn't have come up with a better analogy?" I asked Eugene who gave me a shocked look. I rolled my eyes and leaned back into the chair, kicking my booted feet up onto the table and scattering their card game. Tara and Daryl laughed while Eugene glared at me. "Yeah that's right Mr. Scientist, I know big words too," I hissed at him.

"Abraham. Look," Rosita said softly from the driver's seat and I leaned forward to see what it was that she was talking about. She was looking off to the side of the curved road that we were on and I looked over. Right over the trees was the skyline of Washington and I leaned forward, nearly falling out of my chair. The skyline was pristine and the city looked like it had hardly been touched. It was nothing compared to the devastation that was Atlanta. It looked like this place had hardly been touched by walkers. It looked like a place that we wouldn't be afraid to call home. Hell, this was home now.

Abraham turned back and laughed at the wide grin on my face before looking back and smiling fondly at Rosita. I smirked at the pair as he stared at her. I wasn't really sure if it was a completely romantic relationship between the two but I knew that they both cared for each other. "Eyes on the road, champ," he told her and she quickly turned her head back to the road.

Rosita's head shot down to the gauges before she turned to Abraham with the tiniest amount of worry in her eyes. "How much longer we got?" She asked him and he stared at her in wonder.

He glanced down at his map and followed the line that was the road that we were traveling on before nodding to her. "Looks like we're a little over halfway there. Why?" He asked her before glancing over to where she was looking. I stood and walked over to the gauges and sighed when I saw the reading. If the engine was that warn it meant that the battery was going. "We can make it. We can make it," Abraham muttered for a moment before the RV made a sputtering noise. Quickly everyone went dashing out of the RV and split up. Rick and Michonne went to go find another car and most of everyone else was sitting around waiting. Abraham leaned over the hood of the RV and poked around at it for a while before he finally stood and wiped his forehead. He slammed the hood and I jumped at his sudden outburst. "Can't win. Might as well paint it red, put a ladder on it," he said and I rose an eyebrow.

Glenn walked up to us and looked into the hood, once more opening it up. Abraham shook his head as Glenn looked into the engine. He stared at the engine for a few seconds before poking his head back out and shaking his head. "All we need is another battery," he said as he turned back to Abraham who shook his head.

I thought that Abraham might throttle Glenn for saying the absolute obvious. Of course we needed a battery. "Where in the hell are we gonna find another battery?" He asked with a bite in his voice. Just like the rest of us, he wanted to get to Alexandria.

With a small smirk he walked over to the side of the RV and pulled down a compartment. It fell open and I glanced in to see another battery just sitting there for the taking. I laughed as he turned to Abraham with a smile and shrugged his shoulders. "Right over here," he said before starting to walk away from the ex-military man who stared in shock.

Before Glenn could get away from him Abraham looked back over to the younger man and scoffed. "How'd you know those were there?" Abraham asked. Glenn merely smiled a knowing smile before walking away slowly. I smirked as he came to stand besides me with a small nudge. Dale. He had taught Glenn almost everything that he had known about the Winnebago. It seemed that he had remembered more than I had thought that he would.

The two of us stood together and watched as Abraham made quick work of the new battery. He seemed to know exactly what to do once he got the battery. He just hadn't known where to find it. "He'd be proud you know," I told Glenn and he looked over to me. "You didn't see it but I saw it, the way that he looked at you. He treated you like a son. He loved you," I told him with a smile.

Glenn turned to me and I looked up to meet his eyes. It was incredible to see how much the Asian man had changed since I had met him a year and a half ago. "Thanks, Rain," he told me with a laugh. "You know, he loved you too. And I know that wherever he is he's looking down on you and smiling. He's watching over you like the daughter that he never had," he said and I smiled. It didn't matter that I hadn't known Dale that long and that I had an actual father who was still alive at the time. In the few weeks that I knew Dale he had been a better father to me than my own had been in twenty four years. I hoped that he and his wife were back together.

Giving Glenn a quick hug I went to walk away and meet up with Daryl but just as I headed to my husband I heard Rick make a small noise. He looked nervous and I had to wonder what it was that he was going to say. Maybe an apology to Aaron. That would be appropriate. "Before we get going, I got to- I got to take a moment," he said quickly before walking off through the woods. Most everyone headed back to the RV and two other cars they had gotten to run but I headed straight after Rick. Daryl caught my arm for a moment but I silently pleaded for him to let me go. He nodded and stepped back and I gave him a quick kiss before heading off to follow Rick.

I trailed him in the woods for a while and watched as Rick stopped at an old shack. It was almost nothing and he slowly pawed through the garbage that was piled up behind the shack. I stayed low and watched as he pulled a blender up and stuffed his spare gun into it. I sighed as he went to stuff it back under the pile and I stepped out. "Hey Rick," I called out and he turned quickly to me. "You're smart to do that. I'm sorry about everything that happened yesterday. You were right. The entire time, you were right. We don't know who these people are and you're being smart to hide something out here. So here, we should have more than one thing in there," I told him before handing him my spare gun. It was my Beretta that I was so fond of, but he should know that I was here for him.

Gratefully, Rick took the gun from my hands and I sighed as I watched him stuff it into the blender. He buried it under the pile before turning back to me and pulling me into a small hug. This was the Rick that I missed. My friend not my leader. I smiled in his shoulder and gave him a sweet smile as he pulled away. "Thank you, Rain. Come on. Lets head back," he told me and we turned to head for the last leg of the journey to Alexandria. "So you ready to see what this place is?" He asked me as we hit the edge of the woods.

As we approached the road I took a deep breath. Was I ready to see what this place really was? I was. "Be it good or bad, I'm ready. Are you?" I asked and I saw the conflicting emotions in his eyes.

He sighed at me as we reached the road and we both stopped to turn to each other before walking to our respective vehicles. "I don't know if I want to be. But I'm ready. I want to believe that my kids will be safe," he told me.

I stopped and grabbed his shoulders with a smile. He had no idea how strong he really was. He had no idea that he really was a hero in his son's eyes. He had no idea what he meant to all of us. Whether he knew it or not he was the reason that we were all still alive. He was the reason that I was putting my pieces together. I would be long gone if it weren't for Rick and everything that he had sacrificed. "As long as they have you they'll always be safe," I told him.

For a moment he just stared at me but finally he smiled at me and nodded. I turned away from him and headed to the RV where everyone was waiting to head to our safe haven. The RV slowly started and I sat on the couch with Carol and Daryl. The three of us were sitting close together with Merle hanging over the back of the couch, his hands tugging gently at my hair out of boredom. Abraham and Rosita were in the front of the RV and Tara and Eugene were still sitting at the table. But this time there were no cards being played and no one was talking. All of us were in total silence as we rounded one last corner and came up on Alexandria. There was a high gate that looked like it had two separate gates. They had a brown cloth hanging over them, which made it impossible to see in. The walls were exactly what Aaron had showed us and I took a deep breath as the engine to the RV shut off.

Rosita and I were the first two to step out of the RV and quickly we were joined by the rest of the group. Daryl and Merle took their respective spots besides me and I grabbed both of their hands. They were my family and we would be here for each other no matter what. I could hear a sweet song playing over the gates and there was the soft shouts of children. People were laughing and shouting and I smiled at the joyful air of the place. Rick stepped up to the front of the group and smiled at his softly cooing daughter. "Hey. Hey, sweetheart. Come here," he said gently before pulling her from Carl's arms and cradling her himself.

The group all stood together as Aaron and Eric made their way to the front. They smiled at us all and gave quick greetings to all of us as they passed. Aaron laid a hand on my shoulder and I grinned at him as he passed me. This was what he had promised us. For once, someone had been completely honest. Michonne brushed past me with a smile and joined Daryl, Rick, and myself at the front of the group. "Even though you were wrong, you were still right," she told Rick gently.

Smiling at the pair I turned back to Daryl and poked him in the side. He was staring over the fence and even at my small poke he didn't break his contact of the place. "Still think this place is going to make a bad home?" I asked him and he finally looked back to me. "Children and people laughing. All such terrible thing," I joked with him and he shook his head.

"Shut up," he growled at me with a smile hidden in his eyes.

The group chuckled lightly at us and I smiled. This was our home. Now all we had to do was take the final step. We just had to go in and put an end to our days on the road without a home. All we had to do was go in and make the homes that we all deserved. Rick held Judith close and looked down at her with a grin. "Should we go?" He asked her and she cooed softly to him. I giggled and looked up to where Aaron and Eric waited for us. They both looked to me and after taking two deep breaths, I nodded at them. I was ready.


	46. Alexandria Safe-Zone

The gates remained shut for a moment and I took a deep breath in. Slowly I looked down and realized that Daryl was holding a possum upside down. What the hell? When had he gotten that? Probably when I had gone to talk with Rick earlier. Judith began to babble lightly as the gates screeched loudly. Without thinking, I grabbed one of the small knives out of my pocket and slipped it into my boot. Just in case something happened in there. The gates slid all of the way open and I looked inside the community. There were people all along the front of the community and I glanced in. There were people that were wandering all over the community and most stopped to look at the new additions. An irrational anger shot through me at the disgusted glances from the Alexandria residents and I let my hand linger on my gun.

With his free hand, Daryl grabbed mine and yanked it off of my gun. I sighed and dropped my hand, knowing that nothing that I had been about to do would be helpful. I cocked my head at the residents who all looked like they were clean and hadn't missed any meals. They looked uninjured and seemed happy. Without even knowing any of them I could tell that they were weak. They had never seen a real fight or known the fear of being an inch from death. They had never sacrificed themselves to let someone else live. They had never known the fear of what it would be like to realize that the walkers weren't the enemy. It was people.

The possum began to squeal once more and without turning my gaze away from the Alexandria residents, I pulled a knife from my pants and slid the blade over the throat of the animal, ending its fear. It seemed that most of the residents had thought that I had done it for some other reason as some held their hands over their mouth and others screamed. They looked terrified. Good. Then they won't try anything stupid. I noticed that Merle snorted at the fear in the resident's eyes and Daryl raised up the dead animal. "We brought dinner," he shouted.

Most of our group snickered lightly at the disgusted looks on the Alexandrian's faces and I laughed softly. Oh yeah, these people had no idea what the real world was like. A man with dark brown hair stepped forward and at his side was a woman with the same colored hair, but unlike him she wore glasses and was overweight. She seemed nice enough but the man clearly seemed to have an issue with us already. It seemed like Aaron could sense my hesitation and he grabbed my arm, pulling me forward slightly. "It's okay. Come on in, guys," he said softly, shooting me a sweet smile.

The man that had an air of arrogance about him looked me over and smirked and I found my grip on my knife tightening. The only thing that was keeping me from throwing my knife at the new man was the grip that Aaron had on my arm. It wasn't tight but he was warning me, or maybe asking me, not to start a fight. We had been through enough fights recently. The heavy set woman walked up to us and her eyes immediately dropped down to my bloody knife. She took a deep breath and sent me a smile, which I only returned with a glare, before looking over the rest of us. She smiled at us and held her hand out in a small greeting. "Before we take this any further, I need you all to turn over your weapons," she said politely.

Not that she had ordered us or anything but I noticed that everyone tightened their grips on their weapons and my grip tightened almost painfully on my bow. This was mine and I'd be damned if they were going to take it from me. The new man noticed our hesitation and he sighed deeply. "Stay, you hand them over," he hissed at us.

I went to step forward and give the man a what for but Rick grabbed my arm and threw me back to Daryl, who locked his hand around my arm. I was practically vibrating with anger and he could tell. For the most part I had been fine until this new asshole had decided to get uppity with us. His eyes had shot to me when I had approached him and I noticed that he now wore a straight look with a hint of fear in his eyes. I was sick of stupid boys trying to act like they were big and tough. I'd like to let him go a few rounds with the Termites. Not that any were alive anymore. "We don't know if we want to stay," Rick said to the younger man as we walked through the gate.

Wanting to diffuse the situation, Aaron stepped up through the thick of our group and placed his hand gently on the other man who clearly was not happy at the sight of us. "Its fine, Nicholas," he said to the man gently. Daryl's hand traced patterns into my back and he gently raked his short nails over my back. It felt good and I felt myself slowly calming down. The last thing that I needed was to start a fight with these people who were offering us a place to call home.

Rick glared darkly as he made sure to keep his hand tightly on the gun at his waist. I sighed and thought back to the guns that were inside of the blender right now. Rick had made the right call to do that and now I was glad that I had placed one of mine in there as well. Especially if we were going to be forced to give up our guns. "If we were gonna use them, we would have started already," our leader admitted.

He was right. We had started gun fights with groups before and there was never any hesitation. We went in, did what we had to do, and got out. We never dawdled around and waited to see what the people were like. I noticed that most of the residents had backed away at Rick's confession and they all began to back off. Some left the area up front and others congregated in a small circle together, curious at who the new potential additions were. "Let them talk to Deanna first," Aaron stated and I turned to look at him.

Others were nodding and I cocked my eyebrow at Daryl, not that he would know who the woman was. He shrugged his shoulders and my entire group turned to look at Aaron. It was funny how the man we had originally been about ready to kill was now the only person here that we really trusted, besides each other of course. "Who's Deanna?" Rick asked Aaron.

Aaron smiled at Rick and had us move a little farther into the area. The place looked like it had once been an upscale living community and these houses looked like mansions. They actually looked a little bit like my childhood home, but larger. The whole thing brought back bad memories and I shook my head. Nicholas and the other woman were still standing with us, both waiting to see what we would do. "She knows everything you'd want to know about this place. Rick, why don't you start?" Aaron asked.

I waited to see what Rick would do, along with the rest of our group. Right when he was about to open his mouth and give the man his answer I noticed that there was a soft growling coming from behind us. I turned back and saw that there was one walker who was hobbling towards us pathetically. Some of the Alexandria residents backed off from the walker, clearly frightened while others stared at Nicholas, waiting to see what he would do. I rolled my eyes at the weak group and motioned to Rick. He nodded at me and turned to the back of the group. "Sasha," he called and the other woman nodded. She raised her gun and shot at the walker, which fell quickly. We all turned back to the group, waiting to gauge their reactions. "It's a good thing we're here," Rick snarled at the group.

The Alexandria residents stared in fear at us and most began to walk off, now that the excitement was over. Aaron finally pushed Rick to head off to speak with Deanna, the leader of these people. As we walked over I learned that the dark haired woman's name was Olivia and she was the head of the armory. I nearly snorted at the thought but I managed to keep a straight face. We finally arrived out front of the house that Aaron informed us was Deanna's. Aaron asked us to sit out front and wait for Rick to be done and we all nodded. I sat at the base of the stairs that led to the house with Daryl on one side of me and Merle on the other. I was twirling an arrow, much to the displeasure of Olivia but I merely ignored her protests and pleas for me to put the weapon down.

Daryl sat with his hands in his lap and the possum sitting at the edge of the house. I nudged him in the shoulder and he glanced up with an even look. I grabbed his hand and pulled it so that it was in my lap. He ran his thumb over my fingers and after a while he stopped, twirling his finger over my ring. I smiled and kissed the side of his head. Not that I had been the most open person about this place, but the more that I saw all of the smiling couples, the more that I liked it here. Nicholas was just being a pain in the ass. But that was something that I could get used to. "Hey this is going to be a good thing. I mean look at this. There are kids and dogs and families running all around here. We can make this work. This can be home," I told him softly and he glanced up at me.

He looked around us slowly and I followed his line of sight. Though most people would just give us a quick look and then walk on by, some would stop and stare like we were something on display. I assumed that it had probably been a while since they had brought in a group our size. "They're staring at us like we're animals," he told me and I sighed deeply.

We had been on the road for almost two months now and even before that the prison hadn't exactly been a good place to keep up your hygiene. I knew that my hair must have been a greasy mess and it was now trailing down to my lower back. There was dirt and blood all over me and I was veiled in a thin sheen of sweat. Not to mention that my body was covered in bruises and cuts. "We probably look like animals. And that possum isn't exactly the most charming thing that you could be carrying," I told him with a laugh and he shook his head at me. "Once we get washed up we'll be fine," I told him and I watched as he glanced back over to the same spot that he had been glaring at for the past few minutes. "What do you keep looking at?" I finally asked him.

Daryl nodded his head to straight in front of us and I finally noticed what he was looking at. "Him. That's Aiden Monroe. He's apparently the son of this Deanna chick," Daryl told me and I looked at the man. He was tall, maybe around six feet and he had short brown hair. His eyes were dark brown and he was slowly scrutinizing our entire group. But time after time he would glance back over to me and give me a dark smirk. "And he keeps staring at you," Daryl growled darkly.

I turned to face him and laughed quietly. I knew that Daryl was the jealous type but I had never actually seen him really get jealous over someone. Especially someone that I hadn't known existed until Daryl had pointed him out to me. "You're jealous?" I asked with a laugh and Daryl nudged me roughly. "Alright fine, don't worry about it. If he wants to stare then I'll give him something to stare at," I told him and stood up quickly. I began to walk over to Aiden and I heard Daryl call to me but I ignored him. Others in my group were hissing my name along with him but I blocked them out. He hadn't been far away so it only took me a moment to walk up to him. I nodded at him and cocked my eyebrow while he smirked at me. "Hey, can I help you?" I asked him sharply.

His eyes had followed me the entire walk over to him and I noticed that his eyes watched my hips sway. "Hello sweetheart," he purred at me and I rolled my eyes. "Saw you and your group come in. Y'all look like you've been out on the road for a long time. And yet you can still look like that. Not bad for living out there," he told me before reaching out to touch my arm. Without thinking I slammed my hands against his chest and watched as he coughed and stumbled back. "Come on don't be like that, don't have to play so rough," he smirked at me.

Once more he grabbed my hand and for a moment I was thrown back to Mitch. Without really thinking about what I was doing I shoved him back and used all of my weight to topple the two of us over. I was sick of men like him, Deanna could get the hell over her precious little son. As we fell I ripped my knife out of my holster and held it against his throat. His eyes went wide with fear before he laughed. Seething in anger I spit into his face and watched as his eyes flashed with anger. I leaned over him and pressed his back roughly against the gravel. He would learn his manners. "You think that I won't hurt you?" I hissed and I saw him shake his head slightly. "I tried to kill my father and I've killed plenty of other people. Don't think for a minute that I won't hesitate to kill you," I growled.

I could tell that by now he was genuinely afraid of what I would do to him but he wasn't willing to believe that I would really kill him. Of course not, what could ever go wrong in this perfect little world? "You're looking for a spot here. You wouldn't risk killing me," he told me and I snorted. Pressing my knife tighter against his throat I saw his face going red and his breathing get shallow. He was smart enough to stay still though or else I would have slit his throat.

We stayed on the ground locked together for a moment and I saw pairs of feet gather around us. I recognized some of the shoes from my own group but none of them rushed forward to help the boy. Maybe they thought that he deserved it too. I heard a throaty laugh come up from behind me and I knew that it was Merle who was walking behind us. "I wouldn't test her patience boy. Trust me, she won't give you a second chance," he told Aiden loudly. I felt a pair of hands lock under my shoulders and I grimaced as Daryl pulled me off of Aiden and pushed me back so that I was standing between him and his brother.

Aiden stood and walked a few steps closer to us. Without hesitation though Daryl lifted his crossbow and aimed it in between Aiden's eyes. The man scoffed and motioned to the two other men. "And who the hell are these cavemen?" He hissed and my fists tightened around the knife in my hand. I could tell that by now Daryl was shaking with anger and was resisting killing the younger boy. "You've got an interesting taste in men," he laughed at me, and then everything happened in a rush. *Daryl grabs Rain's knife out of her hand and runs up to Aiden, who tries to run back. He grabs the boy by the throat and pushes him back down to the ground.*

To my utter shock Daryl ripped the knife out of my hand and I yelled slightly as he dashed forward at Aiden. I tried to run after Daryl and grab him but Merle caught me around the waist and pulled me to him. Aiden tried to run back from Daryl, but my husband was faster. He barreled into the other man and knocked him to the ground. One of his hands wrapped around Aiden's throat and the other pushed the knife down into his chest. I knew that he wasn't going to kill the guy yet but he was about to. "If you ever lay a hand on my wife again, I'll kill you. You hear me?" He yelled at Aiden and some twisted part of me enjoyed watching Daryl terrify the other man.

Aiden struggled gently against Daryl, whose eyes were darker than I had ever seen them before. Just before Daryl lost his patience with Aiden I heard a shout come from back at the house and I turned my head slightly. "Hey! What is going on out here? Aiden!" She shouted and I watched as Rick ran forward and grabbed Daryl off of Aiden. The other man jumped up and walked over to the woman that I assumed was Deanna. She was probably in her early sixties and had shoulder length, straight grayish brown hair. She had frown lines on her face and looked like she was about to freak out over the scene in front of her. "What happened in the what, ten minutes that I was gone?" She snapped at her son as he ran up to her, storming past both Daryl and I.

I watched as Deanna glared at my husband and I stepped in front of him, shooting her daggers. She looked down at me and cocked her eyes at my protective stance. "Mother, I was just trying to introduce myself to this new group. But then this little hick got all upset that I was talking to her and he attacked me," he hissed as he pointed between Daryl and I. My blood boiled under my skin and a low growl emanated from my throat. "They've been out there for too long. They've gone wild," he told his mother.

If he wanted wild, he was going to get wild. I stormed up to Aiden and tried to pull my knife back from Daryl. But he was smart enough to step back away from me. Whatever, I could hurt him without the knife. Abraham started to advance towards me but I saw Rick shake his head. Instead he began to walk up to me and I ignored him. "You keep your sons hands off of me or so help me I'll do it. And you won't like it if I do it," I growled at Aiden and his mother. Rick finally realized what I was about to do and he panicked slightly. He ran up to grab me and when he did he threw me back to Daryl, who caught me before I fell.

Rick turned back to me with a slightly apologetic face but I shook my head at him. He was only trying to dissolve the tension. Deanna sighed and walked down to stand in front of me. "Look I understand. You've been out there for a long time. Things are different and I know that it gets hard to survive out there. But you are safe in here. My son forgets his boundaries sometimes. I'm terribly sorry about that. He will learn," she promised me and I nodded slightly. Deanna seemed harmless but her son was on my shit list. And people on that list normally ended up dead. "So Rick has decided that you will at least stay for a while and see how this goes. But now I have to ask that you hand over you weapons," she said and I noticed that her eyes dropped to my knife briefly.

Finally I saw Olivia walk up and I noticed that she stood as far away from me as she possibly could. Great, I was already the crazy bitch that had tried to kill their leader's son. "They're still your guns. You can check them out whenever you go beyond the wall. But inside here, we store them for safety," she said and we all nodded. One after the other our people dropped their weapons off and I sighed as I walked up. We were allowed to keep everything but the guns. I walked up to her and dropped my hand gun into the bin that she was holding. Her body language was tense as she looked over the rest of my weapons and I laughed. "Should have brought another bin," she muttered as Carol walked up. Meekly she smiled at Olivia, who smiled back, and feigned struggle as she lifted the rifle off of her shoulders.

She walked back to the group and I smiled at her, knowing that she was going to lie to these people about who she really was. That was smart. I would have done it too but it was too late for me. After we had all disposed of our guns Aaron motioned for us to follow him. Most people watched us with a mix of curiosity and fear as we walked through the neighborhood until we reached the third street down where Aaron motioned us to three large houses. "All three of 'em?" Rick asked our new friend.

Aaron nodded and smiled at us. "At your disposal. The one at the end of the three Deanna put aside for the two married couples," he said before turning to myself and Daryl and Glenn and Maggie. We were all standing close together and Maggie and I smiled at each other. "Glenn and Maggie and Daryl and Rain," Aaron clarified and I turned to smile at him. "It's a huge house and the bedrooms are on opposite ends. She thought that it would be the best to let you all have your space," he told us and I saw the smirk in his eyes. I knew what he was hinting at and it was the right thing to assume. For once we had our own places to make all of the noise that we wanted.

Daryl and Glenn both blushed while Maggie and I laughed. Abraham threw an arm over Glenn while Merle threw his own arm over Daryl. Rosita walked over to Maggie and I and prodded at the two of us. "I'd call dibs on that one. It's got more curb appeal," Carl said, motioning to the first house. We all laughed at his statement and the teasing between us ceased.

Turning over to Aaron I saw that he was watching us all with a smile. This was the first time that he had really seen us all act like a goofy family. We actually did it quite often, but never in front of other people. Only around each other. "Listen, I know you're still feeling us out, but I'm glad you came. Anyway, Deanna's asked everyone to give you your space so they aren't all coming at you at once. Take your time. Explore," he said and we all nodded at him. "You need anything, you call me. I don't- we don't have phones. I- I meant I'm four houses down," he stuttered awkwardly and I laughed louder than I had meant to.

The group giggled at my outburst for a moment before calming down and smiling at Aaron. Well most of us were smiling but some others still had mistrusting looks. "Thank you," Rick said to Aaron before he walked off with a nod, probably going to make sure that Eric was feeling alright after a long journey back home. And probably going to drag him to the man named Pete.

I was about to head to the house that had been assigned to Daryl and I but right before I did I saw a flash of grey hair. I stopped in my tracks and turned to watch as Deanna walked up to us with a smile. We all stopped and I turned to watch her. "Daryl is it? Right?" She asked my husband as she walked up to the pair of us and he nodded slowly. "I would like to take you in for your interview now. And Rain after you if that's alright," she said to me and I nodded at her. "Rain feel free to either take a shower or look around for a little while, I'll have someone come find you when we're finished," she said and I nodded, giving Daryl a quick hug before letting Deanna take him.

One by one the group began to disappear. Maggie and Glenn walked off to explore the community while Rick, Michonne, Carl, and Carol went to explore the other two houses. Everyone walked off after a little bit and I was left standing by myself. I sighed and walked over to the house as people were staring at me like I was some alien. Rolling my eyes I walked to the door of the house and sucked in a breath as I walked into the house. Right through the front door was an enormous chef's kitchen and I laughed at the sight of it. There had better be some damn good food here. As I wandered through the house I glanced at the living room with a large television mounted on the wall, the bathroom that would normally be used for guests, and finally I hit the stairs. Walking up them slowly I found the first of the large bedrooms and pushed the door open.

It was decorated with blue and white patterned walls and the bed must have been king sized. There was a bathroom connected to the bedroom and it was a pristine white. I felt like I was staining the place with my presence so I slowly walked over to the table in the bedroom and dropped off my bow and knives. I kicked my boots off as well before sighing and walking into the bathroom. Slowly I walked into the bathroom and glanced at the mirror. I nearly screamed when I saw the woman staring back at me in the mirror. It didn't look like me the last time that I had seen myself. My eyes were stone cold and my body looked completely tensed. I had dirt bunched up in my long, scraggly hair and I knew that it was from sleeping on the ground. Sometime soon I would have to get my hair cut, it was way too long. Scattered all over my face and body was dirt and blood from the recent fights.

Sighing, I stripped out of my dirty clothes and looked myself over in the mirror. I was veiled in a thin sheen of sweat and my body looked completely different. I was stronger, with more muscle since the last time that I had seen myself. My body had trimmed down a little and it was littered with new scars. I still had the few deep scars from where I had been shot the few times and the deep lines on my back where I had all of the memories from my father. I shook my head and looked over my tattoos. The large Pheonix stood out over everything else, but there was also the little arrow on my hip, dream catcher on my ankle, and the quote on my shoulder.

Walking over to the glass shower I hit the dial and watched as hot water came streaming from the faucet. I laughed at the feel of the warm water on my hands and I stepped into the shower. The water on my skin felt amazing and I laughed loudly at the feel. I glanced down at the floor of the tub and watched as the clear water that hit my head ran black as it drained out of the shower. I ran my hands through my hair and shook free the clumps of dirt that were caked in. Once I was satisfied, I grabbed the shampoo and ran it through my hair sniffing the rose scented shampoo. I ran the shampoo through again and again, and once I finally thought that my hair was clean enough I went to washing my body off. The water was still running a light gray and I smirked at the thought of what these people must have thought of us. I washed myself off with a lavender soap and once the water finally ran completely clear I dropped the soap and picked up the razor that was on the counter. I shaved my legs, underarms, and other areas before rinsing off once more and turning the water off.

I shivered at the sudden cold and shook myself free of the excess water. I grabbed one of the white towels and dried myself off before wrapping it around my hair and walking out to the bedroom. It wasn't like I was exactly afraid that Daryl might catch me like this. I dug in the drawers and found a few pairs of clothes that were my size. After digging through the room I settled on a black tank top and a pair of dark blue jean shorts with a studded belt on my waist. I pulled on a fresh pair of socks and my old boots before taking the towel off of my head and running the brush that had been set out through it. Once my hair was free of any more knots I pulled it up into a ponytail and headed out of the room. Quickly though I grabbed my knife and placed it in the back of my pants. I noticed myself in the mirror and stopped in my tracks. I looked so different. My face was completely clean and my hair now glistened the light blonde that it was supposed to be. My body was clean too and I looked slightly more relaxed.

For the first time in a year and a half I looked almost the same that I had during my time at college. But I looked a little older and now my eyes were completely hardened. It was what all of the time out there did to a person. I shook my head and walked out of the house, back into the street. Carl was in his front yard and I smiled and waved to him before turning my back on the younger boy. I was going to go explore the rest of the community but everyone around me was whispering to each other and slowly backing away from me. I heard them saying Aiden and I rolled my eyes, wanting to yell to them that he had deserved it, but I didn't. They weren't worth it. I had my people and a house and that was all that I needed. I went to head back to Deanna but right as I turned another figure stood directly in my path.

My hand instinctively reached down for my knife and I noticed that the woman's eyes widened. Slowly I let out a breath and looked over the woman. She had dark hair and olive toned skin. She was smiling at me brightly and I nodded to her, about to take my leave of the woman. But before I could she took a step in front of me and gave me a huge smile. "Hi!" She chirped at me and I stared blankly. "Oh I'm sorry I should introduce myself. My name is Moira, Moira Van. You must be with that new group. Wow for someone who was out on the road for so long you look amazing. What's your name?" She asked me.

She held her hand out for me to shake but I merely stood still. I didn't mean to be rude to the woman but I really wasn't used to formal greetings anymore and now I really was only comfortable with physical contact from a select few people. She dropped her hand when she realized that I wasn't going to shake it but she continued smiling at me. "Rain," I finally answered her.

If it was even possible her mouth turned upwards into an even larger smile and she nodded at me. "This must be weird for you. After being out there for so long and now being somewhere safe," she said and I found myself nodding slowly. "Look ignore all of them, they just haven't seen someone new for a while. And we've never seen someone as tough as your group. I mean I heard that one of you held a knife to Aiden's throat just for touching them. Was that true?" She asked with wide eyes.

As hard as I tried to keep my face still I couldn't help the little smirk that popped up from one corner of my mouth. I nodded at her and her mouth fell open. "That was me," I told her and her mouth twitched a little as she fought back a laugh. It surprised me, I would have thought that she would stick up for her friend. "He was grabbing me and after being out there for so long I've become a little sensitive to people I don't know touching me," I explained to her, almost as a small apology for not shaking her hand. "And I've just about had it with guys staring at me," I sneered darkly.

Moira nodded and rolled her eyes to herself. "Well Aiden can be a total ass so don't worry about it. He deserved to get knocked on his ass and it makes it even better that it was by a woman. That ought to hurt his pride," she said with a small laugh and I nodded. "And I don't mean to ask you but what is that, the tattoo on your ribs?" She asked and I glanced down. The tank top that I was wearing had torn arms that went down to my belly button and I realized that the side of my tattoo was visible.

Without meaning to I smiled and pulled my shirt up to show her. Not that I really enjoyed meeting new people anymore but I did enjoy any chance I got to show off my tattoos. They had always been my pride and joy. "Oh it's a Pheonix. I got it a few years ago. It was my first tattoo," I told her and she nodded. "I have to arrow on my hip, a quote on my shoulder, and a dream catcher on my ankle," I told her and she smiled at me. "I was about to get another one on my lower back when this all started," I admitted.

She laughed and nodded, raising her hair so that I could see a pretty half-moon on her neck. "Yeah I understand that. Once you get one it's hard to stop you just keep wanting more. You know, I used to be a tattoo artist before this all went down. It was only part time but I always thought that I was pretty good. On a run a few months back Nicholas grabbed me a tattoo kit. I haven't gotten the chance to use it on a person but I've been brushing up on my skills. If you'd ever like me to do something just let me know, I'd be happy to do something," she told me with a bashful grin and I found myself actually giving the girl a real smile.

Nodding at her I let my shirt fall back down to hang around my waist. "Thank you, Moira. I'd actually really like that. I'll let you know soon. I've been itching to get one and I'd really like something like that. Not sure what yet but I'll think about it," I told her and she nodded at me. She was about to say something else to me when a woman's voice called to me from behind.

A taller woman with curly brown hair and glasses walked up and smiled at the both of us. "Excuse me! Rain isn't it?" She asked me and I nodded. She didn't look like much of a threat but she did tower over me and that was something that I never liked. "Hi, my name is Reagan. Deanna sent me out here to grab you. You're group member is done with his interview and Deanna would like to talk to you now. Sorry Moira but I have to take her away for a while," she said and I found myself tensing up.

Thankfully the woman could tell that her presence unnerved me and she took a step back from me. Moira gave me a reassuring smile before nodding to Reagan. "No worries, I'll see you around Rain. Let me know when you want to talk about that tattoo," she said and I nodded to her. She turned her back to us and walked away and I sighed, turning back to Reagan.

As we walked I couldn't help but wonder if she had been a scientist in the previous world. She seemed to have the right look for it. Of course I had only met one scientist in my life. Dr. Edwin Jenner. He had been the first pipe dream that we had been through. He had been a good man but he had lost his faith in the world. I wondered what he would think if he could see those of us that remained now. "Trust me, Rain. I know it's hard to adjust when you get here but I think you will at fit in here fast. And Deanna means the best even if she doesn't always have the best way of putting it. And Aiden, ignore him. He's a jerk. Besides, after what you did to him I don't think he'll ever touch you again," she told me with a grin and I nodded as we made our way up Deanna's porch. "Alright, here we are. Try to relax," she told me and I nodded.

Reagan held the door open for me and I nodded at her as I walked in. Deanna's house was similar to mine only there was more furniture and decorations. "Hello Rain. Take a seat please," she told me and I nodded to her, taking a seat on her floral couch. "I'm going to record this for future generations to see. They should know how we started to build our world back up. So let's start simple. Tell me your name and a bit about yourself," she said to me and I shifted awkwardly.

It was incredible how you know there is so much about yourself but then when someone asks you to tell them about yourself your mind goes completely blank. Not that most of what I could say about myself was appropriate. "Uh my name is Rain, I'm twenty four years old. I think. I'm not really sure what else you want me to say," I told her softly.

She smiled as I reverted back to my old shy self and shook her head for a moment before looking down to me with a smile. "Tell me what your family was like before the outbreak. I want to learn a little bit about you. And not the you that this world created, the you that lived in the old world," she told me and I grit my teeth. This world made a better me. I was pathetic before.

I glared at her and shook my head. "There's no difference. I grew up as an only child with my mother and father. I was born in Georgia and lived for a few years there then we moved to Florida. After that we moved back to South Georgia and I spent most of my life there. My sister was born when I was a little older. Her name was Penny. I never really knew her. I left home at fourteen after my mother died and lived with my uncle for two years. That's really all there is to know," I told her the bare bones of my family story.

As far as I was concerned there was nothing else that she needed to know. But I knew what kind of woman Deanna was. She was going to prod me to tell her something that I was determined to keep secret. She would regret that. "And what about your father and sister? Did you ever find out what became of them?" She asked me gently, clearly not wanting to upset me.

The memory of Penny being a walker made me shudder but I shook the thought off quickly. She wasn't my sister. She was only someone that I happened to share DNA with. It sucked what happened to her but I had nothing to be sorry for. She was raised in the perfect world and I was sucked into a shithole. It made sense that I lived in this fucked up world and not her. "I found my sister but she was a walker by the time that I got to her. My father died, I watched him die. He was shot in the head after he had been stabbed in the heart," I said told her with a blank face.

Her face fell and I couldn't help but to scoff at her. She had nothing to be upset about her. Not while she was here in her perfect little life. She had nothing to fear here. Not even before this. She was the type of person that had always had it all, that had never fought for anything in her life. "I'm very sorry to hear that," she told me and for some reason a chord in me snapped.

Slamming my hands down on the table I saw Deanna jump and I stood up from my spot on the couch. "Don't be. He deserved it," I told her and I saw the shock crawl over her face. "I don't know why you want us here. You want to know what happened to me? What really happened to me? My father abused me and blamed my mother's death on me. He hated me. During all of this he found me. He attacked my friends and tried to kill my husband. He let one of his men rape me. He tried to kill me so I tried to kill him. I came close. I wish it had been me to kill him. I've killed so many people that I can't even count anymore. I don't care. None of us do. We're cold. We do what we need to survive. These are the type of people that you invited into your place," I told her with a sneer.

She watched as I stared angrily down at her and I saw that she was processing everything that I had told her. To be fair she hadn't deserved my little melt down but I had to take it out on someone. "Well I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am to hear about your father. That's something that no one deserves," she told me and I scoffed loudly. "But I see the way that your group acts. You all know what you're doing. I've seen that. And I see the way that you look at each other. You all care so much about each other. And I saw the way that your husband attacked my son for laying a hand on you. You are the types of people that we can use here," she assured me and my head shot up.

For a moment I let the surprise cross my face but I quickly wiped it off and shook my head at the older woman. I cocked one hip and let my hand linger on it as I stared side long at her. "So are we done here?" I asked with a bored expression.

She shook her head at me and came to a stand as well so that we were closer to the same playing field. She wasn't very tall, standing maybe just an inch or two taller than me. "Just one last thing," she told me and I nodded. "It seems like Daryl does not want to be here. Do you know anything about that?" She asked me with a confused face.

I shook my head at her and let out a deep sigh. He was still mourning over the loss of Beth but I wasn't getting into that. And he was so well adapted to life on the road that this wouldn't be an easy change for him. "He's had as hard of a life as I have. Leave him be, he's so used to being out there in the wild. And we've had a lot of losses recently. Some were very close to him. He's having a hard time with this. We all are. It will take us a while to get used to this," I told her, trying to calm my buzzing nerves.

For a while she was silent but finally she nodded at me and I took a deep breath. "I understand that. Trust me, you aren't the only ones who have suffered losses. I know we look like we've had it easy here and we take it all for granted, but we've had our fair share of losses," she told me and I couldn't help the eye roll that came out. Please, the only loss they might have had was the occasional meal. "Thank you for your time, Rain. It's getting late. Feel free to go to your houses and get a good rest for the night," she told me politely.

I was about to walk out of her house but before I did I turned back to look at Deanna, who was still watching me closely. "Deanna?" I called and she nodded to me. "I don't think that you're all bad people. Hell I think that Aaron and Eric are two of the best people that I've met in a while," I told her and I saw that she wore a fond smile at the mention of the two men. "But I don't think you all really understand what it's like out there. I do think that your group takes advantage of this place, and I do think that you are all weak. And that will get you killed," I told her before turning away and walking out of the house.

As I wound through the streets to the houses that Aaron had given us I noticed the man in question walking around helping Eric limp. They both smiled at me and waved and I found myself returning the gesture. Eric gave Aaron a side hug and I could see the pair laughing happily together. The sight of the two men together made me smile and I slowly made my way past the pair. They looked so happy together, even in a world like this with one of them having just had a close call with walkers. As I walked past the next street I turned onto the one that held our homes and I noticed that Rick was on the front lawn with both Carol and Daryl.

I strode up to the three and took a double take when I saw Rick. His face had been totally shaved and his hair had been cut and washed. I slowly touched his face and snickered as he slapped my hand away. He laughed as well but his face quickly returned back to normal. Daryl and Carol both looked at me and smiled, Daryl pulling me close to him. He had become better with physical affection but he still would get a little awkward at times. "You look, and smell, much better," he told me and I laughed. I could tell he hadn't showered yet but I was pretty sure that he wasn't the only one. "They're right next to each other, but-" Daryl started to tell Rick before our leader cut him off.

"They took our weapons and now they're splitting us up," he said and I found myself nodding. "Yeah. Yeah. We'll all be staying in the same house tonight," he said and the other three of us nodded our agreements. As much as I would love to spend the night in an actual bed it was better to get a feel for the place. We all walked in and I was greeted by a plate of hot chicken by Maggie. I smiled at the girl and laughed as she petted my now washed hair with a smile.

As we walked in, I took a spot on the ground in the corner and felt Daryl join me. Merle was off to the side talking with Abraham and I smiled. The two seemed to be becoming good friends and it seemed like it was a long time. For the longest time he had really only talked with myself and Daryl. Now he talked with Abraham, Tara, Eugene, Maggie and even Glenn on occasion. It was about time that he made other friends. I practically inhaled the chicken before handing my plate to Tara and laughing at the loud burp that escaped my throat. The rest of the group laughed as well as I downed my glass of water. Taking a deep breath and sighing at the feeling of a full stomach, I leaned down onto the ground and smiled as Daryl joined me.

We were in the corner of the room, away from the majority of the group, but people could still see us. He laid on the ground and I pulled a blanket up around us. Glancing up at the clock mounted on the wall I saw that it was already well past midnight but no one seemed to really be ready to settle down. Daryl laid on his back and I pushed myself over so that I was laying on his chest. He wrapped one arm tightly around me and I smiled as his hand wound its way through my hair, brushing against my neck.

Even though I thought that this was a good idea to be sleeping together for now I really did want that private bedroom at the moment. It would be nice to have some real privacy. As I glanced up to Daryl, he gently pushed my head up so that I could kiss him. We were locked together when a light knock came at the door and we both looked up. Rick opened the door and I watched as Deanna stood in the doorway. "Listen, I don't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were all settling. Oh, my," she said softly as she walked into the living room and saw everyone laying together. "Staying together. Smart," she smiled.

Unfortunately Rick took it as somewhat of a challenge and I saw his body language become rather tense. "No one said we couldn't," he said to her lowly. I tensed slightly but Daryl laid a hand gently against my back, trying to calm me down.

Deanna smiled as she walked into the room and I sat up off of Daryl as she glanced over to us with a smile. I guess after seeing both of us acting so tough it was nice to see the two of us laying together and enjoying each other's company without any violence. "You said you're a family. That's what you said. Absolutely amazing to me how people with completely different backgrounds and nothing in common can become that. Don't you think?" She asked and I found myself nodding at her.

We were all so different, even those of us who had similar pasts. But it didn't matter. One way or another we had wormed our way into each other's hearts. We loved each other and that would never change. For better or worse we were all stuck with each other. "Everybody said you gave them jobs," Rick finally said to Deanna and I cocked my eyebrows. I had heard nothing about that. I turned to Daryl and he shrugged his shoulders at me. I glanced over to Merle and got the same reaction.

The Alexandria leader noticed my reaction and glanced over to me with a smirk. "Mm-hmm. Yeah. Part of this place. Looks like the communists won after all," she tried to joke but no one in our group laughed. Instead we all sat huddled together, waiting for her to say why else she was really here. It seemed like she wanted something but I had no idea what that would be.

Rick's eyebrows knitted and he shook his head at her, to which she only smiled. She seemed to enjoy knowing things that no one else did, and I found it bothersome. "Well, you didn't give me one," he snapped at her.

She brushed her hair behind her ear and shook her head at Rick. She wore a sweet smiled and I couldn't help but to scoff. It was weird to see how happy everyone was in here. Out there was so different. "I have. I just haven't told you yet. Same with Michonne. I'm closing in on something for Sasha. And I'm just trying to figure both Mr.'s. And Mrs. Dixon out, but I will," she said glancing over to Merle and then at Daryl and I. "You look good," she said to Rick before turning and leaving the house.

Rick sighed and shut the door behind her before he walked back over to where his son and daughter lay on the ground. He wasn't far from Daryl and me and when he looked over to catch my eyes I gave him a prodding smile. "She's right you know. The caveman look really didn't suit you," I told him, earning laughs from all over the group. "You finally look like the Rick that I met back at the store in Atlanta all that time ago. My how we've all changed," I said softly, and watched as heads began to nod at the small revelation.

I watched as Rick gently poked at his young daughter and smiled at her sleeping frame. "Some of us for the better," he said gently and I nodded, giving Daryl and pointed look. "Get some sleep, Rain. I'll see you in the morning," he told me and I nodded. Slipping back onto Daryl's chest he wrapped an arm around me and I settled in. He still smelled like the woods and part of it was comforting. One by one I heard the group's soft breathing fill the room until I was pretty sure that Rick and I were the only ones that were left awake. Every little noise would make my eyes shoot wide open and take in a few deep breaths when I realized that we were safe in here. Finally, when the clock stared ticking past three in the morning, I did drift off to sleep with thoughts about Alexandria still racing through my head.

My shoulder was shaken slightly and I rolled to see who it was. Maggie was standing over me, giving me a smile and motioning to the door. I nodded at her and slowly forced myself to wake up. Daryl was no longer on the floor with me but that didn't really surprise me. He wasn't one for sleeping in. I stood slowly and glanced over to the clock that already read that it was three in the afternoon. My God I had slept through almost the entire day. Quickly I walked out of my little corner and grabbed my knife off of the table, tucking if back into my pants. I probably didn't need it anymore but it made me feel better to walk around with it.

Yawning deeply, I made my way out onto the porch where it seemed that the later sleepers of the group were getting ready to head out. Carl, Judith, and Rick were among them and Daryl was out there as well. Rick greeted me with a smile and I gave him a small one back, still tired from my fitful night of sleep. Daryl was sitting up against the bannister of the house, playing with an arrow and I sighed at him. He nodded at me as I walked over and gave me a quick hug as I leaned against him. Rick looked back at us and I stood up straight, waiting to see what he would see about the day. "They said explore. Let's explore," he said to us and I nodded.

Just as I was about to leave I heard Daryl call back from behind me. "Nah, I'll stay," he said as Rick walked down the porch with his two children in tow. I turned back to him and he shrugged his shoulders at me.

I whirled around back to Rick, silently begging him to help me get Daryl to come explore the community. But he merely shrugged his shoulders and sighed. I could tell that he wanted Daryl to come as well but he probably didn't think that anything was going to get him to move from his spot. "All right," he sighed before walking off.

Once I knew that Rick was out of earshot I turned back to Daryl with a scowl. He glanced at me and shrugged before looking back down to his arrow. I rolled my eyes and stood so that I was leaning against him. "Hey, come on. Please. Let's see what this place is all about," I begged him but he ignored my pleas. I scoffed loudly and walked down the steps to the house, but before I began to walk I turned back to Daryl. "Fine you big pain in the ass, but if you're going to stay at least take a shower!" I yelled back to him and I saw him roll his eyes. Slowly I headed to the back of the community, wanting to check that the walls were all as secure as they seemed. My eyes were locked onto the back gates but I was cut off from my destination when a familiar woman stepped in my path. The dark haired woman grinned at me and I gave her a tiny one back. "Oh hey, Moira," I said to her as she walked up to me.

She smiled at me and pushed her brown hair out of her eyes. She was in a slightly baggy outfit and I wondered if anyone had gone out on a run for clothes recently. Someone should probably do that soon. Even if all of Alexandria had clothes that fit them, myself and the rest of my group didn't. "Hey Rain. Looks like you got a good night's sleep. How you feeling?" She asked me with a smile and I shrugged at her. We stood in silence for a moment before she looked back at me and I raised an eyebrow. "I heard that you told Deanna in your interview that you think we're weak and we take this place for granted. I do too," she told me and I nodded.

She looked like she wanted me to say something about it but I wasn't in the mood to talk about how pathetic these people really were with one of their own. "You were telling me yesterday that you had a tattoo machine right?" I asked her and she nodded at me, a wide smile crossing her face. "I was wondering if maybe you could do something for me," I quietly said to her and she nodded at me once more. She motioned for me to follow her as we headed to what I assumed was her house. "I think I'd like to take you up on your offer. I want a tattoo on my lower back. Nothing special. It was a quote that I was thinking about getting before the world went to shit," I admitted to her.

Her face had spread into a huge smile. I could tell that she was excited to do something that had probably been a passion before the world had changed. "I'd be honored to do something for you. There are already rumors flying all over the place that you've done all of this crazy stuff. I mean I don't believe most of it but I mean if they are true, you are a huge bad ass. I mean I heard that you've been shot like four times and you've been nearly killed quite a few times," she told me with a wide grin.

My face fell and I grunted slightly. How the hell had anyone found out about that? Unless they had heard my group talking with each other or they were just assuming something. If so than that was a good guess. "Both true. I was shot twice by strangers and once by my father," I told her and I saw the shock cross her face as she looked at me with pity. "I've been shot more than that but honestly I really can't remember anymore. But I guarantee that you that you would run screaming from me if you knew half of what I had done. And I wouldn't blame you at all," I told her softly as we walked into her house.

It was similar to my own except hers had darker colors. She smirked at me as she led me into her living room. "Well than, it's a good thing that I don't know what you've done," she told me with a smirk and I couldn't help but to laugh myself. "So tell me, what do you want done on your lower back? Oh and you can take the shirt off and lay on the table, I'll get the supplies ready," she told me as she disappeared into the other room.

Not sure if she could hear me or not I waited for her to return and took my shirt off instead. I slid it off over my head and ran my hands over my shoulder and hip. Two of the visible bullet wounds on my body. Moira walked back into the room and her eyes stopped when she saw the wounds. She glanced away awkwardly and coughed, clearly not wanted to get into the discussion of how I had gotten them. "Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future," I finally answered her as I laid down on the table she pointed me to.

She smiled brightly at me and I turned over onto my stomach. I heard the buzz of the machine starting up and I smiled at the familiar sound of the machine. "Oscar Wilde. I debated on getting that tattoo as well," she told me and I smiled brightly. Not many people knew where that quote was really from, they just knew it as a line in a lot of popular songs. But it was something that had always rung true to me and now that the world had gone to shit I thought that it was even truer. I finally felt the needle pierce my skin and forced myself to stay calm. The needle burned painfully but I liked the feel. I had missed the feel.

For a while I felt her tracing the outline of the words and I knew that once she was done and worked her way to the inside of the letters it would hurt even more. But it was nothing compared to being shot. "So you're a reader too," I said softly, hoping to keep it from being too quiet in the room. "You know it's nice to do this and not have to pay anything. The Pheonix was so expensive. Hurt like hell too," I told her and she laughed softly. "Although it was nothing compared to being shot. I guess that was the good thing about getting shot," I told her and she laughed once more. "So are you here alone? Not that I mean to pry it just seems like this place is full of families and I was wondering. You don't have to answer if you don't want to," I told her quietly.

She was silent for a moment before she finally let out a deep breath. "No it's OK. I feel like I already know so much about you but you know nothing about me," she told me and I found myself nodding. "I had tried to meet up with my brother at a friend of ours house in the woods. They were going to stay and wait for me but a larger group moved in and they decided it would be best to leave. They left me a note saying that they had buried me a week of supplies. I got them and moved on. Then I went looking for them. I found this place and stayed, hoping that he might find me. But he never has. I just hold out hope that he's still alive out there somewhere. I want to have faith that he's out there somewhere, just looking for me," she told me softly.

I wanted to say something to her but I had no idea what to say. I was glad that she had someone to love out there but I didn't want to tell her that the chances were that she was dead. That wasn't fair to her. She deserved to have something to hold onto in this world. If she had no significant other she deserved to have faith for her brother. We sat in silence together for a little over three hours as she continued working. Every once in a while she would ask me if I needed to get up and I would always shake my head no. For now I was good. I just wanted this all to be done so I could get food. I was hungry. I heard the door to the house open and I glanced up to see who it was that would walk through. I had expected that it might be one of her friends, but I actually knew the face.

A small murmur came from Moira and I shook my head as Merle walked up to me. He looked like he had just gotten into it with someone and I couldn't help but to snort. Just like his brother it looked like he hadn't had a shower yet either. I smiled at him and he raised an eyebrow at me. "Hey princess. It's getting late, you slept in today. You need to get going soon so we can all get dinner ready," he told me and I nodded. "The hell are you doing?" He asked me with his eyebrows knitted together.

Scoffing lightly I shook my head at him. What could I have possibly been doing in here? There weren't very many other things that look like getting a tattoo. "The hell does it look like Merle?" I scoffed and he rolled his eyes, walking to stand in front of me. "Getting a tattoo," I said proudly. Normally I would have yelled at him to get out while I didn't have a shirt on, but it didn't matter anymore. Everyone in my group had seen me without a shirt on, although it was because I was almost always injured.

He scoffed at me and sat on the edge of the table that I was laying on. I heard the table creak and I swatted Merle away from me, not wanting to break Moira's table because Merle was being an asshole. "Only you of all people would get a tattoo when the world went to shit," he scoffed once more and I rolled my eyes. "Hurry the hell up," he snapped at me.

Lifting my head up I smirked at him and could tell that he was about ready to crush someone's skull. Just the way that I had felt last night. "So I take it that your interview with Deanna didn't go well?" I asked him and he slapped my shoulder roughly. I groaned and debated kicking him, but I didn't want to mess Moira up. I heard her giggle softly and I turned back to her slightly. "Look you can tell him to leave, he'll listen. He just wants to come and bother me since he has nothing better to do," I sneered at Merle.

As the needle dropped to right above my tailbone I hissed at the pressure of the needle and Moira muttered a small apology. I was pretty sure that she was about done with me and I was glad. After three hours of sitting here I was stiff and ready to go head out. "Nah she don't want me to go, do you sweet thing?" Merle purred at Moira, who was still focused on the new tattoo.

But as I turned back I realized that instead of looking insulted she smirked at him. I rolled my eyes and swatted at Merle's leg lightly, hoping that he wouldn't torment the poor woman. "Ignore him. Moira this is Merle, my idiot brother-in-law," I groaned at her and laughed as he humphed at my less than stellar introduction of him.

I felt the needle get lifted from my skin and I sighed as the buzzing left my ears. Thank God, I was getting stir crazy. "Well it doesn't really matter. You're all done," she told me and I sat up quickly, turning to face her. "I take it you don't need any instruction on how to care for it?" She asked me and I shook my head. "Well here's a bottle of cream for it while it's still healing. You two have a good night. I hope you like the tattoo Rain. And it was nice to meet you Merle," she told him with a smile. I rolled my eyes as he smirked at her and we both made our way out of the house, me slipping my shirt back on.

For a while the two of us walked around and looked at the different people that lived in the neighborhood. I tried to count everyone that I saw but I lost count after about one hundred. There had to be at least one hundred and fifty people here yet. The sun set and Merle was talking to me about his hunting trips with Daryl when they were younger. It was nice to hear how close they had been when Merle had actually been home. A friendly looking blonde haired woman named Jessie had offered us some of her dinner and we had thanked her profusely. She had naturally laughed and shook her head at us, telling us that it was no problem. We had stayed at her house talking with her for nearly two hours when she finally told us that she should be getting to bed soon, and we had agreed.

Jessie had informed us that she had cut Rick's hair and she would be happy to cut mine if I ever needed it. I had been sure to take her up on that offer. My hair was far too long. Merle and I bade the woman goodnight and we had headed back to our houses. By the time we had gotten back it was already ten o' clock and we had gone straight to our spots. Merle had struck up a conversation with Maggie and Abraham and I had gone to sit beside Daryl. My husband had wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him, the two of us talking quietly about our days. Once the clock had hit midnight I had curled up with Daryl and had fallen asleep to his steady heartbeat.

The clock that hung on the wall chimed softly and I yawned, stretching out slightly. I realized that once more Daryl had left before I woke up and I sighed. I rolled onto my stomach and glanced up to the clock. It read that it was already noon and I sighed deeply. I guess after the big lack of sleep, now that I could get it I was overcompensating. Most of the group was already gone but there were still a few people who milled about. Carl was on the ground, playing with Judith and Father Gabriel was clanging around softly in the kitchen. Soft steps were coming from the stairs and I looked up to see that Carol was coming down the stairs. I laughed loudly as I realized that she had showered and was now wearing khakis, a purple button down shirt, and a floral sweater. She looked like a proper housewife. Not the Carol that I knew and loved. "That is a nice outfit Carol. I wish I was wearing something like that," I teased her as I stood.

We both walked to the door and she laughed as she shoved me gently. "Shut the hell up Rain. We have appearances to keep up. And as far as you, I see you've kept your appearance up. You scare the shit out of ninety percent of the people here. But you were right to attack Aiden," she told me and I nodded as we opened the door. I was shocked to see that Daryl was in the same spot that he had been in the day before. Sitting on top of the rail. "Time to punch the clock and make the casseroles," she announced to Daryl.

He looked up from sharpening his arrows and his eyes widened when he locked onto her. I giggled quietly and walked over to Daryl, laying a hand gently on his thigh. He let a hand linger on my shoulder but I knew that his eyes were focused on the new look that Carol had adopted. "What?" He asked her, referring to the job she had mentioned.

She buttoned up her sweater and I jumped up onto the rail with Daryl, placing myself between his legs that were swung over the rail. I crossed my legs and waited for her to explain what exactly it was that Deanna had assigned Carol to do. "Make dinner for the older people- moms who need a break, people who can't cook," she told me and I rolled my eyes. That was the kind of job that Ed would have wanted her to have. "Get to meet a lot of the neighbors that way," she told us at our odd looks.

I nodded at her slowly. It was a good idea that she was doing. She was getting these people to believe that she was a weak woman so that they wouldn't bother to keep their eyes on her. She could get so many more things done that way. She was probably the smartest one of us. Daryl scoffed and I was broken from my thoughts as I turned to look at him. "All right," he said to her.

Carol cocked her hip to the side as she grabbed Daryl's chin and I laughed as he pulled away from her. The pair were always either acting like best friends or mother and son. It was adorable and always fun to laugh at. "Have you taken a shower yet?" She asked him and I shook my head. He whacked me over the back of the head and I turned back to smack him. He mumbled an affirmative and I rolled my eyes, mouthing to Carol that had hadn't. "Take a shower. I'm gonna wash that vest. We need to keep up appearances, even you," she said and Daryl rolled his eyes at her.

Part of me wanted to think that she might persuade him to actually wash off but I knew that he wouldn't. He was such a boy when it came to bathing. "Hey, I ain't starting now," he told her as she started to walk away and she turned back to him.

She turned to me and I held my hands up in surrender. I would love for him to take a shower so that I wouldn't have to keep bothering him about it. But I didn't want to keep fighting him on it. It wouldn't work. "Drag him into the shower and hold him down if you have to. I'm gonna hose you down in your sleep," she hissed at him before walking off.

"You look ridiculous," he yelled back at her and I slapped his chest. He rolled his eyes at me and I sighed, leaning back into him. For hours we sat together and talked. Really not about anything, just about this place, about each other, about everyone else. We laughed and yelled at each other teasingly, occasionally trying to push each other off of the railing. I wanted Daryl to kiss me but I knew that he wasn't comfortable around all of these people yet. I didn't blame him. It had taken him forever to get comfortable around the rest of our group. The sun was starting to set and Carol was heading back from her day at work. We were all about to head into the house when I heard the squeal of the front gates, and loud shouting coming back and forth.

The three of us stared at each other side long before standing up and leaping over the railing. We all dashed out to the entrance of the community and on the way there I was shocked to see that we were met up with by Rick and Michonne. I looked over to the pair but they seemed just as confused as we were. Once we hit the front gate I realized who it was that was causing all of the commotion. It was Aiden, Nicholas, Glenn, Tara and Eugene, who all seemed to be coming back from their test run that Daryl had told me about. Aiden whipped back around to the members of my group and glared at Glenn. "You obey my orders out there," he growled at the Asian man.

My hand slipped down to my back as I watched both men's faces turn red. Maggie stepped up besides the slowly gathering crowd but I grabbed her hand to ensure that she remain out of the fight. This one wasn't ours to settle. Something had happened out there and we weren't the ones that needed to get involved with his. They had something to settle on their own. "Then we're just as screwed as your last run crew," Glenn hissed as he walked up to Aiden.

The two men stood at about the same height so neither looked like they had the upper hand if a fight were to break out. But I knew that Glenn knew how to hold his own in a fight. Merle had made sure of that. I guess it was really the reason that they were friends in the first place. The sun was starting to set and I took a deep breath. We must have been out longer than I had thought. "Say that again," Aiden said to Glenn darkly and I felt a growl come up in the back of my throat.

I was not a big fan of Aiden and I knew that there was about nothing he could do now to make me like him. He had made some pretty dangerous enemies here. "No, back off, Aiden," Tara said. She tried to walk up and diffuse the situation but Glenn held up a hand to stop her.

Aiden was practically shaking with anger and I watched with a glare as he moved back and forth between lunging after Glenn and staying where he was. "Come on. Come on, man. Just take a step back. Come on, tough guy. No one's impressed, man. Walk away," Glenn said softly to Aiden, who turned back. I thought that he was really going to walk away but without warning he turned back and swung at Glenn.

Luckily Glenn knew what he was doing though and he caught Aiden's arm, throwing him backwards. Aiden stumbled and jumped back up to tackle Glenn, but before he could I heard the angry call of Deanna. "Aiden! What is going on?" She shouted as she stamped up to her son angrily. I watched closely making sure that he wasn't going to blame Glenn for the fight.

Instead of abashedly apologizing to his mother or lying like he had when he had touched me he stormed up to his mother. I thought that Deanna might back off from the look on her son's face but she merely stood her ground. I couldn't help but wonder what Deanna had done before all of this. She seemed to be so tough yet she also had a soft spot for her kids. "This guy's got a problem with the way we do things. Why did you let these people in?" He hissed at her, motioning to the rest of our group.

My hands curled into fists and I grit my teeth at Aiden's words. I didn't know what had happened out there but I knew that whatever it was wasn't our fault. Aiden and Nicholas had probably been acting like a bunch of jackasses. "Because we actually know what we're doing out there," Glenn told Aiden with an angry glare, clearly upset at the actions of everyone today.

Without any warning Aiden rushed forward to Glenn. Deanna tried to grab her son and I rushed forward, but Daryl grabbed me and threw me back, not wanting me to get involved with the fight. He threw me back to Merle and I grunted as I hit the older man. He helped me straighten up and I watched as Aiden was thrown off of balance by Glenn. He tossed Aiden to the ground and leaped on top of the other boy. Glenn landed hit after hit on Aiden who threw up a fist and knocked Glenn in the head. I could tell that Maggie was getting nervous so I sent the girl a reassuring nod. Glenn knew what he was doing. "Aiden, no! That's enough! I said that is enough!" Deanna yelled.

As the pair fought on the ground Rick and Daryl ran up to them, both grabbing Glenn and yanking him off of Aiden. "Whoa, whoa! Hey, hey, hey!" Rick fought against Glenn as he lifted him back to the ground. "Let's not do this now," he said softly to Glenn, who nodded at our leader. "Tell him," Rick growled at Deanna, who was looking on furiously.

I noticed that Glenn was staring at Aiden angrily and vice versa. Shaking my head I heard Aiden scoff darkly and Glenn immediately turned to the other man. "You want to end up on your ass again?" My friend sneered.

"Cool, all right?" Aiden smirked at Glenn, who immediately rushed forward to attack the other man again. I rolled my eyes at the pair and sighed. They were being such boys who couldn't resolve a situation with words. Although maybe it wasn't really the fact that they were boys, maybe we all really were this vile because we had been out there for too long. Maybe we were just itching for a fight.

Glenn yanked out of Rick's grasp and I watched as Rick tried to rush forward to grab him. But unfortunately he was too slow. So instead he turned to my husband and nodded. "Daryl," he called and my husband rushed forward to grab Glenn around the waist. Glenn was halted in his tracks and pulled away from Daryl, who took a step back and turned to look at Deanna.

The leader of Alexandria shook her head and coughed softly before turning to us. She looked like she was about to throw a hissy fit and I shook my head at her. She had to realize that this was the way that things were. People didn't solve problems with words anymore, they solved them with bullets and fists. "I want everyone to hear me, okay?" She yelled as she turned away from us and to the rest of her large group. "Rick and his people are part of this community now in all ways as equals. Understood?" She growled as she turned back to her son.

Aiden stared at his mother with an angry glare. He looked like he wanted to punch her but I knew that no matter what a tough guy he was, she was still his mother and he would listen to her. "Understood," he said to her lowly before turning his back to us and marching through the community, shooting me and icy glare as he walked by.

She glared at the supply run group for a moment before shaking her head and sighing deeply. "All of you, turn in your weapons. Then you two come talk to me," she hissed at both Rick and Michonne. I could tell that she was trying to be diplomatic but she was pissed. And I didn't blame her. The pair nodded and followed her into her house while the rest of us slowly dispersed. Maggie and Glenn headed off to talk in private and I watched the pair disappear. Most of the group headed back to the main house while Daryl, Carol and myself waited out front. A few people walked by us, giving us a small dinner while we waited for Rick and Michonne to finish. We were outside for nearly an hour and had slowly headed back to stand outside of our house when we finally saw Rick's figure approach with Michonne at his side.

As they reached us, Michonne headed straight into the house and Rick slowly walked up to us. I was shocked to see that he was wearing a type pf cop uniform, similar to the one that he had been wearing when I had first met him. He looked slightly upset but he also looked like he had finally given in to something. "You a cop again?" Daryl asked Rick as he made his way to stand in front of us.

Rick sighed deeply as rubbed his hands over his face. I couldn't help but wonder what it was like to be back in a clean cop uniform after all of this time. It must have sent him back to some pretty strange and painful memories. I assumed that Deanna had made him a police or something, and I was surprised that he had taken the job. "I'm trying it on for size," he said gently.

I smiled slightly at him and Daryl shifted uncomfortably and stared at the houses that we were now calling our own. "So we're staying?" Daryl asked and Rick nodded. Part of me was happy to hear that, glad that we could finally have a place to live and call our own without having to fear what was coming for us in the middle of the night. But on the other hand, these people were so weak. They had no idea how to defend themselves and we couldn't afford to get weak as well. We had come too far for that.

For a moment Rick was silent but he finally turned back and looked at the three houses that we were able to call ours. He sighed once more before turning back to us and nodding his head. "I think we can start sleeping in our own homes. Settle in," he said and my jaw nearly dropped. I couldn't believe that he had started to trust these people that fast. We still hardly knew anything about them.

It seemed that Carol shared my same concern as she shook her head and looked over to Rick. "If we get comfortable here, we let our guard down- this place is gonna make us weak," she said and I nodded. We had to be careful. There was only so much that we could get comfortable here. We still had to be tough, for whatever came at us.

I watched as Rick shook his head and looked over at her. "Carl said that," he informed her and she dropped her head slightly. He had grown up so fast, I wasn't surprised that he would say something like that. "But it's not gonna happen. We won't get weak. That's not in us anymore," he told us and I found myself nodding. He was right, we weren't the type to be weak anymore. We had grown out of that. "We'll make it work. And if they can't make it then we'll just take this place," he said darkly before turning and heading back into his house. I sighed and bade Carol a goodnight before grabbing Daryl and pulling him to our house.

He walked with me slowly as we made our way to the house. I stepped through the door and gave Daryl a moment to look around. The sun was down so I flipped on the switch and went to stand back by Daryl. He sighed and walked around both the living room and kitchen. I grabbed his hand once more and brought him upstairs to the bedroom. He walked in and laughed lightly when he saw my old clothes in a pile on the floor. They were so disruptive of the nice white and blue room. He kicked them off to the side and I smirked as he went to turn on the lights. They flicked on and I squinted at the light. He laughed and I rolled my eyes, turning to face away from the light. I headed to the door and kicked it closed, turning back to see that Daryl was flashing me a large smirk.

I couldn't help but to laugh at his reaction to me and I shrugged my shirt off. He watch as I turned my back to him and threw the shirt along with my old clothes into the laundry basket. Pulling my hair out of the hair tie I shook it around and went to pull off my shorts to change but I was stopped by Daryl's hand tracing over my lower back. I jumped at the feel of his hand but I relaxed as I felt his breath hit the back of my ear. "That's new. I like it, when did you get it? How did you get it?" He asked me with a laugh.

Smiling, I turned back to him, pressing my chest against his stomach. He was so much taller than me that the top of my head only came up to his neck. "There's a girl that lives here. Her name is Moira. She used to be a tattoo artist. She offered to do something for me when I told her that I wanted another one. Do you like it?" I asked him and he nodded. Without saying another word he backed me up to the wall and I felt my heart beating heavily. This was what I wanted, hell, this was what I needed. We hadn't been like this in far too long. For once we didn't have to worry about someone being too close to us or the threat of walkers. We could just enjoy each other. I hit the wall and Daryl pressed one hand into my hip. He pushed his lips onto mine and I smiled into the kiss. He grabbed the back of my hand and pulled me into him, the other hand slipping to right below my waist. I couldn't help but to groan lightly and I noticed that Daryl smirked into the kiss. I was glad that he was enjoying himself though. This was the first time that he seemed happy since we had been here. I wanted to make him even happier.

One of his hands slid down to the back of my thigh and I let him lift me up. I hooked my legs around his waist and he pressed us back into the wall, my tailbone digging painfully into the wall. Not that I really cared. I tugged on his long hair and he grunted, walking back across the room. His tongue flicked across my mouth and I giggled as he dropped me onto the bed. He leaned over me and my breath escaped my mouth as his lips trailed from my mouth to my neck. I grabbed his vest and threw it off of his body before ripping his shirt open and disposing of it as well. He grunted once more and snapped open the front clip of my bra before forcing me to lean up so that he could throw it away. His hands and mouth explored the top half of my body and my breathing grew faster as I worked at the button to his jeans. I just needed to get him to me, I needed the release. He helped me shrug them off and tore my own bottoms off before leaning over me, his hips pressing into mine.

Nearly an hour later we lay in bed with the lights off, both of us breathing heavier than we ever had. For the first time ever we hadn't bothered to hold back at all, we had taken out all of our feelings and frustrations on each other, and it was better than I had ever had. Daryl's hand traced patterns on my stomach and I gently traced light patterns on his chest. He rolled over and grabbed a bottle of water that was sitting on the table before downing half of it and handing it to me. I took it and took slow sips, tracing the scars on his back. He took the bottle back and placed it on the table, turning over to me. I smiled at him and he leaned into me, giving me a deep kiss. We tilted back onto the bed and I laughed as he let go of me. I crawled onto him and he let our naked bodies tangle together before sighing and planting a small kiss on my forehead. I smiled and settled into his body, pulling the covers over us. We seemed like a real married couple. We were sleeping in our own bed in our own house. But we still had friends and family surrounding us. This place might not be perfect, but it was the best thing we had been given in a long time. We were home.


	47. Adaptation

For the first time in my entire life it felt like I was waking up in a fairy tale. I wasn't in my childhood bedroom, too afraid to go downstairs and see what punishments awaited me. I wasn't at my uncle's house, counting down the days until I was homeless. I wasn't in prison, numb to everything that was happening around me. I wasn't in my apartment, just living life day after day with nothing to really live for. And for the first time in months, I was waking up knowing that I was safe. Walkers weren't right outside my door, and for now, we were safe from the remaining people of the world. Part of me couldn't help but wonder if Daryl felt the same.

Slowly I yawned and opened my eyes, slightly startled to see that Daryl was staring at me. He had a tiny smile in his eyes and I couldn't help but give him a small grin. There had been a time once that Dale had told me that Daryl would always give me these looks that I never noticed. Now I saw them. It was a look that no one had ever given me before. Daryl raised his hand up and I smiled softly. We were tangled together in a mess of limbs and blankets, my hair shuffled everywhere. Neither of us were wearing clothes but he was careful to keep the blankets up high on our chests. He softly pushed a large strand of hair off of my face and I leaned into him. He gave me a soft kiss and rolled me onto my back. I looked up into his eyes and saw the bright blue sparkle in a way that I hadn't seen in a long time.

Outside I could hear children running around and yelling loudly. I smiled at the thought of the families here that were actually able to give their children a real childhood. Something that I had watched be stolen from Carl. I hoped that he had met some kids here, people that could remind him of what it was like to be a kid again. But something told me that he didn't want to be a child again. After being out there so long there was no going back. Sighing, I turned to look back at Daryl and I gave him a small kiss on the lips. He tasted like mint and I nearly laughed. It had been so long since I had kissed someone that had actually had the chance to brush their teeth. He cocked his head at me and I shook my head. "Good morning," I told him softly, brushing his long brown hair behind his ears.

He shook his head, forcing the hair back from behind his ears and I rolled my eyes as it fell back in his face. He gave me an apologetic grin and I shook my head at him. He gave me a soft kiss on the jawline and I smiled at him. "Good morning," he responded to me and I went to move out of the bed. Just before I could roll over though a sharp scream came from outside of the house. I tensed up and noticed that Daryl did the same. But just as fast as the scream had come it dissipated to a loud laughter. It had just been children playing outside. I sighed deeply and laid back on the bed. "Listening to the kids?" Daryl asked me and I nodded slowly to him. "You know, I've noticed that you seem to be a little distracted by kids lately. Do you really want one?" He asked me and shock radiated through me. I was about to give him a quick no when he grabbed my face and forced me to meet his eyes. "Answer me honestly, Rain," he said and I took in a deep breath.

Did I really want a child? No. Yes? I had no idea. On one hand I could see that Daryl loved kids more than he let on. But I knew that he was afraid to be a parent. And I was too. If I was pregnant I'd be out f commission for months and I'd never be able to go out the way that I did now. But some part of having a family with Daryl was appealing. "I don't know," I finally sighed to him and I could tell by his nod that he had known that it would be the answer that I gave him. "I mean I always thought that I would never get married so kids were never a big deal. I didn't really like them before any of this happened but now, I mean- everything's changed. But it isn't safe for a child. Not even here. Things can get in here and not even just walkers. They think this place is impenetrable. It isn't. Not to people or to walkers," I told him.

He nodded at me and I waited to see what he was going to say next. He leaned to the side of me and his hand trailed across the bare skin on my thigh. I grinned and he smirked, knowing that when he did that it only made me want to stay in the bed. "Want to know what I think?" He asked me and I nodded. "I think you're afraid to end up like your parents. I would be too. For what it counts, I think you'd make a good mother. But maybe now is a bad time to be thinking about a family. Let's see how this plays out," he told me, knowing that this wasn't a conversation that I was ready to have just yet.

I nodded at him and gave him one more kiss. I could tell that it was already well into the morning, judging by the bright sunlight that was streaming in through the window. I knew that we needed to get up and get to doing something soon. And we had to be careful, I knew that Deanna had people constantly watching Daryl and me. As I began to untangle myself from Daryl I turned back to him. "And for what it counts, I think you'd make a good father. No matter what you think. I see how you interact with Judith. I'm gonna go downstairs and make some breakfast. You want any?" I asked him and I cocked my eyebrow when I saw the hesitation in his eyes.

Turning my back to him I stood and shivered when I pulled free of the blankets. The room was cold and my bare skin was quickly covered in goosebumps. I leaned down to grab a shirt off of the ground and I could feel Daryl's eyes glued to my back, searing a hole in me. It was times like this that I praised his self-control. He was better than most guys that I had ever met. But I guess that was why he was so different to me. "Weren't you telling me once that you couldn't cook for shit?" He asked me and I whipped back around to him.

Immediately I could see the regret in his eyes but I merely smiled at him. I had told him that. I wasn't much help in the kitchen unless it was to get a good drink or a microwave dinner. I pulled the button down shirt that belonged to Daryl closed and began to do up the buttons. I slipped on a pair of underwear underneath and watched as Daryl got ready. He pulled on a pair of recently washed jeans and his black leather vest, the one that I had come to love. "Coffee, Daryl. Coffee I can do," I clarified for him and he gave me an abashed smile. I rolled my eyes as he pulled on his shoes and once he had them on, I grabbed his hand, not bothering with mine. All I wanted to do was be decent if we happened to run into Maggie and Glenn. "Come on," I said as I pulled him out of the room.

We padded down the stairs until we finally hit the landing and I walked into the kitchen. Hesitantly I flicked the light switch on, still afraid that this was all just a weird dream. It still seemed to perfect. But nothing was, we would see the faults of this place soon. Daryl went to stand at the bar stool while I headed over to the coffee maker. I started on a pot and pulled two mugs out of the cabinet before hopping up on the counter, waiting for the coffee maker to finish its cycle. A soft thumping came from the other side of the house and I instinctively reached for my knife. But quickly I relaxed when I saw that it was only Maggie and Glenn, the couple walking down the stairs from their bedroom. A bright smile covered both of their faces and I smiled when they glanced over to Daryl and me.

Without bothering to ask if they wanted coffee, I grabbed two more mugs and set them down. Both of them smiled and nodded at me and I nearly laughed at us. Like Daryl, Glenn was fully dressed but his hair was still mussed all over the place, giving away what they had been doing during the night. And just like me, Maggie was wearing one of Glenn's shirts with no pants, and barefoot. I laughed at the girl and grabbed her tightly, bringing her into a hug. Glenn patted Daryl at the back and both of the men were grinning at each other, knowing that we had all been doing the exact things only a few hours earlier. "Looks like we were all settling into the house last night," I joked earning small snickers all throughout the large kitchen. The coffee maker dinged lightly and I grinned at the scent of fresh coffee. Quickly, I poured everyone their mugs, each giving me a small thanks. Finally I had my own mug in hand and made my way over to the stool next to Daryl. Just as I went to sit on it though a small knock sounded at our front door. Groaning I dropped my mug and walked over to the door. "I got it," I called before opening the door. Standing there were Carol and Rick and I smiled at both. "Oh hey Rick, Carol. What's up?" I asked them with a friendly smile. They looked like they meant business and I knew that it would mean that my coffee would have to wait.

Rick confirmed my thoughts as he walked in a little and nodded back to my husband. "You and Daryl," he said and I nodded, my mouth watering at the sight of Maggie nursing her drink. Why couldn't he need them? "We need to get with you both for a little while. Can you head out with us?" He asked and I nodded, stifling my groan. I leaned down to grab my bow but was stopped when Rick put a hand down in front of me. I glanced up and he gave me a small smirk, glancing down to my legs. "Uh, might want to put some pants on first," he said to me and I blushed, quickly turning to Carol who was giving me a knowing smirk.

Blushing brightly, I turned away and tugged Daryl's shirt farther down my legs. "Damn it. One second, I'll be right back," I mumbled before dashing up the stairs. I heard Maggie and Glenn chuckle with everyone else as I made my way upstairs. Just as I hit the landing I could have sworn Rick said something about breaking in the house. Daryl's response hadn't been so kind. I laughed as I ran into the room and quickly undid the buttons that lined the front of Daryl's shirt.

Smiling at the fact that we were still able to joke with each other like the family that we were I grabbed my bra off of the floor and made my way over to the dresser. The clothes were actually reasonable and were mostly my size. I could only imagine that Aaron had sent someone to grab properly sized clothes for me. Digging through the drawer I managed to pull out a tight black tank top. The air was starting to cool down but I knew that we would be doing a lot of work today. And that meant tight and short clothing. I pulled it on and smiled when I realized that it was a little too short. It showed the arrow on my hip and the feathers of the Pheonix. It showed the new tattoo that Moira had done and I grinned at the sight of it. She had done a good job. I searched the drawers for a moment longer and managed to find a pair of black and white running shorts. I pulled them on and did my weapon belt up around my waist. Grabbing my studded boots I pulled them around my feet and turned to the mirror. Easily, I did my hair up in a ponytail and shook it out. It really was way too long. I made have to ask Jessie to cut it sometime soon. It was going to start getting in the way soon.

Dashing back out of the room I landed back in the living room and saw that Maggie was holding my coffee out to me. I stared at it longingly for a moment before shaking my head. "I'll get to it eventually. You can have it," I told her and she nodded at me gratefully. Daryl handed me my bow and arrows and I nodded to him. Slipping them onto myself we walked out of my house and Daryl and I followed the other pair. They were headed to the armory and I cocked my head as I caught up with Rick. I had thought that he trusted these people and had wanted us to get to know them. "So what exactly do you need us for? What's this all about?" I asked our leader.

He turned back to me as we started to head up the stairs to the armory. Rick held a hand out to us and I cocked my head, waiting for him to explain what we were headed over here for. "We're going to head out into the woods, I'm telling everyone that we're going shooting. We need to get out there and find out a way to steal our weapons back," he told me and I sighed. As much as I would love to have my gun back it probably wasn't a good idea. "You two stay out here, we'll be right back. We have to be careful, you're both being watched closely by Deanna, but you need to be involved in this," he told us and I found myself nodding.

Without another word, Rick stepped inside the threshold of the home and I sighed. I leaned back against the railing of the house and Daryl came to stand next to me. I laid my head gently on his shoulder and I felt him tracing the lines of the Pheonix on my back. "What do you think about this?" I asked him and he cocked his head. He was looking around and I knew that he was looking around to make sure that none of the other Alexandria residents were watching us. "Not what I meant. I mean this place. I don't think Rick knows if he can trust these people yet and I don't blame him. Some of them are nice, but I don't trust them. They're weak. Being weak will get us killed. And they have no idea what the world is like. They're ignorant. And if someone is ignorant they could ignore us. That could get not only one of them killed, but all of us," I said. Aiden was walking by us and I couldn't help but lay a dark glare on his figure.

Aiden turned so that he was walking towards us and my grip on the railing tightened. I knew that I was pulling up a little bit of the paint with my nails but I didn't care. Daryl's grip on my hip tightened as well and I couldn't help but to hiss at the pain. He didn't realize that he was hurting me but I wasn't going to say anything. "You don't kill him, then I will," Daryl hissed in my ear and I couldn't help but to snort slightly. My hand tightened on my knife and I slipped in gently out of its sheath, twirling it slightly. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a mother had been watching me and she was now pulling her young child away from the house that we were gathered around.

With a slight swagger in his step, I glared as Aiden walked up the steps to the house and came to a stop in front of Daryl and me. His eyes passed over Daryl carelessly and landed on me. His eyes darted over my body and I felt my skin crawl slightly. He stood only about a foot in front of me with his legs even with his shoulders. I thought about raising my studded boot right between his legs and I grinned at the thought. Aiden glared at me and leaned into me slightly. I felt Daryl stiffen and I patted his hand, letting him know that I could handle it. "Something funny?" He asked me and I shook my head. He scoffed and leaned back, looking up towards the building. "What are you doing at the armory? Shouldn't you be doing your damn job?" He asked me and I rolled my eyes.

As far as I knew I hadn't been assigned a job yet and I really didn't care to do it after I was assigned one. This wasn't my home, it was just somewhere to live. And these people weren't my friends or family, they were just kind enough to take us in. I appreciated them but I was sick of dealing with this asshole. "And what's your job, Aiden? Pissing everyone in these walls off? Bitching about everything possible?" I asked him and I saw the anger radiate in his eyes. Knowing a way to really get to him, I leaned off of the rail and went to stand pressed almost up against Aiden. "Going after girls who clearly don't want you?" I asked him, even though it was more of a statement. "And what's that attitude about? Are we compensating for something perhaps?" I asked with a gleam of amusement in my eyes.

Dangerous anger flashed through Aiden's eyes as he stepped forward to me. For a moment I thought that he would hit me but instead he stepped closer to me, leaning his arms on either side of me. He slowly lifted his right hand to my face and just when I was waiting for him to strike he began to seethe at me. "Why you little bitch-" Aiden began before he was cut off.

Daryl launched over to where we were standing and shoved Aiden off of me. I fell forward slightly as Aiden grabbed the strap of my shirt but he let go when Daryl ripped him away from me. I took a step back as I watched Daryl press Aiden back against the railing where I had been a moment ago. Both the wood and Aiden's back were cracking under their weight and I saw the grimace of pain come from the younger man. "What did I tell you? You touch my wife, I'll fucking kill you," he hissed at Aiden. I thought that Daryl would take a swing at Aiden but before he got the chance the door to the house swung open and the men slowly broke apart.

Standing in the doorway was Rick, Carol, and Olivia. Olivia was holding a small notebook which I figured was for checking out the guns. Rick was holding two rifles and Carol had two small pistols strapped to her. Aiden was now standing in the corner of the porch and I could tell that Daryl had scared him. But like any other coward he became brave when there were other people around, people who would break up the fight. "Need that hick to protect you?" He hissed at me from the corner as he walked past us to get to the stairs. Daryl looked like he might kill Aiden where he stood so I shook my head and watched as he grabbed the rifle instead.

Furious with the way that Aiden had been acting, I walked over to where Rick and Carol were standing. Instead of grabbing the pistol that Carol was holding out to me, I grabbed the remaining rifle from Rick. He cocked his eyebrow as I walked over to where Aiden was standing. I grabbed the magazine and loaded it into the gun, raising the barrel and pointing it at Aiden. For additional effect I placed my hand on the trigger, making sure that the safety was on. Not that he knew that. "I'm perfectly capable to protect myself from a little pussy like you," I hissed at him as I walked by. Dropping the gun to my side, I threw it over my shoulder and passed by the boy. "Have a good day, Aiden," I said lightly as I slammed my shoulder into his own. He was thrown off balance for a moment and I smirked.

Not bothering to look back and see if my group was following me, I headed straight for the gate. After a moment the other three members of my group caught up with me, all wearing proud smirks. Carol pulled me into a one armed hug and I laughed lightly. Rick patted me on the shoulder and gave me a sly smile and I couldn't help but grin. In that moment he really did seem like the Rick that I had left Atlanta with. Daryl came up to me last, shaking his head. But under the disapproving shake of the head I knew that he was proud of me. I nudged him and as we hit the gate and walked outside I let Rick take the lead of the pack. As we walked I heard a small growl and turned to catch sight of an ugly female walker. Giving a sharp whistle I saw the people in Alexandria watch for a moment before I raised my rifle and shot. The walker fell to the ground and I turned back. Aiden was at the front of the gate and I gave him a wicked grin before turning my back on the gated community.

We didn't walk long before Rick stopped us and ordered to check the area. I was searching through the grid that I had been assigned but I didn't see anything. No walkers and no people. I headed back to the clearing and saw that the other three were already there. I heard the growling of a walker but no matter where I looked I couldn't find it. The thing was close though and I knew that it could smell us. We would just have to keep an eye out for it. "I don't see it, but it's close," Daryl announced.

Our leader turned to look through the area as well but the walker was blind to even him. The damn thing was close by but none of us could see it. The worst kind of walker. "There's just one of 'em. We won't be here long," Rick said, shrugging off the fact that a walker was in the area. "So what do you think?" He asked, referring to stealing the weapons back. The whole reason that we were out here in the first place, and not trying to adjust to our new life. But I knew, we all knew. No matter how safe a place was, we were wild now. We weren't the type to live in a civilized community. We were shoot first and ask second. But we were still good people.

Shaking my head I turned to look at Carol who was rolling her gun around in her hands. Her acting at Alexandria had been incredible. They genuinely believed that she was weak and didn't know what she was doing out here. It was a good way to get her on the inside of the residents. We would know everything that way. Carol knew that too but I could tell that she wanted nothing more than to pick up her gun and go shooting. "We can go in when it's empty," she said and I nodded. Were they really that stupid to leave the armory unlocked at night? God, how were they not dead already?

Rick seemed to share the same thoughts that I did as he cocked his head to the side, clearly not believing that it would be that easy. "How is that?" He asked her and I saw her smile slightly.

When I had first seen Carol a year and a half ago I knew that she wasn't as weak as she made herself seem. It was all because her husband had been the abusive ass that he was. And then she had been so protective of her daughter but when Sophia had died, Carol had changed. She had become tough. She was strong and she was a killer. She was someone completely different than the woman that I had met back at the quarry outside of Atlanta. "It's locked up at night. The window. There's just a latch," she said with the shake of her head and I couldn't help but snort. A latch was pathetic. "I can leave it open," she said with a grin.

"A latch?" Rick asked, clearly not believing that these people were as stupid as they seemed. I didn't blame him. They should be dead by now. I had no doubt that if they didn't have to walls then most, if not all, of the people would be dead. I tried not to be too pessimistic towards the people of Alexandria but I knew that they were weak, and they knew it too.

Carol nodded and I waited to see if Rick would agree to the plan. It was so simple but it was something that could be easily messed up if even the slightest thing went wrong. And I didn't doubt that something would go wrong. Something always did. But these people seemed like the type that we could easily outwit. Although I had been wrong before. "What if one of those pricks shuts it?" Daryl spoke up for the first time since we had been at the armory. I laughed lightly at the name that he used for them. I knew that he probably didn't mean it about all of the residents, just one young man in particular.

Everyone was silent for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. We couldn't just keep leaving the latch open, people would eventually get suspicious. And blame would immediately be placed on us. We were the new people it was the easiest to blame on us. "Wait a couple of days, leave it open again," Carol finally said and I nodded. She was right, that was really our only option. We had no other plan and no other way to get into the armory without everyone knowing.

The snarling of the walker came once more and I found myself shivering at the sound of it. I was so used to the growls and hisses that they made, but it had been a few days since I had last heard it. It was unnerving to hear again and realize that while we were out here, we weren't safe. I shook my head clear and gathered my thoughts together. I wasn't scared of walkers. Not anymore. There was nothing that they could do to me. Not if I didn't let them. "It's getting closer," Daryl said as the growls quieted down once more.

I had thought that Rick would split us up to find the walker that was listening in on our conversation but he didn't. Instead he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. I saw a bush behind him move and I tightened the hold on my trigger, but nothing ever moved out of the bushes. "We need to do it sooner than later. Right now, they're not watching us. Not worrying about meetings like this," Carol said and I nodded. She was right. They only thought that we stuck so close together because we were so used to each other. And while that might be true, it was more because we were constantly plotting. That was what life on the road for so long did to you. "We may need the guns, we may not," she said and I found myself nodding. I was more inclined to think that we would need them.

Clearly Rick shared my thought process as he nodded and I waited for him to speak. He turned to look at Carol and I sighed. "We will whatever way it goes," he told her and I nodded. One way or another, the day would come that we would need our guns. And we couldn't just go running for the armory, we needed to be prepared.

Shifting onto one foot and leaning over to me, Carol motioned for me to hand her my rifle. I handed it to her and she took it with a nod, checking it over and flipping the safety off. "He's right, they've just been lucky. Hell, we were lucky sometimes too, but we know how that ends," she said and my stomach dropped as I thought back to my father. "Eventually their luck will run out and I don't think that I want to be unarmed when that happens," she said and I nodded slowly.

Everyone had their strokes of luck. These people had just had their luck for even longer. And that meant that when the shit hits the fan for them, it will hit hard. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to be here on the day that the Alexandria Safe-Zone falls prey to some lunatic overlord, just like my father. Maybe that would never happen, but after Woodbury, Terminus, and Grady Memorial, I was more inclined to think that it would. "They're the luckiest damn people I ever met," Daryl bit out and I nodded.

"And they just keep getting luckier," Rick shot back and I turned to look at him. He looked so confident, so strong. I couldn't help but wonder if this place brought out something new in us. If it brought out something new in all of us. I had never been this confrontational, this angry before. Maybe when I had been in jail, but still, not to this extent. Glenn had told me that he had told Deanna that we were almost out there for too long. Had I been out here for too long? "But she's right, this place, it has its faults. And it's only a matter of time before someone realizes what they are," Rick added, breaking me from my thoughts.

It seemed like everyone was off in their own worlds for a moment before Carol finally looked up from her gun and met eyes with our leader. Daryl seemed to be in deep thought as well and I knew that he wouldn't want to head back to Alexandria just yet. He was in his element out here. So was I. "How's that?" Carol asked Rick.

"We're here now," he answered her quickly.

Once more our small group fell into a silence and I listened for the growl of the walker. But the woods were silent. I wondered if it had bypassed us, but that made no sense. They were attracted by scent and noise, two things that we didn't have on our side. "They've got a couple of footlockers just full of 9 millimeter autos, Rugers, Kel-Tecs," Carol said and I looked over at her. I couldn't believe that they had all of those weapons in their storeroom but no one ever touched them. "Just tossed in there. They don't use them. They're never gonna know they're gone," she said and I couldn't help but to smirk. This was so easy. Pretty much, it was too easy.

I twirled an arrow in my hand and smirked as I saw that Daryl was entranced in watching me spin it. Every once in a while it would bang against the ring on my finger and I couldn't help but move the ring slightly. There was a small tan line around where I wore the ring and I couldn't help but smile. Daryl's eyes were glued to my finger as well and I shot him a small smile as I went back to standing with my arms crossed. "Someone's got one now, right?" Rick asked and my eyes shot back to my leader. Carol hummed an affirmative answer and I glanced up to look at her. "Listen, the others, we want them to try. You, too. The both of you," Rick said, making sure to give me a pointed look. I rolled my eyes but nodded at him anyways. He was right. I needed to try harder and not attack everyone that upset me. "So we keep it quiet. Just us," he said and I saw everyone nodding their approval.

The snarling of the walker came by us once more and I glanced up to see where the walker was. This time it was in clear view and I glared darkly when I saw that it was pathetically limping towards us. I dropped my arrow back in my sheath and raised my knife. I wanted that walker. I needed it. It had been too long since I had been able to take out my emotions on one of the undead creatures. "Here it comes. I got him," Rick said as he walked up to the walker with his knife out.

Scoffing loudly I dropped my knife back into my sheath. I had wanted to take care of the damn thing but I knew that I couldn't. Not when Rick said that he would do it. "Hey, wait," Carol called before Rick made his way to the walker. He turned back to her and she nodded him out of the way, raising her gun. She held the barrel of the gun up to the walker and I watched as she shot round after round into the head and chest of the walker. She hit her mark every time and I couldn't help but to smirk as she emptied her clip on the walker. She finally ceased her fire and I snorted at the sight of the mangled walker. "We said we were taking me out shooting. I couldn't go back with a full mag," she explained to us as she turned back, shouldering her rifle.

I nodded at her and patted her back as I walked closer to where the walker was now lying. She was right, it would look too suspicious if she came back with a full magazine. She needed to empty at least some of the clip. And it was good for everyone to keep up their target practice. "Lucky he came by," Daryl said and I sighed deeply. Lucky. That word was being thrown around a lot lately.

For a while we all stared at the walker's body and I walked forward to it. The thing looked about normal but it did have a large W carved into its forehead. I leaned down, gently tracing the letter and jumped slightly when Daryl came to lean down next to me, observing the mark with me. "We should get back. You'll pull the latch, we'll pick our moment. Us, we don't need to be lucky," I heard Rick say but I wasn't quite ready to head back. What the hell was this W for? The walker clearly hadn't gotten the mark when it was a human, someone had done this. Maybe they had killed the person and then carved the W in their forehead? That was the only thing that made any sense to me.

Daryl pulled my hand back from the walker and I couldn't help but to roll my eyes at his protective instinct. Although it was nice sometimes he went to extremes. "What the hell's that? Is that a W?" He asked, despite the fact that he obviously knew what it was. I nodded at him and let out a small hum as he stood from besides the walker, pulling me up with him.

We all were engrossed with the body of the walker before Rick finally grabbed my arm and gently tugged me away from the walker. I slowly followed him back to Alexandria and watched as Daryl and Carol came back to where we had been standing a moment ago. I turned back to the corpse and could just hear the small sigh that was coming from our leader. "Come on guys, we should get back. They won't be expecting us gone for this long," he said and I couldn't help but to sigh. Just when I was finally enjoying the woods once more.

"Back to the kitchen," Carol sighed as she began walking and I patted her back out of sympathy. She smiled at me and I knew that part of her was regretting putting the act on. But she was smart to do it. She got in on the secrets of Alexandria and no one would be paying any mind to her. She was our perfect little secret. One that they would never find out.

I slowed when I realized that Daryl wasn't right behind me and I turned back to him. He was looking around and I knew that he wasn't planning on heading back to Alexandria just yet. I should have figured, but part of me had thought that he would come back with us. I had been hoping to spend the day with him, actually try to see what it was like to be a real married couple. But I was pretty sure that we would never be just a normal married couple. It wasn't in our nature. "I'm gonna stay out. Scout the area for a little while. You can head back, I'll see you later," he said, turning to me, confirming my thoughts.

Rick and Carol nodded and turned to me, waiting to see who I would go with. I shook my head and turned to Daryl. "Nah, I think I'll stay out with you for a little bit. If that's alright of course?" I asked him and he nodded with the tiniest of smiles. Rick and Carol both nodded and turned away from us, heading back to Alexandria. Daryl turned the other way and led me off in the other direction. Once I knew that we were completely out of earshot from the other two members of our group I turned to Daryl with a tiny grin. He looked at me, a slight look of amusement on his face. "You know, it's nice to have the walls at Alexandria. Homes and electricity and showers. It's like living in a real community, not just fighting to see the next day. But I have to admit, I miss the woods too. I miss our little hunting trips, the pounding of your heart when you're walking through the woods with your weapon raised," I admitted, feeling like a lunatic for missing the near death moments. The moments that most sane people avoided.

Glancing to my right I saw that Daryl was staring at me like I had grown a second head. I giggled lightly and he shook his head at me. "I think you got a death wish, girl," he told me and I laughed. Lightly, I shoved him to the side but it didn't really do anything. He remained standing straight and I glared at him, knowing that he had better balance than that. He pulled me into his side and leaned down to give me a kiss. Right before he met my lips though, there was a soft rustling of leaves. Without a second thought I broke away from Daryl and tore my bow off of my shoulder, nocking an arrow as fast as I possibly could. "Come out! Now!" Daryl yelled as we both pointed our weapons towards the source of the rustling. It hadn't been a walker, it was a person and they knew that they were caught now.

The leaves parted and I watched as Aaron stepped out of the bushes and into the clearing where we currently were. He had his arms up and was wearing a friendly smile. I let out a deep breath and dropped my weapon but I noticed that Daryl kept his crossbow raised up to Aaron. "That was an incredible reaction time you have," he told me and I nodded slowly. You had to be fast to survive. "You can tell the difference between walkers and humans by sound?" Aaron asked Daryl, who was glaring darkly.

I saw the angry look on Daryl's face and I wondered briefly if Daryl was more uncomfortable with the people here than he let on. I tried to step between the men to diffuse the situation, but the glare that Daryl gave me forced me to stay rooted in my spot. Daryl shifted slightly closer to Aaron and I took in a deep breath, but I knew that he wouldn't hurt the man unless he was given a reason. "Can you tell the difference between a good guy and a bad guy?" Daryl hissed as Aaron.

Aaron seemed to think about his answer for a moment before shifting a little closer to us. Daryl still had his weapon raised but I knew that he wasn't going to do anything to the man. Aaron had never been anything but good to us. He was still good in a world full of bad people. I respected that. "Rick doesn't seem to be an expert at that," he finally said and I shot my eyes over to him. He seemed to notice that his words had hit a nerve with me and he opened his mouth, probably to make an apology. But before he could Daryl spoke up once more.

"There ain't much of a difference no more," he said and I turned to face him. I knew that my husband didn't really feel that way, but he was tired of this. Tired of the running and the fighting and constantly being on guard. For a year and a half we had all been in a constant state of alert. We were all ready to just be done. But yet we still fought every day.

It seemed that Aaron had been slightly surprised at Daryl's blunt response as he moved closer to us. I noticed that he was wearing a hunting belt but he had no game attached to it. My eyebrows raised in suspicion. There were only two reasons for that. Either he really hadn't caught anything or he had run into us and just started to listen. And in that case, it wasn't good. We didn't need him knowing that we were planning on stealing our guns back. If these people were having a hard time trusting us now, well they would never trust us then. "That how you feel about your people?" Aaron asked Daryl and I saw the fire light behind Daryl's eyes.

Daryl was one of those people who was tough to newcomers. I mean when I had first met him he hadn't been able to have a civil conversation with me unless we were drunk. But he grew on you after a while. And then he became impossible to separate yourself from. The air was tense for a moment before Daryl finally lowered his crossbow and let the strap fall back onto his shoulder. "Why you following us?" He asked Aaron, still wanting to know why the young man was out here.

Finally Aaron's face showed some form of emotion as he laughed and shrugged his shoulders. Daryl didn't appreciate the humor in his eyes, but I thought that it was nice. Someone deserved to be happy. "I didn't know I was. I came out to hunt rabbits," he said and my eyes dropped to the belt. I guess he had just left Alexandria if he didn't have anything yet. "I know why you're out here. Both of you," he said and I felt my breath slightly hitch in my throat. "Mind if I join?" He asked and I found myself nodding.

Aaron shot me a thankful grin and I nodded back to him. But the real question was whether or not Daryl would let him come with us. For some reason I figured that he would, but Daryl was a hard man to read. Hell, I was married to him and sometimes I couldn't get a good read on him. "Keep up. And keep quiet," he eventually told Aaron before turning away from us and beginning to walk once more. I laughed lightly and fell into step with my husband. Aaron trailed behind us slightly and I knew that he was watching Daryl and I silently communicate. Daryl let his hand trail softly over the ring on my finger and I found myself smiling happily. His hand fell softly from my hand and I turned back just in time to catch Aaron smiling at us.

I fell slowly back and waited until I was in step with the recruiter for Alexandria. He shot me a sad smile and I couldn't help but to grin back at him. He was such a nice man and I knew that he was the type who would make it through this world and wouldn't change. We needed more people like him. "Don't mind him, he warms up to everyone. It just takes a while. He's used to being in the woods with just us. This for him, for all of us, it's weird. It will take some getting used to," I explained to Aaron, who glanced up at me.

He walked in tandem with me for a moment before finally turning to me with a sad smile. I cocked my eyebrow and waited for him to speak. "You know, I don't think he's the only one who's out of their element here. You say that he's uncomfortable here and having a hard time adjusting, well I think you are too," he told me and I took in a deep breath. He was right, as much as I tried to fit in here, I knew that I never would. "I saw you the other day, attacking Aiden. He deserved it, but you made quite a few enemies that day. People here are scared of you. All of you. They look at you and they hear stories," he said and I snorted. They had no idea the shit that we'd dealt with out there. "And believe it or not, they do know the types of people that are out there beyond the wall," he told me and I shook my head.

He looked like he wanted to argue with me on the point but I cut him off before he could say anything. "Really? I don't think they know shit about what's really out there. It's not the walkers that are the real threats. Not anymore. Now it's the people. With no laws and no civilization, people revert back to the way that they once were. And it isn't a pretty sight. There are people who hunt down others just for the hell of it. People who will attack you because you have something that they want. There are the type of men who would be willing to kill their own daughter," I hissed. I knew Aaron felt bad for ever saying anything but I wasn't quite done with my rant yet. "How you have all never been attacked before is beyond me. But when you are, it will be a shit storm. This place has been too safe for too long. Its day is coming. And that will be a dark day," I snapped before taking a few deep breaths to settle my frayed nerves.

The air was thick with tension as Aaron looked at me with a small sadness in his eyes. My chest twisted with regret for saying what I had, but Aaron was smart. He knew that what I had said was out of anger, not genuine malice. "Deanna is hosting a party tonight," he said and I cocked my head at him. I noticed that even Daryl had turned back slightly to listen to us. "She noticed that you all were having a hard time adjusting to life here. She thought that this would be a good way to celebrate the fact that you all have a place to call home now. I think you would do well if you went to it. Get to know some of the other Alexandria residents. I promise that Eric and I aren't the only ones that are good people here. I think you'll like some of them if you actually talk to some of them," he told me and I scoffed.

If she wanted us to be comfortable than she would leave us alone and let us live in a segregated part of the community. But she wanted us to be more than just residents. She wanted us to be involved. Something that most of us really didn't want to do. "A party?" I scoffed and Aaron gave me a little nod with an abashed laugh. "And you all wonder why we think that you're weak," I mumbled and I heard a small snort come from Daryl. "I'll think about it," I told Aaron when I saw the hopeful look on his face.

We slowly walked for a little while in silence and I relaxed as I fell into step with Daryl once more. We were looking closely to make sure that we weren't about to smack face first into a walker. The woods in Virginia were so much different than the ones in Georgia. They had more tangled leaves and the brush was much thinker. It was a lot harder to walk around in woods like this. I heard a small horse nicker from my side and I turned with Daryl. In the middle of a large clearing was a horse inside of a pen. I stared at the pretty animal for a moment and noticed that Aaron was watching it with somewhat of a shock. I slowly made my way up to the horse, and judging from the footsteps behind me, I figured that Daryl and Aaron were following me as well.

Trying not to spook him as I made my way up to him, I grinned at the large animal. He was so graceful and looked so undisturbed by this whole thing. Like everything was just the way that it was supposed to be. "I've been trying to catch him for months, bring him inside. His name is Buttons," he said and I laughed lightly. Of course that was his name. Aaron noticed both mine and Daryl's reaction and he blushed lightly, looking to the ground. "One of the kids saw him run by the gate a while back. Thought he looked like a Buttons," he said to us, trying to explain why the horse had such a ridiculous name. "I haven't seen him for a while. I was afraid it was too late. Every time Eric or I come close, he gets spooked," he said as he advanced on the horse.

Daryl and I watched as Aaron advanced on the horse slowly. I could tell that Buttons was already getting agitated with someone being that close to him. But he seemed relatively docile. I wasn't afraid that he was going to be hurt by the horse. Although if he was, he would match Eric. "Have you done this before?" Daryl asked once Buttons had darted away from Aaron.

Sighing slightly, Aaron turned back to us and nodded. He was slowly making his way back with a bound of rope in his hand. Daryl grabbed the rope from him and began to make his way over to the horse. My mind flashed to the last time that he had been around a horse. Nervous Nelly at Hershel's farm. I shuddered at the thought but I forced myself to steel my nerves, he wasn't riding the horse and this was totally different terrain. "My group did. But they weren't out there that long. The longer they're out there, the more they become what they really are," he said as Daryl made his way out to the horse.

He slowly walked out to the horse with an apple in hand. I laughed at the sight of it, wanting it for myself, but I wasn't going to say that. I was regretting not drinking the coffee this morning, but I hadn't gotten a damn chance. "I ain't gonna hurt ya. All right? Come on, boy," Daryl said as he got within touching distance of the horse. Both Aaron and I laughed as he held the apple to the horse, who gratefully ate it. "Yeah. Just keep on eating. Yeah," Daryl said to the animal as he clicked his tongue to praise the large animal. "Good boy," he said softly as he pet the horse on the side of the neck as it chowed down on the apple.

Both Aaron and I watched Daryl with smiled on our faces. I was happy because Daryl really did look so at peace with the horse out here, I knew that this was where he loved to be. Aaron was watching with a smile because he knew that somewhere deep down, Daryl was a good man who had many more layers to him than the protective guardian of the group. And I was glad that he saw that. "He would be good with children," Aaron said and my head shot over to him. "Do you two, or did you ever have any kids?" He asked me and I coughed slightly.

Just a few hours ago I had been having this same conversation with Daryl. Whether or not we would ever want kids. But if I had them, that was easy. "What? No. I didn't even know Daryl until the outbreak," I told him and I saw the curiosity spark in his eyes. "We were in a camp together. Not many of us left anymore. Daryl, Merle, Rick, Carl, Glenn, Carol, and myself. That's who is left of that group. The others we picked up along the way," I told him and I saw that Aaron was nodding thoughtfully.

My face dropped as I recalled all of those that we had lost from the original camp. Morales and his family. Ed and so many others whose names I hadn't even known. Jim, Jacqui, Andrea, Dale, T-Dog, Lori, Shane, and Amy. They had been some of the hardest losses. Aaron seemed to know that I was uncomfortable with the memories so he laid an arm gently on my shoulder and I smiled. "Well, perhaps one day if you two do decide to go along that route it might just work out. You're safe here, it's a good place to raise a family. But you don't think that you're suitable for a family. Personally, I think you would make a wonderful mother. And whether or not he knows it, I think Daryl would make a good father," he told me and I smiled gratefully.

"Yeah, you used to be somebody's, huh? Now you're just yours," I heard Daryl softly speaking to the horse and I smiled. He was such a wonderful person and I knew that he would never realize that. Daryl was petting the horse when a twig snapped in the distance and I immediately raised my rifle. I could hear Buttons nickering as I scanned the area for any sign of walkers. For a while everything was clear until I heard the telltale snarl of a walker. My breath hitched in my throat as I watched a small herd of walkers heard straight into the clearing. "Shit!" Daryl yelled as Buttons neighed loudly and took off into the corner of the pen that Aaron had set up for him. I watched as Daryl ran back to us, bypassing the walkers who were headed straight for where Buttons had cornered himself. I saw the fear in Aaron's eyes at the thought of losing the horse and my heart sank. We had to try to save him. "Come on, they're coming!" Daryl yelled as he pulled Aaron and me to the walkers. He raised his gun and took a shot at the walkers, Aaron and I following suit. "Come on. Gotta move quick. He's pinned in with them. I got the far ones," Daryl said to us.

I nodded and took the ones closest to us as Aaron followed Daryl to the back of the group. I shot walker and walker, trying to take down the ones that were getting the closest to the horse. But I knew that we were losing this battle. The poor horse was cornered and even with all of us fighting the walkers, we weren't going to take them down in time. I saw a walker barrel into Aaron and I gasped as I aimed my gun at a walker that had noticed the commotion and was now advancing on the man. I let a shot go and watched as Daryl helped Aaron back to his feet, groaning slightly. "Thanks. Thanks," he said to Daryl over the sounds of the walkers. I sighed at the sight of Aaron and Daryl unharmed but bile rose in my throat at the loud cry from Buttons. I turned back to the horse to see walkers tearing apart his stomach. It was too late. I should have been paying attention to the horse, not Aaron. "I got the ones on the right. Go ahead," Aaron said as we took down the remaining walkers. Once the last walker had fallen we all gathered around Buttons. He was breathing heavily and I sighed at the sight of his mangled body. He hadn't deserved this. But we had to put him down. He deserved that much. I nodded to Aaron, who raised his gun, and with his eyes closed shot the horse. "He always ran," Aaron sighed deeply as he stared at the corpse of the horse.

Nervously, I glanced around. The noise that we had made in the fight with the walkers had more than likely either drawn more walkers or people to us. It wasn't safe to stay here much longer. But we did have to let Aaron part with the horse. Let him mourn for a moment. "You were trying to help him," Daryl said to Aaron softly.

I placed a hand lightly on Aaron's shoulder and smiled softly when he looked at me with a sigh. He was a good man and I felt horrible that we hadn't been able to save the horse. But that was life now. There were too many things that we were sorry about and too many things that we weren't able to save. It was like we were in a never ending loop. "I'm sorry about your horse," I told him honestly and he nodded at me. "You tried to save him though," I said to him, knowing that it wouldn't help at all.

It was easy to see that the death of Buttons was taking a toll on Aaron and I knew that the small smile he had on his face was more for my sake than for his own, but I still appreciated the gesture. "That's OK Rain, I held out hope that I could save him but I never really thought that I would actually be able to catch him," he said to me before walking off without another word. I turned to Daryl and he nodded for me to start walking as well. The walk back to Alexandria was deathly silent and it made my nerves stand on end. I knew that we were being silent for Aaron's sake but I felt like we had to say something soon. The silence was killing me. I watched as the gates to Alexandria came into view and slid open for us. Aaron took off back to his house, and Daryl and I headed back to ours.

Once we hit the front porch I noticed that Daryl was staring at it, not making a move to follow me. I had figured that he wouldn't go to the party, but I had been holding out hope that he would. It wasn't exactly like I wanted to go to the party either but I knew that it could be a chance for me to learn something about these people. "Hey, are you going to go to the party?" I asked him as he stood on the ground, myself on the first step. I still wasn't as tall as him, but I was close.

He shook his head and I smiled as his shaggy brown hair fell into his face. "Nah, I think I'll just take a walk or something. Maybe just go back to the house. But you go ahead. I'll see you later," he told me and I sighed deeply. He would probably be gone most of the night, but tonight I knew that we were meeting back at the woods at ten. It was when we had decided that we would be able to either hand out the guns or figure out when we could make our next move. It all depends on how tonight goes.

Smiling despite the fact that I wanted him to come with me, I leaned up on my tiptoes and gave him a small kiss on the lips. He grinned into the kiss and I laughed lightly. "Alright. I'll see you later. Oh and by the way, you're making this up to me later. You think I really want to go and pretend that I have an ounce of social skills left?" I asked Daryl. He laughed and gave me one last kiss before turning and walking away, heading down the street. I sighed and slowly made my way into the house, trying to figure out what I should wear to this party.

Easily I took the stairs two at a time, glancing around to see if anyone was home. I was pretty sure that Glenn was getting ready for a run or something like that tomorrow and Maggie was more than likely with Deanna right now. I was shocked that she had become her personal assistant, it sickened me a little. I threw open the door to Daryl and I's bedroom and strode over to my dresser. The clothes that I was wearing now were sweaty and dirt stained, with a few drops of blood on them. Probably not proper party attire. I searched for a while until I found a pair of tight white jeans and a low cut bright blue top. I pulled on the fresh set of clothes and let my hair fall down my back. It was now hitting close to my tailbone and I knew that it needed to get cut soon. I ran my brush through it and smiled as I slowly pulled it into a side braid, something that I hadn't done in years. But hell, I might as well try to fit in with these people. Part of me debated whether or not I should grab a pair of nice shoes, but I still had wild in me. So instead I slipped on my boots and splashed some water over my face. One I finally felt like I no longer looked like some deranged killer I stepped into the mirror and looked myself over.

Normally I would have slapped myself for putting any thought into my wardrobe at all but this actually looked nice. My face was pink from the sun, but it had a nice tanned undertone. My hair was completely bleached from so much time in the sun, but it still had some darker strands on the bottom which tangled in nicely in the braid. My skin was clear and my body was toned from so much outdoor work. The only problem was the dried blood and dirt that was on my shoes. But some things you could never change. I smiled at myself in the mirror and slowly made my way out of the house, heading to where Deanna's house was.

On my way there were plenty of odd stares from people that I wanted nothing more than to attack, but I forced myself to remain calm. So instead of retaliating, I balled my fists and continued to walk. There was a soft music pouring from Deanna's house and I snorted. It was people like her that I had always tried to avoid and now here I was, walking right over to her house. There was a sharp catcall from behind me and I whipped around to give Aiden a piece of my mind but I stopped short when I saw who it was. Clearly well rested and with a soft white bandage around his missing limb, was Merle.

My head immediately cocked to the side when I realized that he was missing the metal, prosthetic limb. Aaron had mentioned that they had a skilled surgeon here at Alexandria. Pete, I think that he said his name was. Maybe that was where Merle had been spending his last few days. After all, I really hadn't seen him since I had gotten my new tattoo from Moira. Merle walked up to me and I gave him a small smile. He was slightly cleaned up and he actually looked like a decently clean person, for the first time since I had met him. "Hey there princess. You clean up nice, hardly recognized you without the clothes. Or lack of," he told me with a smirk. I slapped him roughly on the arm and rolled my eyes as his laughter erupted loudly. "Boots gave you away though. Can't believe you decided to come join the party," he told me and I sighed deeply. He wasn't the only one who couldn't believe that I was here.

Merle opened the door for me and I thanked him before stepping into the home. There was nothing different about the one except for the fact that people were crowded everywhere. It was more than just a little unnerving. "Well that makes two of us. I wasn't actually going to but for some reason I just decided that this might be a good idea. What about you? Why are you here?" I asked with narrowed eyes. I would have thought that Merle would rather lose his other hand than show up here. "Besides Daryl I would think that you would have been the last person here," I told him.

The older man shook his head and pointed back to a small plate of food. He grabbed the small piece of meat and handed it to me as well. I gratefully took it and quickly slid it down my throat. "Food, sweetheart," he laughed and I nodded. "Besides, it's been a little while since I've had any real company. Well y'all aren't bad but come on, I need something other than the constantly pissed off people committee. Enjoy the party, I know I will," he told me with a smirk and I rolled my eyes at his childish antics. "Come find me if you really want to go," he told me honestly and I nodded thankfully at him. He began to walk away and I sighed before he turned back around to me. "Oh! And Darlina, he here tonight?" He asked me and I shook my head at him. Merle sighed but nodded slowly. "Didn't think so," he said before turning back and quickly disappearing through the crowd.

Shuffling awkwardly through the crowd, I noticed that plenty of confused looks were being shot my way. I didn't blame them, they had only ever seen me in attack mode. I tugged my blue shirt down slightly and felt my nerves stand on end. Even though the conversations were flowing like normal, every eye in the room was locked on me. I noticed that most of my group was at the party but I kept myself close to the corners of the room. Sasha looked about as uncomfortable as I was and I thought about going over to talk with her. But too many people were in my way and I didn't want o fight through the crowd. Just as I was about to give up on the party and go find Daryl a hand landed heavily on my shoulder.

Turning to face the person, I grabbed their hand and twisted it back painfully. There was a sharp cry from the person and I turned them so that they were facing me. I stared at the girl in shock when I realized that it was only Moira. She was trying to pull her arm out of my grip but I knew that she wouldn't be able to. I had an iron grip on her. Finally letting her go, I watched as she cradled her hand and looked up to me. I thought that her eyes would be filled with hate but she only looked rather amused. "Damn girl, you have some good reaction time. I can't believe that someone ever got the better of you. Anyways, I'm glad that you decided to come to the party. I love these people but they get a little predictable sometimes. It's fun to have some new blood in the community. Especially people like you all," she told me with a grin.

Moira was only a little older than me but the woman seemed like she could have been twenty years older than me. But that was what this world did to people, it made them grow up far too fast. Exhibit one was Carl. I could only imagine what Judith would be like one day. I turned to look down at her wrist, which was swollen slightly from the pressure that I had put down on it. I felt my chest tighten at the sight of what I had done to her but she noticed my line of sight and shook her head. "I'm sorry about your wrist. I guess I'm still a little used to being out there all the time. You know, I wasn't going to come at first but I figured that I should at least try to make a little better of an impression. Rather than the girl that keeps trying to kill your leader's son," I said with a smirk.

A loud laugh escaped her lips and I couldn't help but to smile. So it had been a morbid thought but at least she had laughed. I wasn't really sure that I had enough innocence left in me to give just a goofy little joke. "He so deserved that. Aiden is an idiot, he doesn't understand what it really is like to be out there. I know, it's not like I know much more either. I haven't really lived out there in months and things weren't as nuts as they are now. But I was out there by myself, in some way I know what it was like out there. I know how hard it is to maintain your humanity," she told me and I nodded slowly. She had been looking for her brother when she had stumbled upon this place. I remembered her telling me that when I was getting the new tattoo.

She was nice enough to make me feel like my actions had been justified but I knew that they weren't. There had been no reason for me to say any of the things that I had to Aiden and I had been the instigator of the fight this morning. I only wanted to fight, it was what I was used to. "At one point I had kept a count of how many times I had been shot and how many living people I had ever killed. I don't know either of those numbers anymore. I tried to kill my father, I was raped, and I have been abducted more times than I would like to admit," I told her, not knowing why I was admitting these things to her. "I'm sick of being constantly angry with everything. I want to be able to trust people other than the ones in my group, but that will take time. I figured that this was at least a good way to start," I said honestly.

Moira's small hand grabbed mine and I glanced at her with an angry sigh. I wasn't mad at her, just myself. "The people here are wrong about you. You're a better person than all of them combined," she told me and I scoffed loudly at her. I was a horrible person. "Had most people been put through everything that you had been through they would have gone insane by now. Either that or they would be long dead. But you're still here and I respect you for that. Ignore the way that they look at you, they don't know what things like that can do to someone," she said and I found myself nodding slowly.

I should be dead, I had been through so many near death events that I was starting to wonder if I really was invincible. But I knew that it wasn't an option. If one of the walkers bit me, that would be the end of me. And I'd be damned if I let a walker get to me. "There were times out there that I wished that I was dead. Times that I wish that I could have traded places with someone that had died," I admitted to her, my mind flashing back to a torn apart Dale. "I thought that they deserved to live, more than me at least. Rick's late wife, Lori. She was pregnant and we were separated during a walker attack with her. Maggie, Carl, and myself. She went into labor and I was forced to perform an emergency C-section on her. I saved Judith but killed her. Carl put her down so that she wouldn't reanimate. Then there was Rick's best friend, Shane. He thought that he was a better husband and father. This world turned him into something that he wasn't. He tried to kill Rick, so Rick ended his life. Carl put this reanimated body down. Any time that your people think that we are wrong for the way that we act, just think back to the fact that not all of us have been through the easiest things," I told her with a small bite to my words.

Her face had fallen and she looked shocked. I snorted, knowing that hadn't even been the only things to ever happen to us. Things had gotten so hard for us sometimes that I knew people had been on the verge of giving up. But we refused. We had been through too much to just give up because we were tired. "I didn't know that Rick's wife had died after the world ended," she finally said and I nodded. "I thought that she had died before. And as for Carl, that's so horrible that so many things could happen to someone so young. Oh, Rain, this is Reagan," she said as a tall brunette woman marched up to us. "You remember her, right?" Moira asked and I cocked my head to the side. I stared at Reagan for a moment and finally realized where I had met the woman. She had walked me to meet up with Deanna. She had been polite to me and she seemed like she knew what she was doing. Both were good things.

Reagan held her hand out to me and I hesitantly shook it. She could tell that I was still on edge so she let my hand drop and she grinned at me. She handed me a small glass of wine and I nodded at her. Without thinking, I tipped the glass back and drained it. Moira and Reagan were staring at me and I shrugged, placing the empty glass on a table. I glanced around and noticed that everyone else was standing around, nursing glasses. Shrugging, I turned back to the two women. "I bet you were hard to drink against," Reagan told me and I shrugged once more. That wasn't a good conversation to be having. "Nice to see you again, Rain. I'm glad that you decided to come and join us. I know that a party for you guys seems a little odd, considering the fact that some of you aren't even here and the ones that are here look completely out of their element. But that's just Deanna, she wants to make you all a part of this community. I do too," she told me with a small smile.

She handed me another glass and I took it, this time only taking a small sip. The scent of the alcohol was inviting and I wanted nothing more than to drain the glass. "Thank you. I wasn't going to come actually, but something just came over me. I guess that I should at least try to not be the one person that everyone here shies away from. I didn't realize that a little five foot three blonde girl was such a terrifying sight," I sneered slightly. I didn't realize that my little comment had caught the attention of the other guests.

There was a sharp bark of laughter and I turned back to catch a short girl with light brown hair. "Finally! Someone else that understands how I feel," she laughed as she walked up to me, giving me a small smile as she came to stand with the three of us. There were other women behind us who were all staring rather uncomfortably at me. "Of course, I never tried to kill Aiden. Although he really did deserve that. And I saw the fight this morning too, it was good. I thought that he might explode when Deanna did nothing about it. At least you don't have to worry about him being here tomorrow though, he's going on a run," she told me and I nodded at her gratefully for the information. "Taking your friends Tara, Glenn, and Eugene I think. That's who else that Deanna assigned to make runs," she said and I grumbled under my breath.

I noticed Reagan step forward and throw her arm over the new woman. "Rain, this is Miranda Lewis. A very sweet girl but tends to ramble," she said. Miranda shoved her friend and I couldn't help but to grin a little. The way that the two women interacted together was a little like the way that Maggie and I acted.

We all stood together and talked for a while, the conversations ranging from everything from gossip about people whose names meant nothing to me, to books that I hadn't read in years. Despite the fact that I had been a little weary of Miranda when she had first walked up to us, she was beginning to grow on me. I liked her, but I was still cautious. Hell, I was cautious of all of them. Even Moira, who I had formed a little bond with. But I barely knew her and the whole air about this place put me off. I wanted to trust the women but I had no idea where to really start. The only reason that I trusted Rick and everyone else was because I had been forced to survive with them. We had been forced to become friends to survive. And now we were family.

A small hand laid itself over my finger and I jumped at the feeling of someone's hand on me. I jumped back and saw that it was one of the girls that Miranda had brought over with her. While the three girls were slowly growing on me, I wasn't a fan of the other women that were clearly friends with Miranda. Despite the fact that they all seemed sweet, I could tell that they didn't have the slightest idea of what this world was really like, outside of these walls. It wasn't little parties and social hours. It was life or death. It was doing whatever you needed to do to survive. That was the difference between our group and Alexandria. We knew what it took to survive. The woman who had laid her hand on mine shrugged at me and picked my hand up once more, examining the ring. "This is beautiful. I bet your husband paid quite a bit for this ring. What did he do that he could have paid for this with?" She asked me.

Shrugging my shoulders, I twisted the ring around my finger and turned to look at the woman. She was tall and blonde, with bright green eyes. I was pretty sure that her name was Emily. She was pretty but I could tell that she really wasn't sure what she was doing. I was glad that she was safe behind these walls, she would never make it out there. "Oh he didn't buy it. He just took it. He got it for me after the world went to shit," I told her with a careless nod.

A sad smile crossed her face but I stared at her blankly. I didn't care about the ring, I just wanted to know that it was really how he felt about me. The one reason that I really liked having the ring was because it was like having him with me even when he was so far away. "Oh did he not have enough money to buy you a ring before this all happened?" She asked me and I cocked my head at her. "Trust me, I understand. My ex-husband couldn't buy me a ring for nearly three years because of the lack of money. I guess I should have seen where that was going," she said and I noticed that all of her little friends laughed with her. Everyone except for Moira, Miranda, Reagan and myself were laughing. "Well even though he didn't pay for it, he still has wonderful taste," she told me once the laughter had died down.

Another woman, Cara I had thought I'd heard her say at one point looked over to me. "What happened to him?" She asked me and I let my head fall to one side. Did they not know that I was married to Daryl? I would have thought that people had known, although he wasn't affectionate in public and he didn't wear a ring. "Please don't mind me asking, but I haven't seen a man around you with a ring on. I mean the one little hick man but he just looks pathetic. Like someone beat him with a stick," she said and I felt my blood boil. "Too bad, I'm sure he wouldn't be too bad looking if you could just get him to bathe," she said with a suggestive grin and the other women laughed.

This time, a dark haired woman spoke up and I knew that her name was Elise. She had made sure to give a rude comment about everything and everyone that had come up in the conversation. I hadn't even known her for an hour and I already wanted to feed her to a walker. It would probably work, she had basically admitted that she was useless against the dead. "Well there's that. But there's also the fact that he's probably too busy jumping his sister," she said with a nasty grin.

Laughter erupted from the group of women and I dropped my hand down to where my knives usually were. But nothing was there. Fuck me for trying to fit in with these people. "Maybe I'll invite him over for a little hunting lesson. He can be the prey and I'll be the hunter," a girl with black hair spoke up. I hadn't caught her name but it didn't matter. I was seeing red now. The other women quickly jumped on the Daryl bandwagon and I didn't miss the looks of nerves from Moira, Reagan, and Miranda. They knew that this wasn't going to pan over well with me. There were plenty of other comments about Daryl being thrown around, most of them now betting about how they were going to be able to get him into bed and what they would do to him once they did.

Finally, my temper cracked and I threw my balled fist into Elise's nose. She screamed loudly and I felt the crunch of bone under my hand. Any other time I would have smirked at the blood rolling down her face, but now I was pissed. I leaned into her face but spoke loudly enough so that everyone could hear me. "Daryl Dixon happens to not have a sister, only a brother. He has been through more than any of you pathetic excuses for people. He has done everything for my group and he has saved my life more than once, and even if he had heard what you had all said he would still lay his own life on the line to save yours. However worthless they are. Oh and by the way. The ring isn't for some rich man or con artist. Daryl Dixon also happens to be my husband," I told her, letting my nails rake across her face.

She shouted as I pulled away and I made sure to shove my way through the crowd of people roughly. I caught Merle's eyes and he nodded at me with a thankful eye. I shook my head and walked out of the house, keeping my head high. I wasn't ashamed that I had defended my husband. I heard my name being called from Moira, Reagan, and Miranda but I ignored it. I ran by my house quickly and grabbed my bow and arrows before turning back and heading outside of Alexandria. Normally the people at the gate asked where we were going but I noticed that they didn't bother to ask me. They merely sat there and nodded at me. I easily made my way through the woods to the spot that I was supposed to meet my group members. Hopefully Carol had gotten the guns, I wanted to go back and shoot Elise in the face.

By the time that I made it to the meeting space I noticed that everyone else was already there. Carol had a small bag that she handed off to Rick as I walked up. It was four revolvers. I wasn't a fan of the guns but they were better than nothing. We would be able to make due. We had lived with much less than that. "Take your pick," Rick said and I snorted. Quickly, I grabbed one of the revolvers. Carol followed me and Rick went to hand the last one to Daryl.

I waited for Daryl to take the gun but I was shocked when he actually pushed the gun away from him. What the hell had happened to him to change his mind? "Look, I've been thinking. Do we really need these?" He asked and I found myself staring at the gun in my hands. Did I need it? No. But I was still going to keep it. I felt better having a firearm with me. We had already made this mistake once at Hershel's farm. "I mean, things go bad, yeah, sure. We do what we gotta do, but it's like you said. We don't need these for that. Right now we don't. You wanted me to try, right? I'm good," he said and I saw that Rick nodded.

I slipped the gun into my pants and walked silently with the group. Once we hit the Alexandria walls I found myself stiff as a board. The people manning the gate stared at us but one small glare from me and they turned quickly from me. I snorted and watched as Carol made her way back to the kitchen. I realized that Deanna's party was no longer going on and I wondered if it had ended after my little outburst. As we walked into our house I said a quick goodnight to Rick before pulling Daryl into the house. As we stomped up the stairs I turned to look at him. "Hey, I'm proud of you. I am," I told him and he nodded. "What did you do while everyone was at the party?" I asked.

He opened the bedroom door for me and closed it behind us, the two of us quickly pulling our clothes from the day off. I stayed in a pair on underwear and a black tank top before sprawling out on the bed, watching as Daryl pulled his pants off. "I was standing outside of the party, thought about going in with you. But I turned away and Aaron found me. He invited me over to dinner with him and Eric. I went. He's been collecting parts to make a motorcycle. He wanted me to build it," he told me and I smiled at the thought of him doing something that he loves. "He wanted me to build it so that I had some way of getting outside so that I could be a recruiter for Alexandria. He wants me to replace Eric. He wants you to be one as well," he told me and I stared blankly at him. "We're going out tomorrow, it's up to you whether or not you decide to go," he told me as he came to lay next to me.

His hands trailed slowly on my bare legs and I smiled at him. I leaned in for a small kiss and he grabbed my hands. He stopped and grabbed my hands taking note of the blood that was under them. "Some girl at the party had a little more to say about you than I wanted to hear," I told him and he laughed loudly. I smacked him but laughed a little anyways. "And hell yeah I'm gonna go. Why would I let you have all of the fun?" I asked him with a smirk. He laughed once more and gave me a deep kiss before rolling us over. As his hands pushed my tank top up on my body I wondered if finally I was beginning to find my place here. So maybe I had made enemies, but clearly I had friends here too. My tank top was pulled off of my body and I let my mind go blank. For now there was nothing more than my husband and I. Something would come here eventually, but for now there was nothing that could ruin us.


	48. New Friends

Light flooded through the window as I squinted at the intrusive light. I arms and legs spread out in a wide stretch and I smiled as I heard the vertebrates in my back cracking. The bottom of my back cracked especially loud and I couldn't help but to grimace slightly. I sounded like an old woman, even though I was only in my early twenties. I had noticed last night that calendars were all over Alexandria and I had made a point to check the date. It was early October, which explained the chill in the night air I had felt last night. We were heading into winter territory, and this would make the Georgia winters seem like nothing. Hopefully the Alexandria residents were ready for another brutal winter. It slowed walkers down, but it also made runs much harder. We would have to stock up before.

Slowly, I turned back to curl into a ball and I sighed. Daryl wasn't in the bed with me, but he wasn't really the late sleeper like I was. I guess it came from my years at college. But besides getting close to winter we were also getting close to something else. My birthday. In just about two weeks I would be turning twenty four. I thought back two years and nearly laughed. I would have never thought that my father would be dead, I would be in a position of leadership, and be married to a wonderful man. I had friends that I would have never thought was possible to have. The dead had risen and were now feasting on the living. But even with all of the negative that was here, I was still happier than I had been in my entire life.

It was sad to think that the damn apocalypse would have had to happen just so that I could be happy. It didn't matter now, though. I was happy, and that was what was important. I heard the door open and I groaned, knowing that Daryl was only up here waking me up because he wanted me to go out and do something. I was so sick of working nonstop every single damn day. Just once I wanted a day where I could sleep and eat all day. But that wasn't going to happen. Daryl sat down on the bed and I rolled over to glare at him. He noticed my glare and gave me a half smile. "Good morning. Coffee?" He asked, handing me a white mug.

I grabbed it without giving him an answer and downed some of the bitter liquid. It was black, but that was just the way that I liked it. Daryl was fully dressed and I cocked my head at the fact that he had his crossbow on the floor by the bed. He had a long dark gray shirt under his angel wing vest and his long dark jeans on as well. He looked like he was ready to head outside of the walls, and I was sure that he would ask me. But that didn't mean that I couldn't have a little fun with him. Hopefully he was in the mood for it. "You doing this so I don't yell at you for waking me up at some ungodly hour?" I teased him with a small grin.

He laughed and grabbed my mug from me, taking the rest of my coffee. I stared at him as he drank the rest and scoffed once he gave me a wide grin, knowing that stealing my coffee would bother me. He pulled the sheets off of me and I shivered as my bare skin hit the cool morning air. I grabbed the sheets back and he laughed at me. "It's ten in the morning you big baby. What time did you wake up for school before all of this?" He asked me and I thought back to my days in school.

I remembered my weak limps to class in the morning after pathetically waking up and trudging around my dorm. The mornings were even worse when I had drank the night before. "My earliest that I would schedule a class for was ten. And even when I scheduled a class for that late I would have to drink at least two cups of coffee to function properly," I told him and he scoffed at me. I slapped him lightly over the head and he glared at me. "Might have been because I was working until at least midnight every night. That was what I got for being the manager of a gun store," I told him with a bite to my words.

He stared at me for a minute and I almost regretted smacking him. I didn't want to start a fight but it hadn't been like I was lazy. I had just been so busy that I had been tired all day. They had been a long four years. "Imagine the people that wake up at six every single morning for work," he told me and I glared at him once more. Daryl laughed and stood from his spot on the bed. "Alright fine, sorry to wake you princess but Aaron thinks today would be a good day to start looking for more people for the community. You up for it?" He asked me, once more shouldering his crossbow to its natural position.

Happy that I would get to be out in the open air for one day I leaped out of bed, exposing all of myself to my husband. Not that either of us cared about seeing me naked anymore but the sight had been rather comical. I turned back to start fixing the bed and I knew that Daryl was watching me, his eyes burning holes into my back. "Hell yeah I am. I think I've been in these walls for way too long. I have to get out of here. Let me get changed," I told him as I finished making the bed.

I walked over to my dresser, where clothes my size had been shoved, and where I had dropped off the few clothes that I had. They had all been washed and I smiled at the feel of completely clean clothes. I started to rifle through my clothes when I heard Daryl move over to the door. "Dress warm, it's starting to cool down out there. And the last thing that we need is for you to get sick when we're miles away from any real help," he told me and my head instinctively shot up at his comment.

I thought back to our last few days at the prison. The infection had been spreading and we had left to go find medicine for everyone who had contracted it. I had been one of the people to leave, and right when we had grabbed the medicine I had contracted the disease. It had been horrible and I knew that I had been close to death. Daryl had fought to get me back and somehow I had lived. But I still shuddered when I remembered that I had tried to get them to leave me with the walkers so I wouldn't infect them. "Yeah, I already did the sick away from home thing. I wasn't a fan," I said lightly and Daryl nodded before walking out of the bedroom.

Sighing deeply, I dropped to the dresser in front of me. The clothes that were on top were all of my tank tops and shorts, so I had to shuffle them all out of the way. Right under them was a pair of tight black jeans and I pulled them out. Filing through the clothes a little more, I found a nice button down black shirt. It was tight and the material wouldn't get caught on any branches. I pulled my new clothes on and squirmed slightly at the new clothes. I was so used to wearing shorts and tank tops every day that long clothes felt so weird. Shaking my head at my thoughts, I pulled my long hair up into a ponytail and grabbed my bow and arrows before pulling my boots back on. Once I fixed everything tightly to me, I headed out of the room and caught Daryl in the living room.

Nodding to Daryl, he stood and pulled me out of the front door and shut it tightly behind us. I was sure that Glenn and Maggie would appreciate having a day of privacy. Hell, maybe more. I didn't know how long these little recruitment trips took. As we walked I noticed that Merle was standing out on the side of the street and I pulled Daryl to go talk to the man. I hadn't seen him much in Alexandria but every time that I had passed him he had seemed like he was happy. "Good morning, Merle," I said happily to my bother-in0law. He grinned and stood from his spot, Moira standing behind him. "Oh, and Moira,' I said, slightly surprised that she was there. "Listen you can seriously tell him to leave. I promise he'll eventually get the hint," I said with a glare at Merle.

The olive skinned woman took a step forward and placed her hand on my shoulder with a warm smile. Out of instinct I flinched slightly and she took her hand off of me immediately. I thought that she might look slightly offended but she still wore a warm smile. I sighed softly, glad that I hadn't scared her off or offended her. It was just a hard habit to break. "Oh no it's alright, Merle was actually offering to teach me how to hunt," she told me and I raised my eyebrows, exchanging a look with Daryl. "I always wanted to learn but my family weren't really big fans. I'm sure either one of the Dixon boys are the perfect hunting teachers," she said, turning her sweet smile on Daryl.

He scoffed and I elbowed him in the gut. He grunted but I ignored him, walking over to where Merle was standing with a stupid smirk. I glared at him for a moment before turning back to look at Moira. "Yeah, they know what they're talking about. May I have a quick word with you?" I asked Merle, who began to stumble over his words. Moira looked like she wanted to step in, but I cut her off before she could get a word out. "It won't take more than a minute, I promise," I said, before grabbing Merle's arm and leading him off. Once we were out of earshot I pushed him back and folded my arms. "What the hell do you think that you're doing?" I snapped at him.

He scoffed and raised an eyebrow at me. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that it looked like the supply run group was getting ready to head out. Eugene and Tara were standing by the truck with Nicholas off to the side. Aiden and Glenn were there as well, the two men both staring at each other as if they were poisonous. I caught Glenn's eyes and gave him a small nod, sneering when I caught Aiden's eyes as well. I wanted nothing to do with Deanna's son. "Are you deaf, girl?" Merle asked me and I turned back to him, looking away from the tense group.

Crossing my arms tightly over my chest I cocked a hip and shook my head at Merle. He wasn't the type to offer to do something like teach a girl to hunt for no reason. If he liked her he should have done something sweet. Not offering her how to hunt Bambi. Or he was looking for something with less strings. But there were simpler ways to do that. "Very funny Merle. You think you're going to get in her pants by offering to teach her to hunt?" I asked Merle who wore a nasty smirk. "You Dixon men are hopeless when it comes to romancing a girl. How about offering to have her over for dinner? Or you know, just talking with her and get to know her. Find out what it is that she likes and do something with that," I said, trying to be helpful to the elder Dixon.

Merle took a few steps closer to me and I stared as he towered over me. Merle was a little under a foot taller than me, but he had a way of shrinking people down. It was probably what he had done to Daryl while the two boys were growing up. "You make it sound like I want to hear her talk," he told me with a sleazy grin.

I gagged slightly and had to wipe the image of Merle out of my mind. I didn't think that Moira was the type to do something like that but people got lonely. And when people get lonely they do things that they wouldn't normally do. I understood that better than most people did. I slapped Merle on the chest while he laughed loudly. "You're repulsive. How did you ever manage to persuade any girls to come home with you? Or did you pay for them?" I asked him with a mean grin. Merle advanced on me angrily and I pushed him back with a laugh, knowing that I had gotten to him. "Just a joke, bro. But seriously, if you hurt her I'm coming after you," I threatened him, pushing my finger into his chest roughly.

Merle shoved my arm off of himself and I sighed deeply. I shook my head as he smirked at me, once more advancing on me. At one time him being so close to me had unnerved me slightly but now it did nothing more than irritate me. He knew he couldn't scare me anymore but on the other hand he did know exactly how to get under my skin. And that was one of his favorite things to do. "Getting a little protective of some of the residents now are we?" He asked me and I scoffed loudly before turning and walking away from him.

It was obvious that I did like Moira but I wasn't exactly protective of her. Not the way that I was with my own group. I didn't want any harm to come to the girl, which was probably why I didn't want Merle near her. He wasn't exactly the relationship type of person. Of course I hadn't thought that Daryl was either. I stormed up to where Daryl and Moira were standing and I yanked Daryl away from her roughly. Moira stared at me for a moment but I merely ignored her. "Come on, I see Aaron over there. Have fun hunting guys. Be careful out there," I called back to the pair, shooting a quick glare at Merle. He merely blew me a kissy face and I rolled my eyes, dragging Daryl over to where Aaron was waiting for us. "Your brother is an idiot, I hope you know that," I hissed at Daryl.

As we moved to where Aaron was standing with a small smile on his face, Daryl caught up to me and I let go of his arm. He rubbed it gently and stared at me like I was insane. I raised my eyebrow at him, wondering what he was so confused about. "What the hell was that about?" He asked me and I raised my eyebrows once more. "They're just going hunting," he told me and I felt my jaw nearly hit the floor. Merle was his brother and he was damn well old enough to realize what the older man wanted.

I ran my eyes over his face, trying to sense that any part of him was making a joke out of the whole thing, but he looked completely serious. He had no idea that Merle really wanted to get Moira out of her pants. "How are you so smart yet so stupid?" I asked him with a disbelieving scoff. He glared at me and I patted him gently on the top of his head, knowing that it would bother him. He pulled away from me and I laughed slightly. "Don't worry about it sweetie, I'll tell you when you're older," I told him with a smirk.

Without checking to see if he was following me, I began to head back out towards Aaron, a victorious grin on my face. I loved leaving Daryl at a loss for words. "Watch your mouth, girl. Who is it again that has the key to the house?" He asked me and I stopped in my tracks. I dug through my pockets to realize that he was right. He had the keys to our house, not me. He could lock me out and it would suck to be me. I scoffed as he walked past me and grumbled profanities under my breath as I followed him to where Aaron was standing. "You ready?" He asked the younger man who had a large backpack thrown over his shoulder.

Aaron grinned at us as we came up and I gave the man a small smile, amazed that I had never seen him truly angry. Only the one time that he had gotten protective over Eric. And he had been given every right to be angry about that. "Good morning. I am, and you two are ready as well I trust?" He asked and both Daryl and I nodded our heads. "I have food to last us about a week or so out there. We might be longer so keep in mind that we might have to make a supply run," he told us and my heart sank. Two weeks to be away from our friends? A lot could happen in two weeks, but I had to trust that they knew what they were doing. "I know that the two of you will be fine with that though. Your people know that the two of you will be gone for a while?" He asked and I turned back to Daryl.

Daryl nodded at Aaron and I smiled at him. At least he had been proactive enough to ensure that someone would at least know that the two of us may not return for a little while. If at all. But I had to be positive. We would be back. We had to come back, we had people here that we needed to protect. People that we weren't ready to say goodbye to quite yet. "I told Rick last night, he knows," Daryl said and Aaron nodded at him, leading us to the closed gate.

Aaron grinned at the both of us and handed me my old pistol. I took the Beretta out of his hand and smiled as the steel gun shifted back into my own hand. We had only been here about a week but it felt like it had been forever since I had held my own gun. I had the revolver under my bed but it felt nice to have my gun back. "Good. Now we're going to drive out a ways and then we'll walk the rest of the way when we go looking for people. Daryl will have the bike and I'll have my car," he said and I glanced over to see an old bike at the gate. It looked nice but I could tell it had been through a lot. Just like all of us. Daryl looked at the bike longingly and I knew that he missed being able to ride like he had when we had lived at the prison. "Rain, I shouldn't even bother asking, but who will you go with?" He asked me.

The dark haired man smiled at me and laughed lightly. He was a sweet guy, I knew that Eric was happy to have him. He was lucky to have him too, love was a hard thing to find these days. Sometimes I thought that I would wake up and Daryl would be only a figment of my imagination. "You're right, stupid question. Not that I wouldn't mind riding with you but I really want to be on a bike again," I said and Daryl nudged me towards the new bike. It looked old but I knew that Daryl was ecstatic to be back on a bike again. "The last time that I was on one was back at the prison. But that bike is probably a pile of ash now," I said sadly, feeling bad that both Daryl and Merle had lost that bike. It had meant a lot to the both of them.

Aaron nodded at us to follow him as we walked up to the cars. He had his same old red station wagon. The thing looked a mess but it would serve perfectly well to get a group back to Alexandria. Hopefully if we came across one it would be a smaller one. The bike was already full. "Follow me closely. We'll head about fifty miles out from here or so. I've been having to go farther and farther out every time that I go back out there. Not as many people anymore," he said and we both nodded.

Aaron walked over to his car and we stood over the bike. I leaned down to examine it, running my fingers over the grooves of the chopper. It was extremely Daryl. Simple and edgy. Dark with a loud roar. "The bike is nice," I said and Daryl hummed his agreement behind me. "Did Aaron just have one lying around?" I asked him curiously.

Daryl looked over at me and shook his head as he got the chopper ready to take out. Hopefully we would have enough gas to get us there and back. But I was sure that Aaron and Daryl had made sure that the bike was ready for the trip beforehand. "Nah he apparently had been wanting to build one but he didn't know how. He was just collecting parts every time that he found them and he left them stacked up in his garage. He thought that I knew how to put one together so he let me tinker with it. That's why I was out so late last night. I was putting this together," he told me and I looked at him with pride.

The bike had a sleek look to it and I could tell that Daryl had taken lots of care to put the bike together. It made sense now why he smelled like motor oil when he got back last night. I had brushed it off as just him walking around all day but now it made sense that he only smelled that way because he had been working on building a bike. It took a lot of skill too. I had tried to help him fix the old chopper a few times and had always just listened with a blank stare. I was better with cars. "It looks great, you did a good job," I told him and I saw the small smile spread over his face. He stood and I walked over to the seat. "So we ready to go?" I asked him and he nodded as we jumped on.

The engine roared to life and I sighed as the purr of the engine vibrated under us. I missed the feel of the shaking bike, ready to scream down the road. Aaron motioned for Sasha to open up the gate and I waved at her as we left the community. She gave me a wave back and I felt her eyes on me as we disappeared down the road. Hopefully we would be back in a few days. For nearly an hour we followed Aaron through winding roads, even passing where we had hidden out in the old barn. I wondered how Aaron had come across us. Had he heard us or maybe seen our things? If he had seen us that meant that anyone could have. The thought made me shudder and I shook my head as I watched the brake lights on Aaron's car light up. Daryl slowed the bike as well and once we slowed to our stop I dropped my legs to the side of the bike, letting Daryl kick the stand down. We stepped off of the bike and Aaron motioned for us to follow him into the woods.

With my gun in hand we walked through the woods, luckily avoiding the walkers in the area. The woods were so silent I thought that I might have been going deaf. I was so used to hearing the shouts of children or low conversations of my group members that the silence felt weird. The only noise that there was, was the crunch of leaves under our boots. As we walked I felt an itching in the back of my mind to ask the one question that had been bothering me all day. Finally I couldn't take it anymore so I took a few steps forward to Aaron and fell in step with him. "So I hate to be morbid, but if we die out here how will the others know? I mean there would be no one to go back and tell them. Is it just if we never come back they assume that we died?" I asked softly.

Daryl stared at me and I shrugged my shoulders. I had wanted to know. It was a reasonable question. Aaron on the other hand sighed and I felt bad for even asking. "Pretty much," he said and I felt my heart drop. That had been a faster answer than I had been expecting. Not the one I had been expecting from him either. "There's always the theory that we could have been taken or something of the sorts. But usually if that happens it means that we're as good as dead. It's why I really wanted you both to be doing this together," he told me and I cocked my eyebrow at him. "Deanna actually thought that you would make a good interrogator, Rain," Aaron admitted and I felt my eyebrows knit together. An interrogator? What did a nice little community like Alexandria need an interrogator for? "But I begged her to let you be part of my recruiting team. So the two of you could be together and wouldn't have to worry about when the other would return," he said.

I smiled at Aaron and I laid my hand on his shoulder. He hadn't had to think about the pair of us but I was glad that he had thought about us. "Thank you for thinking about us. You didn't have to but I appreciate it. I'm sure this must be agony for Eric to sit at home and wait for you to come back," I said and Aaron nodded at me with a sad smile. I was sure that he missed him, I would miss Daryl too. "But you said something about Deanna wanting me to be an interrogator. Why would she want me to do something like that? I didn't know you even had one," I said, gently prodding at him. This would be a good time to get him to let a little more about Alexandria slip.

"We don't," Aaron said and I stopped for a moment, shocked that he would admit it so fast. Maybe they really had nothing to hide. But I still couldn't believe that. "There was never someone with the right personality for it, and there was really no need to ever have one before either. But you are all right. There are bad people out there and we've just been lucky. Someday soon we will lose our luck. And when that day comes we need people that can take care of the problem properly. That's where you all come in," he told me and I nodded.

Was I really the right person for the job? The people at Alexandria were already too weak to do the job. Some of my people like Rick, Abraham, Daryl or even Sasha were too rough to do the job. They would kill the person. But people like Maggie, Father Gabriel, Carl and Eugene were too light hearted to do it. They wouldn't be able to do what needed to be done. But was I really the happy medium of all of us? I thought I would tilt too much in the aggressive side. Although maybe that was what Deanna wanted? "So she thinks that I could do it," I finally said to Aaron, staring down at the ground as I walked.

Aaron nodded at me and I sighed deeply as he looked me into the eyes. Maybe I would have a little chat with Deanna once I got back to Alexandria. "She does. You would know how to be assertive but you wouldn't be so bold that you would beat someone to death for answers. Perhaps if the day ever comes she'll call you in for the job that she wanted you to have," he told me and I shook my head. I wasn't sure if I wanted too. I was so sick of bad people, but some part of me ached to be bad right back.

"Maybe," I mumbled as we walked through the woods. We were close enough to the road to see people, but it seemed like no one was in the area right now. I guess we would just need to be patient. A virtue that I really didn't have. I turned to look at Daryl, who was staring at the ground, his crossbow in hand. He had been silent since we had left and I couldn't help but wonder if something was getting to him. "Hey, you alright?" I asked him, laying a hand gently on his shoulder. He looked up at me with a curious face and I shuffled slightly as we walked behind Aaron. "You've hardly said a word since we got out here," I told him.

He laughed at me and shook his head. I wanted to know why he was laughing but I was happier that he had the stupid grin on his face that I so rarely saw. Since we had been at Alexandria the only times that I had seen that grin was when we were lying in bed together at night, talking like an actual married couple. "When have you known me to be talkative?" He asked me with a smile.

I grinned back at him and shoved him lightly. I missed the goofy side of him. Since Beth I hadn't seen it very much. Her death had taken a big toll on us all. "Fair enough," I told him with a small laugh and he nodded at me. "You know I think that you are right for this job," I told him and he cocked an eye at me. "You have better judgement than even Rick does sometimes. He's a good man but he can be blind to the real problem sometimes. You on the other hand do whatever it takes to get the problem rectified," I admitted to him, probably the reason that Deanna hadn't wanted Daryl to be the interrogator. "Rick has his weak spots, you don't," I said stupidly.

Daryl scoffed loudly and kicked a small pile of dirt. I stared at him and watched as he turned back to look at me with the shake of his head. I cocked my own head to the side, wondering what I had said to irritate him. "You don't think that I have a weak spot?" He asked, with a slightly hurt tone to his voice.

He stared at me with longing eyes and I felt my heart break. I knew my weak spot, it was him. But was he the same? Was his weak spot me? "Am I wrong here? Do you have one?" I asked him, slightly angry that he had never straight up told me that. But I wasn't surprised, he wasn't that type. "If you do than I'm pretty sure that I haven't seen it yet. I know you Daryl, you don't like to look weak. If you have one than you would never let anyone see it," I told him, confident in every word that I was saying.

Glancing up ahead I could tell that Aaron was listening in on our conversation. Normally it would have bothered me but it wasn't like he could really tune it out with anything else. Looking back over to Daryl I saw that he was looking at me with his light blue eyes. "I think you know what it is," he said to me and I felt my heart break. It was me. His weak spot was me. I should have figured that. I mean I was his wife, shouldn't a man have a weak spot for his wife? I stopped walking in my deep thought and watched as Daryl began to walk ahead of me.

Thinking about a way to apologizing to him, I took one more deep breath before taking a step towards the two men. I went to run and catch up to them but a snap of a twig made me turn back. A lone walker was limping towards us and I rolled my eyes. Being only one I knew that I didn't have to use my gun, but I still had to take it down. I slipped my gun into my holster and pulled off my bow. Nocking an arrow, I aimed it at the walker and drew the string back. Without thinking I let the arrow fly. The walker immediately dropped as the arrow sailed through its eye. Putting my bow back in its place I ran forward and grabbed my arrow, slipping it back into its sheath. Grabbing my gun as I came back over to the two men that I was traveling with I stood in front of them, waiting to start up walking once more.

Aaron was watching me with a bright grin and I shook my head to the side, swiping my hair out of my eyes. It was so hot that my hair was flat. I would need a shower right when I got back to Alexandria. And this time Daryl would be getting one too. "That's very impressive," Aaron told me and I nodded him my thanks. "Where did you learn to use a bow like that? You must have had some training before all of this, I would think that it would take years to learn something that complicated," he told me, observing the bow.

I nodded at him and sighed, knowing that once more I would have to explain something that had to do with my father. "It was one of the few good things that my father ever did for me. My mother hated the idea of weapons in the house but my father always wanted me to be able to defend myself. He enrolled me in throwing knife and bow and arrow lessons. Plus he taught me how to fire almost every gun out there. I caught onto guns easily and knives were always easy for me. I loved them both but my heart always laid with the bow. It was such a strong weapon and it made me feel like I was somewhere else. I took lessons for years and always would practice in the woods, even after I left home. It was the one thing that was always there for me," I said, smiling fondly at the tip of my bow.

For years it had probably been my only friend. It was good to have it with me every day now, it reminded me that there was still a chance that we could get this world back to normal. Or as close to normal as possible. "It's good to keep something close to you. Sometimes you need human companionship and other times you just need a place to escape to. I'm glad that you have both," Aaron told me, his eyes settling on Daryl, who was staring at the walker, not really paying attention to our conversation.

Giving the older man a sincere smile I patted him on the back lightly. "Thank you, Aaron. Plus it always helped to keep it hung up in my home where men would see it. Made most of them a little too nervous to get out of line, even after a few drinks," I joked lightly and I heard both men laugh. They may have thought that it was a joke but it was true as well. I had kept it over the small fireplace for a long time and most guys that came into my house seemed to lose their nerve when they realized that I could really use the weapon.

Daryl finally walked away from where the walker lay and walked over to us, nudging me roughly as he went. I turned to him in shock but smiled slightly when I saw that he was giving me a wicked grin. He wasn't actually angry with me, he was just messing with me. "Oh yeah, she thinks she's so good with years of lessons," he said and I scoffed. It had taken me lots of hard work and practice to learn how to use the bow, it had been hard but it paid off. "I learned this just from hard work. Not paying for lessons from people that learned what they know from a damn handbook," he told me with a smirk, knowing it would bother me.

I shook my head and stepped forward to meet up with him face to face. "At least I didn't learn because I was scared to death of what my brother would do to me if I chose not to," I snapped at him and I heard Aaron laugh at us behind us. "Plus, the crossbow is easy. All you have to do is pull the damn string back and hold it up. It might be heavier but it takes more skill to use a bow. Somehow I doubt that you would have had the discipline to learn the bow," I teased Daryl, hoping to get to him.

Daryl rolled his eyes at me and shoved me forward. "Very funny girl," he told me and I laughed at his slight pout as he walked around. I knew that he hated being belittled to Merle so it only made it that much more fun to tease him about his fear of his older brother. "Think you're so great because you got some fancy lessons? Want to prove it?" He asked me with a wicked grin. I nodded my approval at him, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. Aaron was on our right, watching us with a small grin. "Alright fine. First one that gets Aaron to fire three arrows at that tree wins," he told me and I nodded.

I turned over to Aaron and saw that he had gone pale. I looked over his body and nodded to myself. He was definitely strong enough to fire my bow and he had the right build to be an archer. And with my training experiences I knew that I could beat Daryl. He, unlike me, got fed up with one little mistake. "I'm not really sure if I want to be involved in this. Maybe it would be better if the two of you went up against each-" Aaron began to stammer before I cut him off.

"Fine sweetheart," I hissed at Daryl, who glared at me as I walked around Aaron to hand him an arrow. He grabbed it shyly from me and I gave him a reassuring smile. I knew that he could do this, he just had to be confident. Or maybe he already knew how to use a bow and was going to let his favorite win. In which case that favorite might just be Daryl. Shaking my head clear of my thoughts I rolled my eyes and turned back to my husband. "You're on. First one that gets him to fire three arrows into the middle of the tree wins. Now what are the stakes this time? Not jumping into the river naked again?" I asked with the arch of my eyebrow.

Behind me I heard Aaron snort loudly at the idea. It sounded so childish when I thought about that day, but what it had led to wasn't childish at all. I suppose in hindsight I was glad that I had lost that little competition. Who knows what would have happened had I won it. "Of course not, you'd probably like that," he said and I laughed lightly. I had to say, he wasn't wrong. But I wasn't really sure how comfortable either Daryl or Aaron would be with the other there. "Loser has to be the winner's slave for an entire day. No backing out and no complaining. Do whatever the other one says without hesitation," he said to me with a grin.

I rolled my eyes and walked up to my husband. I laid a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back slightly. He stumbled but walked back up to me, towering over me, just the way that his brother did. Wouldn't it be nice to be a little bit taller? "Don't you already do that?" I asked him with a sickly sweet grin, to which he shoved me back and I laughed once more, Aaron joining in on my laughter.

Daryl shoved me roughly and I stumbled back into Aaron. The other man helped me steady myself, showing a little concern but I waved him off. It hadn't hurt and I knew that he would do something like that. It was what I got for challenging his manhood. "Shut the hell up girl," Daryl grumbled since I was still laughing lightly. "Do you take the bet?" He asked me with a small glare and I nodded at him. I loved winning, especially against my husband. "Good, get ready for a miserable day ahead of you," he told me with a confident smirk.

I smirked at Daryl and grabbed my bow off of my back. Grabbing an arrow after I made sure pull one out that had been sharpened lately. There was no way that I would let Daryl win this thing. Not again. I had lost my last competition against him, I sure as hell wouldn't lose this one too. "We'll see about that," I hissed at him before walking over to Aaron. I handed him the bow and he grabbed it clumsily. Sighing, I showed him the proper way to hold the bow, and how far to pull it back. I made sure that he was aimed at the right tree, and had a tight enough grip before I told him that he was ready to loose the arrow. He did as told and I watched the arrow barely scrape past the tree. Aaron gave me a sorry glance and I shook my head. It had been a good first attempt. Maybe he would be a natural. I ran to grab my arrow before nodding to Daryl that he could go for it.

I watched Daryl prop Aaron up with one of his own arrows, giving him the same directions that I did, only with a few tweaks of his own. He went up into the same position that I had placed him in, but Daryl moved his arms. He dropped the bow arm a little bit and moved the arrow to the right slightly. Daryl turned back to me with a victorious grin but I merely shook my head. There was no way in hell that he was winning this. I was a better teacher, I knew that. Aaron would still probably take a few tries before he actually hit the target. I watched as he let the arrow go and I had to refrain from dropping my jaw when I saw it sink into the tree. "Get ready for a day of hell girl," Daryl told me as he turned back to me with the biggest grin that I had seen in a while.

I rolled my eyes and shoved past Daryl as I let Aaron try one more time. This time he did hit the target, but just barely. He was on the very edge of the tree. The arrow had almost fallen but by some grace of God it stayed put. It had probably been sheer luck that it hadn't missed the tree altogether. Daryl was next, and Aaron missed the target by a long shot, earning a loud laugh from myself. But of course the next time that I tried with him, he missed the tree again.

Nearly half an hour later we both had one hit left to go. Aaron had more than likely been lucky with his first few shots, now he was missing by pretty far distances. I walked up to Aaron, giving him a few more directions before stepping back and watching him fire. Just like the last few times that he had shot my arrow, it barely missed the tree. Daryl went up next and it felt like time slowed down as I waited for Aaron to loose his arrow. Right as he did, I sucked in a breath and watched the arrow hit the edge of the tree. It looked like it might fall for a moment, but once it stopped wiggling, it locked tightly into the bark. Aaron stared in shock and Daryl whooped as I felt the blood rise to my face. Once he had calmed down, Daryl turned to me and gave me a happy grin, knowing that I was pissed that I had lost. "I knew you'd lose that," he told me with a winning smirk.

Losing my temper for a moment, I grabbed his arrows out of the tree and chucked them at him. He dodged them but just barely. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my arrows out of the tree, hastily shoving them back into my sheath. "Fucking damn it," I hissed as I grabbed my bow back from a fearful looking Aaron, probably afraid that I would yell at him. "I hate you, how do I only start to suck when I'm in a competition against you?" I asked Daryl who still looked like he had won a million dollars. "Come on Aaron, I thought that you were on my side," I groaned, turning back to the other man.

Aaron let out a deep breath, knowing that I was more frustrated with Daryl than I was angry with him. I couldn't really blame him, he had just hit the targets better with Daryl's advice than mine. Some things worked for some people, but not for others. "I'm sorry, Rain," he told me with his hand on my shoulder, looking sincerely sorry that he hadn't won the bet for me. "I tried for you, I really did. I guess some people just learn better from others," he told me with a small grin.

I sighed but shrugged my shoulders. Shit happens, maybe I wasn't made out to be a winner for this. Maybe Daryl wouldn't have me do anything too bad, or maybe he would forget altogether. But he wasn't really that kind of person. He remembered things forever. I wouldn't be getting out of this one. "Everyone always told me that I wasn't made out to be a teacher. I guess they were right. I probably would have screamed at a kid if they didn't understand what I was trying to teach, especially if it was something that I thought was easy," I told him honestly. My mother had been a teacher, and she had always warned me that the profession wasn't for me.

Giving me a small smile, Aaron shook his head at me. "I think you're better with kids than you claim to be," he told me and I raised my eyebrows. He barely knew me, how did he think that I would be good with kids? "Daryl told me that you were one of the people who rushed to save Judith's life after she was born," he told me as we started to walk once more. I shrugged my shoulders but nodded anyways. He was right, Daryl and I had been the ones to rush and save Judith. "And I see the way that Carl looks at you," he told me and I looked over to him, curious as to what he meant. "He looks up to you like you're a god. Well goddess I suppose. That's two kids right there that I can think of that you're good with," he told me with a small smile.

I knew that he meant well but I couldn't believe him. There were so many families that lived in Alexandria and they all looked at me like I was the Devil. I saw the way that they pushed their children behind them and I saw how they would lead them down the street away from me. And besides that, I saw the way that the little kids would run away from me when they saw me walking down the street. Even when I had no weapons on me. "Oh yeah? And how about the other kids that cower in fear from me?" I snapped at Aaron.

"That's only because they don't know you," he told me and I scoffed loudly. He was just trying to make me feel better by feeding me little lines that I was better than anyone knew. "You all came in here dirty and bloody. You looked like you were half dead and had attitudes stronger than steel. You didn't talk with anyone and the first time that people saw you, you were attacking their leader's son. And then you attacked him again, and the girls at the party," he told me and I rolled my eyes.

I saw Daryl's head turn towards me and I rolled my eyes. He knew what I had done last night but he probably didn't really know what exactly had happened. They had been insulting him and then had switched over to saying that they would jump into bed with him. You be kind to another woman's husband and you don't say that you want to go to town with them. I thought that those were common things that people knew. "Don't insult my husband," I grumbled.

Aaron nodded at me and I saw the tinniest hint of smiles on his face. Had he been entertained by what I had done? I thought that he was the kind to not like confrontation or fighting? But maybe he wasn't fond of those girls. Maybe he thought that they deserved it as much as I did. "Well it doesn't really matter if they all like you," he said to me and I nodded lightly. "Most of them don't realize that you're all better off than we are. At least you have people that you would die for and vice versa. You're survivors and you have made friends here. Moira seems to like you as well as Reagan and Miranda. Plus you have Eric and myself," he said with a smile.

He was right. I wasn't totally alone. I had my entire group with me for one. Daryl, Maggie, Glenn, Carol, Rick, Abraham, and Rosita. There were others that I loved in there too but they were my go-to people. They were the people that I felt the most comfortable with. Then there was Eric and Aaron. I liked them both and I knew that they were both fond of me. I had saved Eric's life and Aaron had me to thank for saving his boyfriend. And Moira was a good person. She had given me a tattoo and she was a good new person to talk to. Reagan was a little different but I liked that. Different was good. Miranda was a good person as well, she just had a poor taste in friends. "That's better than being alone I guess," I finally said, the conversation dying after my comment.

We walked for the rest of the day, following suit of the silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence though, we just knew that we were better off making no noise. Unfortunately there were really no people around us. At least there were none that we could see. It might be easier to look around at night, where we would be able to see any lights from the camps. I watched as the sun dipped down over the horizon and we were left in the inky black of the night. We had slowed down with the exhaustion of the day, but it wasn't bad yet. However, I knew that we would get exhausted if we went at this same pace for a week. We had made pretty much a half circle, a wide arc around where we had left the cars. If we made it back to the cars and saw nothing, Aaron would have us drive out a little farther. If that didn't work we would head back to Alexandria and try again in a couple of weeks.

I slipped over a few dried leaves in the path and I stopped when I realized that we really couldn't see much of anything anymore. It was getting to the point where we all knew that we should stop, but no one wanted to suggest it. "Should we stop here for the night?" I asked the two men softly, both turning to look at me. "It's getting dark and we won't be able to see for much longer. Gonna get dangerous to move around," I told them and both men nodded at me.

Daryl nodded at me and let his things drop where we stood. "She's right. Let's stop here," he said and I sighed. It was a good idea to just stop here, there was no use in setting up a camp if we would have to leave immediately and we didn't have the light to find somewhere else to sleep. "You two get some sleep. I'll wake you if things get bad," Daryl told us and we both nodded, dropping to the ground from the day. I sighed and slipped into a deep sleep almost immediately. Faster than I had wanted to though, I woke to Daryl shaking me awake. The sky was still dark and I went to ask him what he was doing, but he brought his finger to his mouth, silencing me. Whatever it was, we needed to get moving now. "Come on, we have to get moving. There are walkers all over here. I woke him up already. Turns out the damn area is flooded with them," he told me and I nodded at him, jumping to my feet.

I heard the moans and groans of walkers as we slowly slipped out of the area. We were moving cautiously, as not to alert any of the walkers that we were in the area. That was the last thing that we needed. There were dozens in the small clearing and I knew that if we got them all to head to us there would be no way that we could take care of them all. They would overpower us. Once we were out of hearing range, we slowed down and I caught my breath. I might be used to fighting them off, but walkers would always make me nervous. "There's more of them around here than there used to be. Don't know if any people are-" Aaron began before Daryl held a hand up.

"Shh," he shushed and I looked around the area. There were no walkers and I couldn't hear anything, so what was he so concerned about? I glanced up and saw what he was shushing Aaron for. "Someone is," he said and I nodded. About a mile off in the distance was a small glow coming from a fire. Clearly someone was out there, probably taking up camp for the night. I could tell that both men wanted to take a look at them, but I still had my reservations.

The men began to scoot closer to the fire and I felt my breathing speed up. Maybe we should go investigate them in the day, when it was easier to see and these people would be talking. "Should we go over there?" I asked as we inched closer to where their camp was. Both men turned back to me and I let out a little sigh. "I hate to be a wuss about things but Daryl, we don't know these woods. We don't know if there are people around here and we sure as hell don't know if they're friendly. Maybe we should wait for a while. It might just have been someone passing by. By the time we get there they might be gone," I said, not really believing myself.

Aaron stepped closer to me and I sighed when I saw that he had a pained look on his face. Clearly he was going to tell me something that I didn't want to hear. "Rain, I understand your reservation but you have to trust us on this one. That could be a good person out there. We'll be cautious and watch them for a while. If we think that they are good then we'll approach them," he told me and I found myself having to fight the part of me that thought that this would be a bad idea. "Cautiously, just the way that I approached your group. We will take our time but we should look into them," he told me and I sighed deeply.

No matter what I felt would be the best option here I knew that I was fighting an uphill battle. There was no way that they would let me stay here either, and I wouldn't let them go off by themselves either. "Fine, but we should really be careful. I know this is my job, trusting people. But there will always be some hesitation," I told him, feeling bad that I was holding them back.

Maybe Deanna was right, maybe this job wasn't suited for me. Maybe I should be an interrogator where I didn't have to worry about trusting the person. All I had to do was figure out whatever it was that we needed from them. And I knew that I could do that. "And there should be, but we have to go and check on this," he told me and I nodded. "We can't just leave a potentially good person out there by themselves. Not where bad things could happen to them," he added and I sighed once more.

Finally I nodded, to the satisfaction of both Daryl and Aaron. It didn't take long for us to start in the direction of the fire. As we walked I realized that I must have underestimated how far away the thing really was. As we walked I felt myself tiring. And even though it was cold outside I still began to sweat, my sweat freezing to my skin. I could tell already that this winter would be a nightmare this far north. I had never experienced a winter like this. We must have been walking for close to half an hour when I finally saw the fire through the trees. The camp had probably been closer to four miles away. Damn the night sky for distorting everything. As I looked through the trees, I caught sight of the fire, but that wasn't the only thing that I saw in the small camp.

We all slowly stepped out of the area and I raised a hand to my mouth. Someone had beaten us here, and whoever it was, they hadn't been here all too long ago. Maybe it was better that I had stopped us, these people who had done this didn't seem like the type that we would want to tussle with. Bodies were torn apart and supplies were scattered everywhere. The worst part of the entire camp was a woman who had been tied to a tree. She was tied to the tree, partially stripped and her guts were hanging over her body. The odd part though, was the W carved into her forehead. What the hell was that? What was all of this? Why would people do this, and what kind of people would do this?

Sighing, I stepped aside so that Daryl and Aaron could see the body of the woman as well. "Looks like we weren't the only people that wanted to check on this group," I said solemnly and both men nodded. "I think it's pretty obvious now that we aren't the only people out here. This is what we were warning your people about," I said to Aaron, who looked guilty that he had ever shrugged my earlier comment off. He knew now that I had been right to be cautious. "There are bad people in this world. Turns out they aren't very far from us, hell they could be watching us right now. We should get moving," I said, suddenly feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

Slowly I walked to the corpse of the woman who was tied to the tree. She seemed to be recently killed and whoever had done this had clearly wanted her to suffer. I sighed as I turned back to Aaron and Daryl, both of who were making their way over to me. "Whoever did this took what was left with them," Daryl said and I looked around. He was right, the camp had been looted. But these people had wanted more than just supplies. They had wanted to make others suffer. "This just happened," he said as he looked over the woman, flies buzzing around us. "She's tied up. And they fed on her. Tore her apart," he said and I had to resist gagging.

I noticed that Aaron was looking a little green and I felt bad for the man. He had spent most of his time since the world had ended behind the walls of Alexandria. He wasn't that used to seeing people at their absolute worst. And whoever these people were, were some of the worst that I had seen. "This just happened?" He asked and I nodded.

Daryl finally nodded as he looked over the woman. "Yeah," he confirmed as I stepped forward to examine the woman as well. I could tell that she wasn't very old, maybe in her early thirties. She had probably been one of the last people in the camp alive. Perhaps these people had killed her to send a message to another group? Well if they had done that I certainly wouldn't fuck with the other group. It took a lot of balls to come forward and do something like this. Or just a blank conscience.

As I looked the woman over I noticed the fingers twitch a tiny bit. I tried to see if she was still alive but her chest was completely still. She was just reanimating. "How the hell did this happen?" Aaron asked as the woman began to snarl slightly. I watched as she lifted her eyes to us, a gleaming yellow in them. I shook my head as she tried to reach out to us, but her efforts were futile. She was tied down tightly and Daryl already had his bow aimed at her. He looked back at me and I nodded with a sigh letting him know that it was time to put her out of her misery. He released his arrow and I watched as she slumped over, dead for real this time.

I shook my head softly as I watched Daryl grab his arrow back. He slipped it back into his crossbow and I grabbed his shoulder. I knew that he felt bad that we hadn't gotten here in time, but maybe it was better. At least we hadn't ended up like these people. "Like I said," I started softly, catching Aaron and Daryl's attention. "There are bad people now. You're just lucky that we turned out to be the few good ones that were left," I said and Aaron nodded, his eyes still glancing over the woman on the tree. "But I don't know how much longer we would have been good. This world does things to you," I said sadly, Daryl catching my arm and dragging me from the sight.

He pushed me away from the trees and I sighed as we walked back away from the group's camp. "Come on, we need to get away from here and get back to sleep. Somewhere secluded, we don't want to run into whoever it was that was here," he said and I nodded. The walk away from the camp was silent, all of us thinking about what would happen if we crossed the people who had destroyed the other's camp. I had no idea and I didn't want to find out. We walked for a few miles before finally finding another spot to rest, probably not far from where we mad left the cars. I sighed and dropped to the ground heavily, tired from the day's events. I slipped my eyes shut, but not before i noticed that the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon. Groaning softly, I knew that we wouldn't have more than a few hours before we were forced to move on with our search. Begrudgingly, I shifted to sleep, waiting to be shaken awake once more.

Just like I had expected, I was shaken awake once more and I groaned loudly. I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep for a year. But just like I had at the prison, I forced myself to stand and get ready to head out of the small clearing that we were in. I stood and grabbed my bags, watching both of the men slowly try to shake the sleep from their eyes. I laughed and pulled Daryl to his feet, smiling at the grumpy look on his face. "Time to get up y'all," I said as I looked to the sky, it was probably damn near midday. We had to get moving now if we wanted to be able to cover any ground today. "It's gotta be nearly noon already, check out the sun. I guess our little run in with our new friends took a lot out of us last night," I said with a sigh, trying to shake the sight of the woman tied to the tree out of my mind.

Without another word the three of us headed out to the area where we had left the cars. Aaron had suggested that we could take them out a little farther, if nothing else to get away from the people who had destroyed the camp that we had come upon. It was a better idea than loitering around here, just waiting for someone to grab us. As we walked to the cars I sighed deeply. So far this trip wasn't exactly going the way that I had hoped that it would. We arrived back at the cars quickly and I jumped onto the bike, leaving enough room for Daryl to slide on in front of me. He did so, and I wrapped my arms around him. My stomach was growling loudly and I shook my head at myself. I hadn't eaten since yesterday morning and I knew that I would have to get something soon.

Daryl seemed to sense my hunger as he handed me a protein bar that I gobbled down as the engine of the bike roared to life, and we headed back onto the road. We drove for nearly an hour as I gripped tightly onto Daryl's back. At the speed that we were tearing down the road, a fall off of the bike would have been fatal. I leaned back slightly though and let the wind blow my hair around my face. The one thing that I missed about living on the road was the constant driving, something that I had always been a fan of. But maybe it was just because I rode around on the back of a bike. I heard the low honk of Aaron's car and watched as Daryl pulled the bike over onto the road.

The leader of our little expedition explained to us that we had driven far enough and we were ready to walk once more. I nodded at him and solemnly began to trek through the woods once more. We walked across from each other, no one saying a word. My head was angled towards the ground and as we walked deeper into the woods I noticed that the mud on the trail was thrown up slightly. Taking a closer look I finally saw that there were small footprints on the ground, more than likely a man judging from how deep the footprints were sunken into the mud. I nudged Daryl and he looked down, nodding at me. "Somebody came through here a while ago," Daryl said and I nodded. He was right, and whoever walked through here, it wasn't too long ago.

I noticed that Aaron seemed to be struggling to see the footprints, so I nodded at him and pointed to the grooves in the ground with my heavily booted foot. We all made a quick look around the area, but it was futile. Whoever had been here was moving fast. Perhaps they had also had a little encounter with our new friends? But we had traveled away from where we were last night, although that didn't mean that the people weren't here too. It just meant that we would have to be careful out here. "If we see them, we hang back, set up the mike, watch and listen," Aaron explained to us and I nodded.

It seemed like a simple but boring task. Although it was better than having to bake for the community or having to sit in the guard tower. I had done that back at the prison and it was horrifically boring. I usually dragged Daryl up there with me for some form of amusement. Either him or Maggie. "For how long?" Daryl asked, pulling me from my fond memories of the prison.

I turned to Aaron, curious as well to how long we would have to wait out these new people. I mean, he had said that we might be gone a week or two. Would that really be how long we would need to be able to tell if they were good or bad people? They would be comfortable with their group so they would speak freely, right? Maybe it was better to wait though, we had to be sure that we weren't bringing terrible people back to Alexandria with all of the women and children. "Until we know. We have to know," Aaron told us, confirming my thoughts.

We walked slowly, heading off in the direction that the footprints led. Hopefully not to a dead end, or someone that would make us regret ever seeking them out. We didn't need another repeat of Terminus. A thought suddenly popped into my head and I slowed down slightly to fall in step besides Aaron. "How long did you watch us? H" I asked him, genuinely curious. He had to have been watching us for at least two days or so. Probably longer, we weren't exactly the happiest people leading up to the days that Aaron grabbed us. "How long were you watching us before you finally decided to come out and bring us with you?" I clarified with the man.

He seemed to think about how long he had been following us before finally nodding and looking over at me with a small smile. "It was a while. Three or four days," he told me and I raised an eyebrow. I would have thought that it would be longer than that. "Had you all not been moving so much I probably would have waited another couple of days before coming out and telling you all about Alexandria. But I didn't want to risk losing you," he said and I nodded.

Now I knew that I was right. He hadn't really known that we were good people, it had just been weighing whether or not coming out towards us was worth the risk, and apparently he had decided that it was worth it. I suppose I was grateful for that. "So why come out and talk to us if you weren't sure that we were good people or not? Couldn't that have been potentially dangerous? We could have killed you or Eric. We almost did," I said, remembering us tying Aaron to the post in the barn after Rick had knocked him out.

For a moment, Aaron was silent and I figured that he wasn't really sure why he had done it in the first place. Maybe just a sudden urge to do something different. But he had to have some reason, he wouldn't risk himself or Eric for nothing. "Call it a leap of faith," he finally told me as he looked at me with a knowing grin.

I smiled back at him and nodded my head. I suppose that made sense. I had gotten gut feelings before too, but I had never acted on anything like that. Nothing that was so risky. I guess Aaron was braver than I thought that he was. We were silent for a while longer before Daryl finally walked a little faster, catching up with both Aaron and I. "You've sent people away?" He asked and I looked over to the other man. For a while he said nothing, but I knew by the sad look he had faced toward the ground that he had made people leave before. Finally Aaron nodded to us and I cocked my eyebrow. I wanted to hear the story but I didn't want to push him into telling it if he wasn't ready. "What happened?" Daryl asked and I waited to see if Aaron would answer.

The Alexandria resident stopped and both of us stopped as well, waiting for him to tell us what had happened. "It was early on. It was three people. Two men and a woman. Davidson was their leader. Smart as hell, strong. I thought they'd work out. They didn't. I brought them in and I had to see them out. So me, Aiden, and Nicholas, we drove them out far gave them a day's worth of food and water and left them," he told us and I sighed deeply. We had never had to do that and I was glad for that.

In the back of my mind I wondered what Davidson and the other two people had done to justify being thrown out of Alexandria. I mean, I had attacked their leader's son, not only once but twice. And not to mention, I had nearly beaten the hell out of some other woman who had lived there long before we had. If that wasn't bad enough to even get a warning, what had these people done? Perhaps it was something that I didn't want to know. "They just went?" Daryl asked and I looked over at him.

He seemed to be just as curious about the incident as I was. It seemed that it was something that affected Aaron deeply, and I didn't blame them. He had brought them into Alexandria and had more than likely been the one who was blamed for whatever had gone down in the small community. It wasn't uncommon to meet unfriendly people, we had been victim to that numerous times, but it was a little rare to bring someone so close into your life, only to find out that they weren't what you had thought that they were. Although that had been what had happened to us in Terminus. "We had their guns. We had all the guns. I can't make that kind of mistake again," he said with his head tilted to the ground.

Pitying the older man slightly, I walked up to him and placed my hand gently on his shoulder. It wasn't his fault, he hadn't known. He shouldn't be the one to bear the blame. I had learned that long ago. "And you won't," I told him with a small smile. "That's what we're here for. That's what you wanted us for. You wanted someone that knew how people out here think and act. We can tell you who is genuinely good and who is just looking for somewhere to hide out for a while," I said to him and he looked up at me.

His brown eyes were watering slightly and I debated wiping the dried tears from his eyes. But gay or not, I was sure that no man would appreciate me doing something like that. They all still had the same type of pride. "They didn't work out," he told me and I nodded slowly. "I know that you will," he told me with a happy grin and I nodded, hoping that he was right.

My head finally registered though, that he would never admit to us the real reason that he had brought us here. Not people that had more families and children. I had figured it out, but I was pretty sure that I was the only one. Except for Rick perhaps. But it didn't matter, I wanted Aaron to know that at least one of us knew. "Glad that you have so much faith in us. I hope that we prove you right. But I hope that we never have to show you what you really brought us here for," I said to Aaron, earning a confused look to which I shook my head. "You don't need more people, you need soldiers," I said straight faced, shaking my head when I realized that Aaron was going to try and disprove my theory. "No need to lie. I told you, we're good at reading people. You acquire that skill being out there for so long," I explained.

Sneaking a look over at Daryl as Aaron tried to figure out what his next move was, I nearly laughed at the look on my husband's face. I had been right assuming that he didn't know why we had really been brought here. He apparently bought the cutesy pie little lines that they had fed us. But I was smarter than that, I didn't trust people that much. I knew what they really wanted, and I didn't blame them. "When did you figure that out?" Aaron finally asked me, as I turned back to him.

Shaking my head slowly, I paced around him, heading back off in the direction that the footprints were leading. No point in talking and standing there like idiots, might as well make a little bit of progress. "I always knew. I just kept it as a thought in the back of my mind. Part of me hoped that it wasn't true but I figured that it probably was. You must have over a hundred people in here, what would you need more people here for you? It only exhausts your resources,' I simply explained my reasoning of how I had come up with the right answer. "You want people here that would prove worthy of the loss of goods. That would either be more people to make runs or people that could keep the weak here, safe. Just look at us. The answer is clear," I said with a small nod to Daryl and myself.

We were both tough as nails, along with the rest of our group. Even Carl was stronger than all of the kids here combined, and most of the adults. Aaron stared at me for a moment before letting a small sigh out and giving me a guilty smile. "I'm sorry that we didn't tell you all outright. But we still wanted to increase Alexandria, and I still believe that you are all genuinely good people that are good in every part of the community," he said as he stopped walking, clearly wanting me to understand what he had been talking about before we kept moving.

Letting out a deep breath I nodded at him and grabbed him gently on the arm. There was no point in being pissed at each other, we were both doing what was in our best interest. "Come on, not gonna find anyone out here just staring at each other. You did what you needed to. Find strong and good people, there's no shame in doing that," I told him with a smile. He wasn't a bad guy, he just wasn't doing the most honorable thing. But none of us were.

As we kept walking, I had to fight off the urge to take a nap right there. Even though we had slept in last night, I was still exhausted. All I wanted was a bubble bath and a cup of hot tea. That would make me happy. I shook my head at myself and fingered at my small arrow on my hip. The thing was starting to look a little lonely. Maybe when we got back to Alexandria I would ask Moira to give me something else. A small tattoo, something to match the simplicity of the arrow. We walked on for about an hour, sweat pouring down our faces and backs. Despite the fact that there was a nice chill in the air, the sun beating down on our backs did a good job. I was sure that I would have a nice tan by the time that we got back to Alexandria. As we continued to walk, I noticed that the tracks were becoming more defined, and I knew that we were close to the man. I glanced up as we walked, and shoved my hands out in front of the two men with me.

Both were caught roughly by my arms, staring at me like I was insane. Daryl was about to ask me what I was doing but I quickly shushed him, pointing to the man. The man was by himself, probably in his early forties or so. He was wearing a bright red poncho, bad idea but not my problem, and was dropped down in front of a small mud pile. He was smearing the mud on himself and I cocked an eyebrow. He didn't seem like the survivalist type, but I guess we all were nowadays. "What's he doing?" Aaron asked softly.

I was about to answer him that he was trying to keep the mosquitoes off of himself but Daryl beat me to the punch. "Wild leeks," he said softly. Aaron stared at him, still clearly confused and I had to bite back a laugh. He was clearly a city kid growing up. "Son of a bitch knows about how to keep mosquitoes off of him," Daryl explained further and Aaron finally nodded, understanding with the extra explanation. I sighed as we watched the man and jumped slightly as Daryl laid a hand on my shoulder. The man began to walk away from us and I watched as Daryl pulled us to a low standing position. "Come on," he whispered to us.

For the first few minutes, following the man was easy. But then the woods became denser and the man sped his pace up. I wanted to walk faster, but I was continuously being pulled back by Aaron. He kept telling me that we couldn't risk him seeing us, but now we were on the other polar opposite. He had gotten away from us. We had checked through the woods first, no sign of our poncho man there, not even after we split up. We had checked the roads as well, in case he went for a conspicuous look. But once more we came up empty handed. We had been looking for him for nearly half an hour, and still no sign of the man. All we had now were a few walkers limping around us. Slipping away from them, we headed down the road only to come onto an abandoned food truck supply warehouse. The trucks were all sitting for the taking and the gates were locked, but something still felt off about the place. I sighed as we circled together, knowing that the boys would want to check out the possible loot ahead of us. "We checked the forest, we checked the roads. We can't find him," Daryl said, obviously agitated that we hadn't found the man.

We both sighed as Aaron's eyes adopted a happy look at the change in events. We had been extremely unlucky this entire time, but maybe this place would be the change in luck that we needed. "Sometimes they slip away. It happens. But you don't come across something like this every day," Aaron said to Daryl, trying to persuade him to go into the small area.

The recruiter anxiously moved closer to the gates of the food truck stop and I sucked a breath in. There were no walkers in sight but I didn't buy that somehow this place hadn't been tampered with in a year and a half. This was a gold mine. There was no way that no one had touched it. Something was wrong here, but I might be the only one of us that could see it. Daryl was angry that we had lost the man, and Aaron was blinded. "We do this now, it means we're giving up," Daryl tried to fight to go back to searching for the man.

I was about to cut in and tell Aaron that I was siding with Daryl on this one, but before I could get a word out Aaron cut me off. "Home is fifty miles back. It's time to go. You saw it last night. There's bad people out here. That's why we ought to keep looking for the good ones. We need more people and we'll find them," he told Daryl with a hopeful smile, but the other man kept his blank faced stare. "But when we do, we'll need to feed them," he said, pointing to the trucks.

I looked up at the three food trucks and sucked in my breath once more. Daryl seemed to be debating whether or not it was worth it, but I already had my answer. This place wasn't worth it. I had thought that Daryl would side with me on the issue, but the nod of his head made my heart sink. "All right," he said softly to Aaron.

The light in Aaron's eyes lit and I sighed as we walked closer to the gates. I didn't want to be the baby once again, but something about this place was setting my nerves on fire. "Does this look a little set up to you guys?" I asked and both men turned back to me. "I mean look at this, the food trucks are perfectly set up and the gates just happened to be locked? I get that things all went to shit in the middle of totally normal days but this all looks wrong. It looks like someone came in here and laid things out to draw people in. You're the best hunter that I know, shouldn't you be prone to seeing these things?" I asked Daryl.

He smirked at me and pushed himself over the fence. Had I had something to throw at him I would have, but with empty hands I shook my head and helped Aaron over the fence, pulling myself up and over next. "Well look at that, I don't see anything," Daryl joked with me as he walked up to one of the trucks. I rolled my eyes and squinted them as he tugged at the metal clasp on the truck. I listened closely and caught a small snarl but shrugged it off as a walker outside of the gates. If I wanted to be helpful with this I couldn't be jumpy at every noise. Daryl lifted the gate of the truck and I laughed as cans rolled out, nearly knocking him to the ground. He picked one of the cans up and stared at it for a moment. "Huh," he huffed before tossing the can over to Aaron.

"Whoa," Aaron cried before catching the can in his hands. He laughed as he turned it over in his hands, happily holding it to his chest. I wondered what it was, but I couldn't see it from this distance. "Wasn't sure I'd ever see one of these. Hey, listen, I don't like giving up either, but the guy is in a red poncho. You can see him from a mile away," he said and I nodded. "We've gone a lot of miles here. No sign of him," Aaron said and I couldn't help but wonder if he had run into some trouble. Perhaps he'd had a small encounter with our new friends from last night. "But if we come away with a trailer full of cans, I'd say that's a good trip," he said with a smile.

I nodded and walked over with Daryl to the second truck. If this place was real, then we had stuck gold here. Maybe the people in Alexandria would stop staring at me like I was the spawn of Satan now. Daryl hopped up onto the stand that the truck was placed at and I watched as he got ready to open the gate. "Here we go," he said, holding it steady, just in case. I watched as he released the hook, waiting for it to slowly slide up. Instead of sliding up with Daryl's help though, I watched as the gate swung open, the other gates of the remaining trucks following. My heart picked up pace as I watched damn near one hundred walkers file out of the trucks, all headed to us.

I backed up in fear, realizing that I had been right about this place. But unlike normally I wasn't happy to be right. Snarling was coming from all over and I gasped as one walker came too close to me. I shot the walker down and cried out as another nearly knocked me over. We didn't have enough ammo for these things. We would die before we could take care of even half of them. I struggled out of the group that was surrounding me, breaking clear of the walkers and staring at the chaos ensuing me. "Over here!" Aaron yelled and I followed the call of his voice. Darting to him as fast as I could, I nearly cried when I saw that their path to the gate was clear.

"Come on!" Daryl yelled as I ran over to them. He caught me on the arm and I cried out as a small group of walkers cut off our path to the gates. "No!" Daryl yelled as we headed straight for the trucks. Normally I would have refused heading back there, but with the walkers out of the area it would probably be a good idea to head back there. Maybe we could hide in the warehouse. We darted down one of the isles between the trucks and I let out a tiny scream as three walkers cut us off from the other side. Letting out a furious grunt, I turned back and cried loudly when I saw that walkers were following us from the other side as well. We were trapped. Thinking on his feet, I saw Daryl pick up a chain and watched as he used it like a whip, decapitating the three walkers that had cut us off from before.

My eyes widened with shock as I stared at the headless bodies. Daryl began to run off and I forced myself out of my stunned stupor. Not bothering to think before running, I tore off after him and pulled Aaron with me. Clearly he had been shocked at the walker kill. It had more than likely been the most creative kill that either of us had ever seen. "Come on. Come on!" Daryl yelled as we ran back out into the yard. With all of the walkers having followed us through the trucks, we now realized that there was a car sitting close to the gates. I laughed at the thing like it was the last thing that I would ever see, and maybe it was. Without thinking I tore off in the direction of the car, sprinting past Daryl who was yelling back at Aaron. "Go!" He yelled to the other man as we launched ourselves into the car.

Daryl hopped into the driver's seat of the car and I sighed as Aaron safely hopped into the passenger seat. I was tucked into the back seat of the car, grimacing at the walkers that were banging against the glass. Glass on car windows were tough, but it wouldn't hold those things off forever. "Glass will hold for a while, right?" Aaron asked nervously.

The thought crossed through my mind that it probably wouldn't take more than a couple of hours for them to break the glass, but I didn't want to tell Aaron that. He should be able to believe that we were going to make it out of this. Maybe we would, but that was wishful thinking. "Maybe," Daryl said, obviously thinking the same thing that I was thinking, but not wanting to break it to the other man.

Aaron looked around the car and I watched as the hope in his eyes diminished. He looked like the gears were grinding in his head but I knew that he wasn't really believing that there was a way to get out of this mess. The only way to do that would be one of us sacrificing us. "Maybe we can make it so they can't see us. In a couple hours, something will come by, they'll follow it out. There's got to be something in here we can use to block the view. We can cut up these seats," he said hopefully.

The seats might have worked to shield us from the walker's sight, but that wasn't the real problem. They knew that we were in here and they could smell us. They wouldn't leave the car as long as they smelled fresh meat inside of it. "You couldn't have just listened to me?" I snapped harshly at the two men sitting with me. "I told you that it was a booby trap. Now we're stuck here with no real way to get out. The damn car might run but I can't risk hot wiring it. Not with all of us in here and nowhere to run if things backfire," I hissed lowly. I stared at the car and shook my head. There was no way that I was willing to risk it. I could deep fry us all and we would have nowhere to hide. Our only other option would be to face the walkers.

We were all silent for a while, staring at the walkers that were fighting hard to get at us. But luckily the windows were holding. Not for long though, I could tell that they were going to give out in the next few hours if we didn't do something. Suddenly I heard a small chuckle from Daryl and I turned my shocked gaze over to him. He rarely laughed in front of others and now was an odd time to laugh at all. "What?" Aaron asked when he realized that I wouldn't.

My husband shook his head and turned to look at me, and I merely cocked my head to the side. As much as I loved him, sometimes he made me want to slap him. "I came out here to not feel all closed up back there," Daryl explained and I nodded, even though I didn't see how it was funny. He was right though, we were closed in too tightly inside of the walls. "Even now, this still feels more like me than back in them houses. That's pretty messed up, huh?" He asked Aaron and I found my heart sinking.

I knew that Daryl didn't think that he fit in with these people, hell he didn't. But neither did I. None of us really fit in with them. Carol, her role was only a fraud. Carl was too strong for the kids his age. Eugene and Abraham were natural leaders in their respective fields, they weren't used to taking orders. Sasha, Rosita, and Tara were all the types of women that weren't the normal around here, they fought and killed for what they had. They were tough, they didn't want to talk about shoes and the latest gossip. Merle was too rough and wild for the people around here, and Glenn wasn't ready to settle for the way that Aiden and Nicholas ran everything. Michonne was still a distrustful person and Maggie was silently watching the community, not getting involved in their affairs. Rick wasn't the type to put things softly to these people and Daryl simply wasn't comfortable around new people. Father Gabriel was really the only person that fit with them.

And then there was me. I wasn't really sure where I fit here. I didn't, that much I knew. But I wasn't really a leader, I wasn't the type to never enjoy small talk, I wasn't ruthless, I wasn't too uncomfortable to talk to people, and I wasn't one to silently watch. So what was I in these people's eyes? The brutal killer with a nasty attitude? Probably. I shook my head and jumped as a walker banged on the window, sighing and slinking back into my seat. "You were trying," Aaron finally responded and I looked up.

Daryl shook his head and I watched as he turned briefly to watch the walkers, before glancing back at Aaron in the passenger seat. "I had to. We both did," he answered the other man and I sighed. He was right, that had probably been why I hadn't killed Aiden yet. Because I knew that we had to make it work here, we couldn't go back out on the road.

Aaron shook his head and I watched as he turned to look at the both of us. "No, you didn't. Neither one of you did. Listen, I saw you with your group out there on the road. Then you went off on your own by the barn and she found you," he said and I blushed slightly. That meant that he had seen everything between the two of us. "I had never seen two people care for each other so much. It made me feel like Eric was only a stranger to me watching the way that the two of you cared for each other and were willing to lay your lives on the line for each other. And then the storm hit and you led your people to safety. That was it. I knew I had to bring you people back," he told us and I nodded.

It had really been a rash decision to pluck us from the depths of the hell that was outside of the walls. I couldn't believe that Aaron had saved us, but it didn't matter. We were here and we were going to fight to live. "Still thinking that you made the right call? Look at where we landed you," Daryl said, motioning around to the walkers surrounding the car.

I shook my head and had to refrain from slapping the two men. I had told them that this place was a trap but they hadn't listened to me. They were suck typical men. We would have been safe had they listened to the women in their lives. "This wasn't any of our faults. It was an accident," Aaron said and I had to resist the small scoff that rose to my throat. "But you were right. We should have kept looking for that guy in the poncho. I shouldn't have given up," he said sadly, clearly upset at his own decisions.

The car was silent for a moment and I thought about what to say to Aaron before I heard Daryl pipe up from the driver's seat. "You didn't. I'll go," he said and I cocked an eye at him. Go where? "I'll lead them out. You both make a break for the fence," he said, making sure that he wasn't looking anywhere near me, knowing damn well that I would tell him no. He leaned over to the door and right when he wrapped his hand around the door handle I ripped him back from it, slamming him back into the seat.

Daryl looked back at me like I was insane and I had to refrain once more from slapping him. "No you won't," I hissed at him and when he went to open his mouth I cut him off once more. "Not alone. We do this together, just like everything else. We can handle this and we'll try to meet back up with you," I said sharply, speaking up one more when I saw that Aaron and Daryl were both trying to cut into my statements. "We've got the man power and the ammo. We just need to be fast," I said to reassure them, even though I was doubting my own words.

"Rain-" Daryl began, looking at me with longing eyes. But before he could say anything else, I cut him off once more.

Putting my hand up to his mouth I shook my head and leaned into him, ignoring the fact that Aaron was probably slightly uncomfortable for the slightly intimate moment between the two of us. "No buts. I'm going with you," I told him, pressing slightly on his shoulders so that he knew that I was serious about him not going alone.

I saw his resolve folding but I knew that he wasn't ready to just let me go without anything else to say. But without any good argument, he resorted to a pleading glance. "Please don't do this," he begged me and I felt my heart shatter. He didn't want to lose me but I didn't want us all to die in here because we did nothing. At least one of us deserved to live, and if luck was on our side, maybe all three of us would live. But it wasn't often that luck was ever on our side.

Gently, I placed my hand on Daryl's and gave him the tiniest of smiles. I wanted him to know that I had faith that this could work. I let out a little sigh and smiled slightly at Aaron too. We could all get out of this, we just had to think. "Together Daryl. Remember the traditional wedding vows?" I asked him and he stared at me blankly. Of course he didn't know them. "Til death do us part. Maybe that part is going to come sooner than we meant it too. Doesn't matter, we fight these things off together," I told him, shaking my head slightly. This wasn't the time to be reasoning things out, we just had to do them now.

I watched as Daryl pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lit the one that he pulled out. He quickly lit the thing with a lighter in his pocket and I watched as he took a few puffs. After a moment he held it out to me and I took a few small puffs of it. Naturally I didn't care for smoking but it really did help to calm down my nerves at moments like this. As the cigarette began to burn down to nothing, I held it back to Daryl and sniffed as his hand lingered in mine when he went to grab it back. Finally breaking the tension in the car, Aaron leaned over the seat and I watched as his eyes watered. "No, no, no. This was my fault," he said quickly.

Aaron seemed genuinely panicked and I held my hand out to calm him slightly. "It wasn't a question. And this ain't your decision," Daryl snapped from beside the man and I saw Aaron turn his hopeless look to the other man. "It ain't nobody's fault. Just let me finish my smoke first," he said as he took the final few puffs from the cancer stick.

As I had figured that he would, Aaron slunk down into his seat and I raised my eyebrow when he shot up quickly, turning a harsh gaze on Daryl and I. "No," he snapped and the two of us went to argue it back. But before we could get anything out, Aaron continued on his path. "You don't draw them away. We fight. We go for the fence. We do it together. All of us, no one has to make the sacrifice. All right?" He asked, but both of us remained completely still. "Whether we make it or not, we do it together. We have to," he said softly and I found myself nodding at him, even though I didn't want Aaron's blood on my hands.

He saw my nod and smiled at himself before turning to Daryl. My husband stayed silent for a moment before nodding slowly. "All right," he said and I saw the mix between relief and horror on Aaron's face. He wanted this to be fair, but I was sure that he was afraid to go out there with all of those things. I didn't blame him, they were terrifying even after your hundredth encounter with them. It never got easier. Daryl turned to the door and before he threw it open he looked back to Aaron and I. "You ready?" He asked us. Before I lost my nerve I nodded immediately, and after a slight hesitation, Aaron nodded as well. "We'll go on three," Daryl said and I propped my foot up on the door to push it open. Here goes nothing. "One, two-" Daryl began softly.

Just as I got ready to toss my handle out and shove the door into the walkers I saw a flash of beige followed by the fall of one of the walkers. Judging by the fact that Daryl had stopped counting and was staring at the blur of the figure as well meant that he had deemed as well that it wasn't time to get out of the car. I watched as the walkers dropped one by one, when finally enough walkers had fallen from the car. I threw open my door finally and took out the last of the walkers that still lingered around the car. Towering over me was a black man wearing a large beige trench coat with black fingerless gloves and a staff in hand. He had a friendly stare that reminded me of Tyreese and I felt a pang of longing in my chest. I missed him a lot, I could only imagine how Sasha felt.

The man stared at me for a moment and I waited for him to say something, but he stayed silent and I took that as my cue to say something. But before I could get a word out, Aaron leaped out of the car and dashed over to the man. "That was- oh- thank you. I'm Aaron, this is Daryl," he said and I looked back to see that Daryl was approaching the man with a slightly suspicious look. Not that I blamed him, the man had no reason to save us, so why had he? "And she is, Rain," he said and I stepped forward slightly.

The man briefly gazed over the two men with calculated stares. His eyes finally met mine and instead of looking me over, like everyone else did, he only remained locked on my eyes. We shared a gaze for a moment before his hard eyes softened slightly and he smiled a small smile at me. "Morgan," he introduced himself softly.

Part of me wanted to keep my angry stare on Morgan but I felt like he was a good person. So I sucked up my nasty attitude and gave him a smile back. After all, he was the man who had saved our lives. "Why? Why?" Daryl asked Morgan, a suspicious glance still on his face. Daryl had a hard time trusting people and I didn't blame him. Morgan had no reason to save us, so why did he?

Instead of ignoring the question or giving a nasty comeback, Morgan merely smiled at my husband. I wondered what he had found so amusing all of a sudden, but his answer had made me smile as well. "Because all life is precious, Daryl," Morgan said softly and I watched as a look of disbelief crossed over Daryl's face.

It was so seldom to encounter people that ever acted like Morgan that we sometimes forgot how to act when we met someone like the new man. He stared at us with a winning smile and I waited to see how Aaron was reacting to Morgan. He glanced over at me with a hopeful smile and I nodded. Morgan was good, he would be a good person to have in Alexandria. And he was a hell of a good fighter too. "Whoever set that trap, they're coming. But I have good news. We do," Aaron said, excitedly pointing to Daryl and I. "We have a community not too far from here. Walls, electricity, it's safe. If you'd like to come join us-" he prattled on before being politely interrupted by Morgan.

"I thank you," he began and I grinned at him slightly. He had good manners for someone who had seemingly been out here for a long time. But I guess only some of us were affected by the outside world. But what about the loneliness? Hadn't that gotten to him at some point? "But I'm on my way somewhere. Fact is, I'm lost, so if you could tell me where we are," he said with a earnest grin. I nodded to him and watched as he pulled out an old yellowed map. I leaned over the map and raised my eyebrows as I saw the writing on it. It was writing in Abraham's hand, and it was written for Rick.

I probably had been in Grady Memorial whenever this had been written but it made no difference. I knew Rick's name and it had to be Abraham's writing. But the question was, where had he left it? Had Rick maybe left it somewhere? Did Morgan know Rick? He seemed rather familiar, maybe Rick had told me about him at some point. Daryl looked over the map with me as well and I saw that he had the same reaction as me. "Where did you get this map?" I asked him softly, as not to alert him.

He stared at me with a slightly nervous face and I gave him a smile. I knew that Rick was well and alive behind the walls of Alexandria, I just wanted to know how Morgan had gotten the map. And why exactly it was that he had kept the map. It was just a map routing out the road to Washington D.C. Why would he want it? "Well I found it outside of a church in northern Georgia," he said and my mind instantly flashed back to our meeting on Father Gabriel. He had found it there. "It didn't seem to be anyone's, I thought that someone might have lost it. Does it mean something to you?" He asked me and it finally dawned on me.

I knew why Morgan seemed so familiar and I knew why he had kept the map. Rick knew him, and he Rick. They were friends, maybe not the right word to use but they knew each other. The sun was setting low in the sky and I knew that if this was the Morgan that I thought he was, we would have to get him back to Rick before the night was over. Rick needed to know that his friend was still alive. I remembered a story that Rick had once told me about Morgan and I took in a deep breath. "No, but you might," I whispered and he cocked his head at me. "Pardon me for asking, but do you have a son named Duane?" I asked softly and as his eyes widened I felt my heart race. "Not that it is any of my business. You don't have to answer, I was just curious. I'm sorry for asking," I recovered from my question quickly.

He was silent for a moment, his eyes locked onto mine and I felt Daryl stiffen in his spot next to me. "I did," he finally said and I felt the collective sigh from the two men and myself. "He was bitten by a walker over a year ago. It was hard and I went a little off of the rails for a while but I finally came to terms that it wasn't my fault and he is in a better place now. He's with his mother. One day I'll be with them again too," he said and I felt my heart lift for him. He had such a positive outlook on such a horrible event in life. "Now pardon my asking but how did you know what my son's name is?" He asked me suspiciously.

"I'm sorry about your son," I instinctively told the dark-skinned man. He nodded at me and I let a sly grin cross over my face. "I really think that you should come back with us to our community," I said to him and he smiled back at me softly. We waited for his answer for a moment and I smiled. He finally nodded to me and I laughed slightly. We began to walk over to where we had left our cars and I sighed as we approached them. I knew that I wasn't wrong that Morgan was a good man, but I hoped that Rick hadn't changed too much since the last time that they had seen each other.

As we walked I let Daryl fall into step with me as we slowed slightly from where Morgan and Aaron were walking. They both were chatting about Alexandria softly and I saw Morgan occasionally nod. As we walked I yawned slightly and jumped when Daryl laid a hand on my shoulder. He stared at me as to ask if I was alright and I nodded at him slightly. "How do you know who this guy is?" Daryl asked me with a nasty look, shot directly for Morgan.

I laughed slightly and shook my head at Daryl. He trusted no one but he needed to know that Morgan was a good man. Hell, he had saved three people that he didn't even know. "Didn't you see the map that he was carrying?" I asked him and he nodded at me slowly. "He knows Rick, you can tell from the way that he looks at Abraham's writing. Rick told me a story, a long time ago, that a man named Morgan had saved him when he woke up from the hospital. He explained to him everything that was going on and he made sure that Rick knew as much as he could before he let him off in the real world. He helped him get back to his old house. He had a son named Duane. Rick told me that even though he barely knew Morgan, he was one of the best men that he ever knew. I trust Rick. This is a good man," I said as I pointed ahead to the man that was smiling at something that Aaron had said.

Aaron pointed Morgan to the red station wagon and the man tossed his staff in the back seat, plopping into the passenger seat and closing the door. I hopped onto Daryl's bike and shook my head as my husband stood in the dirt road. Aaron walked up to us slowly and came to stand on my other side. "He saved us, Daryl. I'm with you, Rain," he said to me and I grinned slightly, glad that Aaron was at least on my side. "I think he'll be an excellent addition to Alexandria and Rick may be happy to see an old friend once again. Especially one that traveled so far for him," Aaron pointed out and I nodded.

Daryl finally scoffed and hopped onto the bike in front of me. Aaron sighed at his irritable demeanor and I shook the other man off, letting him know to go join Morgan. At least the two would be able to have a good conversation on the way over there. We drove on the dark road and I grinned at the sight of the pink sunset. It was always so pretty to see the sun set on days like this. To know that the world hadn't gotten you yet. You were still here. Still fighting. I breathed in the crisp fall air and sunk into Daryl's back. Even though he was facing away from me, I knew that a small smile was on his face.

I was shaken from my half sleep about half an hour later as we rolled through the gates of Alexandria. A man I had never seen before was manning the gates tonight and I nodded at him to open them. He did so and I watched as Morgan's face lit up at the sight of the community. I jumped off of the bike and pulled him a little deeper into our main entrance. "Here we are. Welcome to Alexandria," I said as I spread my arms wide. It was dark and hard to see, but he would be able to look around better in the light of the morning. "We'll take you to Deanna and then I have someone that I think you'd like to-" I began to explain to him before I was cut off by a shrill cry.

"Oh, God!" A woman's cry sounded and I stood straight, along with Daryl, Aaron, and surprisingly Morgan. I turned to wait for the sound again and luckily it came once more. "Oh, my love. My love, my love," the woman was loudly saying. I followed the cries and when I caught where they must have been coming from, I realized that it was coming straight for Deanna's back yard. "No, my love, no. No, my love," the leader of Alexandria's cries continued.

My heart raced as I wondered what could have been happening to cause her to cry like that. Nothing good, that's far sure. "Is that Deanna?" I asked the two men with me, making sure that I was hearing her right.

Right when I was about to ask what the hell had happened to the man on the gate watch I heard another cry in the same direction. But this time it wasn't Deanna. It was a man. "It's him! This is him!" The voice called out. I stared in the direction of the shouts for a moment before I realized who it was. It was Pete.

I sighed and turned in a circle. Aaron looked to be in a panic, probably worrying for Eric and his friends in Alexandria. "That's Pete," I whispered softly as I turned to look at Daryl. He was holding his crossbow and I could see that he was itching to use it. "Hey you!" I shouted at the man who was on the gates. He looked like he could see what was going on, but I could tell that he was having a hard time making everything out. "What the hell is going on?" I asked with a snap to my words.

He shrugged and I had to resist the urge to shoot him for being completely useless. He could have actually been helpful but this was getting us nowhere. "There's a meeting about whether or not Deanna will allow Rick to stay after what happened yesterday," he said and I felt my eyes bulge out of my head. What the hell had happened in the two days that we had been gone? "He attacked Pete, no one really knows what happened. They were in his house and then the next thing you know they were flying out of the window, fists and legs flying everywhere. It was insane," he said and I cocked my head. He had to have had some reason to attack Pete, he wouldn't just do it for no reason.

I thought back on the day for a moment before I realized that the area had gone silent. That either meant that the problem had been rectified or something much worse. We stood for a moment more before I heard a loud scream come from the area. Suddenly a sense of urgency struck me and I made a mad dash for the area that we heard the shouts coming from. "Go!" I yelled back when I realized that the men weren't following me. I noticed that the man still hadn't closed the gate and I rolled my eyes as I ran. "Close the damned gates!" I yelled to the man before turning back and picking up the pace.

I bounded the corner for Deanna's house and prepared to throw open the door. But I was stopped by Aaron grabbing my shoulders and pulling me with him. I nearly fell as we ran but I was steadied by Morgan. I silently thanked him and dashed around the corner of her house to a scene that I was all too familiar with. Deanna was laying on the ground, her husband, his corpse it looked like, Reg was in her arms. He was bleeding from a large gash in his neck and I felt bile bubble to my throat. The community was all around her and I noticed Rick holding Pete in place. Both men were bloody and Pete had Michonne's katana in his hand. Mother of God, what the hell had happened here? Rick was holding a gun to Pete's head, and I could see that his breathing was labored. "Rick do it," Deanna harshly commanded.

Without any hesitation, I saw the gun flare up and jumped slightly as the bullet ended Pete's life. Rick released his grip on the man and I watched as he slumped onto the grass, dead. Women were screaming in the yard and no one had noticed us yet. I was about to push through and ask what the hell had happened but I was stopped by Morgan. He pushed Daryl closer to me and blocked Aaron from my view as he looked at Rick with a startled recognition. "Rick?" He asked, immediately silencing any cries in the crowd.

Rick glanced up at us but his eyes automatically settled on Morgan. The two men stared at each other with a thousand emotions but no words were exchanged. I stared at the bodies of Pete and Reg, along with everyone else and felt the tension rise. For one final time this week, I wished that I was out in the woods with my original group, blind to Alexandria. Things were about to go to hell here, and nothing would be left in one piece.


	49. Seperation

Inside the bedroom that Daryl and I shared in Alexandria I found myself in a little predicament. The sheets were pooled around my waist and I laughed slightly. I was tangled into the sheets and Daryl knew it. He had left me here to hope that I wouldn't be able to get out. Forcing myself onto my side I tried to unwrap the white sheet from my bare legs and yelped loudly as I went tumbling from the bed and onto the hardwood floor. Damn, that hurt. In the bathroom I could hear Daryl laughing and I rolled my eyes. Little asshole. Leaving me like this. I weakly unwrapped myself from the sheets and tossed them back on the bed. Part of me wanted to slip under them again and pretend like I had nothing better to do but the smarter part of me knew that there was a big job to do today. What else is new?

I didn't know why I was surprised that there were things to do. It seemed like there was always something to do. But that wasn't new. I was used to that from the prison. Even though it had been months since I had last seen the gloomy building. It had been home, but now it was only ashes. Now Alexandria was home. Or at least, I was trying to make it home. I could hear the water running in the bathroom and I began to hum to myself as I fixed the sheets on the bed. It felt so peculiar. We were in the middle of the damn apocalypse and here I was making the bed. Things are so fucked up. Risking a glance out the window, the light was blinding but I saw that everyone was lined up, ready for the big plan today.

I wished that we didn't have to do this all today, but it was now or never. Inside a quarry a few miles from our little haven there were thousands of walkers that were risking breaking out at any moment. They were the reason that there were almost no walkers around Alexandria. That little quarry was probably the reason that Alexandria was able to be built. It was why this place was still standing. The job was simple. For Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, and myself that is. Sasha and Abraham were taking a car and Daryl and I would be on his bike. We would lead the walkers twenty miles in the opposite direction of Alexandria after we freed them from the quarry. From there we would speed up and take off back to the community, and the walkers would cease to be an issue. It was a simple plan, but when had things ever been simple for us? There were big risks for people to get hurt during this mission, but we had taken extra precaution to ensure that it wouldn't happen.

Daryl stepped out of the bathroom and I smirked, keeping my back to him. I knew that his eyes were traveling up and down my bare body. Since he had been an asshole and left me tangled up in the sheets, I would be an asshole and stand here, teasing him. I could only hope that Maggie or Glenn wouldn't come looking for us. Both of us had come close to being walked in on, but so far nothing had happened. I could only hope that things would continue to work out that way. Daryl came to stand behind me and I felt his warm body press up against mine. Although to my displeasure he was now clothed. His hands rested on my hip lightly and I grinned. "As much as I like seeing you like that we need to get going," he said to me and I laughed lightly. At least he was honest. I turned to face him and to Daryl's credit, his eyes never once left mine. I took a step closer to him and let my hand rest at his belt. He smirked at me and pushed my hand down, back to my side. "Maybe when we get back. Get dressed, girl," he told me and I scoffed.

That was so typical of Daryl. Even when he wanted to do something I knew that he wouldn't because he had his duty to do. Maybe I would have to get Merle to talk some sense into him. Now that was something that I would never had thought I would ever think. Merle was an idiot, and I was going to kill him if he kept teasing the Alexandrian girls. I was pretty sure the majority of them were terrified of him. "You sure that you don't want me to go kill walkers like this?" I asked, motioning down to my body. This time his eyes trailed over me and I fought a blush. He might be my husband but I was still nervous of him seeing me with nothing on. Maybe it was because he was the only guy that I had ever cared about. He laughed at me and shook his head, walking away slightly. "I mean, it could be a little freeing. Plus I'd get an awesome tan," I teased. Daryl walked back over to me with a hungry smirk in his eyes. I knew that I would get him with that. But just as he came down to kiss me, he shoved me roughly and I went tumbling back onto the bed, doing a little flip out on the other side. "Ah!" I squeaked as I hit the ground.

Daryl was laughing loudly and I sat up with a scowl. He wouldn't think it was so funny if I made him sleep on the couch tonight. God I felt like we were an old married couple. Although we did have half of that down. "That's what you get for being an asshole," he said and I rolled my eyes as I stood up. Brushing my hair back off of my face, I flicked Daryl off and he laughed. "I'll wait downstairs for you. Hurry the hell up, Rick is ready to go. The sooner we get this done the sooner we can all get back here," he said and I nodded.

He disappeared out the door and shut it behind him. I had hoped that he would stay and wait for me but it didn't really matter. Walking over to the dresser I slipped on a pair of underwear and went digging through my clothes. I pulled out a pair of tight jeans and slipped them on, wiggling into them slightly. Once they were sitting on my hips I went digging for a shirt. It would be warm outside but I knew that I would have to keep a little more covered up than usual. Just in case there was an accident with the bike. I had learned that lesson the hard way a few weeks ago. Daryl and I had been out on a run and the bike had slipped out from under us. I had cut up my leg pretty bad. At the bottom of the dresser there was a tight green shirt that had black patterns on the front of it. I pulled it on and placed a heavy vest over it, slipping my knives into it. I pulled on my black combat boots with the spikes on as well and slipped my grandfather's knife into them. On my back I slipped on my bow and arrows and I placed my gun in the holster on my thigh, debating one stuffing one down my pants. But it probably wasn't a good idea, I didn't want to have too much on me to slow myself down.

Once I was sure that I had everything I headed downstairs and saw that Maggie was in the kitchen. I grinned at her and walked over to the island that she was standing behind. Glenn had made sure that she wouldn't be going out on the run and I was glad that he did. For one, we had to have people here to defend Alexandria and for two, she was carrying precious cargo. Even though really no one else knew that part yet. I gave the girl a quick hug and pulled back slightly. "You ready to leave?" She asked me and I nodded. "Hey, things are going to be okay. You guys get those walkers out of there and then everything is back to normal. Rick is right, we have to get them out of here. They just pose a threat to us here, the safety that we've found," she told me and I nodded.

The worry was written on her face but I didn't blame her. Glenn would be going out there and so would most of her friends. Not that many of us were staying. But enough were, just so that Alexandria would still have some people that would be there to defend it. "You seem to be really talking up not worrying," I teased her slightly. She let a small smile cross her face for a moment before dropping her eyes. I knew that she was afraid of what was going to happen to her. I knew that she was afraid that she was going to end up like Lori. I didn't blame her. She had been one of the few to see her die giving birth. I couldn't imagine how much stress that put on her. Stress that was not good for her. I grabbed her hand tightly and gave her a small smile. "Maggie, things are going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine. I'm with you every step of the way. So is Glenn. We all are whenever you want to tell everyone else," I said to her. So far we were the only three that knew, but I knew that it wouldn't stay that way for long.

The woman nodded at me and smiled. I knew that she wasn't ready to tell anyone that she was pregnant but the time would be coming soon. There was only so much longer that she would be able to hide it. The day would come soon that we would lose her as help around Alexandria. She would have to stay back while we all fought to defend her. Just the way that it had been with Lori. Maggie held my hand tightly and I smiled at her. "You know, you're the first person that I told about this. Before Glenn too," she told me and I nodded. I was pretty sure that I was. She had gotten me to grab her a pregnancy test on a run and she had asked me to be there when she took it. When the two lines popped up I could remember seeing how shocked she was. There was a mix of horror and glee. "I just wanted you to be there when I found out. I always told Beth that she would be the first person to know if I was ever going to have a kid," Maggie said and I sighed.

Giving her a tight hug I kissed her on the cheek and backed off. I knew that it hurt her to not have her sister here anymore. It still hurt me that I had been with her in her last moments, I had known what she would do to Dawn, and I had still failed her. "Somewhere up there, she was the first person to know. She knew before me, Maggie. She might have even known before you. I guarantee she's smiling down on you. She's wishing you the best, just like I am," I told her and she smiled, tears glistening in her eyes. "You're going to make a great mother," I added on and she smiled, knowing that I was speaking the truth. She was amazing with Judith and she always would be. "And I will be an awesome aunt," I said with pride and Maggie laughed loudly. We both knew that I would be the honorary aunt to Maggie's child, being that the two of us were so close. "So speaking of, how is Little Rain doing?" I asked as I jokingly grabbed Maggie's stomach.

She laughed loudly and threw my arm off of her. We both grinned like mad and I smirked. I wouldn't want the kid to be names after me, it seemed like Rain was a name with bad luck. "I am not naming them after you," she told me and I pouted. Damn, she wouldn't even consider it. Maybe I could get her to name them Lil Asskicker. Daryl would love that. "And I wouldn't even trust you around them in the baby stages," she said and I scoffed. Come on people, I wasn't that bad with kids. "You would let them play with knives and guns. Probably teach them bad words too." Okay, maybe I was that bad with kids. She wasn't wrong.

Placing my hand over my chest, I puffed my chest out and lifted my nose into the sky. "That's what would make me an awesome aunt," I said and Maggie scoffed, shoving me to the side lightly. We both giggled for a moment before we silenced ourselves and I sighed. Like always, the fun could only last for so long. "Maybe you could name them Beth if it's a girl? Hershel if it's a boy?" I asked her and she nodded, giving a small smile. It was a cute idea but I wasn't sure if those names would be too painful for her to think about. "I think that Glenn would approve of that," I told her and she nodded. He had loved both Greene's, he would love those names.

Maggie smiled at me and leaned back against the counter. The coffee maker gave a small beep and Maggie poured herself a glass, letting me take a small sip. The drink was scalding but it was nice. Wasn't too often now that we got to have drinks like that. "I like that. For now I just have to focus on getting through this stupid plan," she said and I shook my head. I knew that she wasn't fond of the plan and I didn't blame her. This damn plan was suicide. If one thing went wrong there was a good chance that we would all die. It was a somber thought, but I was sure that we would lose at least one person doing this. Probably more. I was sure that Rick knew that too. "I know that we have to do it but I'm worried. You, Glenn, everyone is going to be out there. Just please be careful Rain, I don't know what I would do if I lost you," she told me and I smiled softly.

Besides Daryl, I knew that Maggie was the person that I was closest to. There were other people that I loved, well all of them really, but there were people that I was the closest with. And Maggie was one of those people. "I promise I'll be careful. And for as long as I can I'll try and keep an eye on Glenn too. But trust me, he'll be fine. He wants to see his family again," I told her and she smiled, looking down to her stomach. The kid might not be bigger than a Lima bean right now but I knew that Maggie already loved them. Just like I was sure that I would too once they were born. I glanced over her shoulder and saw Glenn walking up. Probably coming to say goodbye to his wife. "Speaking of the Devil," I muttered as he walked up to us. I hit him on the shoulder as he passed and gave him a small grin. "Hey daddy, good luck out there later. We're leaving soon, make the goodbye fast," I said and he nodded.

Without turning back I knew that Glenn was shaking his head at me. It seemed like that was what he was always doing when I was around. Daryl probably felt the same way. "Thanks Rain, always good to know that your sense of humor hasn't died," he called up and I laughed. I knew exactly how to grind on his nerves without making him hate me. It was something that I was great at, at least since the world had gone to shit. "I'll be out there soon and ready to go. Hey, you be careful out there too," Glenn called back to me and I nodded, giving him a small smile.

Silently, I made my way out of the house and up to the front of Alexandria. As I walked I saw Spencer, Deanna's other son. He was much better than Aiden, Spencer actually cared about our people. He was a little foolish and didn't think things through, but his heart was in the right place. But one day it was going to get him killed. He waved at me as I passed and I gave him a little nod. He had been trying to get me to teach him how to hunt but I had told him not until we cleared the walkers out of the quarry. We now knew how dangerous it was to go out there without a car or something to get away with if things went wrong. One day though I would teach him how to hunt. It felt a little silly though, me teaching him to do something. He was a big guy that was almost five years older than me.

Leaving Spencer's sight I headed up to the front of the community and saw that Daryl was sitting against his bike. He nodded at me when he saw me and leaned off of the bike, getting on. He moved forward for me to get on the back and I smiled at him. As I walked up he caught me around the waist, letting his fingers twist the ring on my finger. "You ready to get out of here?" He asked me and I scoffed. I would much rather lay in bed all day. Daryl laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, me either," he told me. I smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss before jumping onto the back of his bike. I brought my hands to wrap around his waist and I ran my hand under his shirt, over his hipbone. He grunted at me and shoved my hand off and I grinned.

Not a moment later Abraham and Sasha had come over to us in the car and we sat together at the front of the community. We knew that we would have to wait twenty minutes after Rick and the others blew the quarry to catch the herd. We headed out to the quarry after a few minutes and I sighed, sitting and waiting. Daryl was holding my hand tightly and I smiled at him. We had a relatively dangerous job. For twenty miles we would be leading the walkers away from Alexandria. One little mistake, going too slow, and we would be overrun with walkers. We all knew that we had to be careful. I knew that it wouldn't be long before we would get the walkers. I heard the blow from the quarry and felt the Earth shake. I jumped at the sudden noise and sighed. The walkers would be here any minute now. We were only about a minute away. Even back here I could hear the growls of the walkers and I knew that they were going to be on us within a minute. I glanced over at Sasha and Abraham and both people were nodding at me, letting me know that they were ready.

Daryl tapped me on the shoulder and I looked past him, seeing that there were more walkers than I had ever seen headed over to us. My God, there must have been a thousand of them. My eyes widened and my breath caught in my throat. We would have to be careful here. As the walkers got closer Daryl took off and we slowly headed to the twenty mile point. I sighed and turned back, seeing the walkers limping after us. God I would have to think of something else for a while. I shook my head and looked at Daryl's back, trying to block out the sound of the walkers. I wanted to talk to him but the roar of the engine was too loud. Plus I needed him to be able to focus right now. I thought about maybe napping too, but that was dangerous.

My thoughts wandered to the people in Alexandria and I thought about how Morgan was taking on this first mission outside the walls. He was an interesting man, Morgan. I knew that for nearly a year he had gone completely off the grid, after losing his son to his wife who had turned into a walker, a woman that he wasn't able to put down himself. Now he was all Zen and some kind of karate kid. I wasn't sure what had happened, but Morgan had told me that it was a man that he had met that had changed him. I knew he didn't mean romantic, he was not that type of guy. He had just met some man that wouldn't let him give up on himself. I would have loved to meet that man, but judging how Morgan had said nothing more about the man I assumed that he had met his end. That was probably why Morgan was here now. I hoped that he was settling in here and liking it, but I wasn't sure if he really liked the way that we ran things. He probably wanted everything to go nicely and wanted us never to hurt a living human, but that wasn't the way that we were. Not anymore. We couldn't afford to be that way after everything.

Sighing, I tried to move on to happier thoughts. Like the fact that we would be adding in a new group member sometimes soon. It was nice, it meant that Judith would have someone to play with as she grew up. I knew that Maggie was afraid that she would end up like Lori, but I kept telling her that she wouldn't. Lori had confided in me that she had already had problems with children. She had had plenty of problems delivering Carl. We knew that hers would be a tough birth from the start. The good thing about being here now was that it wasn't the prison. There was better security and we had an infirmary for her to go to when it was time. She would be alright. She would have to be alright. I didn't know what would happen to Glenn and me if she wasn't alright. Nothing good. But we had to keep thinking that Maggie would be alright, we had the medical supplies for it and we had plenty of women that had delivered children. Everything would be fine.

The other night I had thought about telling Daryl that Maggie was pregnant and that I was worried, but I knew that it was something that I would have to keep to myself. The news was not mine to deliver and I knew that Maggie would kill me if I told someone that she was pregnant before she did. It wasn't fair to her. I let my hands thread through Daryl's hair and I smiled. I could feel the grease built up but I loved the color of it now. It had darkened drastically since I had met him but I thought that it suited him more. I could tell that he had a small smirk on his face and I wondered if he was ever this confident as a kid. Even when I had first met him he had seemed confident of everything that he had done, but it wasn't quite the way that he was now. Maybe it was because of me. Or maybe it was because Merle had finally realized that Daryl was strong, not the little baby that he had always made his little brother out to be.

The walkie talkie that was on Daryl's shoulder began to chirp loudly and I listened in. It sounded like shouts and it sounded like orders were being yelled. I could tell that it was Rick's voice and I cocked my head. Had something happened to them? How was he back at Alexandria already? We were supposed to get there not long after him, but we were only at five miles. Had we been going slower than we were supposed to? The chirps continued for a moment and I could hear voices from people that I knew. Rick. Michonne. Morgan. Carol. Maggie. Rosita. Tara. Were they all okay? We had the walkers with us so what else was out there? There was no way that it was more walkers. Clearly it had been something big if Rick and the others had gone back early. I leaned into Daryl and put my mouth to his ear. "What the hell is going on back in Alexandria? Did everyone get back already? I mean is anyone even paying attention to the plan anymore?" I asked loudly.

Daryl had his hand on the bars and I reached over him to click the radio on so that he could talk. He thanked me quietly before motioning for me to move it closer to his mouth. He had to speak right into it or else Rick would only hear the roar of the bike engine. "Rick!" He yelled and I jumped. I hadn't been expecting him to be that loud.

My heart pounded as I waited for someone to yell back to us. The walkie that we were attached to would get us back to anyone, but it worked the best with Rick. It was the matching pair of the set. My arm was resting on Daryl's chest and I could feel that his heart was beating as loud as my own. We were both nervous for what was happening back home. "I'm here," Rick finally yelled.

I let out an audible breath and I could feel Daryl's chest contract soon. Besides Merle, I knew that Daryl counted Rick as family. I didn't blame him, I thought of Rick as a little bit of a father figure. Carl and Judith were lucky to have a father like him. Oh God, I hope they're both okay. I hope Maggie is okay. Maybe I should have stayed so that I could help keep her safe. Glenn would have had a mind at ease that way. Daryl motioned for me to click the walkie and I nodded. "What's going on back there?" He asked.

Once more the radio was silent for a moment and it killed me. I hated waiting like this. It just made me nervous that the wait to hear back might never end. But Rick was stronger than that. We both knew that. I glanced over and saw that Sasha and Abraham were listening to their radio as well, clearly also curious about what was going on. "Half of them broke off," Rick finally replied and I felt my heart drop. The walkers. What the hell? Why weren't they following us? We were a perfectly good meal and they had nothing in the other direction. "They're going toward Alexandria," Rick added and I felt my stomach lurch.

There's no way that they were heading towards Alexandria. They couldn't be. There was nothing that would lead them there. We had nothing for them there. The scents and noise wouldn't be enough to lead them towards our home, it wasn't enough. Something had to have happened. My heart was beating rapidly as I feared for my group members and Daryl's was as well. There were so many people there that I cared about. At least the walls would keep them safe. "Towards you?" Daryl asked Rick.

This time the walkie hissed with a response almost immediately. "We ran ahead," Rick said and I nodded. At least he, Michonne, and Morgan were not in the path of the herd. They would beat them back to the community. That was at least one good thing. "There's a horn or something. Loud, coming from the east. It's not stopping," Rick informed us and my eyebrows knitted.

A horn? How the hell was there a horn back there? It reminded me of the time that the alarms were set off at the prison by Andrew to lure in the walkers but I knew that there were no sirens back there. The closest thing that ew had to a horn was something like the fire alarms but those were way too quiet to attract any walkers. At least from a group of people that would make a nice meal. Daryl sat there for a moment and I wondered what he was thinking about. Probably hoping that everyone was safe for the time being. That the carnage could wait for a while. "I'm gonna gas it up, turn back. Rain and I can help out back there," he said and I cocked my head. What about this part of the plan?

We still would have Sasha and Abraham but I was worried that if we left we would draw off some of the walkers too. That would make three separate herds, a dangerous thing for us to do. It seemed that Rick knew it too. "We have it," he told us and I shook my head. No they didn't. This was way too many walkers to take down, no matter how many people we had back there. They were going to lose someone. But I knew that he was just trying to keep us out here. This was where we were needed right now. "You keep going. They're gonna need our help. Gotta keep the herd moving," he said and I nodded.

It wasn't the easy choice but it was the right one. We had to believe that everyone back in Alexandria would be able to take care of the herd that was passing by. They weren't all weak, they would be able to defend it. Or at least I hoped they would. "Not if it's going down, we don't," Daryl said into the walkie.

I waited for Rick to respond but when he didn't, I leaned a little closer to Daryl. I knew that he wanted to go back there and help, to feel useful, but it was far too dangerous. We risked making a bigger mess out of a n already big mess. Leaning slightly so that I could put my mouth to Daryl's ear, I grabbed his shoulders to keep my balance. The last thing I needed was falling off the bike. "The rest of that herd turns around, the bad back there gets worse," I told him and he stayed silent. Finally I was no longer sure that he had heard me. "Daryl?" I shouted over the loud engine of the motorcycle.

It was great that Aaron had found all of the parts for the new bike, and it was very nice after Daryl had lost Merle's bike when the prison had fallen, but this bike was so damn loud. It scared me sometimes that a walker might hear it and decided to get a little friendly with us. I knew that Daryl hated how loud it was too, but he loved his bike. There was no way that he would get rid of it. "Yeah, I heard you," he finally told me and I sighed. "We gotta keep moving, right?" He asked me before leaning over so that he could shout to Sasha and Abraham. "Hey, we gone five miles out yet?" He asked them.

I noticed that Abraham glanced over at the mile marker and did a quick calculation in his head. Okay so maybe he wasn't as unintelligent as I pegged him for when I first met him. I knew that the man wasn't stupid, but he also wasn't overly intelligent. But he made up for it with his personality. He was a fun person to be around. "Give or take some yardage. You got a reason for asking?" Abraham asked.

Daryl nodded at him and I sucked in a breath. I knew that whatever Daryl's plan was, it would not be something that I would like. They usually weren't, just the way that he normally didn't like my plans. Together we made good ones, but separately they almost always were bad. "Next intersection we're gonna spin around and go back," Daryl called out to the other pair.

The looks on both Abraham and Sasha's face were of shock. I didn't blame them. If we all spun around it meant that we would lead all of the walkers back to Alexandria. The exact reason that we were doing this whole plan in the first place. We couldn't risk leading the rest of the walkers back to the community, it would make things even worse for them. "The plan is to go fifteen more," Abraham yelled back to Daryl.

For a moment I thought that Daryl would agree and say that Abraham was right, that we had to keep pushing on and we would just hope that the best would happen back at Alexandria. Daryl finally shook his head and I sighed. This was wrong, we would put the entire plan in jeopardy. "Yeah, I'm gonna change that. Five's gonna have to work," he said and I slapped his side, but he ignored me.

Ever the reasonable man, Abraham shook his head and I could tell that he was debating spinning the wheel and cutting Daryl and I off. But that could kill us all. It certainly wasn't worth it. "The magic number's twenty. That's the mission," Abraham said and I knew that Daryl was doing his best to ignore the red head. "That's making sure they're off munching on infirm raccoon the rest of their undead lives instead of any of us," he called back and I grinned. He really did have an eloquent way of putting things.

Sasha shook her head at Daryl and I and I nodded at her, letting her know that I would try to get him to not do it. We all knew that this would not end well. "You want to go, we can't stop you," Sasha said and I whipped around to her. What the hell had she said that for? That was only helping the case that Daryl would go back. "But without you, they could stop us," she said and I sighed. Okay, maybe I overreacted a little bit. Daryl revved the engine loudly and I jumped when he pulled away from the crowd of walkers. "Daryl!" I heard Sasha yell behind us.

I turned back to see that Abraham was also hanging out of the window. I looked at him in panic and he gave me a pleading look, I knew that he was trying to get me to talk Daryl into turning back around. "Don't do it, man!" He yelled, but we were already gone. Daryl hopped onto the highway and I sighed. We couldn't do this. This was not a part of our plan. We had to go back there. I had to talk him out of this.

For a moment I thought about what to say for a moment and I sighed. I could only hope that I would be able to talk him into going back. I looked at the miles ticking by and I closed my eyes briefly. "Daryl, we have to go back there," I shouted to him and he turned back briefly. Taking another deep breath, I leaned into him. "Look, I know you want to go back there and make sure that everyone is okay. I do too. Trust me, I love them just as much as you do. I know that Merle is back there but we can't," I said, knowing that he wanted to make sure that his brother was okay. I wanted to know that he was okay too. I wanted to know that they were all okay. "We have to go back and help them. They could die if we leave them. Daryl, they will be alright back at home. They know how to fight people. But they cannot fight off this many walkers. If we want to help them, we have to go back to Abraham and Sasha. This is the right thing to do," I told him before dropping back into his seat.

It was a while before Daryl even made the slightest sound to let me know that he had heard me. I thought that he might ignore me, but finally he made the confirmation to let me know that he had indeed heard me. He nodded briefly and I thought that he would choose to not go back. We simply drove forward but I noticed that he had slowed down drastically. For nearly a half an hour we drove before I knew that I had gotten to him. I reached around and laid my hand on his thigh, letting him know that it was alright. He finally nodded at me and turned the bike around. I wobbled for a moment but Daryl had a hand on his thigh to keep me up.

Roaring down the highway I jumped slightly at the sudden noise that invaded my ear. I peered over Daryl's shoulder and saw that he had the odometer hovering just over one hundred. I gulped lightly, knowing that a fall at this speed could very well kill us. But Daryl knew his bikes and I knew that he wasn't going to let us fall. Especially not with me on it. He pressed the walkie on his shoulder and I smiled lightly. That's my husband. "That's twenty?" Daryl asked as we pulled back off of the highway and headed back to Sasha and Abraham.

The radio was silent for a moment and I took a breath in. I could see the walker herd off in the distance and I saw the car that Abraham and Sasha were in as well. We would just be beating the herd at the twenty mile marker and we would be able to head back to Alexandria and help defend it. "It will be," Sasha finally said over the radio and I smiled. "Six forty-two is a mile ahead. We gotta put distance between us and them before the turnoff," she said and I nodded. We couldn't run the risk of dragging them back to Alexandria before this.

It was only a moment before Abraham came back over the walkie as well. "So floor it," he told her with a chuckle and I smiled. I knew that Sasha had been having problems with herself since Bob and Tyreese had died and I completely understood. It was how I would feel if Daryl and Rick had died.

Daryl smirked at them as we pulled off to the side of the road and met up with the pair once more. Abraham gave me a wink and I smiled. I knew that he had trusted me to get Daryl turned around. It was something that our lives depended on. Daryl glanced over at the two of them and gave a nasty grin. "All right, try to keep up," he told the pair and I laughed. He knew that we could outrun them by miles.

Sasha seemed to know the same thing as well and she laughed loudly. Even Abraham was chuckling in the passenger seat. "Daryl, have you looked at this car?" She laughed and I smiled. She was right. It was this nasty little red car that looked like it was about to fall apart at the seams. But it was one of the cars that we had that worked and it was one of the only ones that wasn't in use for the rest of the plan. "Believe me, we want to get back there, too," she said and I nodded. We all wanted to know what was going on.

The engine of the bike revved underneath me and I smiled. It was time to find out what the hell had happened back home. The loud bang of a gun made me jump and nearly knock the bike off balance, but Daryl managed to steady it. I glanced over to see if Abraham or Sasha had fired it but they were both looking in shock. Glancing over their car I noticed that they were both speeding up and trying to head out of the path of the bullets that were now raining down on their car. "Daryl, move!" I shouted over the bullet fire and the roar of the engine. I glanced back fast enough to see another car coming up on us, but then the world went spinning.

I gasped as I realized that Daryl had had to turn the bike to avoid crashing into the car but that meant that it had sent us sprawling. The bike flew over the median and into the woods and I had to resist a scream. They couldn't know where we were. The tires of the bike were squealing as we went flying into the woods. The bike fell onto its side and I went flying off of the bike. My head impacted the ground first and I flipped over a few times, my entire body getting caught on branches and rocks. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I hit the ground one last time roughly and groaned at the pain that was shooting through me. Gunfire was still going off in the distance and I swallowed harshly. They were still after Abraham and Sasha. Please be okay guys.

The bike had gone silent and I panicked. Oh God, where was Daryl? I hadn't seen him once I was thrown off of the bike. There was a walker growling in the background and I groaned. Not right now. I pulled out one of my knives and crawled over to it, driving the knife into the walker's skull, through its jaw. It fell to the ground and I sighed. There was no blood on it so it hadn't gotten to Daryl. I heard a rough panting and I turned back. On the ground was Daryl and he was limping over to me. Over the silence I heard birds calling and I panted roughly as Daryl crawled over to me. He looked battered, but relatively uninjured. "Are you alright?" He asked me softly.

Nodding at him, I fell to the ground and groaned at the pain that shot through my tailbone. Oh yeah, that would be hurting for a while. "Yeah," I said after a moment, trying to blink the spots from my eyes. "What the hell was that about? Did you see anything, anyone that was shooting at us?" I asked him and he shook his head. I should have known that though, he was focused on the road and trying to keep us safe. I glanced up and saw that Daryl was bleeding from a wound in his head. "Hey you're bleeding. Let me take a look at that," I said.

Fawning over his wound, Daryl pushed me back and I grimaced at him. I wanted to make sure that he was okay. A head wound might not always look too mad but I knew that sometimes it was much more serious than it looked. Daryl waved me off and I sighed. "Rain I'm fine. Didn't see anything, just heard the shots and knew we needed to get the hell off the road. We need to find them, make sure that they're okay," he told me and I nodded. He pulled out the walkie but it looked crushed. It had probably broken when Daryl had fallen. "Sasha? Abraham, are you there?" He asked but was only met with silence. The static was hissing and I sighed, please let them be alive. Daryl hissed in pain when he moved forward and I grabbed his hand. "Girl I told you that I was fine," he snapped.

I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to yell at him but I cut myself off when I heard a branch snap. Both Daryl and I stood and I watched as the trees rustled. It was a person. Maybe it was Sasha and Abraham. But the people that stepped out were no such people. It was two girls that looked a little older than me. Both were extremely skinny and I wondered if they were half starved. It looked like it. The younger one had short blonde hair and wore a blue button down. The other woman had long brown hair and was wearing a small spaghetti strapped shirt. She reminded me a little of Lori. "Stop right there! Who the hell are you?" Daryl yelled.

The girl with brown hair held her hand up and looked like she was just about ready to cry. Of course she now had a bow and crossbow pointed at her. "You found us, okay?" She said and I cocked my head. Found her? These were not the people that we were looking for. "Here we are. We earned what we took," she said and I nearly laughed. Clearly this was a case of mistaken identity. Maybe we would be able to run off without making anything even worse. A branch snapped behind us and I turned back before Daryl could. There was a loud thud and I jumped.

Daryl fell next to me and I gasped. "Daryl!" I yelled, dropping down to his side. I glanced up for a moment and saw that there was a man, probably six or seven years older than me, holding a gun. Asshole. He had hit Daryl with it. Not wanting him to know how much Daryl meant to me, I pulled one hand behind my back and slipped the ring off of my finger, dropping it into my pocket. I put my hand back to my bow and jumped up, aiming it at the man. "You better get the hell away from us or I swear to God I'll take your damn head off," I growled, not sure who to look at. "Back up!" I yelled, when I saw that the two girls were trying to advance on me while I wasn't looking. "I'm not blind. You two first," I said and they did as told. "Now you," I snarled at the man.

The man looked at me and I made sure that my bow was aimed at him. So far, he was the one that was on my shit list. He had damn near killed my husband. He was wearing a checkered shirt and had his blonde hair tied up in a hair tie. It looked like he was thin as well and I wondered how long these people had been out here for. "Come on now, we know who you are," he told me and I raised an eyebrow. He didn't know me, did he? I didn't think that I had ever met him. "We fought like hell to get out of there, I'm sure that you did too. But we ain't going back. Not now, not after everything," he said and I scoffed.

I had no idea who this asshole was. I had never met him and I had never fought to get out of anywhere. Only Terminus and that was hundreds of miles away. There was no way that this guy knew me. "Going back? Going back where? I don't think I'm part of your little group," I told him and he scoffed. Okay you little dick, then I won't be nice either. "You said something about earning what you took, what did you take?" I asked and they all looked at each other. So they didn't trust me, that's fine, I didn't trust them either. "Look, I get not wanting to tell people anything about yourselves but you run around trying to knock people out, it's not going to work well forever. Trust me," I said and the man nodded. "Now what are your names?" I asked them, hoping that we could solve this.

The man nodded at me and loved forward to take my hand. But I did not trust him. Instead I glared at him and he took the hint, backing off of me. "I'm D," he told me and I snorted. A guy that was trying to impress everyone that he meant. "Come on, you ever tell people your real name anymore?" He asked and I nodded, everyone knew that I was really Rain Blake- well Dixon. It was still odd to say. "This is Honey and Tina," he said, gesturing to the brunette first and the blonde next. "Now what about the two of you, you got names?" He asked, motioning down to the still body of Daryl.

I snarled at him and took a protective step closer to Daryl. They were not going to touch him while I was still here. "I'm Rain. This is Daryl," I said, motioning down to my still husband. I knew that he was still breathing though, I could see his chest rise and fall. "When he wakes up I promise you that you are gonna regret ever hitting him. He isn't the friendly type. Especially not to stupid fuckers like yourselves," I hissed.

D nodded at me and I could tell that he thought that he was smarter than me. But I knew that it wasn't true. He was nothing more than some idiot who had gotten involved in some fight, we had just been caught in the crossfire. That was when it hit me. Those people that we had crossed in front of, they were the ones that D and his friends thought that we were. And those people might have thought that we were D and the other two. What a day we were having so far. "You're outnumbered Rain, you really want to be saying things like that?" He asked me.

Laughing slightly, I shook my head. He was about to realize that I was much smarter than I looked. I always had been. It had shocked people for years. "I might be outnumbered but I'm not outsmarted. Your girls over there have no weapons," I said as I motioned back to them. "Two arrows through the skull would take them down easily. And you? I'd have this arrow through your eye before you could pull that trigger," I said to him and he smirked at me. He had no idea what I was capable of. "Come on, we've all grown up since the world went to shit. Some of us got smarter, others just got ballsy. Which one are you?" I asked with a grin.

For a moment D was silent but he eventually laughed and nodded at me. "Clever girl," he said and I nodded. He was going to find out sooner if he didn't step back and take his friends out of here. "You sure that you weren't with our people?" He asked me and I shook my head. Not that I was really sure if that was an actual question or not. "I'm sure that he would just love you. You actually remind me a little bit of him," he told me and I cocked an eyebrow. He who? "That's not a good thing," D told me when he was that I was thinking about it.

Knowing that D would not tell me who this mystery guy was unless I prodded him, I decided to give in to his little game. "He? Who is he?" I said and D shook his head. I looked back to Honey and Tina to see if they would answer me, but they both shook their heads as well. Damn, this guy must have been bad if they feared even his name. Maybe he was Voldemort. "This man that you're running from I assume. Trust me, I know how it feels to run from someone. We've met up with some bad people, the problem is that running doesn't work. It never does. Sooner or later they will find you," I told D, hoping that he would see to reason and tell me who this guy was. "And these people don't seem like the type that want to sit and talk it out," I said, remembering that they had shot at us, completely unprompted.

For a while, D was silent. I thought that he might not tell me anything and I sighed. Besides threats, there was nothing else that I could say to them. "He's the leader of the people that we used to be with," he told me and I nodded. That much I had figured. "The Saviors," he said and I laughed. It was good that we were getting somewhere but that was such a stupid name for a group. We normally names groups based on where they were from. Like Daryl, Merle, Glenn, Carol, Carl, Rick, and I were from the Atlanta group. "Don't laugh, he really does save people. He makes you feel like you're at home. He's so strong, he can defend you from anything and then he just changes," he said and I nodded. He sounded like my father. But my father was burning in hell. Just where he belonged. "He starts to show you who he really is," he said and I nodded.

We had all known far too many people that had been like that. It seemed like the entire world was like that now. Even we were probably a little like that. It was hard not to be like that with the things that we all had to do. "You have no idea how familiar that sounds. He's just like every other coward that came out when the world changed," I hissed and D nodded at me. So maybe we were getting somewhere. "So what's this man's name?" I asked, hoping that I would know who we were going up against.

D shook his head and I sighed. Forward one step and back two. They were so afraid of this guy that they weren't even going to tell me his name. Of course, we didn't trust each other at all. Both D and I still had our weapons pointed at each other. Not that either one of us looked like we were going to fire at the other. We still had questions. "I don't think you want to know his name. If life is good to you, you should hope that you never have to hear his name," he told me and I scoffed. When was life ever good to me? "Give me the arrows," he told me and I scoffed. No way. He dropped his gun down to Daryl and I gulped. Sighing, I knew that I would have to do it. It meant keeping Daryl alive. I took the arrow off of the bow and placed it in the quiver, handing it over to D. He took it and motioned to the bow. "The bow too," he said as I handed it over. "Now the gun, nice and slow," he said and I nodded. Hopefully he would miss the knife in my boot. It wasn't really visible. "And the knife in your boot," he told me and I scoffed. Damn it. "Thought that I would miss that huh? Come on, you willing to risk his life to keep your things?" He asked me when I didn't hand it over. Finally I scoffed and gave the knife up. "Thank you. Keep this trained on her," D said as he handed my gun off to Honey. "Finger off the trigger. For now," he added.

Part of me was glad that he had told her that. She looked like the type to pop off a shot whenever something loud happened. I didn't want to get shot again. I was nearing ten times or something like that. The fact that I didn't know was sad. "Glad to know that you trust me so much," I snarled and D nodded at me with a little smile. "You know I'm going to get that back and you won't like it when I do," I said, motioning back to the bow that he now had on his back. "Hey get the hell away from him!" I yelled as D walked over to Daryl.

He jumped back and pushed me off of him, the gun in his hand now at my forehead. D shook his head at me and I stood back a little, still close enough to stop him if he tried anything. "Relax, I'm only helping him up," he said and I glared. Yeah right. "Come on, we aren't completely heartless. I hurt your man so now I'm going to help him. You can respect that, right Rain?" He asked me and I nodded. "So tell me, you seem extremely protective of him. What is he to you? More than just a group member, right?" He asked me and I stiffened.

If they knew that he was my husband they could use it against me. There was no way that I would let them do that. I would have to tell them that he was only a friend. "Would it matter if he was anything more to me than a group member?" I sneered and D smirked at me. Oh yeah, I had to lie. "He's my friend," I said, noticing the little twinge in my heart when I called Daryl only my friend. "I've known him almost since the beginning. We've been through a lot together. We aren't anything like you are with your little Honey," I said and D gaped at me. I smirked and shook my head. I had seen the way that he had caressed her hand when he had given her the gun. "Don't look at me like that. I know that the two of you are married. I can see the way that she looks at you. Like she's grateful for what you've done for her and she loves you, but she's scared. What have you done to scare her?" I asked, a little glint in my eyes. I hoped that I hurt him. Just the way that I had been hurt. "Maybe push her too far, do something that she can never forgive you-" I began.

Before I could finish my thought, a blinding pain went through my head. Damn it, D had hit me in the eye. I suppose that I had deserved it though. It wasn't too bad though, I had been hit by people much stronger than him and much worse things had been done to me. A black eye was nothing. "You want another one like that?" He asked me and I scoffed. "Best shut the hell up. I only did for her what I did because I love her. I saved her. She isn't afraid of me, she's afraid of him. You should be too," he added softly at the end.

I was on my ass in the dirt and I rolled my eyes. There goes my clean clothes. I should have figured. I seemed to not be able to go more than a day without ruining my clothes. The woman with short blonde hair walked up to me and I sneered at her. Even though she was the only one that hadn't said anything since I had met her did not mean that I liked or trusted her. "Are you alright?" She asked me as she reached out to my arm.

Shoving her back roughly, I noticed that I had knocked her into the dirt. She jumped roughly in surprise and I rolled my eyes. Little bitch. Maybe your leader had every right to be an ass to you guys. You had to be tough in this world. And being tough was different than pretending to be brave. "Get the hell away from me," I hissed before standing up and moving to face D. "You better hope that I don't get any of that stuff back," I told him as I motioned to the weapons that he had strapped onto him. I noticed that he had Daryl's crossbow too and I grimaced. He would not be happy about that when he woke up. "I promise that you'll regret ever showing me your faces," I growled and D glared back at me. His confident smirk was long gone.

As we walked I groaned when D ran a rope around my wrists. Daryl had them on him too and I sighed. This was not going well for us. For a while we walked before D finally motioned for Honey and Tina to stop. They both were panting heavily and looked on the verge of collapsing. Not to mention that they were dripping with sweat. I rolled my eyes and dropped onto a log, next to where Daryl was now laid down. I was perfectly fine, especially since the sun was set for a long time now. Bitches. It was a wonder that they weren't both dead. I guess that this man had been the one to keep them all alive. "We stop here for now. We're far enough for now that we'll be safe. We can stop for the night," D said and I nodded. Part of me was curious to meet this guy, but a bigger part of me wanted nothing to do with him. "Give him a chance to rest up too. Sit with your friend, make sure that he's okay," D said to me and I flicked him off, not that he could see me.

They all sat together and I groaned when they started a fire. They wanted to hide from this guy but they were stupid enough to make a fire? Damn, no wonder he wanted to kill them. They were fucking morons. If I died because of them, I was going to be seriously pissed. I heard Honey speak up and I looked over to the brunette woman. "So who do you think that they are?" She asked D and I laughed. Serial killers. Of course, that was half true. "I mean she says that she has no idea who he is but they both look like they could have come from him," Honey said and I rolled my eyes. We kind of all looked the same now. We were ragged and dirty. Idiot.

D shook his head and glanced back at me. I sneered at him but it was so dark that I was pretty sure that he couldn't see me. Instead he looked back at his friends and I scoffed. "It's possible that they could have not been at the main center," he told me and I cocked my head. These people were in more than one place? Awesome. At least we would know that there was another threat out there once Daryl and I got out of this place. And we would. We always got out of things like this. "Maybe they never even knew him. Probably just some more soldiers from one of the outposts. He probably hates them, too," he said and I scoffed. He was so underestimating us.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Daryl had moved slightly. I dropped down next to him and moved his head so that it was resting on my lap. I was sure that I was getting close to revealing that we were more than friends but I didn't care. He had been out for hours and I wanted to make sure that those assholes hadn't done any lasting damage. His eyes flickered open and I gave him a bright smile. "Rain," he breathed out and I laughed.

I had his head held gently in my lap and I brushed his hair out of his face. His eyes slipped back closed and I frowned. No, he was awake damn it. "Daryl?" I asked but there was no response. I sighed, knowing that he was back in unconsciousness but I continued to talk to him. "Hey Daryl, you're okay. Come on look at me. Wake up, please," I begged but he stayed completely still. I guess this was what I got for giving him all the death scares. "I'm here, I'm not leaving you. We'll be okay," I promised quietly.

D called out to me and I rolled my eyes. What the hell could he possibly want from me right now? Couldn't they just all go to bed so that I could kill them all and get Daryl the hell out of here? That would make things so much easier. I would love that. "You know there aren't many people who still actually use a bow and arrow," D told me and I nodded. Thanks idiot, I know that. There aren't really that many people left to learn how anyways. Now either die or leave me alone. "It's good though. Silent. Doesn't attract them. This is a nice bow, Rain," he told me and I grimaced. It was, until your grimy little hands got all over it. "Where did you get one of these?" He asked me.

I wasn't really sure where it had come from, but a sudden possessiveness of the bow came over me and I got the sudden urge to run up and knock his head off with it. Maybe it was because it was from one of the few good memories I had of my parents. "None of your damn business is where I got it," I snapped at him and he glared at me. You punched me asshole, don't get all prissy about my attitude. "If you'd like though, I can give you a demonstration of how to use it. Up close and personal. I promise you'll love it," I said sweetly.

D whistled loudly and I rolled my eyes. Come on people, it's a miracle that you all lived this long. I guess they had Voldemort to thank. Yeah, I think that was what I was going to call him for now. Hopefully forever. I didn't like D but I did believe him, I never wanted to meet this man. "You got a mouth on you. If you ever meet him, you may want to learn to keep it shut. He'll like that mouth of yours and I promise that you won't like what he'd use it for," he told me and my skin began to crawl. Not that again. I had gone a long time without something like that and I would like to keep it that way. The only person that I wanted touching me like that was my husband. "I like your friend's crossbow. I've seen more people using these, but they usually aren't this well taken care of," he said.

Every part of me wanted to run up and take Daryl's crossbow back before putting a bolt in every one of their eyes. But that wouldn't help me. I could overpower one of them but not all three of them. Plus, not each one of them was armed. I would have nothing but my raw strength to use to my advantage. That might work, but it was a long shot and I wasn't ready for another bullet hole in me. Maybe in a few months I'd be up for it again. I was beginning to get a little fond of the, holy shit I think my limb is falling off, feeling. "You know how to use one?" Honey asked her husband and I rolled my eyes. Probably not.

D nodded at her and I laughed. He might claim to know how to use one but I doubted that he knew how to use one well. Even I wasn't that good with the crossbow. They were something that took a lot of practice and patience. It was kind of the same thing with the longbow. "Yeah. Never liked using them to hunt. But they're pretty efficient for silent hunters. Good for use around deer, doesn't startle them off if you miss," he said and I nodded. He wasn't wrong but anything would startle them. Even a change in the wind from a little bolt. "You're a southerner aren't you, Rain?" D asked me and I glanced up in surprise. I'm your worst nightmare.

Scoffing brightly I shook my head and turned slightly to look at D and his two female companions. Why the hell would he even care if I was a southerner? "I wonder how you could tell," I snapped and D shrunk back slightly. It was easy to tell that both Daryl and I were from the south. He had a rough southern accent that screamed that he was from somewhere in the Deep South. Me on the other hand, I had more of a light lilt to my voice that hinted that I was from the south, but nowhere too pronounced. That was where my background from South Florida came into play. "What do you care? Make any difference?" I asked him, not really caring what he had to say.

Even though my back was to him, I knew that he was looking over me with curious eyes. It seemed like they hadn't met any new people in a while, and maybe they had expected me to roll over and go with what they wanted. Oh how wrong they were. "Come on now, don't be like that," D told me and I rolled my eyes. Well, the one that wasn't swollen shut. Part of me hoped that one day I would be able to teach Maggie's kid to be the ultimate bad ass. She would just have to forgive me. "Where are you from?" Hell. "What brings you up to Virginia?" A lie. "Just trying to make conversation. No point in sitting here and staring at each other all night, waiting for one of us to make the next move," he told me and I whirled around on him.

It was clear that I had surprised him when he jumped back and his hand went to one of the guns. Go ahead and shoot me, I seem to have an immunity to it. Although that probably was not a wise thing to tell him. He might be willing to test that out. "You attacked the two of us. Unprompted. We would have left you guys alone and moved on. We aren't the types to attack people," I hissed. It might not have been the exact truth, but it was close enough. We weren't saints, but we were good enough. Good enough to ensure that we would live in this world without becoming monsters. "I assume that you're running from someone. I think that those people mistook us for you. We were shot at, that's why we were in the woods in the first place," I said, not sure what that had to do with anything.

He was silent for a moment and I waited for him to say something. He wasn't innately bad, I could tell that. It seemed like he was just willing to do anything to protect his wife and their friend. I completely understood that. The only thing that I didn't understand was why they were being damn idiots about the entire thing. They should have knocked us both out and stolen our weapons before running off to never have to deal with us. They clearly weren't very intelligent. "Fine then, have it your way. We can sit here and not even try to trust each other. Wait until your friend wakes up and then we'll see how this all goes," he said and I scoffed. Even worse than with me.

Daryl was relatively level headed, but that was with us. Not with a bunch of strangers that had knocked him out and given his wife a black eye. "Are we going to get out of here soon?" I heard Honey ask and I glanced up at her. She looked nervous, like something was going to come out and kill her. Completely reasonable. "He's too close to us. We aren't far from the main camp. Please D, let's go. This is a bad idea to stay here," she said and I nodded. Yes, let's take a leisurely stroll through the woods at night with walkers and people that want to kill you. That sounds like a fabulous idea. "Just let them go. They have nothing to do with any of this. Let them get back to their friends," she said and I grinned. So one of them had sense at least.

Glancing over my shoulder I saw that D was shaking his head at her, grabbing her shoulder tightly. Tina was watching from a short distance and I wondered if something was wrong with her. She had seemed a little mousy and pale. She looked sick actually. I really wasn't in the mood to get sick again, the last time had left me wishing that I was dead. That had hurt like hell. "We can't just let them go. We still don't know who they are. Not really. That's why we keep a close eye on them for now," he told her and I scoffed. They had no idea that I was telling the truth about everything except the fact that Daryl was not just a friend. "We pick up Patty and we're gone, okay?" He said and I perked up a little. So they were looking for someone. Yeah, that sucked. "This is the last day we gotta live like this. Get some rest. You too, Rain," D said after a moment, like it was an afterthought.

He turned over to me with a little grin and I shook my head. We are not friends you little prick so do not smile at me. "Fuck you," I hissed before turning from him. For a moment I thought that I might hear a bolt or bullet but nothing ever came. Oh good, I was pretty sure that Daryl wouldn't take well to waking up with me being dead. I slowly slunk to the ground and laid close to where Daryl was passed out. I had seen him moving around a little while the three new people were talking between themselves but I hadn't said anything else to him. He was in the drowsy stage and it would be almost useless to talk to him. I would only be getting my hopes up before he would fall back asleep for a few more hours.

As I laid on my back I wondered what was going on back in Alexandria. It was the not knowing that was driving me crazy. Anything could be happening right now. Hell, they could all be dead. No, I couldn't believe that. They were all okay, they would just have to figure out how to lure the walkers away. Maybe Sasha, Abraham, Daryl and I could do that once we got out of this and got back to them. Sighing deeply, I let my hand wander over Daryl's thigh. We are going to get out of this, don't worry. I'm going to do what you would want me to do. What you taught me to do. I slowly shut my eyes and sighed. This was going to be a long night.

The next morning I shot up at the hands that were suddenly grabbing me. I shoved the person back and I saw that it was Honey. "Hey, get the hell off of me!" I screamed at her and she scrambled back in the dirt. Tina grabbed her and the pair backed away from me. Seething already, I looked to go find where D was. To my surprise, even though I shouldn't have been, I saw that he was leaning down in front of Daryl. He had his gun is his hand and I gasped. Oh no, no one threatened my husband with a gun except for me. "Leave him alone!" I yelped as I jumped over to D.

Thinking back on it, I should not have yelled before trying to go do something. D saw me coming and he managed to fight me off. "Damn Rain, calm down," he grunted as he shoved me back, but I was not giving up. Damn him, I wanted out of the fucking forest. I wanted to go back to Alexandria and make sure my family and friends were not dead. "Hey! You looking to get him killed?" D asked me as he held the gun up to Daryl's head. Not wanting to test his patience, I dropped to the ground and sighed. I was definitely not wanting to risk Daryl's life. "Good. Get up," D called to Daryl as he kicked his leg. "Hey, get up," D snarled as he cocked the gun and pointed it at my husband's face. Daryl's eyes slowly opened and he let a dark glare over his face when he looked at D. Oh yeah, he was angry just like I had thought that he was going to be. Wait until he sees me. "We're moving. Here's the deal. You don't say shit and I don't kill you. Or your little friend," D said as he turned the gun to me.

It seemed that Daryl suddenly remembered that I had been with him when he looked over at me and gasped. Ignoring the gun that was trained on his forehead, he launched past D and grabbed me. His fingers fell over my black eye and I twitched slightly. The stupid bruise hurt more than the actual hit had. "Rain, what the hell happened to you? Are you alright?" He asked me. I motioned up to D and gave a little nod. I was fine, just happy that he was alright. Daryl turned back on D and I took a breath. Here it comes. "Look here asshole, if you every lay your hands on my wife again, I'll rip yours off," he snarled, angrier than I had seen in a long time.

My cheeks heated slightly as I realized just how defensive he was of me. Not that it bothered me one bit, it was nice to see someone that cared that much about me. I had a very curious placement of romance. But that was when it hit me. Daryl had just admitted that we were married. Damn it. There was no giving up anything more, we had just told them everything that they needed to hover over us. I had hoped that D hadn't noticed, but he clearly had. "Just friends, huh?" He asked me with a smirk and I snarled. I looked over at Daryl and saw that he was piecing it together. He seemed to finally realize what had happened and he looked over at me with a stupid look on his face. Yep, you know you're in trouble when we get out of this. "I knew that you looked at him like someone more than friends would. Good, gives me a better bargaining chip," D said confidently and I rolled my eyes. I hoped that Honey would like her husband a few inches shorter because I was going to be sure to cut him down to size. "Don't worry, she's fine. And she will continue to be fine as long as you cooperate," D told Daryl flippantly.

Scoffing loudly, I received a little jab in the ribs from Daryl. I knew that this was the wrong time to be doing anything like I had done last night but I couldn't help it. He was just a damn moron. That arrow is going up your ass when I get it back. "We ain't who you think," Daryl told them.

I sucked in a breath when D cocked the hammer on the gun. I knew that he wouldn't fire it but it didn't help the little skip that my heart did when I saw someone holding up a loaded gun to my husband's face. "Say something else," D warned and Daryl made the smart decision to stay silent. Better him than me, I probably wouldn't have been so smart. "Go ahead. Follow them," he told us and we did as told. It wasn't for more than ten minutes that we had been walking when D popped up at our sides, holding a water bottle out to us. "Here, drink the rest," he told us and I scoffed, pushing it from me. I wasn't about to die in this world from poisoned water.

It seemed that Honey wasn't very fond on us having it either. She grabbed the bottle back from her husband and I cocked an eyebrow. So was she finally growing a backbone of her own? How sweet of her. She pushed it into her husband's chest and I briefly wondered if they had been married before or after this all went down. Probably before. "We should save it," she told him.

So maybe it wasn't poisoned if she was arguing that they should save the water. Then maybe on the other hand I would take some of that. I had not had anything to drink in twenty four hours, the last thing being the small drink of coffee that I had stolen from Maggie. Oh God, I prayed that she was still alive. Glenn too. I hadn't heard anything from them since we had left. Of course, they probably hadn't been anywhere near the radios. "We'll find some more. Drink," he told Daryl and I scoffed once more. So much for ladies first. "You're supposed to stay hydrated. It all works together," D said and I sneered at him. Because they'd done so well at working with us.

Daryl seemed to join in on my thoughts that these people didn't exactly practice what they preached. "Yeah, it does," he said before he took a sip. It was hardly anything but I knew that he was hoping that it was enough to get D to leave him alone. He then handed the bottle to me, but I shook it away. Daryl sighed but knew that I was not going to be taking anything from these people. Not after the annoying day that I had gone through with them yesterday. D then handed it to me and I rolled my eyes.

Smacking the bottle, I watched as it went flying from D's hand and he probably was restraining himself from reaching out and giving me another black eye to match. I knew that I was being annoying and hard to deal with but they had earned it. Maybe they should have left me alone and nothing like this would have happened to either one of our little groups. "Get that damn thing out of my face," I hissed at him and I could practically see the smoke rising from the top of his head. Aw, the poor little guy was angry with me. Good. "I don't want anything from you. I'd rather die from dehydration than take your handout," I sneered at him and he shook his head. "Go to hell," I added, even though it had kind of been the subtext of my little speech.

To his credit, D had incredible restraint as he handed me back the water bottle and forced it into my hand. He tried to get me to drink it once more and I opened my mouth to ask him if he was as deaf as he was stupid but he beat me to it. "Have it," he said, clearly ending any chance we had for conversation. "We don't need you falling down. Drink," he said and I scoffed. I dropped the bottle and I knew that behind me, Tina had leaned down to grab it. Yeah, that's all that you're good for princess. No, that was the name that Merle gave me. Bitch. There, that was better fitting. "They find us, maybe we give you to them, they let us call it even," he said and I shook my head. No, we weren't Harry Potter, Voldemort wouldn't want us. God, I cracked myself up. Okay, maybe I should have taken the water, I was sure that I was starting to go a little crazy. "You see, we're reasonable people. Everybody's got their code. You feel you gotta kneel, that's fair enough. We don't," he said and I scoffed. Kneeling? I don't think so. It sounded like they were the ones that had kneeled for so long. "Let's go," D said, pointing the gun at my back.

As we walked I noticed that my vision was beginning to swirl around me. Maybe I should have taken some of that water. Oh well, I was sure that I would be just fine. We weren't going to be with these assholes much longer. "I can't believe we're back," Tina said and I cocked my eyebrow. Back where? This was the damn woods. I glanced up from the ground and realized what she was talking about. The entire portion of the woods was charred, like it had been burned to a crisp. What the hell? Was this something that their leader had done?

I glanced over at Daryl and saw that he was looking over the woods with the same face that I was. Something was incredibly wrong with these people. D shook his head at her and continued to walk, shoving me lightly. I thought about stomping on his foot, but decided against it. That probably wouldn't make things any better. "It's not home anymore, but it's better than where we were. This is a pit stop. We pick up Patty, nothing more than that," he told them and I shook my head. And let us go, dickwad.

Honey glanced up to D and I shook my head. She looked shocked at this place too. So maybe they hadn't known each other from before the outbreak. Maybe I wasn't quite as smart as I thought I was. Oh please, I was at least smarter than these assholes. "How'd you do it?" She asked D and I rolled my eyes. Typically a lot of gas and a lighter. That was how we lit the barn on fire. Looking back on it that had been a stupid plan. We could have damn well burned to death. Of course, I didn't have many good plans that day. There was a little twinge in my hand and I shook my head. "You saw where we left the truck?" She asked him and my eyes lit up. Genius, tell us more about this truck, why don't you?

D nodded his head and looked down at the ground. "Mm-hmm. We opened the valve and drove all the way in from Farmview Road. Ran from the tree line till we got to the pavement," he informed her and I cocked my head. That sounded almost like the road that the Greene farm had been on. Part of me was glad that Maggie hadn't been around to hear that. "Lit up a matchbook from the Sweetwater and dropped it in on the trail," he continued and I tensed when I heard a walker growling. Wherever they were, they weren't far. "Then we just ran for the car. Got in and the dead ones were there. They were beating on the hood, and then- and then boom! Knocked 'em on their asses and I took an axe to each one. Then we just watched it go up. No more moans, no more of that wailing. It was just the fire, just burning them all away," he told her and my mouth dropped open. He had done all of this?

It was obvious that Daryl was as shocked as I was. Knowing that there was no point in keeping up the charade any more, I dug into my back pocket and awkwardly slipped my ring back on. Tina was watching me closely and I thought about what it would have been like if we hadn't crossed paths with them. Probably a lot better, we would have been able to know for a fact that Abraham and Sasha, and everyone else, was still alive. But I knew they were still alive. They were like me, too tough to die. "You did all this?" Daryl asked and I was startled from my thoughts.

D seemed to have been in his own world too and was startled out of his thoughts as well. "It was right at the start," he said. That surprised me, I would have thought that things would start to grow back by now. But that would make sense, they had burned everything down to the roots. "Everything stopped- the TV, the radio. We were here. The forest was full of them. And the other ones in town, they were drawn to it. They just walked right into the flames. We got most of them," he said and I nodded. That was actually reasonably intelligent. "Thought we ended it for us, and she was in DC." She, who? "We thought everyone was fighting them wherever they were. Yeah, we thought that was what everybody was doing. Fighting it. That we'd all win together. We were stupid," he said and I laughed.

Finally! They realized what I had been saying from the moment that I met them. But I did understand what he was saying, he thought that with everyone left we could fight the walkers. He had no idea that so few people were left. And so few of them knew how to fight the walkers. I had come to the conclusion that if the world ever went back to normal, I would die long before then. "Y'all don't think you're being stupid right now?" Daryl asked and I laughed loudly.

Just as I did though, D clicked the hammer on my gun and pointed it at Daryl's head. Naturally, since I had more balls then brain, I stepped in front of the gun. D smiled and lowered it so that it was now pointing at my head. "Faithful wife you got here, Daryl. You'd die for her and she'd die for you," he said and Daryl growled. He threw me out of the way and I stumbled back a little. "Are you saying I should kill you? I mean it, are you gonna try and pull something on us?" He asked and I smirked at the ground. Of course. "Are we just being thick here by not removing all doubt?" What do you think? "Right now, by me not pulling this trigger, is that a mistake?" Yes. "I'm serious. I really wanna know," he said.

Daryl sighed and moved forward slightly. I stayed close to him, hoping that whatever he was about to say, it wouldn't push D too far. "You made a choice to kill for someone else, to have them own you for a roof over your head and three squares, so maybe I'm not considering all aspects here," he said and I nodded.

For a moment, I saw a flicker of something in D's eyes. Was it sympathy? Did he actually feel bad for trapping us and threatening to kill us? Probably not, not if he was with this guy from the beginning. "You tell me, am I being stupid?" He asked Daryl. It took all of my self-control that I had left not to laugh.

Daryl, it seemed, had better control than I did. "No," Daryl said and I could tell that it was paining him to try and play nice with these people. But it might be the one way that we get out of this alive. And alive was important. "Look, we got somewhere to be," he added and I glanced up. He was trying to bargain with these people. "We can make a deal. I can help you out," he said and I glared at him. We can help them over a cliff, damn it.

D shook his head and I watched the way that he held my gun. His finger nail that was picking at the design on the frame of my gun and I hissed lightly. You idiot, that thing cost a lot of money. Not that I paid for it, but the principle is still there. "You're one of them," he said softly and I scoffed.

Not able to control it any longer, I jumped in front of D and wished more than anything else that my hands were free. He could use a big slap in the face, they all could. They had no idea how to live in this world. Rule number one, try not to piss armed people off. Okay, so maybe I don't take my own advice. "You really are fucking stupid, aren't you?" I hissed and D recoiled slightly. He was afraid of me. Good. "Don't you get it? We aren't with these damn Savior people," I groaned. I wasn't even from here! None of us were. "We're a married couple trying to survive, just like the two of you," I said, motioning between D and Honey.

Behind me, I could tell that Daryl was trying to suppress a grin. He always had liked it when I got a little angry at people. D turned to Daryl with a grin on his face and I rolled my eyes. "Sweet girl, I see why you married her," he told Daryl and I noticed my husband's fists ball slightly. "Keep her away from him. You're hurt and you're alone and you'd say anything. We should've never trusted you people to begin with," D said and I rolled my eyes. Deaf and stupid. "Go on. Keep moving," he told us and I sighed. More walking? Please no. I just got thrown from a bike yesterday and I was still sore from it. We continued to walk for a few minutes when we came up on an old parking lot, filled with walkers. Wow, how surprising. "Son of a bitch," D groaned and I looked over at him. "Patty," he said sadly.

For a moment, I actually felt bad for the small group. I knew how horrible it was to lose a group member. But suddenly I remembered what they had done to us and I grinned. I'd be more than happy to arrange for them to meet with her once more. "She could be-" Tina started before being cut off by Honey.

"No, she's gone," Honey said as she let out a deep breath. The trio all stood together, looking down on the lot with long faces. I wasn't sure what it was, but suddenly I felt a little awkward. I shuffled my feet together for a moment and looked to Daryl. He was clearly uncomfortable too.

Part of me wanted to say something to them, tell them that I understood and that things would get better, but they didn't deserve to hear that. Plus they thought that we were some psychotic people that they used to be with. Whatever. Their loss. We were awesome people. "Then we make another plan," D said and I looked up. Oh yeah, this ought to be good. "Yeah, we get out of here, that's the plan. Then that's the plan," he said.

I barked out a little laugh and I saw that D turned an angry glare at me. Oh come on dude, what a shitty plan. Even I could come up with better plans then that. Tina turned her guilty face to her friends and I cocked my head. What did she feel so bad about? "You guys didn't have to do this for me," she said.

Do what? Run away? The looked like they had all been wanting to get away from that guy pretty badly. But maybe not, maybe she had just planted the seed. Honey placed her hand on Tina's back and I saw that the girl wobbled slightly. Maybe she was as dehydrated as I was. But she had been drinking water, so what the hell was her problem? "It was the right thing for all of us," Honey soothed her friend.

Tina turned to her friend and shook her head. "This was the right thing?" She asked and I scoffed. Sometimes nothing was the right thing to do, you just had to take a chance. "Even if just you guys went back now, if you just told them that it was me-" she started before being cut off by Honey once more.

Well that was rude. "No, we'll find a way," she told her friend and I nodded. At least she cared about her friend enough to keep going with her. Still not good enough to make these people better in my eyes.

D was looking at the two women and I noticed that he looked torn. Part of him looked like he wanted to turn back, where he knew that he would be safe. But the bigger part of him had that determined look that I had seen in my own eyes too many times. "Just think about it," Tina said softly.

After what seemed like forever, D walked forward and placed his hand on Honey's shoulder. He wasn't looking at her though, his focus was on Tina. "No," he said and I nodded. At least he still cared about her enough. "Look, maybe we don't get as far, but we'll get- hey!" He shouted. My eyes widened in shock as I saw Tina collapse to the ground and I sucked in a breath. I knew that she looked like she was about to pass out. But what was wrong with her? "Hey, hey, hey! Tina, hey!" D yelled as he shook the blonde haired woman.

Honey was leaning over the girl and I watched in a little daze. I could see that Tina's chest was still rising and falling, and her eyes were rolling to the back of her head. Oh, that's gross. "Hey, baby sister, look at me," Honey said to Tina's limp form and one of my eyebrows rose. Sister? So that was why they didn't want to leave her or give her up. She wasn't just a friend, she was family. I could respect that.

My daze was cut short suddenly when I noticed that Daryl had darted to where D had left the bag that had our weapons in it and ran off. "Rain, run!" He yelled and I was suddenly pulled from my trance. Good thinking, since I was being stupid and standing there like a statue.

Daryl grabbed onto my belt loop, pulling me forward, but in only a moment I had him outrun. Daryl was fast, but he was nowhere near as fast as me. Glenn and I were still the fastest people in our group. Well, now that we had the Alexandrian's, Spencer was pretty fast too. "Hey, stop! No!" I heard D yelled and I rolled my eyes. Like hell we were going to stop. I heard a shot go off and I rolled my eyes, he was trying to shoot me with my own gun. That was fucked up. "Don't! We need that, please!" He continued to yell but I rolled my eyes once more. No you don't. You need a brain is what you need. Daryl and I continued to run and I felt the world spinning slowly. I really needed water now, I hoped that they had some in that bag.

I could no longer hear the three that we had left behind and I knew that they hadn't bothered to chase us. They were busy with Tina. "Get down," Daryl hissed at me as he grabbed my pants and dragged me to the ground. I fell roughly and coughed a little, stunned that he hadn't even given me a warning. He slipped the walkie talkie out of his vest and I watched. We were both panting heavily, but Daryl was smart enough to know that we had to get in contact with someone, and now. "Sasha, Abraham, are you there?" He asked, but the static hissing was the only thing that we got in response. There was a slow growling from a walker and I rolled my eyes. That was so typical. The walker snarled as it walked up to us and Daryl tore his bindings, opening the duffel bag, and pulling out his crossbow to shoot the walker down. Once the walker was dead he dropped back besides me, panting heavily.

I scooted in closer to him, my hands bound still. "That was good thinking to get out of there right then," I told him and he nodded. He was clearly tired from the run, but we both were. We had been terrified that they might shoot us as we ran. "Come here, let's get these damn things off," I told him and he nodded, slipping me from my binds easily and letting me turn back to him. Not bothering to look if anything was in the area, I jumped forward and was caught by Daryl. He laughed as I leaned into him and kissed him roughly. He held me tightly, his hand brushing my lower back and pulling me flush against him. His hands were digging into my hips, but it didn't bother me. We were safe, and that was all that mattered.

Finally, he pushed me back and I smiled at him. I was sure that my lips were swollen from the kiss, just like his were. "Good kiss for just friends," he told me and I laughed, shoving him lightly. His hands traced my eye for a moment but I shook him off. There were more important things to be worrying about right now. "The hell do you think is in this bag that they wanted so badly?" He asked, motioning to the bag that we had swiped.

I shrugged and grabbed my bow that was sitting on top, throwing it and my arrows over my shoulder. "Open it, let's find out," I said and he nodded. I no longer had my gun, but I did have my knives back. I stuffed my large knife into my boot once more and put my throwing knives into the inside of my vest, just in case. Once all of my weapons were back on me, I glanced down and noticed that there was a cooler inside. Uh, that was an interesting thing to be toting around in the apocalypse. "A cooler? What the hell did they need a cooler for? Couldn't they have just taken dried food and dealt with it?" I asked Daryl and he shrugged, opening the lid. That was when I saw it. There wasn't food in there. Not in the slightest. "Shit, that isn't food. It's insulin," I said and Daryl cocked his head at me. "Tina is a diabetic, that's why she just passed out. They hadn't gotten any insulin to her recently," I said.

Well at least I got my answer on why she had passed out. She hadn't been dehydrated, she had merely had too low of blood sugar. Daryl looked at me and I glanced back at him. "Will she die without it?" He asked me. Clearly he had never taken any health classes. Shocker.

I shook my head, not really sure. I didn't have diabetes so I wasn't sure how the whole thing worked. I had a very basic understanding of these things, but that wasn't very much to go on. "Hard to say, really. I haven't known that many diabetics in my life. As far as I know she will be okay for a while but they have to get some to her soon," I said and he nodded. "Doesn't matter though, they aren't our people. Come on, we have to find Sasha and Abraham," I muttered as I stood waiting for him to join me. "Daryl?" I asked when I saw that his focus was on the insulin inside of the cooler. Oh please no. This is not anything that we need to be concerning ourselves with. "Oh God, I know that look. We cannot go back there," I said to him, stressing my words.

Daryl seemed to be torn and I knew how he felt. Tina had been nice to me, but there was nothing that I wanted to do with these people anymore. It was unfortunate, but shit like this happens. This world isn't made for people like Tina. This might be kinder for her. "Rain, she could die," Daryl said and I scoffed. They had been perfectly content to kill both Daryl and I. Okay maybe not Tina, but D had. "All because I took the bag when I ran. Would it really be fair to let her die like that?" He asked me and I felt my heart tug. I knew that he was right, but I didn't want to risk it. It was too much to risk. "They're friends. They're family. Just like our group," he told me.

Suddenly a flash of anger shot through me. He was thinking about their family, but he was not thinking about ours. "But they aren't our group!" I yelled and Daryl remained still. He knew that this was the right thing to do, and he knew that he was slowly getting me to fold on this. "They hit you over the head, threatened to shoot us both. They took our weapons too. That asshole hit me in the eye," I said and I saw the slight anger flash over his features. "It's very sad that she's going to die but it doesn't matter. It doesn't affect us. She's going to die sooner or later, they'll run out of it eventually," I said softly.

It was true, but that didn't make what I had just said any less cruel. It seemed like every day I was getting colder. It was a scary thought, but I knew that it was happening to everyone. We just had to make sure that we didn't go completely cold. "This does affect us," he told me, grabbing my hand and holding it in his lap. "If we walk away from them then we may as well have killed her ourselves," he said and I shook my head. That wasn't something that we could think about right now. "I saw how hesitant she was the entire time. Remember after Carl shot that kid back at the prison?" He asked me and I nodded. Yeah, his name was Brody or something. Sasha had told me that. "You told me he had gone cold. I will not watch you turn cold," he said.

The pain in his eyes was clear and I knew that he was torn over this too. He didn't want to do it, but he knew that it was the right thing to do. I looked for another argument, anything that might talk him out of it, but there was nothing. Damn it. Finally I nodded at him, hating that he was right. "Alright, fine. We go back there and we give it to them. Then we turn around and we leave. Got it?" I asked him and he nodded. "I can't believe I let you talk me into doing this," I muttered as we walked.

We hadn't run far from the three and I knew that it would only take us a few minutes to get back. As we walked I noticed that the area was extremely void of walkers. Of course they had killed everything in here. It was smart, but it also meant that there were no hiding spots. After a few minutes, I saw that we had come back up on the group and I trained my arrow on them, at the same time that Daryl had trained his crossbow on them. "Drop the gun," Daryl ordered and D turned back quickly. He looked shocked that we were behind him, but somewhat grateful too. "Drop it. Give it to her," he said and I nodded. D walked over to me with the gun and I snatched it back, driving it into my holster. "We came all this way. What you got for the duffel?" He asked and they all remained silent. "You put us through too much shit just to give it back. Principle of the thing. What you got besides this gun?" He asked once more.

D shook his hand and held up two empty palms. "Nothing," he said and I cocked my head. They seriously had nothing except for a stolen gun? That was pretty pathetic. I guess they had wanted to get out of that place as quickly as possible. But that was stupid. They could starve.

Daryl shook his head and took a step closer to D. I saw his Adam's apple bob and I laughed, he was nervous. Of course, that wasn't extremely surprising. "What was that thing you were carving?" Daryl asked D and I cocked my head. He had been carving something? Damn, I was seriously off my game today.

D pulled a little wooden figure out of his pocket and I scowled at it. He was willing to risk his life for that thing? It was a piece of junk. "My grandfather taught me how-" D began to explain before Daryl cut him off.

"Don't care," he snapped and I smirked. Of course we didn't care about a stupid wooden doll. "It'll do," he said before taking the figurine from D and stuffing it in his pocket. He dropped the insulin bag next to the trio and nodded for D to take it. We backed off slightly and I waited for him to move forward. But he never did. He evidently thought that this was a trap. No it wasn't, but it should be. "Take it. It's all there. Good luck. You're gonna need it," Daryl said and I nodded. This was it. Everything had gone fine and we were going to leave now. For once things were going as planned. But like nature was reading my thoughts, the trees began to rattle and I nearly screamed as a truck came barreling through the woods, screeching to a halt in front of his. The truck door opened and I was dragged off to the side by Daryl. "Get the hell over here," he hissed at me as he hid us underneath a bush that seemed to be growing back from the fire.

The truck door closed and I leaned out slightly to see what was going on. D had taken a protective stance in front of Tina and Honey as a man jumped out of the high set truck. I couldn't see much of him, other than he was tall and had slightly grey hair. He was white and a little older, maybe around Merle's age or a little younger. "Let's end this. It's ours," he snarled and I took a deep breath. These were the people, the Saviors that they were running from.

Daryl's arm was around me and I slunk into him slightly. The last thing we needed was for this man to spot us. I couldn't help but to wonder if maybe he was the one that led these people. If he was the one that they were so afraid of. But judging by the defiant look in D's eyes, I could tell that it wasn't him. He was just a lackey. "We earned what we took," D said and I cocked my head. What the hell had they taken?

The man crossed in front of us and I could see that he was now directly in front of the bushes that we were hiding in. Oh for the love of God, just kill them and go. "You're gonna return what you took. You're gonna pay for the gas it took to come out here and for all the time these men took out," he said and I scoffed. That was a stupid system. "It's over. You know the rules," he called.

D shook his head and advanced slightly on the older man, and to his credit, the man didn't move. Of course, he had a little mini army and D was not armed. He had no reason to back off. "Your rules are batshit!" D yelled and I rolled my eyes. That was exactly how I had felt all day so far. This entire day was batshit. "We're not going back, Wade," he said and I nodded. So his name was Wade. Well that made things a little easier. "We're done kneeling!" He yelled out.

Wade merely laughed and I felt my skin crawl at his laugh. Yep, I had heard people with laughs like that before and they were never good. "Don't change the subject, asshole," he said with a little whistle. At that, the truck engine started and the trio were off like a bullet. Once more, Wade laughed and I sucked a breath in. He wanted this, he wanted the chase. The trees began to snap as the truck began to chase after them through the woods, knocking down the weak trees that were in its path. Not good.

Daryl pulled me up from the ground and I stumbled slightly as he chased after D. What the hell was he doing? The Saviors were in that direction, and home was in the other! We quickly caught up with the trio and Daryl managed to catch D's eyes, without startling him. "Come on. Hey, that way. Come on," Daryl hissed as we went running through the woods, hoping to hell that we would lose the Saviors. If by any chance we got out of this, I was going to kill Daryl. "Go, go, go. Go. Get up," he called as he pushed the three up behind a large boulder. Another tree snapped as the truck got closer and I groaned. This was not the way that I wanted this day to go. "Hey. Take it," Daryl said to D before handing him the gun. I opened my mouth to yell at Daryl, but one look told me that he was not in the mood. "Zip it girl, we need to get the hell out of here," he hissed at me.

Still though, I wanted to tell him what a bad idea it was. Maybe this was all a set up. But before I could say anything the static hiss of a walkie shut me up. One of them was right on the other side of the rock. The man had his walkie on and I could hear Wade speaking on the other end. "Eyes open. You cover your quadrant. Go to alpha channel," he said and I cocked my head. Military wannabees huh? There was a soft growling and I looked over to Daryl. A walker, now? Seriously?

Daryl nodded for me to follow him and I did, but just as D went to follow us too, Daryl motioned for him to stay back. Oh great, so we get to risk our lives for them? As we walked I heard Tina call Honey Sher and I cocked my head. They had lied about their names? Why would they do that? The man was a little heavier set and looked about Daryl's age. I caught sight of the walker and poked Daryl. He nodded and started to walk towards it, just enough to catch its attention. He slowly walked back, making sure that it was following us and I nearly laughed. They were just like dogs. Stupid, man eating dogs. The male walker that had been burnt to a crisp followed us and I kept my mouth shut, hoping the man was slow. Daryl and I led the walker around the back of the tree that the man was standing by before Daryl grabbed my arm and pulled me back behind the rock forcefully. I fell onto my back and was slightly surprised when D was the one to help me up.

Not bothering to say anything, I looked out past the rock and watched as the man walked slowly around where we were hiding. Come on walker, just a little faster. There was something I never thought that I would say. The man was mumbling softly to himself and I nodded. That would just draw the walker closer to him. The bush behind him rustled slightly and the man turned back, but it was too late. The walker jumped out and tackled the man against another rock, biting down on his arm. The man began to scream and I grimaced. Come on dude, shut up. "Wade, I'm bit! Wade, I'm bit!" He screamed and I jumped as Wade came tearing out of the bushes. Well, at least he hadn't seen us. He shot the walker down and I nodded. "Take it off me," he begged the older man.

Ah, so they knew the amputation trick as well. I should have figured that they would though. It had been nearly two years since the world had gone to shit, I should have figured that someone else would have figured out that the infection would stop with amputation if they did it soon enough too. "Damn it," he sighed as he saw the extent of the bite wound.

"Do it! Just take it off!" The man screamed desperately at Wade. He had every right to, I was sure that it hurt and he needed to be taking it off soon, before the infection set in and it was too late.

Wade nodded at the man and I watched as he held up a knife. It was sharp and glinted in the sunlight. "I'll get your watch after," he said and I snickered lightly. Well at least he had a little sense of humor. That was better than nothing. He brought the knife down and I grimaced. Oh gross. No matter how many times I saw people taking limbs off, it would always bother me. It was so nasty. And bloody and painful too. The man screamed as Wade took off the limb and began to cry when his hand fell limply to the ground. Hope he was a lefty. Wade brought his hand up to his walkie and I listened in. "All right, that's it. Time to go home,' he said and I sighed. Thank God, they were finally going to give up. "Cam got a boo-boo," he said.

Very cute, I'm sure that he appreciated that. Cam looked like he was about to pass out though and I was sure that he didn't care about anything right now. Not that I could blame him. I was sure that it was scary to be bitten by a walker. "Are you sure?" The man on the radio asked.

Wade snorted slightly and looked down to where the stump that was now Cam's hand was and laughed lightly. "Oh, yeah. He only wanted to take this so far. And he only wants ass that's willing, you know?" He asked and I paled. There were far too many people these days that didn't care if they were willing, and he seemed like that type. Cam continued to sob as Wade dragged him off. "Come on, Cam. Let's walk it off," he said.

We were all silent for a little while until we were sure that the Saviors were gone. Once they were, I sighed deeply and made my way out of the rock, hoping that they weren't just hiding somewhere. But when I saw that they were gone, I sighed deeply. Somehow that stupid plan had worked. "We thought you were with them," D said and I rolled my eyes. Well duh, we kind of told you that a million times. "We knock you over the head, tie you up, threaten to kill you and your wife," he said and I grimaced. Was he asking for me to kill him? "Why the hell did you come back?" He asked the two of us.

Daryl looked like he wasn't sure what to say so I decided to jump in. "I sure as hell didn't want to come back," I said and D rolled his eyes at me. Go ahead, we were the ones that only saved your life. Should have let you all die. "He talked me into it. As far as I'm concerned if I ever see any of you ever again, I'm gonna blow your damn brains out," I hissed, hoping that my threat was enough to tell them that I was serious.

Daryl sighed at me and shook his head. He had probably hoped that I was going to be nicer about it, but when had he ever known me to be nice? "Maybe I'm stupid, too," he said and I nodded. Right now he was being a huge idiot. "She's right though," he said and I smirked. Good, so he wasn't being that stupid. "So you knew 'em? Still you thought I was one of them?" He asked D and I glanced up.

For the first time since I had known him, I saw a little weakness come out of D. He was afraid of these people. He was genuinely afraid of them. I mean, I had been unnerved by Woodbury, Terminus, the people at Grady Memorial and Alexandria. But I had never been truly afraid of them. Why were they so afraid of these Saviors? What had they done? "Where we were- we were there since the beginning. We still didn't know everyone. Back when we were first threw in with them, it was as good as a place as any. Then things got harder, people got harder," he said and I nodded. That sounded about normal. "Human nature kicked in and it became a truly unique kind of shitshow. People will trade anything for safety, for knowing that they're safe. Everything. So they got nothing left except just existing," he said and I cocked my head. Human trading? Is that what he meant?

For a moment, I nodded at D feeling a little twinge of sympathy. I knew that these things were hard. I knew that life was hard. It was like Jenner had once said, back at the CDC. It was a short, hard life and a brutal death. But that seemed like an eternity ago, something out of a dream. "Hey, nobody's safe anymore. Can't promise people that anyhow," Daryl said to D and I nodded.

I saw that his hand was on the blonde haired man's shoulder and I shook my head. Were we actually starting to sympathize with these people? We had saved them, we were on decent terms, but that did not make us friends by any stretch of the imagination. "You could promise the people who want to hear it," D said.

Part of me thought about saying something to him, but I was distracted by Tina dashing forward. We were coming up on what looked like a melted greenhouse. Clearly it had been one of the things that D and Sherry had destroyed in their fire. There were walkers all over the ground and I gulped deeply. It reminded me of the tomb s in the prison. Where Hershel had lost his leg. Where I had learned to be careful around all walkers. Even the ones that looked dead. Tina was sitting at the side of two walkers and I knew immediately, she had known these people. "Hey, Tina, hold up," Honey called to her sister. Well, Sherry guess, but Honey was easier.

Both Honey and D went running forward, but they stopped before walking into what had once been the greenhouse. They looked extremely uncomfortable and I didn't blame them. It looked like they had been the reason that their friends had died. Yeah, I knew how that felt. But I had been right there when it had happened. They had at least been ignorant to it. "Carla and Delly. That's them," Tina said softly.

Honey looked over to me and I cocked my head at her. What was she expecting me to do? "Me and Tina used to babysit them when they were kids," she told me and my glare fell. Oh. She didn't want me to do anything. She was just trying to tell me who these people were. They were kids. Well, not anymore. They looked like they had been teenagers, maybe close to my age. But they would always be kids to Tina and Honey. I knew how they felt. I still faulted myself for Penny's death. "Everyone said that they went out north when it all started. We didn't know," she said softly and I placed my hand on her arm. I knew exactly what this was like.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Daryl was looking at me with a somewhat shocked face. I rolled my eyes at him. Hey, every once in a while I had a heart! Tina was rustling around in the debris and I watched her closely. She could easily get caught on something in there. "I did this. We did this," she cried lightly. Maybe we should leave her to mourn for a little while. Just as I turned my back though, I heard the all telling growl of a walker. I turned to run back to Tina, and I screamed out for her to run. The people that she had once known were reanimating and attempting to break through the glass to get to her. Tina screamed and jumped up, but she was too late. The walker bit down on her neck and I grimaced. There was no saving that.

Daryl and I sprinted forward and were able to take out the two walkers quickly, but it was too late for Tina. I stood back and watched as Honey fell to her sister's side and D fell in behind them. Honey was holding her sister and crying loudly. "I'm sorry!" She yelled as Tina coughed roughly. She had to hurry. Tina would not be with us much longer. "I'm so sorry, baby. We had to try. We had to try. We had to," she said through her thick tears. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm-" Honey continued to apologize before Tina cut her off. But I never got to hear what she said.

Daryl pulled me off to the side and I raised an eyebrow at him. I thought that he would be telling me that we needed to do something about Tina, but it turned out that it was not at all what he wanted. "Rain, we have to do something with them," he said and I shook my head. Oh no, I knew what he wanted and oh no. "We let them out of this and they more than likely get trapped by the other group that they were with. You know what we have to do," he told me and I shook my head. Did that hit to his head rattle something loose?

Shaking my head at Daryl, I grabbed his hand. I could see that D was digging a grave behind us and Honey was holding her sister's corpse. I was about to call out and tell her that she had to do something about her, but she was already on top of it. I turned away, feeling like it wasn't my business to be watching that. "Daryl, these people nearly killed us. I get it, they thought that we were with them but who the hell cares?" I asked him and he scoffed. "You really want them in a house next to us. To me?" I asked and I saw his eyes soften. "To Judith?" I asked once more, knowing that it would be harder for him to risk the baby's life. "I don't think that letting them come back with us is a good idea. Plus what happens if we lead their people back to us? We could kill everyone in Alexandria," I said, knowing that it was a good concern for either one of us to have.

For a moment, I thought that I had gotten through to him, but Daryl shook his head and I sighed. Damn it, why was he so hard headed? "Would you want to be given a chance if you were them?" He said and I sighed. Please don't do this. "They're scared, Rain. They thought that we were here to kill them. You would have done the same thing." Okay so maybe that was true, but I was smarter than they were. "At least let me ask them the questions. Alright?" He asked and I nodded, giving him my consent. Hopefully they would fuck up their answers. "Hey," Daryl called as D finished dropping Tina into a grave. Daryl began to help burying her and I stood off to the side. I wasn't that fond of the girl. "How many walkers you killed?" Daryl asked and D looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Just answer the question," he scoffed.

D stood there for a moment and seemed to think. That one usually tripped people up. Our most common answer was I don't know. There really wasn't a right answer for this was. It was just to see what people said, to see if they could defend themselves. "A lot. A couple dozen at least," he said and I scoffed. That was a lot to him? He noticed my laugh and looked over to me with a roll of the eyes. "Hey not all of us can be Lara Croft. I mean damn, give you the dark hair and you could be her," he told me and I grinned. He wasn't wrong.

Daryl glared at D for a moment and I knew that no matter what, he would never be fond of D being anywhere near me. Not since he had given me a black eye. "How many people you killed?" He asked and I saw D's eyes go wide. Yeah, that one usually threw people. Those answers were where things usually started to either get really good or really bad. It ashamed me to say that my answer would have been I don't know.

"None," D said and I scoffed loudly. If these people were so horrible, how had they gotten away with never killing anyone? "Don't believe me?" D asked me.

Of course I don't believe you. "You nearly killed us," I argued.

"Why?" Daryl asked, diffusing the tension between D and I.

It was clear that D did not understand why we were asking them all of these questions. Of course, people usually didn't. "Why haven't I killed anybody?" He asked for clarification and we nodded. Are you deaf? "Because if I did, there'd be no going back. There'd be no going back to how things were. I'm from a place where people are still like they were more or less, better or worse," he said and I found myself nodding. That was actually a good answer. It was the kind of answer that we looked for. Well, shit.

Daryl turned to me and pulled me off to the side. I knew that I had lost this one but he was going to try and get me to side with him still. He wanted to make sure that he had my consent before he just brought someone back. God, I wished that Aaron was here to talk Daryl out of this. But I had a bad feeling that he would like these people too. "They're good people, Rain. They're just afraid. Those are exactly the answers that we look for in new people to bring to Alexandria. They'll be safe there too," he told me and I shook my head desperately.

I would argue with him all day over this but I knew that it would be dark in a few hours and we couldn't risk getting caught out here in the dark. Especially not if those Saviors came back. Especially not if they were with their leader. Maybe I would just have to bite the bullet on this one and agree with him. "You really think that it's a good idea to let them in there?" I asked him and he nodded. "Fine, just this once I'll listen. We let them come back with us but we have to go find Sasha and Abraham," I said, letting Daryl know that there was no room for argument. "These people be damned, they are our priority," I said harshly.

Daryl nodded at me and I was glad that I didn't at least have to fight with him on this one. "They still are. We find them and we get back home," he said and I nodded. That was what we needed right now. "See how the plan worked out without us driving the walkers away," he said and I nodded. "We can walk it from here. Till we meet up with our friends," Daryl said to the pair as we walked off. I sighed, knowing where we were headed. To the bike. We actually weren't far. We had gone in almost a complete circle. We stopped at where Daryl had buried the bike under leaves and I smiled at the sight of it. Damn, it was good to be back here. But it was not good to be back here with them. No matter what, I would never trust them. Not completely. Not after what they had done for us. Daryl pulled the bike up and grunted lightly. "They got a car. You can ride with them," he said and Honey nodded.

D looked over the bike and gave it an approving nod. Well at least he didn't say something about it being a piece of junk or anything like that. I knew that saying something like that would not have gone over well. "How many friends you say there were?" D asked and my eyes narrowed. Why the hell was he asking?

Daryl didn't seem to get the little additional question behind the question. Could we overpower them? "I didn't. There's two of 'em," he said and I shook my head. You idiot, you should have said like, six.

"Where are they? D asked and my eyes narrowed even farther. I was liking this less and less every second. Daryl motioned for Honey to get on the bike and she did. She noticed my angry glare and she looked away from me. Yeah, you better run. Bitch. D on the other hand stood off to the side and continued to chat with Daryl, oblivious to the two women in their lives.

For a moment he was silent and I hoped that Daryl was seeing what was wrong here too. But naturally he wasn't. He was only waiting. "We're gonna find out," he said.

"How do you know they even got away?" D asked and I growled. Because they were tough. They were strong. That's how we know that they're alive and well. They're just waiting for us. It's Sasha and Abraham, both tough as nails. "That they didn't get taken?" D added on and I glared.

Finally it seemed that Daryl didn't like D's answer either. "I don't," he growled and I hoped that the trust here was broken. Before I could notice that he was doing anything, D held up the gun that Daryl had given him and cocked the hammer, right in Daryl's face. I went to bring up my bow, but D knew what was going on. He pointed it at me briefly, and then back at Daryl. He knew that he was calling the shots here. Daryl, I hate you. "Oh, damn it," he said and I nearly screamed. Why did no one listen to me? I was so smart.

Honey at least had the decency to look like she felt bad as D hopped onto the back of the bike. Oh no, don't look at me like that. Kill your husband and then maybe we can talk. Until then, you are at the top of my shit list. "I'm sorry," she said and I scoffed. No, not yet you aren't. When I see you again, then you'll be sorry.

D turned back to us and he motioned for Daryl first, keeping the gun trained on him, but looking back at me. "Give her the crossbow," he said to Daryl. He didn't listen and I grinned at him. So instead, D turned to me. "And you, give her the bow and the arrows," he said, keeping the gun on Daryl. I had to do it, I wasn't willing to risk Daryl's life. "Come on now. It ain't that hard sweetheart," he said and I growled. He motioned for my grandfather's knife as well and I sighed. I went to hand him the throwing knife that he saw sticking out of my vest but he shook his head at me with a laugh. "Keep the knife. You'll need it," he said. Aren't you generous?

I held the knife in my hand, but it was small. There was nothing that I could do with it that wouldn't end up with Daryl and I both dead. So I had to only use it for a threat. "You know I'm gonna save this one," I said and D cocked his eyebrow. "Next time I use it, it's gonna be on you," I said, pointing the blade to him. "I'm gonna take your eye, then maybe your hand. A toe or two. One way or another you're going to wish that you were dead. You're gonna wish that your little group had been the ones to find you," I threatened.

Fear flashed through Honey's eyes but D remained unfazed. Underestimate me, oh please do that. It will only make my revenge that much better. "So this is how it goes. You gonna go back?" Daryl asked and I saw that D's face fell slightly. "You gonna be safe?" He continued.

D shook his head at us and pointed the gun to the both of us before settling it on me. Really? That just figured that I would be the one that he would want to shoot. Go ahead, I can add it to the other gunshot wounds that I had on me. "Shut up. The both of you," he said and I scowled. That wasn't very nice. "And you little girl, you best wish that he never finds you," he said and I scowled. "You'll be his favorite. He picks his pets and he makes them wish that they were dead. Don't become one of them," he warned me and I blanched. No, I had been a plaything to too many people, I would never be his. I would be no one's.

Daryl scowled and I could practically feel the anger radiating off of him. Since the whole situation with Mitch, I had noticed that he was much more protective with anything that had to do with another man looking at me. But I was grateful for that. "Ain't nowhere safe no more," Daryl said.

D scowled at him and shook his head. "Give her the crossbow," he ordered once more. Daryl stood with it still on his back and I smiled. Good. "Come on, do I have to say it again?" He groaned before moving the gun onto me once more. "You want your wife with a bullet in her brain?" He asked and I noticed that Daryl began to remove the weapon. Damn it. I should have known that he wanted to make sure that I was safe. "You gonna kneel?" D asked as Daryl handed the crossbow over to Honey and she strapped it on herself. The engine of the bike started and I hoped that the pair would fall and die. Please God, come on. Grant me one wish?

Honey looked back at us in sorrow and she tossed a little white patch at Daryl. His arm was bleeding lightly and I scowled at her. It was far too late for her to be saying or doing anything to gain our favor back. "Patch yourself up. We're sorry," she said softly and I glared.

"You're gonna be," Daryl said before the pair revved the engine once more and headed off. Before they were too far, I grabbed my knife tightly and threw it. The knife skimmed over Honey's arm and I heard her yelp before it went falling to the ground. I thought that they might turn back and try to shoot me, but they just kept going, Honey looking back at me with wide eyes. Sweetheart, you're lucky that I missed.

The pair sped off and I rolled my eyes as we were left alone once more. "Fuck, I was so close," I grunted before running off to grab my knife and walking back over to Daryl. His eyes were still planted in the spot that the bike had just been in, and I knew that he felt guilty. "Hey, are you alright?" I asked and Daryl nodded. He grabbed the package to wipe himself off with, but I took over. "Here, let me take care of it," I said as I ran it over his strong arm. "You know the expression happy wife, happy life?" I asked him and he looked over at me with a small nod. "Next time I tell you not to trust someone. Don't trust them. Please, it makes everything so much easier," I said and he scoffed.

He muttered a few curses under his breath and I decided to not push it. He was angry and I knew that sometimes he said things that he didn't mean when he was upset. And that was nothing that I wanted to hear right now. I just wanted to get the hell out of here. "We need to get out of here and find Abraham and Sasha. They're probably waiting for us to find them. Shit, they might think that we're dead," he told me and I nodded. That was priority number one. Dumb and dumber could wait. "Keep quiet, we don't know how many people of theirs are out here," he said and I nodded.

We started to walk out to the road and I sighed. This was not the way that I had thought that this would end. Actually it was exactly the way that I had thought this would end, I had just hoped that I was wrong. "I think we already know that there are quite a few," I said softly and Daryl nodded. "When we get back we need to warn Rick and the others about these Saviors. They have to know that we have a new threat out here," I said and Daryl agreed softly. "God, it seems like every time we find a safe place someone has to come and fuck it up," I growled.

Instead of just nodding at me like I thought that it would, he actually spoke. "First it was Woodbury, then Terminus, and the Grady Memorial people, now these assholes," he said and I nodded. And it wasn't just them, there were plenty of other little people in between. "But it doesn't matter, every time we find a way out of this," he said and I scoffed. This time it seemed different. "Hey, look at me," Daryl ordered and I looked up. "These people will never hurt you. No matter what Rain, I will protect you until the end. I love you," he told me.

The scowl that had seemed to be glued onto my face fell and I smiled at him. There was the man that I had married. Sort of. "I love you too," I told him and I leaned in for a kiss. "Just know that you aren't the only one determined to protect the other. I'd die for you, you know that. Hell, these people almost killed me because I was too stubborn to move away from you," I said with a little laugh.

Daryl shook his head at me and I looked over at him. What did I say? "It's shit like that that scares me, girl. You don't think before you do anything," he said and I sighed. He was right, I had to start thinking more. "Maybe that's why I fell in love with you. Maybe that's why Merle likes you," he said and I laughed. I was pretty fond of Merle too. He was a good guy, when he wanted to be. "Rain?" Daryl asked me and I hummed, glancing up at him. "You asked me once if I wanted to have a family. If I would ever want kids," he said and I blushed.

Well that had not been where I had thought that this was going. Maybe he just wanted to say anything to not think about what had just happened. "Hey, don't worry about that. It- it was just something stupid that I was thinking about," I stuttered, feeling a little awkward. "I guess it was just because I saw Judith and how happy Rick and Carl were and I thought that Maggie and Glenn were on their way to a family and-" I babbled until Daryl cut me off.

"Yes," he said and I stopped short. What had he just said? Wait, what were we even talking about here? Not kids, he didn't want kids. Nah, he had gone on to something else while I was being an idiot. "I never wanted kids. I always thought that I would make a rotten father," he said and I sighed. He would be a wonderful father. "I didn't want to end up like my father. But then I thought about it. Maybe it was just that I never had a person that I was willing to give it a try with. I never met someone that I loved. Not until you," he said and I melted a little. "Rain, if you want kids... We can think about it," he said so low that I almost had missed it.

My heart was beating erratically and I hoped that he couldn't hear it. It was pounding in my ears as I tried to calm myself down. Did he really want to maybe have kids? "I don't know. I mean I never wanted them either. I thought that I didn't have the time and there was no one that I had any feelings for," I said honestly. "But then I met you and some part of me fell in love with you from the moment that I met you," I said honestly and he laughed. Of course we had screamed at each other when we had first met each other, but I had always thought that he was attractive. "You're the only person that I ever even considered it with. I mean I see the way that you look at Judith. You love her. I do too," I said and he smiled.

We hit the road and I watched the cars that we were passing. One of these were bound to work and get us back to Sasha and Abraham. "I'll tell you what, when we get rid of these people, when we make Alexandria safe again, we'll talk more about it," he told me as he grabbed my hand. I smiled at him and nodded. "We can make the family that neither one of us got to have," he said.

"I can take that deal. And don't feel like you have to, if you don't want kids, it's okay," I told him and he nodded. This was good, there was no pressure on either of us. As we walked I noticed a large grey truck and it seemed that Daryl saw it too. I motioned over to it and he nodded at me. As we walked around it, Daryl pried the door open and I checked the back. As I was about to walk back up, I spotted the plate and shook my head. "Hey check it out," I called and Daryl came waltzing back. "Maybe our luck is turning. PATTY002. I'll be damned. Patty wasn't a person, it was a fucking truck," I said and Daryl scoffed loudly. It had thrown us both. "I guess I get why they did it though, they wanted to throw us off," I said and he nodded at me, pulling me to the passenger door.

He threw the doors open and shoved me inside. Impatient little asshole. I was working on it. "Come on, girl. We can get the hell out of here and find Sasha and Abraham. They can't be too far, they knew that we got grounded pretty fast," he said and I nodded. I knew that the tires had been blown out on their car almost immediately.

I nodded at him and jumped into the truck, settling into my seat. Daryl hopped into the driver seat a moment later and threw the door closed behind him. "You're right, there's a business district not far from here. We should try there," I said and Daryl nodded. He threw the car into drive and floored the pedal, the engine roaring in protest. Daryl backed off the gas and I laughed. "Whoa, easy there Tiger. I know that you like this baby but take it slow. Gotta ease her into it," I teased him and we both laughed.

A little slower this time, we took off once more and I leaned against the window. I hoped that wherever they were, they weren't far. We had been out here for too long and I wanted to get back home. It was imperative that we got back to Alexandria and made sure that everyone was still alive. We were not going to be the last two standing. Daryl roared down the highway but slowed down as we got into the business district. Chances were, if they were here they would have left a sign for us to find. It would be obvious but not blatantly. We just had to keep our eyes open. We were both watching the dies of the streets, waiting to see where they were hiding out.

Suddenly my eyes caught something out of place. "Daryl stop!" I shouted and he slammed to a halt, glaring at me. I was sure that he was about to yell at me but I help up a hand. Right on the door of a building, Dixon was written in large black print. I knew that hand. It was Sasha. "Shut up and look you big idiot. That has to be them, I recognize Sasha's handwriting," I told him and he nodded. "They must have stopped here and waited for us. There's the car. Damn thing looks shot to shit," I said sadly. But on the bright side, we did have the truck. And that word meant that they were still alive, just waiting for us.

Daryl nodded at me and hopped out of the truck, smacking the side of her as we headed to the door of the store. "Good thing we found ole Patty here. Maybe next time we see those assholes I'll run them into the damn ground with her," he said and I laughed.

The two of us made our way into the room and I pushed the door closed behind us. "Sasha? Abraham? Are you guys here?" I whispered, not wanting to alert anything other than the two of our group members. "It's Rain and Daryl. We're alone," I said before hearing a small clink at the back of the store. Something was back there. Hopefully it was them. "Hey Daryl, I heard something back there. I think they might be hiding in the back," I said and he nodded. But just as we made our way into the back, I saw a head of bright red hair and I launched myself forward and into waiting arms. "Abraham! Thank God you're alright. Both of you," I said when I saw Sasha.

Abraham smiled at me and let me drop from his arms slowly. I hugged Sasha and then stepped back to look over the pair. Other than being a little rattled, they looked alright. "Damn girl, the two of you get in a fistfight or something while y'all were out there?" Abraham asked me when he finally looked over the two of us. "He making moves on some sweet walker?" He asked me and I laughed.

Daryl grunted and I smiled. That was a good one, I might have to use that with Glenn and Maggie some day. "Very funny," I smiled before getting serious. "We need to get out of here and back to Alexandria. There are some words we need to have with Rick. Starting with this shitty plan. I don't think anything went right," I said and they both nodded. "We got some company and they aren't friendly," I informed them.

I saw Sasha's head pop up and she gave me a hard stare, like she was making sure that I was who I said I was. Did she not believe me? "What do you mean company? You guys run into someone out there?" She asked me and I scoffed. No, Daryl was the one that punched me in the eye.

I nodded at her and motioned down to the rest of my body. "Yeah, that's where this is all from. We had just been run off the road when these two girls showed up telling us that they had earned what they took. They thought we were from this group, the Saviors," I said and both sets of eyebrows went up. Yeah, I thought that it was stupid too. "Apparently the leader ain't too friendly. The guy came jumping out of the bushes and knocked Daryl unconscious. I had a few words with him. Long story short, they started to prove themselves to us after a while but then they turned their back on us. One of the girls didn't make it but the couple did," I said and they nodded.

Abraham went to check me over but I shook my head at him. I was fine for now and we had much bigger problems at hand. "These people are all around here?" He asked us and we nodded. "Where's the rest of your stuff?" He asked and I grunted. Ask tall, dark, and stupid.

Daryl knew that I wasn't going to explain that one so he took over, pushing us slowly towards the exit of the building. We had to get going. "Yeah and they ain't looking to make friends. We ran into a few of them. We need to get out of here and warn everyone," he said and they both nodded, hurrying slightly to the exit. "Assholes took it, only left us both with knives. I'll be sure to get it back the next time that we see them," he said and they nodded.

Sasha grabbed our backs and began to shove us a little faster. Girl, I just got thrown off a bike, give me a second. "Then let's get the hell out of here. We find out where the walkers went and then we get back to Alexandria. There's a new threat," she said and I nodded.

We all went running to the truck and everyone hopped in quickly. It astounded me how fast that we had moved. We were all in the truck and Daryl was already well on his way to Alexandria. But as Sasha and I watched the road, he fiddled with the radio. "Rick, you copy?" Daryl asked but nothing happened. The walkie just hissed and I sighed. Someone was still alive, they had to be. "Anybody?" He asked one more time, but the radio was still silent. Finally a garbled voice came through and everyone was shocked, someone was there. Who the hell was it though? "Say it again?" Daryl asked. "Help," the voice called before it went silent.

Daryl was screwing around, trying to get the voice back to ask who it was, but I knew who it was. "That was Eugene," I said and they all turned to me. That was his voice. I knew it. There was no denying that. It was good though, that meant that someone was still alive. But he had said help, so what was going on? There had to be more than walkers, something was seriously wrong. "I know it. They're in trouble, something is happening. Screw taking care of the walkers, we have to get back there," I said and I noticed that everyone was nodding. Our family was number one priority. "We have to help them."

"Daryl," Sasha called and I glanced up. In the middle of the road were six men that were sitting on bikes. They did not look friendly. In fact, they looked familiar. Oh my God, that was Wade. That was the man that was one of the Saviors. These were the people that we should be running from.

He nodded and I sucked in a breath. "Yeah I see," he said but showed no indication of slowing down in the slightest. Good, run them over. Kill them all.

Not bothering to look back at the two that were sitting in the back seat, I began to inform them on who our new companions were. "That's them," I said and I noticed that Sasha took in a breath. "I guess those are the Saviors that they were talking about. That's Wade, up at the front," I told Daryl and he nodded. "Do you think they have this leader with them?" I asked him and he shook his head.

Abraham leaned forward so that he was dangling over my shoulder. "These are the people that you were talking about?" He asked me and I nodded. "What in the holy shit? Should we run them over or something?" He asked but Daryl slowed to a stop and waited in front of the menacing group.

Wade dropped his hands and smiled at the four of us. Oh I did not like that smile. Not one little bit. "Why don't you come on out? Join us in the road," he said and we all nodded to each other. This could go bad if we resisted. But still, we didn't move. Wade's eyes locked on Daryl and I and I took in a breath. Maybe he didn't know us. "Ah, nice to see the two of you again. I see you lost Dwight and Sherry," he said and I sighed. Damn it, he did know us. But now I knew that D was really Dwight and Honey was really Sherry. These people were fucked up. "You know if you want to resist try something. I mean, it's a choice I guess. We will end your asses. Split you right in two. Straight through to the sinuses," he said and my bones chilled. Not good. "So come on," he said and we all nodded, jumping out of the truck and slamming the doors behind us. "Ah it's great, going well right out of the gate. Now step two, hand over your weapons," he said.

Daryl, and the rest of us, narrowed our eyes. "Why should we?" He growled.

Wade smiled and shook his head. It was like we were all old friends discussing the weather, not people that were thinking about killing each other. He was far too casual for my liking. It just spelled bad news. "Well they're not yours," he told us with a little laugh.

"What?" Abraham hissed.

Wade smiled at us once more and motioned back to the truck. "See, your weapons, your truck, the fuel in your truck. If you got mints in your glove compartment, porn underneath the seat, change in the seats, hell, the seats themselves. The floor mats, your maps, the little stash of emergency napkins you got there in the console. None of those things are yours anymore," he said and I snarled. Like hell we were giving that up.

Sasha glared as well and crossed her hands over her chest and cocking a hip. Please be nice Sasha, this was not going to go well if anyone did anything stupid. "Whose are they?" She asked with a little snarl.

It seemed that the smile never faltered from Wade's lips. I didn't know the name of the leader but I knew that he was the one who was claiming all of our things. He was the one that I was sure that we were going to meet. He was our new enemy. He was the one that we now had to fill our nightmares. He was the man that I apparently never wanted to meet. "Your property now belongs to Negan." Negan. The Devil.


	50. The Lord And Savior

My eyes widened as I stared at Wade. This guy had no idea who he was getting into it with. We had dealt with people like this before and we would deal with them again. That's just the way that it goes. "And if you can get your hands on a tanker, you're people our person wants to know. So let's get those side arms, shall we? Right now," Wade said with a little smile. My fists closed around my gun and I sighed. The last thing that I wanted was to be weaponless. There were a few guns in the truck but I was sure that they would find them. There was also a knife tucked into the back of my boot but there was no way that I could take out all of them with it. Not before they got me. "Thank you. Thank you," he half sung as he grabbed both Daryl and Sasha's weapons. He came up to me next and I sighed, grabbing my gun and slamming it forcefully into his hand. "Thank you, darling," he purred before walking off. Damn, I had been hoping that it would go off in his hand. Wade stopped in front of Abraham and waited. "If you have to eat shit, best not to nibble. Bite, chew, swallow, repeat. It goes quicker," he said. I sneered as Abraham finally gave up his gun. "Thank you."

Without bothering to check over the guns, Wade walked back to his men and handed a younger man the weapons. I watched as his greasy hands flitted over my gun and I growled. That thing meant a lot to me and there he was, destroying it. But it was better that they were focused on the guns than us. "Who are you people?" Damn in, Sasha. I could have figured something out.

Her question seemed to surprise Wade as he turned back to us and walked a little closer. My skin crawled as his eyes traveled over each of us, probably deciding on who to kill first. None of us if I had something to say about it. "I get the curiosity, but we have questions ourselves. And we'll be the ones asking them while we drive you back to wherever it is you call home," he said and I nodded. I had figured that he would want that much. People usually did. Although, they looked like they had a home somewhere too. I wondered if maybe they wanted to take a new one. Like my father had with the prison. "Take a gander at where you hang your hats. First, though, your shit. What have you got for us?" He asked.

I snorted and shook my head. They were completely daft if they really thought that we had brought a ton of stuff out here with us. They knew that we had a home out there, so why would they think that we had extra things? Daryl seemed to be thinking the same thing as me when he shook his head. "Yeah, you just took it," he told Wade and his men.

Smirking at Daryl, Wade turned from Sasha and walked over to my husband. My heart was thumping loudly as I watched him, praying that he would just leave Daryl out of it. I'd rather it be me that got shot than him. "Come on. I mean, can we not, okay? There's more. There is always more. Take my man to the back of the truck, start inside the back bumper, work your way to the front. Go," Wade said, pushing Daryl towards a heavy set man. I immediately darted towards them and the man grabbed me, but Wade called out. "No, not her. Leave her with me," he hissed, grabbing my arm and pushing me back to Abraham and Sasha. "Bite, chew, swallow, repeat," he growled at me.

I wanted nothing more than to take the knife out of my boot and cut off Wade's head, but I knew that it wasn't worth it. I'd be dead the second that they saw me move. I wasn't willing to risk it. But I was willing to distract them. People like this loved to talk. They loved to say one thing or another and make sure that their victims were scared. That was exactly what I had to do. Keep them talking so I could figure out a plan. "Who's Negan?" Abraham asked, helping me cause unknowingly.

It looked like Wade was about to say something, but I took the opportunity before he could say anything. "Nothing but a damn coward," I hissed, watching as Wade turned to look at me. His eyes lit up slightly and it unnerved me. "Look at this. He sends his henchmen to do his dirty work for him. I've already met a few of his men," I said. The light faded from Wade's eyes and it was replaced with more of a curious look. "Nothing more than a bunch of mindless pricks. They think that he offers protection. He just uses them as a front while he gets to sit back and watch these idiots do his bidding. Right?" I asked Wade, hoping that this wouldn't come back to bite me in the ass.

He laughed and looked down at my finger. I realized that the ring was sitting on it, standing out against the dirt and grime over the rest of me. He grinned and shook his head. "That's sweet. Let me guess, that's your man back there. Ain't it?" I merely stared at Wade, hoping that my glare would set him on fire. "Thought so. Ding, dong, Hell's bells. You count yourself lucky that I even let you finish. Maybe it's because I like watching those lips move," he told me and my stomach recoiled. "You see, usually we introduce ourselves by just popping one of you right off the bat," he told us and I gulped. I guess we could count ourselves lucky for that. "But you seem like reasonable people. Even you. I mean, you're sporting dress blues, for Christ's sake," He said, motioning to Abraham. "And, like I said, we're gonna drive you back to where you were. I mean, do you know how awkward it is carpooling with someone whose friend or friends you've just killed? Oof," he said, like it actually pained him. But I knew that it was just an act. It was always an act. "But I told you not to ask any questions. And then what does this ginger do? So that's that. I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me," Wade said as he took my gun and raised it to Abraham's head.

My heart leaped into my throat and I took a step in front of Abraham. I thought that maybe Wade would shove me out of his way but he merely smirked, dropping his finger to the trigger. My heart was pounding rapidly as I stared Wade down. "Wait. Wait," I heard Sasha say and I let out a breath. Thank you. "You don't have to do this," she pleaded desperately.

Scoffing loudly at Sasha, Wade shook his head. This wasn't looking very good for me. At least I had a nice life. Maybe Maggie really would name the baby Rain Jr now. "Shut up. I am talking to the man," Wade said, motioning around me to Abraham. Talking? He was just threatening to kill us. He probably was still going to kill us if we didn't think of a way out of this. And soon. "I'm not gonna kill you," Wade said and I nearly grinned. That was music to my ears. "Wait, wait. You know what? Yes, I am," he said. I heard him click off the safety and I closed my eyes. Just before he could pull the trigger though, a huge explosion sounded and I was knocked to the ground.

In the distance I could hear Daryl call my name and I groaned. Was I dead? Or was that real? My eyes slowly opened and I stared at the mess that had once been Wade and his men. It was a gruesome sight, but I would rather it be them than us. The men were blown to pieces with blood splattered all across the road. And me too. I stared at the spot that Wade had been standing in not a moment before and leaned over, grabbing my gun from the blood puddle. "Goodbye Wade," I muttered. Turning back, I saw that Daryl was standing with the RPG that Abraham had found in his arms. I smiled and walked over to him, grabbing him in a tight embrace. "I knew there was a reason that I married you," I told him, earning laughs from my group members. I pulled back from Daryl and saw a little trickle of blood. "Are you alright?" I asked nervously.

Daryl nodded at me and I sighed. Even if he were injured he wouldn't have told me. "Son of a bitch was tougher than he looked," he said and I nodded. I quickly glanced to the back of the truck and saw the man that had taken Daryl, laying on the road, face down. "What about you? Are you alright?" Daryl asked me and I nodded. A little shaken up, but I was fine.

A moment later we were joined by Abraham and Sasha, the two both looking about as nervous as I did. My heart began to beat rapidly once more as I realized the danger that we had put ourselves in. That explosion was damn loud. We were probably drawing walkers and humans to us. That was bad. The walkers were always a problem, and now people were too. We had to make sure to get out of here before some more of Negan's men came to pay us a visit. "Did he cut you?" Sasha asked as she caught sight of Daryl's shoulder.

He shrugged and I rolled my eyes. That was typical Daryl. Even if he was in more pain than humanly possible to take, he would never admit it. But I did know that the cut was tiny and, if anything, it probably just stung a little. He would be fine. He would just need a pad on it for a few days. It wasn't even deep enough to justify stitches. "A little. What a bunch of assholes," Daryl said.

Smiling slightly, I nodded. Abraham scoffed behind me and I turned back with a laugh. I could tell that he felt bad that I had nearly been shot earlier but I shrugged it off. It wouldn't be the first time. Besides, most of my group knew that I was willing to die for them. I always would be. They were the family that I had never had. "Let's get you fixed up at home," Sasha told Daryl.

"Yes, ma'am," he said and I smiled, pulling Daryl into a quick kiss. He wrapped his arms around me and I laughed into his mouth as Abraham made kissy noises in the background. As I had expected, Daryl pulled away from me, letting his hair cover up the light blush that was dusted over his cheeks. I really needed to get Jessie to cut his hair. It was ridiculously long. I couldn't believe that he could even see.

As we headed back to the truck I grabbed the weapons that had been taken from us, along with the functional weapons that Wade's men had previously owned. They were good guns. They were lucky that they had ever been able to come across these. And keep them. Most of the guns that we had gotten from Rick's bag, way back in Atlanta, were long gone by now. Walking past the men I noticed that a piece of Wade's corpse was on the ground, laying right in front of Abraham. "Nibble on that," he said and I laughed, placing my hand on his back and pushing him forward.

Once we were all back in the car and on our way I sighed. We were a ways off from Alexandria but that didn't matter. Soon enough we would be reunited with our people. I sighed and took in breath. We had to let Sasha and Abraham know that these people were more than just those few. "These people. They're the second group of them that Daryl and I have met," I said, looking back in the mirror and noticing both Sasha's and Abraham's head snap up. "We met three other ones out in the woods right before we found you two. The ones that we told you about. Two of them are still alive. D, the guy that we met out in the woods, said that they were running from a leader. A guy that I would never want to know. I assume that he meant this Negan," I said.

My skin crawled as I mentioned Negan's name. I had no idea who this man was but I knew that he was nothing good. He reminded me of my father. And that was not something that I wanted to deal with again. "We gotta get back to Alexandria," Daryl said, stepping on the gas. "Rick is gonna know what to do. We have to let everyone know that there's another group out there that poses a threat. A big one," Daryl said and I nodded.

He was right. If anyone would know what to do, it was Rick. He was the one that we all turned to whenever we were in need of something. He was the man that I counted as both my father and best friend. He was everything to me. All of these people were. It just wasn't something that I liked to say. Letting my eyes close, I laid back in the seat. It was a long drive back to Alexandria and I was exhausted. By the looks of it, so were Sasha and Abraham. In the back seat they were already asleep. I assumed that it had been a long few days for them too. I glanced over to Daryl and he nodded, letting me know that he didn't mind if I went to sleep. Knowing that we were going back somewhere safe I nuzzled into the chair and let my eyes slip closed. It wasn't even a full minute before I was out like a light.

A few hours later I felt my leg being shaken and I jumped, sitting upright. The sky had gone dark and I had to struggle to see inside of the walls. Why the hell were none of the lights on? That was when I saw it. The fence, one of the damn walls was down. And walkers were pouring in through it. No. Please let them be alright. Maggie. Glenn. Carl. Judith. Carol. Michonne. Merle. Morgan. Everyone. They were all in there. "Oh my God. The wall, the far wall where the tower was. It's gone. It's down," I muttered, waking Sasha and Abraham out of their half asleep state. "Walkers are pouring into Alexandria. What the hell happened while we were gone? We have to get in there!" I yelled, finally realizing the full extent of the damage. "Get us up to the gate," I told Daryl, who nodded and drove the truck up to the gate.

Once the truck was parked I jumped into the back seat and threw a gun up to Daryl. He caught it and immediately ran out of the truck. Sasha and Abraham were after him and I grabbed my own gun before darting from the truck. Abraham was waiting for me and gave me a hand to the roof. Once up I joined the others in taking out walkers all over the place. Not far from where we were standing I spotted Carol and Michonne. Thank God, they were alright. I saw Rick too, Carl in his arms. My heart jumped at the sight of them but I knew that something was wrong. I had to focus though, I could worry later. Morgan was with Denise and I nodded. There's two more. Merle darted to keep up with Michonne and I sighed. Thank God. Father Gabriel was running with Judith in his arms and I noticed Rosita, Eugene, and Tara running as well. There were plenty of other Alexandria residents with them and I nodded. Maggie and Enid were running as well and I nearly laughed. Maggie was safe. So was her child. I saw both Aaron and Eric running too, with Spencer in tow. That was everyone.

Well, that was all but one. I was panicking internally as I searched for Glenn. He had to be out here somewhere. I looked down and noticed a swarm of walkers, all surrounding one figure. It was a man. Please be him. I took out the first few walkers and screamed with joy when I saw that it was him. We had gotten here just in time. Glenn was safe. "Glenn! Get the hell away from there!" I screamed down to Glenn, shocking him from his stupor. He nodded his thanks at me and I sighed, watching as he headed after Maggie and Enid.

Once I was sure that he had made it away from the bulk of the walkers safely I turned my attention back to the large groupings. I sighed as I shot one after another. It didn't matter. We were never going to make a difference in this herd. It seemed that Daryl knew it too as he motioned to me. "Keep shooting," he instructed Abraham and Sasha, who both nodded. "Come on. I've got a plan," Daryl told me and I nodded.

He gave me his hand, helping me from the platform. We both darted over to the truck and I watched as he grabbed the RPG. Well this was going all sorts of strange places. He nodded at me to grab the gallons of gas and I smirked. Now I knew what he was doing. He was going to get rid of the walkers without exhausting our bullet resources. Quickly, and quietly, we sprinted through the masses of walkers. My stomach roiled as I felt a few of their hands just barely graze my arms. I should have worn longer sleeves. But we finally made it to a turned over car by the lake and Daryl grabbed my arm, hoisting me onto it. I grabbed the weapon, surprised at how heavy it was, and watched as he jumped onto it. We both took the gallons of gas and threw it into the lake, hoping that this would work. It had to. This was our home. We would not lose it.

Once I was sure that all of the gas was out of the buckets and onto the lake I sighed. I gave Daryl a sharp nod and watched as he raised the RPG. I covered my ears, knowing just how loud the damn explosion was. Just as I had expected, the RPG blew into the lake and I watched as the water went up in flames. The heat wave was painful and Daryl pushed me to stumble back. Not even a moment after the lake had begun to burn I turned back to see hundreds of walkers heading right into the flames. I smiled proudly and watched as Daryl let the weapon lean against his leg. "Just in case you were wondering, no you can't keep that," I told him.

For a while we just watched the walkers head into the lake, into their demise. Once the steady flow had dropped from a stream into a trickle we jumped down and assisted with the remaining residents of Alexandria, in the cleanup of the streets. I saw both walkers that must have invaded from the outside and residents that had risen. Both affected me. I turned, about to sink my knife into another walker, when I realized that it was Rick. I smiled and jumped into his arms. Looking around I saw that the walkers were gone. All of them. The only thing that remained was to rid ourselves of the bodies. But that was for another night.

Already people were on top of the walls, placing pilings of wood where the wall had fallen. It wasn't as good as the supports that we currently had but it was better than it had been. Rick looked broken and I prayed that it was nothing to do with Carl. "Thank you. Both of you. I'm glad to see that you're both alright," he said as he embraced Daryl. I was about to ask what had happened here when Rick held up a hand. "Wait. Before you say anything, there's something that the two of you need to see. Something that you missed while you were out," he told us.

We both nodded and allowed him to lead us. We headed to the infirmary and my heart beat sped up. With every passing moment I was getting more and more worried about the residents of Alexandria. On our way I saw Merle, gladly embracing him. He didn't stay long though, as he was helping with the brutal task of taking care of those who had been bitten. I knew how awful that job was. To tell someone that they were going to die. I knew it all too well. I walked into the infirmary, nodding at Denise before heading into the back room. On the table was Carl, with a patch over his eye. He looked like my father. "Oh my God. What happened to him?" I asked Rick.

Rick's eyes were glazed over and I felt my heart break for him. That was his child. His first born that he had sworn to protect with his life. And right not he felt like he had broken his promise. "We were stuck in the middle of a herd. Sam, Jessie, and Ron were with us," he said and I raised my eyebrows. I had seen Merle and Michonne, but I hadn't seen them. "Sam saw something and started to cry, Jessie tried to calm him down but nothing was working. He was bit and so was she. We tried to get her away from them but it wasn't working," he said and I sighed. I knew that Rick was close to Jessie so I was sorry to see her go. I couldn't have cared less about either of her kids though. They were weak. "I guess Ron blamed me for their deaths. So he aimed the gun at me. He was about to fire when Michonne killed him," he said and I nodded. "The gun still went off though. Right into Carl's eye," he said, his voice cracking a bit at the end.

If I had eaten anything today I was sure that I would have just emptied it onto the floor. Carl. The boy that had started out so innocent and had been forced to grow up ahead of his time. He wasn't dead, thank God, but he was now missing an eye. It reminded me of my father. "I knew something was wrong with that kid," Daryl said and I nodded. Ron had always seemed a little off. I was glad to hear that he was dead. And that he would never be bothering us again. "Will he be alright?" Daryl asked, motioning to Carl.

The slight nod of the head that Rick gave us seemed to lift a weight off of my shoulders. So many people had been lost tonight and I wasn't sure that I could handle one more dead. "Denise said that he'll live," Rick told us and I nodded. Even though we had lost Pete, the real surgeon, we did have Denise. She had only been a medical student but she had been a promising one. "There's no saving the eye though," Rick said softly.

I nodded, having figured that much. Carl would pull through but he would need time. He would need time to adjust. My father had lived with one eye and I had known people to live completely blind. He would just have to use a learning curve. "Hey, don't worry," I said, placing my hand gently on Rick's shoulder. "Carl will pull through this. He's gone through worse before. We'll let you have your time with him. You deserve it," I told Rick. He nodded at the both of us and I gave him a quick peck on the cheek, along with the unconscious Carl, before pulling Daryl from the infirmary. He was giving me the look that told me that I should have said something and I sighed. It would have been too cruel. "I know, I should have said something. But I couldn't do it. His son just lost his eye and he blames himself. Give him a while to get over it. At least let Carl wake up first. Then I'll tell him, I promise," I told Daryl.

He nodded back at me and the two of us made our way to the house, silently. Walkers were laying all over the street and the lake was slowly dwindling down to a steady burn. It seemed like most of the Alexandrian residents were on it and I nodded. Almost every damn day Daryl, I, and the rest of our group were cleaning up after these people. For once I just wanted to let them take care of it and give myself a break. So that was exactly what I did. Daryl went to go off and assist with the bodies but I grabbed him by the sleeve, pulling him towards our house. We walked in and I smiled at Glenn and Maggie, who were currently laying on the couch together in a deep sleep.

I held my hand up to my lips as we passed through the kitchen and up the stairs to our bedroom. Daryl kicked the door behind him and watched as I stripped off the blood covered shirt. Once I had pulled off my clothes and replaced them with an oversized shirt I grinned and flopped onto the bed. Daryl was moving slower than me and I watched as he pulled off his shirt, leaving it off. It was good though, I liked when he would let me see the scars. I knew that no matter what he said he would always be ashamed of them. He kicked off his pants as well before climbing into bed with me. We both spread out on the bed, barely touching. "Come here," Daryl said softly and I easily obliged. "I'll keep you safe. No matter what. I'll fight for you with my dying breath," he told me softly. I smiled before looking up at him, capturing his lips, and letting go of the horrors of the day.

TWO MONTHS LATER...

A shrill beeping filled the room and I groaned. For as many useful things that Heath had found on the past few runs, I did not agree that the alarm clocks were a useful part. Daryl shared in my sentiment as he rolled over and slapped the alarm, shutting it off. No matter which one of us would hit the alarm in the morning, it was always hard. I was pretty sure that we were going to break it in the next few days. Without saying a word Daryl climbed out of bed and pulled on his clothes before heading out the door. He wasn't angry, just tired. I couldn't blame him. We had been up late last night, planning the supply run that we would be going on today.

Over the past two months changes to Alexandria were being implemented every day. The walls had been the first things to be changed. I had been the head of that project, seeing to it that the walls were stronger than they had been. And it had worked. The walls were thicker and taller, extending even father now. We had the room to grow more crops, which was something that we desperately needed. Over the past few months, even though we had lost people, it seemed that we were going out less and less. And that meant that we had less food than we used to. The pantry supplies were running low and Daryl, Merle, and I were not enough people to go hunting for an entire community. We had been teaching some others, but it wasn't enough. People would be starving to death soon if we didn't do anything.

That was why we were going out on the run today. We had to get something. Some type of food. And we had to do it fast. It wasn't like we were the only ones though. Soon, Tara and Heath would be going out on a two week supply run. It would be our make or break point. And we all knew that we needed to make it. As far as the people went, we were healing. Carl was up and about now, and I was always on the lookout for an eye patch. I constantly teased him about being a pirate. I had thought at first that it might offend him but now I knew that he appreciated it. He appreciated not being treated like a broken doll. Abraham and Sasha had been growing close as of late, and I wasn't too sure how Rosita felt about it. Maggie and the baby were still healthy and Glenn seemed thrilled to be a father. As for Denise, well she and Tara seemed to be getting along rather well.

Everything was working out for everyone. For now at least. Since Wade and his men had found us out on the road we hadn't had another run in with any other groups. I wanted it to stay that way but I had a lingering feeling that we were due for another greeting sometime soon. I yawned deeply and stood, grabbing a fresh pair of clothes from the drawer. A loose fitting white V-neck and a pair of tight blue jean shorts. I grabbed my boots from the floor and slipped them on and grabbed my gun from the table, along with my knife. I glanced at the bow against the wall that Daryl had found me and smiled. It was a simple longbow, nothing fancy, but it worked. It was a little too big and not balanced quite right but it was more than nothing. Still, I missed my old bow. If I ever found D again, I'd be sure to get it back.

As I got ready to head downstairs I noticed Daryl come back into the room, a mug of tea and one of coffee in his hands. He held them both out to me, offering me a choice, and I smiled. I took the tea, despite wanting the coffee. I knew that it was what he wanted. "You ready for that supply run?" I asked him and he nodded. "Should be pretty easy. Just grab some stuff. Food's the priority right now. We're running low. We're used to not eating much for extended periods of time. But these people. They aren't. They've always been well fed," I scoffed.

Daryl nodded at me and watched as I twisted the ring around my finger. It was a habit that I was sure that I would never break. "Not a problem. We'll get out there, get the food, and be on our way," he told me and I nodded. It was always so simple, until something went wrong. "Think you can manage a run without nearly dying this time?" He asked me with a little smirk.

Biting back a laugh, I slapped him roughly on the shoulder before sighing. It had been an accident. About two weeks ago I had gone out on a run with him when we had been ambushed by walkers. We had turned to run and while I was running back a steep incline, I nearly ran straight into a ravine. If Daryl hadn't grabbed me I would have been gone. "You know, Dixon. One of these days I'm going to really die out there and you're going to miss me," I said and he rolled his eyes. "I mean, who else would take care of you? I do your laundry-" I told him before being cut off.

Daryl snorted at me and shook his head. I glared at him and waited for him to tell me how I was wrong. "You gather it to give to one of the girls that does it," he told me and I shook my head.

I wanted to argue with him that he was wrong but he was actually right. I never really did the laundry but that was because I had better things to do. Still, I did more than he did. "Still counts!" I yelled and he shook his head at me. "I pick up your disgusting socks and underwear. That counts as me doing your laundry. It's more than you do," I told him and he shook his head. He couldn't argue with that. And boy clothes were disgusting. I had offered to pick up Merle's one day too but after just once, well, let's just say never again. "Anyways, I also cook for you," I said proudly.

Once more Daryl snorted and I glared at him. He couldn't just let me have this one thing? Of course not, every day I made fun of him for something so now it was his turn to get me back. That was just the way that we worked. "You make coffee," he told me and I glared at him. He still drank it. "And watered down coffee at that," he said and I gasped. My coffee wasn't really that bad, was it? "Carol's the one that really cooks," he said and I shook my head.

While that might have been true there was no need to actually say it. So I got up and Daryl was up just a moment after me. He knew that he was in trouble. Good. "That's it!" I yelled and immediately Daryl was off like a bullet down the staircase. "Get over here!" I yelled at him as I chased after him. Darting down the stairs, and nearly tumbling down them a few times, I hit the landing and saw that Daryl was about to leave the house. Before he could though I jumped over the counter and sprinted after him. Maggie and Glenn were watching us with amused smiles as I jumped on Daryl and tackled him to the floor, forcing him over so that I could sit on him.

Of course I hadn't really thought through the fact that Daryl was much stronger than I was. Barely exerting himself, Daryl rolled us over and I grunted as my back pressed into the bow. It hurt but I refused to say anything. I was going to win this one. I always lost and I couldn't take it anymore. Just one damn time I wanted to win. "Are we ready to go on that run now or do the two of you need a minute?" I heard Rick ask. Glancing up I saw that he was leaning over the couch with a smirk on his face, Glenn and Maggie suppressing laughter behind him.

Giving Rick a wide smile I shoved Daryl roughly to the side and sprung to my feet. He hit the floor roughly and grabbed my leg, making me stumble as I stood. The two of us both had a little moment of regaining our composure before standing. "Oh no, I'm ready. Just had to teach him a lesson," I scoffed, shoving past Daryl to get to our housemates. "Hey, we'll see you two soon," I said as I gave Glenn a quick hug. It had become a habit, hugging each other. We never said anything about it but we always knew that it was very possible that it would be the last time that we saw each other. "Make sure you remember to keep taking the vitamins," I told Maggie as I grabbed her. "We'll be on the lookout for some more out there," I promised. I wasn't sure if we would find them but I would try.

Her eyes were bright and she had the glow from her pregnancy. The bump was barely even noticeable but it was there. You just had to look for it. I wished her the best of luck with it. It would be nice to see a fresh person in the group. Judith was cute but she was with Carl and Gabriel most of the time. "Thank you. Be careful out there. Please," she told me and I nodded as she moved closer to me. "I know that you think that those people have moved on since the last time that you found them, but they might still be there," she said with a hushed tone. "Just watch out. I can't lose you," she said and I noticed tears welling in her eyes. She had already lost almost everything.

Nodding at her softly I gave her hand a quick squeeze before walking out of the house, falling in line behind Daryl and Rick. Rick moved off to the side to get the car ready and I made a move to follow him, but before I could Daryl yanked on my arm. I was about to ask him what he was doing but he beat me to it. "One second, I gotta check something real fast," he told me and I nodded. Following behind him I noticed that he was heading directly for Denise. "Hey," he called out to her as we walked up to her. She called back to us and Daryl grabbed a piece of paper out of his pocket. "This thing at the bottom right here. You're talking about the drink, right?" He asked her.

I looked over his shoulder and cocked my eyebrow. Everything on the list was either food or something medical. There were even a few clothing requests and hygiene products. But there was nothing else like that on the list. Orange pop. Pop? Denise was clearly from the Deep South. Denise nodded, looking completely nervous. "I am, but-"

Daryl cut her off before she got a chance to explain herself and I glared at him. "It's not medical," he told her. I shoved Daryl gently but he ignored me. As much as I loved Daryl he had a bad habit of cutting people off the minute he saw something wrong with whatever they were saying. I loved both him and his brother but they were both terrible about that.

For a moment Denise looked taken aback. But I assumed that she had been expecting that of Daryl so she shook her head. I did notice that Denise hadn't once looked over at me and I couldn't help but to wonder if she was intimidated with both Daryl and I in front of her. I had noticed that most of the Alexandrian residents seemed to get a little nervous when we were around them or in big groups of our former group. "No, I drew a line between the important stuff and that. I just figured, if you saw it," she said softly, trailing off towards the end.

I couldn't help but to smile at her. Denise was certainly not a fighter, a little overweight, constantly nervous, and not a violent bone in her body. She was terrible out in the real world but she was good in here. She was a good asset to have here. And despite the fact that her skills were nowhere near his, I would take Denise over Pete any day. "All right," Daryl told her with a little nod.

Before the pair of us could walk over to the waiting car with Rick, Denise spoke up again. "Anything remotely medical is a priority," she said and we nodded, turning once more. But of course, Denise was a nervous talker and she wasn't done yet. "And food, maybe even food before medicine, and gas or batteries or books for the kids or clothes is just- if you see it, if it just happens to, you know, be right there," she said nervously. I could tell that she wanted the soda for something more than just herself.

Of course, Daryl was never one to use context clues. But what else could I expect from a high school dropout that had never really cared about school in the first place? But that wasn't to say he was stupid. He was smarter than plenty of people that I knew. "You like it, right?" Daryl asked her.

Denise shook her head at him and I grinned. I didn't think that it was for her. "No, I don't drink pop," she told him.

His eyebrows raised and I nearly laughed. I loved Daryl more than anything but he could be such a moron. Then again, so could I. We all were sometimes. "What the hell's pop?" He asked her and that time I did laugh.

His head whipped back to me and I shook my head. The last thing that I wanted was for a car ride full of Daryl and Rick pointing out every stupid thing that I had ever done. Denise looked slightly surprised before shaking her head and glancing down at the ground bashfully for a moment. "Oh, I'm originally from Ohio," she said and I smiled. Not where I would have thought.

Risking a quick look over at him I couldn't tell if Daryl was either angry at her or just plain confused. Idiot. These were the days that I wished that he could just read minds and save us all the time of stupid questions and pointless conversations. "Why you want it?" Daryl asked.

The question peaked my interest and I looked over to Denise who was currently sporting a bright blush. It was something about Tara. "Tara was talking about it in her sleep, I think," she said and I smiled. I thought so. "Either she likes it or she doesn't, but if she likes it, it'd be a really nice surprise. I'm not good with that kind of stuff, and she and Heath are going on that two-week run. I just thought it'd be a nice going-away present. Just, uh, don't go out of your way," she said, like she was ashamed that she was asking something. "And if it gives you any trouble-"

She was still babbling when Daryl cut her off. "I won't," he told her and I rolled my eyes. He really did know how to handle these kind of situations delicately. He was almost as good as me in those situations. Perhaps that's where I had gotten my charming personality from. At least that's who I would blame.

Denise nodded at us and smiled bashfully. She really was a sweet girl. I hoped that one day she would grow a backbone. It would be nice to see and I was sure that Tara would love to see it. "Okay, good, 'cause it's not important. I should've said so instead of just drawing a line," she said.

I shook my head at her and nodded at Rick, who was silently asking if we were ready to get going. "Got it," Daryl told her.

Before we could head to the car where Rick was waiting, I turned back to Denise and smiled. She looked nervous but nodded at me anyways. "Hey, we'll be on the lookout for it. I think I know a little gas station that has some. I passed it a few months ago. I hate the stuff so I left it," I said and she laughed. I couldn't believe that Tara liked it. It was horrible. "Should still be there if no one else has gotten to it," I told her and she nodded her thanks to me. Without saying another word I turned from her and ran to catch up with Daryl. He looked over at me as I ran up and I laughed at his stiff posture. "You know, you terrify her," I told him.

He merely shook his head and laughed softly before walking up to the car that Rick was waiting in. Daryl took the front on instinct and I piled into the back, stretching my legs out. We were off the moment that we both were seated and I gave a quick wave to Rosita, who was currently on fence duty. I was about to doze off when I heard Rick speak up. "Today's the day. We're gonna find food, maybe some people. The law of averages has gotta catch up," Rick said and I nodded.

Daryl, ever the downer, shook his head. I didn't blame him, I wasn't sure that I wanted to find people. After my last two meetings with strangers I wasn't overly fond of bringing someone new into Alexandria. Especially after all of the work that we had put in. "I don't know. We ain't seen nobody for weeks. Maybe we ain't gonna find nobody. Maybe that's a good thing," Daryl said and I nodded along. Rick sighed and grabbed a CD, popping it into the player. Daryl put his hand out though and pushed the CD away. "Don't," he said and I smiled. Rick ignored him though and pushed the CD in, flipping the volume on. Daryl turned it off though and I laughed. "Don't," he repeated. Once more Rick ignored him and played the Cd. "Please don't," Daryl pleaded but Rick merely ignored him, cranking the volume.

They were such children. I laughed as Daryl shrank down in his chair and looked pissed at the song that was now blaring in the car. "Give me the downbeat, maestro," the man on the CD purred and I smiled, letting the music fill my head. "I want to lay it on the line. 'Cause everything I do, I wanna do it in double time. When I take a ride. Well, if your music's gonna move me. Well, I just gotta feel the beat..." I eventually let my mind drift off and I leaned my head against the window. It wasn't long that I got to drift off though before I spotted the gas station that I had told Denise about. And just like last time that I had been here, there was a full vending machine.

As we drove by, I pressed myself up against the window and scanned through the machine. At the very top were a few cans of orange soda and I grinned. It was still here. "Hey wait. Stop here," I called up to the front. Rick nodded at me and turned the music off, pulling into the gas station and parking the car around the front of the station. Right where I wanted to be.

Before I could head over to the vending machine though, I did see a truck. A damn big one. It reminded me of the truck that Aaron, Daryl, and I had found where the Wolves' trap had been set but I brushed it off. This was different. It didn't look so perfect. It just looked like a stroke up luck. I was about to push open the back of the truck when Rick placed his hand on my back, startling me. "Hey, hold up. It's best to be safe," Rick told me and I nodded. I moved away from the truck and helped the men go through the store.

Daryl was standing up against the front of the store and I joined him, my bow pointed at the door. I grimaced as Daryl banged on the glass. It was effective but it always made me nervous that it would draw more walkers than just the ones that we wanted. "You cover it?" Daryl asked once we were sure that nothing was inside of the store. Close to the front anyways.

Rick nodded at him and pushed the door open. "Yeah. Yeah, we're good," he said as we moved into the store. A quick swipe of the store told us that there was nothing here to be afraid of. But there was also nothing that we could get of use in here. Plenty of maps and a few candy bars, but nothing that we would want to bother bringing back with us. The three of us made our way outside of the store and I sighed as we went back to the truck. "One more time?" Rick asked when the door in the back didn't lift.

Taking a lot less caution than Rick had used, Daryl climbed onto the truck making my stomach clench nervously. He was going to get himself killed one day and I was going to be so pissed at him. Daryl pushed against the latch on the bottom of the truck and I nodded as it clicked gently. It wasn't locked. "It ain't locked," Daryl said, voicing my thoughts.

I watched as Rick nodded to Daryl and the door of the truck flew open. Daryl jumped down from the edge and the three of us waited with our weapons drawn. It only took us a moment though to realize that there were no walkers in the truck. But there were supplies. And lots of them. The three of us laughed, walking up to the truck to check out our bounty. "Well, how about that? The law of averages," Rick said with a smile. "Let's get this thing going, grab our gear, come back for the car later. Take another way back. See what we can see," he said.

I nodded and walked over to the front of the truck. I could see Daryl and Rick talking in the background and I grabbed the keys out of the front seat, tossing them back to Rick. "Think it'll start?" Daryl asked as Rick moved around with the keys in his hand.

Rick smiled at the two of us and I knew that for once, we were going to be alright. All we had to do was get this truck back to Alexandria. This was enough food to last us for months. Well, probably more like weeks but it would tide us over until Tara and Heath got back from their trip. "Yeah, I do," Rick said with a little laugh. He was holding a jar of something and I cocked my head at it. It was food. I think. "Sorghum," Rick said softly. I brushed it off to a conversation that I had missed earlier and headed back to where Daryl was messing with the vending machine.

It looked like he was trying to flip it over but I knew that the damn things were heavy. I tried to give Daryl a hand but the two of us were just shy of getting the machine to tip over. I smiled as we worked on it, knowing that Daryl was trying to get the orange soda out. He would always care more about people than he let on. "Yo, give us a hand with this," Daryl called out to Rick. "Let's flip it over," he said.

Even with Rick the machine was stronger than the three of us. I had always known that vending machines were heavy but I had never thought that they were this heavy. I guess I should have seen it coming though. People didn't want kids getting into vending machines for free so they made them as heavy as possible. "I don't think we got it," Rick said.

Both of us nodded with him, and I sighed. We were going to be here all day trying to get this stupid machine open. "I got an idea," Daryl said and we nodded, watching as he ran to the front of the truck. He whistled back to Rick and I watched as Rick tossed him the keys. Once the engine was running Daryl came out of the back of the truck with a large chain and I smiled. Now I knew what he was doing. Rick and I quickly helped Daryl tie the chain around the machine and we watched as Daryl climbed back into the truck, slamming on the gas. The machine easily went over and I laughed as the glass, and soda, went flying across the pavement.

Daryl immediately hopped out of the truck, tossing the keys back to Rick and went to work going through the mess that he had made. I watched him with a smile as he grabbed a Slim Jim out of the glass and tossed it back to me. I nearly laughed as I stuffed it into Rick's bags. I had told Daryl once, probably two years ago that I used to love them. It had been right after I was shot by Otis way back at Hershel's farm. It seemed like another life. One that I would love to have back. "It's soda and candy. Why the trouble?" Rick asked.

I went to helping Daryl collect the orange soda cans and shove them into his bag. Daryl didn't bother to look up to Rick, he merely grabbed the remaining cans off of the ground and popped them into his bag. "It wasn't any trouble," he said with a grunt as he pushed them to the bottom of his bag. Huh, maybe I should have brought my bag too? Oh well.

Even from behind me I could feel Rick go completely rigid and I turned back, watching as a man came darting around the corner. He bumped into Rick gently before stumbling past the three of us and turning back to face us. I dropped the can of soda that I had been about to open for myself and pulled my bow off of my back, aiming an arrow right between the eyes of the man. Daryl and Rick both quickly had their guns up and aimed at the same spot that my arrow was currently locked on. "Hi," the man said softly.

If the situation hadn't been as tense as it was I probably would have laughed. Here was this guy, with two guns and an arrow aimed at his head and the first thing that he could think to say was hi? He had guts at least. The man was holding his hands up and I nodded. He wasn't of of the people that Wade and D were with. "Back up! Now!" Rick yelled and the man complied. But he only moved a few inches. "Keep 'em up!"

He merely laughed and shook his head and I took a better look at the man. He had bright blue eyes, the same kind of eyes that Daryl had. His hair was a medium brown and it hit past his shoulders. He was wearing a brown trench coat with boots and a blue beanie on top of his head. His mouth was covered by a beige cloth but I could still tell that he was smiling. He didn't seem to be armed either which immediately made him more suspicious. "Whoa, easy, guys. I was just running from the dead," he said.

My eyebrows raised and I couldn't help but to wonder if he was telling us that just so that we wouldn't shoot him and risk drawing the walkers here or if he thought that we would just move on if we thought that they were coming. Well, the first option was out seeing that my weapon was silent. And considering that he ran right into us I assumed that he was telling the truth. "How many?" Rick asked.

The man merely shrugged his shoulders and I glared at him. That was anything but helpful. "Ten, maybe more. I'm not risking it," he said and I nodded. "Once it gets to double digits, I start running," he said and I nodded. That made sense, especially if you were alone, which it seemed that he was. If he had friends, they were nowhere in sight.

"Where?" Daryl asked angrily.

He had never been one to make friends with strangers and it seemed like he still wasn't ready to start. I couldn't help but to wonder why Daryl was a recruiter for Alexandria. He hated plenty of people and didn't trust even more. But he was a good judge of character. Sometimes. Other times it was just weird personal vendettas. "About a half a mile back. They're headed this way," the man told us and I nodded. "You probably have about eleven minutes," he said and I nodded once more.

The man was good with timing and he was honest. I appreciated that. He could have easily let us be ambushed by the walkers. So maybe he wasn't totally bad. He didn't really seem bad but I had met too many people lately that I couldn't trust. Too many people that wanted to kill me. I had to be careful these days. We all did. "Okay, thanks for letting us know," Rick said to the man.

The man nodded at us and I watched as he pulled down his bandana. He was smiling at us and I watched as his eyes trailed over each of us. Unlike most strangers that we ran into his eyes were more curious than anything else. He quickly glanced over me and gave me a sweet smile which I returned. He didn't seem like that bad of a guy to me. "Yeah. There's more of them than us, right? Gotta stick together. Right?" He asked and we all nodded. "You have a camp?" He asked and my heart rate sped up. This was normally where things went bad.

I had thought that Rick would be the first to step in but to my surprise, it was Daryl. I shouldn't have been surprised though. I knew that Daryl didn't like the man. He didn't like most people that we met out on the road. He still didn't like most of the Alexandrian residents. But I didn't blame him, they could be a bit much to handle. "No," Daryl said and I sighed. There goes getting a new member. "Do you?" He asked.

The man merely shook his head and I sighed. "No," he replied quickly and I narrowed my eyes. He had a place that he was holed up though. He was clean, his hair was cut, and his clothes were clean. "Sorry for running into you. I'm gonna go now. If this is the next world, I hope it's good to you guys," he said with an earnest smile.

Well maybe he didn't want to stick around to see if we were as friendly as he seemed to be. Before the man could turn back Rick spoke up and I turned to him. "I'm Rick. This is Daryl," he said and I rolled my eyes as Daryl snorted. "And this is Rain," he said and I gave the man a soft smile, which he returned. "What's your name?" Rick asked.

For a moment my skin crawled as I wondered if this man was Negan. But I knew that he wasn't. If he was the way that his men had made him sound the three of us would have already been dead. "Paul Rovia," he said and I nodded. Definitely not Negan. And it seemed that he wasn't one of his men either. But that begged the question, who was he? "But my friends used to call me Jesus," he said and I couldn't help but to laugh. Jesus turned to me and grinned. "Yeah, I know. Most people laugh when they hear that. Your pick," he said with a shrug.

Forget what the two of them wanted to call him, I was gonna go with Jesus. It was hysterical and it made me feel better. If his friends had called him Jesus that meant that he was a leader, trustworthy, and had a good heart. That was enough for me. "You said you didn't have a camp," Rick said and Jesus nodded, a suspicious look creeping into the corners of his eyes. Not that I could blame him. You could never be too cautious in this world. "You on your own?" He asked.

For the first time since we had met him I saw a little hint of hesitation flash through his eyes. "Yeah. But, still, best not to try anything," he said and I nodded. It was best for all four of us to just call it a day and chalk it up to making new friends. "Best not to make threats you can't keep, either," he said with a low voice and my heart jumped into my throat.

So far I was trusting Jesus not to hurt us but I wasn't sure if I really could trust him. I didn't know him. Just like he didn't know us. We didn't know how to handle this. Usually we all just shot at each other. It made things easier. But this time we were all staring at each other, wondering who was going to make the first move. "Exactly. How many walkers-" Rick began before he was cut off.

I was shocked that Rick had even bothered to ask the questions. I would have thought that I was the only one who thought that Jesus was a good guy. I thought that Rick was on the same side as Daryl, thinking that there was nothing good to come from this guy. "No, not this guy," Daryl mumbled.

Popping my hip out at Daryl, I turned to him and leaned in slightly, hoping that Jesus couldn't hear us. It wasn't like he was standing very far away. "Why not?" I asked Daryl, who turned to look at me like I had lost my mind. "I like him and he seems to know at least a little something. If he's been on his own for this long then he has to know something or another. We might be able to use him," I said, clearly not making my husband very happy. But when I looked up I saw that Jesus was watching us with a smile.

It wasn't a smile full of malice and he didn't look like he was watching us with the intent of making us argue. He just looked like he enjoyed watching the three of us interact. I did understand that. After so long of being on your own it would be nice to watch three people speak with each other. Even if it was to bicker. "I agree," Rick said before looking back up at Jesus. "How many walkers have you killed?" He asked the other man.

Daryl let out a loud scoff and I stomped on his foot gently. He might not like the guy right now but I could almost guarantee that he was going to end up liking him. Jesus reminded me of a more personable, and less deadly, Daryl. "Sorry, gotta run," Jesus said and I sighed. I was hoping that we might all be able to be friends. Or at least allies. "You should, too. Think you've got about seven minutes," he said before turning and bolting back around the corner of the store.

Part of me wanted to go after him but I stayed planted where I was, just staring stupidly after him. We all waited in silence for a moment before I turned back to Daryl and glared at him. Not that he was looking at me though. He was watching after Jesus. "Well there, see? He left. You don't have to worry about him coming back," I said.

Daryl scoffed at me before turning back around to where Rick was standing, looking just as shocked as Daryl and I were. "What the hell was that?" Daryl asked, trying to glance around the building after Jesus.

Rick shook his head and I stood with my hip popped out to one side. This was too strange. Some part of me trusted Jesus but I didn't trust what was going on. "He was clean. His beard, it was trimmed. There's more going on there. He didn't have a gun, either," Rick pointed out and I nodded at him. He was right, Jesus, like us, was lying. He had to be holed up somewhere. "We could track him, watch him for a while, and get to know more. See if he's really alone. Maybe bring him back," Rick suggested.

Nodding happily at Rick, I saw that he was smiling at me as well. At least the two of us were on the same page about Jesus being a guy that we could use. He seemed rather level headed too and that was something that we lacked in this group. Most of us were too hot headed in dangerous situations. "Nah, guy calls himself Jesus," Daryl spoke up from beside me.

I was about to tell Daryl that he wasn't giving the guy a fair shot when I heard the echo of gunshots. Both Rick and Daryl ducked to the ground, dragging me with them. We all hit the ground roughly and looked around, but no one was in close distance to us. So instead of waiting on the ground we all jumped up and ran around to the back of the building, where the gunshots were coming from. As we rounded the corner carefully I noticed that there weren't any people back here either. And the gunshots were coming from inside of a trash can. Carefully I kicked the trash can over and stared stupidly at the firecrackers inside of it. "Firecrackers. What the hell?" Rick asked.

Just as I was about to ask what was going on I heard the loud roar of the truck engine from the front of the store. Without bothering to wait for my two group members, I sprinted towards the front of the store. "Shit," I could hear Daryl grumble as he caught up to me. Once we rounded the front of the store I stood and watched with horror as the truck drove off, dragging the vending machine behind it. The three of us stood together, watching Jesus drive off. Damn, he was smart. "He swiped your keys, didn't he?" Daryl asked Rick.

Turning on my leader with narrowed eyes, I wanted nothing more than to smack Rick over the back of the head. How the hell could you not feel the keys being taken? "How the hell did he manage to swipe the keys from you? Aren't they in your pocket?" I asked Rick. His face was slightly pink and I rolled my eyes. This so figured. Every time that we met someone that could potentially be an ally they ended up being someone terrible. "Well I'd rather him be sneaky than a killer. Come on, we've had stranger luck before," I said as I started pulling the two men after me. I didn't want to run after him but it was the only thing that I could think to do right now. "At least I like running," I grumbled.

Without another word the three of us took off in a dead sprint after Jesus and our truck. My feet groaned in protest and more than once I threatened to show everyone my dinner from last night once more. But somehow I was able to keep it down. Somehow I was able to just keep running. I suppose it was because I knew how much was at stake here. I knew that we had to get those supplies back. I knew that it meant the difference between keeping our people alive for just another few days or another few weeks. We had to get that truck back so that we could keep everyone fed until Tara and Heath got back from their run.

Somehow, after running for nearly an hour, and by the grace of God, we found the vending machine that had been attached to the truck. It meant that Jesus wouldn't be far from here. I coughed a few times and leaned over my legs, groaning as the burning feeling shot through them. I felt like I should still be running but it felt so nice to just stop for a moment. I needed it. I watched out of the corner of my eyes as Daryl walked over to the vending machine and grabbed the orange sodas out of it. He stuffed them into the bag and I smiled at him. Even with everything happening, he could still care about the little things. He was panting as he stabbed a hole in the side of one and took a long swig. "This was a special request from the doctor," he explained to Rick and he handed the can to me. As much as I hated the drink I couldn't deny that I needed something.

A little bit of the drink dribbled down my chin and I sighed before nodding and handing the can off to Rick. He took a drink and nodded to me before handing it back to Daryl. "Hey, whatever she wants. She saved Carl's life," he said and I smiled. Carl was back on his feet and seemed to be doing pretty good with only one eye. "We didn't know her, and she turned out to be all right. If there's still people out here, and they're still people, we should bring 'em in," Rick said.

Even after Jesus stealing our truck I was shocked that Rick would say something like that. He was never one to be overly trusting and I would have thought that something like this would have broken his trust. "What, like this guy?" Daryl asked, motioning off to where Jesus was most likely heading.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. He was doing what he had to do to survive. I couldn't blame him for something like that. He probably had people that he had to feed too. And it wasn't like he had done it in a particularly violent way. He had merely tricked us. He had proved himself to be the smartest of the three of us. "No, not this guy," Rick said and I sighed. Well there went any chances of potentially being friendly with Jesus and his men. "We still got a trail. Let's go," Rick said.

Before the two men with me could run, I spoke up. Daryl crushed the can of soda and tossed it to the side of the road and I sighed. "Wait. Why not?" I asked. Rick and Daryl both looked at me like i had lost my marbles and I rolled my eyes at them. "I mean, what did this guy really do? We scared him guys. It was three against one. I've been in spots like that before. We all have. You don't trust the people that are around you. It's the way that things are now," I said. "He swiped the keys from you, Rick. That was smart. And he did it without violence. I say go with it," I told them softly, hoping that they would understood that Jesus had felt cornered.

For a moment I thought that maybe my plan had worked. But Rick finally shook his head and I sighed. I had known that I wasn't going to sway Daryl, but I had thought that I might have a chance with Rick. "I'm sorry, Rain. We can't trust him. He seems like he could be a good ally but he's already proved himself not to be loyal," he said and I shook my head. He was being loyal, to his people. "We need to go. If we run we might be able to catch him if he stops," Rick said and I nodded.

Once more we broke off into a full sprint and I groaned. If Jesus had stopped, I really hoped that it was close to hear. As it turned out, it was close to where we were. After only running for a few minutes we came up on a gas station where Jesus and our truck were sitting. Jesus looked like he was in the middle of filling up the truck and I smirked. He had known that we were going to come from him. I dashed up to him and knocked him to the ground, flipping myself over him. Jesus looked startled but he did nothing to me. Rick ran up beside us and aimed his gun to Jesus, motioning me out of the way. "Hold still and maybe we won't hurt you," Rick sneered, panting gently.

Jesus nodded at us and shot me a little smirk. I shook my head at him and grabbed my gun out of my holster on my thigh, aiming it at him. But it was easy to tell that it wasn't cocked. I wasn't going to hurt Jesus unless I absolutely had to. "Sure thing," he said. I jumped harshly as Rick hit Jesus across the face and the man yelled in response.

I wanted nothing more than to pull Rick off of Jesus and have the fight end, but thankfully he didn't go much past that. Jesus sat back up with a dazed look on his face and I sighed. "This is done," Rick growled.

Jesus wasn't ready to just give up like that though. He gave a dark laugh before growling back at Rick. I gulped as I watched the tense exchange. Both men looked angry and I knew that both were going to be willing to do whatever they needed to get the supplies back to their people. "Do you even have any ammo?" Jesus asked. Once more I jumped as Rick and Daryl both fired their guns to either side of Jesus. He gave me a grateful nod and I nodded back. "Okay. You gonna shoot me over a truck?" He asked.

I nodded as he tried the new tactic, reasoning with Rick and Daryl. He seemed to know that I had no malicious intent towards him so he had shifted his focus over towards Rick. "There's a lot of food on that truck," Rick said and I shook my head. We could make more food at Alexandria and he knew that. It wouldn't taste fantastic, but it would work. "The keys, now," Rick ordered Jesus.

Instead of following the order like Rick had asked, Jesus merely shook his head. My breath hitched in my throat as Rick cocked his gun once more. He was getting sick of this and I knew that his patience was about to run out. "I think you know I'm not a bad guy," Jesus tried to reason.

Scoffing loudly at him, Rick shook his head. Damn it. I just wanted us to get the hell out of here. Screw trying to make friends with Jesus, now I just wanted to make sure that we all made it back to our homes alive. "Yeah? What do you know about us?" Rick asked with a sneer. I turned to Rick with a glare but turned back when I realized that his sole focus was Jesus. "Give me the keys. This is the last time I'm asking," he said darkly.

For a moment the air was tense and silent, but finally Jesus dug into his pocket and handed back the keys. I let out a breath and watched as Rick threw the keys to Daryl, making sure that he was getting back into the truck. He did so and I watched as he came back out, throwing the rope to Rick. Without hesitating Rick bound Jesus and I watched with sad eyes. This was the way that the new world was now. No one could trust anyone else. It was a damn shame. "Damn it. You're gonna leave me here like this?" Jesus asked as Rick dragged me back to the truck. "You're really gonna do that?" Jesus asked, this time looking over at me.

I wanted nothing more than to turn back and let Jesus out of his knots. But I knew that Rick would have killed me had I done that. So I merely shook my head and took a few steps back. "Eh, the knots aren't that tight," Rick said with a shrug, like he couldn't have cared less. "You should be able to get free after we're long gone," he said with a nod.

At least they weren't leaving him to the mercy of the walkers. That was a cruel fate that very few people deserved. Rick pushed me back towards the truck again and I nodded, walking slowly to my seat in the back of the truck. Before we could get all the way back to the truck though, I heard Jesus shout back to us. "Maybe we should talk now," he said with a little smile.

Just as I was about to ask Rick if we could talk to him, just to see where he was coming from, Daryl jumped out of the truck. My whole body tensed as I watched my husband storm up to Jesus, praying that he wasn't about to kill the long haired man. "Nah," he said and I sighed. At least he wasn't about to get violent. "Here," he said, throwing down a can of orange soda at Jesus. "In case you get thirsty," he said before grabbing my arm and pulling me back to the truck.

Before he could get me back to the truck though, a sudden burning shot through me. I had to know something. I didn't think that Jesus was from these Saviors people, but I had to know if he knew who they were. Negan was apparently such a horror to see, I just had to know if he really was the monster that he had been made out to be. "Wait a minute!" I hissed at Daryl. "I have to ask him something. It's important," I said, brushing past both my husband and Rick, who were watching me closely as I walked up to Jesus. "Hey, Jesus. I need to know if you know someone," I said and he nodded at me. "Do you know a man by the name of Negan?" I asked softly.

The look that he gave me was enough to tell me that he knew exactly who I was talking about. The color drained from Jesus's face and he looked like he might throw up. That wasn't a good sign. That made me realize that Negan was exactly who I thought that he was. He was just as bad as people were making him out to be. "How do you-" Jesus began to ask me before he was cut off.

Rick had made me mad plenty of times before but I was never as angry with him as I was right now. He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me back away from Jesus. "Rain, get back here. Come on, we're leaving," he said as he shoved me back into the truck. I ripped my arm away from him and slammed the door shut, pissed that Rick had interrupted him. "Good luck out there," I could hear Rick tell Jesus before jumping in the truck himself and starting the engine. "Who the hell is Negan? And why would you think that he knows who that guy is?" Rick asked, after a moment of silence.

Turning back to look at Jesus, I saw that he was struggling with the bindings that were around his hands and feet. "It doesn't matter. I just thought that maybe he might know. Not so many people around, these days it seems like everyone knows everyone," I said and Rick nodded. I knew that he was suspicious of me and Daryl was watching me with narrowed eyes but I shrugged it off. Daryl only knew half of how bad Negan really was. D had told me just how bad he really was. "Negan is just the name of a guy that I heard mentioned out on the road. I was curious if maybe Jesus knew who he was," I said, hoping that Daryl wouldn't call me out on my lie.

The truck was silent for a moment before Rick shook his head at me. I sighed, grateful that Daryl had said nothing of the little that he knew about Negan. "It doesn't matter if he knows that guy or not. All that matters is that we get out of here. Before the walkers come. We've made a lot of noise out here," Rick said and I narrowed my eyes at him.

He really had no idea that he was slowly turning into the people that we used to say had no humanity left. Dale would be so ashamed of us. It made my gut twist painfully. "So you're just going to leave him here? We shouldn't just be leaving him there. Walkers could get to him. Anything could get to him!" I hissed, angry that they weren't seeing how wrong this was. "Come on guys. I know that you don't like or trust him but just give him a chance. Bring him back to Alexandria and tie him up for a while. Learn about him. Maybe he'll tell us where he's from. Rick, come on. You know that this is wrong," I begged my leader.

Rick was silent for a moment before shaking his head and starting the engine. I sighed and dropped into my seat, rolling my eyes. A damn waste of breath. Daryl chuckled softly before revving the gas pedal and leaning out the window. "So long, you prick!" He yelled back to Jesus before coming back into the window. "I remember the Alamo. I don't recall who won. It's a long way," Daryl said as we began the long journey back to Alexandria.

Rick smiled at Daryl before shaking his head and leaning back into his seat. "Still worked out. Today still is the day," he said with a little grin. He leaned forward for a moment and turned the volume up on the radio, making me roll my eyes at the old song that came through the static. 'In the Central Standard Zone you were quiet like the TV, hung up like the telephone. You were sleeping next to me, I might as well have been alone,' the old voice sang. "Hey, look at that," Rick called and I glanced up from my lap.

Out in the distance was a barn and I glanced back up at the front seat. Had I missed something? Was there something special about that barn? "Yeah, a barn," Daryl said. I was about to ask why we were talking about the barn when a loud bang sounded from the roof. I jumped in my seat and grabbed my gun from my holster. "You hear that?" Daryl asked and I nodded as the thudding continued. Rick leaned forward and turned the volume down. "I think that son of a bitch is on the roof," Daryl hissed.

Rick looked back at me and motioned to the seat belt that was hanging from the corner of the truck. I nodded at him and grabbed the belt, pulling it across my lap. "Hold on," Rick said and we both nodded. Without another warning, Rick slammed on the brakes of the truck and I screamed as we slammed to a halt. I noticed a figure go flying off of the roof of the truck and I stared stupidly at Jesus. He grinned at us before turning and running. I yelped as Rick slammed on the gas and the truck lurched forward, after him. "Mother-" Rick grunted before Daryl pushed his door open and jumped out of the truck. "Daryl! Daryl!" Both Rick and I called.

Walkers were on both sides of the two men and I gulped. I couldn't lose Daryl because of his stupid vendetta. I threw open my door, smashing in the face of a walker before jumping out as well. I did a little roll as I hit the ground and jumped up, shooting a walker that was a few feet in front of me. I could hear Rick shout my name as he jumped out of the truck as well, killing a walker that was right next to him. "We came to a conclusion, asshole! I got him!" I could hear Daryl yell ahead of us. "Come here, you little shit!" He yelled.

I watched for a moment as both Jesus and Daryl ran around, neither willing to slow down. They seemed to just be running in circles as both Rick and I took out the walkers that were getting a little too close to their scuffle. More than once during their fight I had gotten distracted and nearly been a meal for the next walker before Rick would take them out. As I shot a female walker that was limping in front of me, I glanced back to see that Daryl was currently being beaten by Jesus. Shit, he was better than I thought. I ran up to the pair but I was too slow. Daryl had managed to get away from his attacker and was now dragging him away from the truck.

Both Rick and I were running over to the pair but we were too slow. I could see the truck get flipped into neutral and I nearly screamed. They were so busy focusing on each other that they hadn't even realized that the truck was moving slightly. Daryl had Jesus pinned under him, trapped by the seat and door and I screamed loudly as a walker came up to Daryl. Neither place was safe. A walker was behind him and Jesus was pointing a gun at him from the front. Oh my God, he was going to die. Jesus clicked the hammer and I sped up. I had to get to him. "Duck," I could just barely hear him say to Daryl.

The walker snarled loudly and I let out an ear piercing shriek at the same time that the shot rang out. A sigh escaped my lips as the bullet went straight through the walker's skull, causing it to drop behind Daryl. Daryl turned back to the walker and I could see the horrified look in his eyes. He hadn't even known that it was there. He had thought that Jesus was going to shoot him. Maybe he would finally see that he wasn't a bad guy. "Thanks. That's my gun!" He yelled and I rolled my eyes. Jesus pushed past Daryl and I watched as they both went sprawling to the ground. "Come here!" Daryl yelled, grabbing Jesus's leg and pulling him towards himself.

My eyes shot over to the truck and I felt my heart drop into my stomach when I watched the car roll slowly towards the lake. I rolled my eyes and looked back over to where Jesus and Daryl were fighting. "Uh, whoa!" Jesus yelled, trying to back off of Daryl. Just before he could though, the door that I had left open caught Jesus over the back of the head, effectively knocking the daylight out of him. I grimaced and watched as he fell to the ground, and the truck rolled into the lake.

Well there goes our food. And clothing. And everything that we needed. "Are you all right?" I asked as I ran forward, grabbing Daryl's arm and helping him stand back up. He nodded at me and I nodded back, slapping him over the back of the head. "You idiot! You could have gotten killed! All because of this guy!" I yelled, motioning back at an unconscious Jesus. "You both should have just listened to me and taken him back to Alexandria when you had the chance. Now we lost the damn food. Now we'll just have to come back another day," I sighed.

Rick sighed at me and I knew that he felt bad. Not that it made much of a difference. I was pissed that neither one of them had listened to me from the beginning. We would have at least had the food then. "We'll get the food back. We can come back out tomorrow if you want," he told me and I scoffed. "But now we have what's important. That lot was just lucky. We shouldn't have even been able to come across something like that," he said and I shook my head. But we had, and now we had lost it. "Law of averages," Rick reasoned.

Daryl shook his head and I groaned. I wanted nothing more than to just go back to Alexandria and call it a day. "That's bullshit, man," Daryl said and I rolled my eyes. He turned back and headed over to the cars, ignoring Jesus, who was laying at his feet. "Let's go check them cars, get the hell out of here," he said to the two of us.

Both Rick and I stood behind, not moving from our spots. Rick looked like he was about to move and leave Jesus to die but one glare from me and he planted himself in his spot. I nodded and motioned for him to call Daryl back. These two were not leaving him here. Especially not after he had saved Daryl's life. "What about the guy?" Rick asked Daryl.

Even from a looking at his back I could tell that Daryl had rolled his eyes. He turned back slowly and stared at Rick like he had lost his mind. Not Rick, me. I was normally the last person that wanted to trust someone, but for some reason I trusted Jesus. Maybe because he hadn't tried to hurt us, or because he seemed to know who Negan was, but it didn't matter. I couldn't just leave him here to die. "What about him?" Daryl asked with a scoff.

I wanted to slap both of the men. I couldn't believe that they were both really that thick. They were damn morons. I couldn't believe that even after he had saved Daryl's life, they were both still not sure whether or not they should help him. "Well, he helped you," Rick said awkwardly.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders, like this whole conversation was just an inconvenience for him. "Maybe," he said softly.

Both men stood together, looking down at the passed out version of Jesus. For a moment I was nervous that they might shoot him, just to get rid of the problem. But even all three of us together weren't cruel enough to do that. Rick merely shook his head and glanced up at Daryl, who was staring at Jesus angrily. "He ever pull a weapon on you?" Rick asked Daryl.

Instead of bothering to fight with Rick, Daryl simply shook his head. The truth was, Jesus had pointed a weapon at Daryl once, but it was to make sure that Daryl wouldn't get bitten by a walker. He was a good enough man to me. We would have to watch him for a while but I was sure that he was going to prove himself to be a good man. If these two bumbling idiots would just listen to me. Everything would be so much better if people would listen to me. "Fine. Let's put him up a tree," Daryl said.

Finally I had heard enough. I scoffed and pushed Daryl back from Jesus. "No, damn it," I snapped, clearly surprising both men. "I'm drawing the line here. We are taking him back with us," I said. Daryl looked like he was about to argue with me but I continued talking before he could. I didn't want to hear anything more from him. "It's our fault that he's out right now and we can't just leave him like this. At least bring him back and have Denise take a look at him. We owe him that much. He saved you," I told Daryl with a little glare.

Jesus could have easily let Daryl die, but he hadn't. That meant that I was in his debt. For now at least. He had saved Daryl so that meant that it was my turn to save him. I watched as Rick picked Jesus up, with the help of Daryl, and the two men dragged him to a car sitting in the field. There wasn't much gas in it, but it seemed like there was going to be just enough to make it back to Alexandria. Rick let Jesus heavily fall into the backseat and I was about to climb in with him when Daryl shook his head at me, pushing me up front. I took the passenger seat and watched as Daryl climbed in next to Jesus. Within a minute we were back on the road and I sighed, relaxing back into my seat. "He took a pretty hard hit. Denise needs to look him over," Rick said and I nodded. "You wouldn't have gone through with it. You wouldn't have left him," he said softly to Daryl.

I shook my head at Rick. I knew that he wasn't watching me but I didn't care. I was pretty sure that Daryl would have left him. He might have eventually come back for him but at the moment he had looked like he was damn well ready to leave Jesus in the middle of that road. "I would've, right up in a tree. I would've," Daryl said when Rick shook his head.

Rick looked like he had a confession to make and I turned to him. "No. I know. Almost as soon as we got to Alexandria, you got it. You saw- you and Michonne, Glenn, you all tried to tell me. You most of all Rain," Rick told us and I smiled. I remembered when Rick had gone out into the woods and buried his gun. We had buried mine out there too. It hadn't been a bad idea but I had thought that we should trust Alexandria. I was glad to see that I was right to trust them. "I should have listened to you from the beginning," Rick said and we both shook our heads.

I placed my hand over Rick's and glanced back at Daryl. Jesus's limp form kept falling onto him and I smirked. He looked so uncomfortable with it and I was sure that any moment now he would push the man from the car. But Daryl finally managed to shove him away from himself and onto the window. "So shut up," Daryl finally hissed at Rick.

The rest of the ride was silent and I reveled in it. The day had been so long that I was exhausted. All I wanted was to go back home and fall into bed. I just wanted to spend the night with my husband and pretend that we were in the old world. It would be nice to just pretend that we were back in the past for a while. Even back at the prison. Despite the fact that my father had been around, he was nothing compared to these new men. The longer that people survived in the new world, the more dangerous they became. We arrived at Alexandria finally and I helped make sure that we got Jesus back to the infirmary. Some of our group were giving us funny looks, but no one said anything. Rick grunted with Daryl as the two laid Jesus onto the bed. "'Cause I'm finally listening," Rick said with a smile.

I smiled back at him and sat in between the men while Denise looked over him. It turned out that there wasn't much wrong with Jesus. He just had a concussion and he was a little dehydrated. They were easy fixes. Apparently all he really needed were a few aspirin's and some food and water. Everything that we would give to him once he woke up. Once Denise cleared Jesus for movement we brought him to the same basement that the leader of the Wolves had apparently found himself trapped in. He had evidently died during the walker invasion but we had found out that this was a good place to leave people we didn't yet trust. I watched as Jesus was tied up and Rick left a note and nodded as the two men led me from the building.

Rick locked the doors and I said a quick goodnight to him before dragging Daryl back to our house. Neither Glenn nor Maggie were downstairs and I figured that they were upstairs, probably asleep. It was already late. Daryl walked us up to the room and I sighed the moment that we ran into our room. I immediately pulled off my dirty clothes and tossed them to the floor, pulling on my oversized shirt. "You know, we still haven't told him about those assholes out on the road. I mean we told him. But he doesn't know the full extent. He needs to know just how dangerous these people are," Daryl told me as I dropped to the bed.

Nodding at him, I laid back against the bed, watching as my shirt rode up my thighs. Daryl watched for a moment too before glancing away and looking back to my eyes. "I know. And I will. It's just he was so focused on Carl and making sure that he got better. Rick has been doing so well lately and I just didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that," I said and Daryl nodded. "Now isn't a good time either. With Jesus here now you know that all of his focus is going to go into figuring out who this guy is," I said softly.

Even though I had good reason to keep Rick away from the true horrors of the men out on the road I knew that one day we would have to tell him just how bad these people really were. He had to know that they weren't all dead. "He needs to know. You saw what went down on that road two months ago. Those assholes were about to kill Abraham. They would have killed you and Sasha too," he said and I heard the pain in his voice. He wouldn't have been able to handle me dying. It was the same way for me. "D, or whatever the hell his name is, he was with them too. We ever run into them again and I'm pretty sure that they will kill us. Rick has to know," he said.

Nodding slowly at him, I watched as he pulled his clothes off of himself and replaced them with a loose shirt and a pair of flannel pajamas that I had picked him up. It drive me nuts that he slept in his jeans. "But what exactly do we even know about these people?" I asked. "We know that they seem to have more men than women. They're lead by a man, Negan. Everyone seems to be afraid of him. I mean, you saw Jesus's eyes when I asked him if he knew who Negan is. He looked like he had seen a ghost. He knows who he is. He's not with those guys but he must know them. I need to talk to him," I said and I watched as Daryl's eyes narrowed.

He would never agree to me talking with Jesus. At least not alone. If I wanted to talk with Jesus, Daryl would have to be there too. And I wasn't sure if Jesus trusted Daryl enough to talk in front of him. "If he knows those people, that's only a bad sign," he said and I sighed. I hated to admit it but he was right about that. "We should just dump him out on the road and get on with our lives. Jesus is not worth our lives. Any of them. Especially not yours. I made a promise to protect you. You make that damn hard to do sometimes," Daryl said and I smiled.

I was not going to let him just dump Jesus, but I did agree that we couldn't keep him here forever. The last thing that we needed was bringing these people to our doorsteps. "I'm sorry. But if I have a chance to make sure that we're protected, by knowing just a little more about those people, then I'm going to take that chance. You can be there, with me. But I have to talk to him. Jesus knows more than he's letting on. He knows something about this Negan guy. By the sounds of it, we need to know about him too," I pleaded with him.

Daryl sighed and for a moment I thought he wasn't going to say anything. I watched as he stood up and turned the light off, grabbing the sheets and tossing them up so that we could settle in. I sighed and dropped into bed. I had figured that it wouldn't work. "Alright, fine. Tomorrow morning we can go and talk to him. See what he knows," Daryl told me and I smiled. I knew that I just had to butter him up. "Now come here. I've had enough of talking about him. What kind of person calls themselves Jesus?" Daryl asked with a scoff.

Smirking as I pulled myself up to Daryl, I settled into his chest and poked him gently in the ribs. He swatted me away and I merely laughed. He had no idea how easy it was to pick on him. I understood how Merle had done it for all of those years. "That's cute, are you jealous?" I asked Daryl with a smirk. Instead of just snorting at me and rolling his eyes, Daryl pinned me down, wrapping the sheets around me and towering over my body. I knew that he was going to teach me a lesson for saying that, but I had absolutely no problem with it.


	51. The Hilltop

Through the window I could see that the sun was just starting to rise above the horizon. Yawning deeply, I splayed myself out around the bed, half expecting to bump into Daryl. But he was nowhere to be found in the bed. I sat up, shaking the slight pounding from my head. I shouldn't have been that surprised, Daryl was almost always up before me. I stood from the bed, not bothering to keep the sheets around me to cover my naked form. It wasn't like anyone was here with me. I walked over to the dresser against the wall and grabbed the first pair of clothes that I could find. It was just a simple pair of tight jeans and a dark green tank top that dipped in the back.

Once I had them on I grabbed my leather jacket, knowing that it would be a little cold out with the morning chill in the air. I brushed out my long blonde hair and let it fall behind my back before grabbing my weapons. I pulled on the cheap bow that Daryl had found, along with my arrows. My guns and knives went on next and I made sure to hide a few. It never hurt to be too cautious. I slowly made my way down the steps, trying as hard as possible to be quiet. I didn't want to wake up Maggie or Glenn. But they were both relatively early risers. They'd probably be up in a few minutes anyways. As I made my way downstairs, I stepped into the barely lit kitchen. "Daryl?" I asked but I was met with silence. He was nowhere in the damn house. Where had he gone? "Fucking typical," I hissed angrily.

Without bothering to grab myself a breakfast I stormed out of the house and headed to the only house where I knew someone would be awake. Michonne and Carl were both extremely early risers and I knew that the two of them would be awake. If nothing else, maybe I could bother Rick until he woke up. I needed a brother to talk to right now. I could always go bother Merle too but I wasn't sure that I wanted to stumble in on him and some girl in bed. So I settled for Rick. I walked into the Grimes household and pushed open the door, heading upstairs to where I knew Rick's bedroom was. I was about to walk up and rap on the door, since I heard movement inside, when I heard a gun cock. "What the hell are you doing in our house?" Carl asked me.

His gun was aimed at my head and I felt my heart fall into my stomach. Had I done something? Did Carl not recognize me? That was when I realized that someone was hiding in the shadows, just behind where I was. I turned back and realized that it was Jesus. He was holding a painting, not looking at either of us. He was acting like we weren't even here. My heart jumped into my throat and I stepped in front of Carl. How had Jesus gotten in here? "Carl get behind me. What the hell are you doing in here?" I hissed at Jesus, who finally turned to look up at me with a grin. "You're supposed to be locked up. Carl, do you know where your dad is?" I asked, turning back to the younger boy. "Daryl? Michonne? Anyone else?" I asked.

Just like me, Carl seemed to have no idea where anyone else was. He was smiling at me and I had my gun raised to his head. I liked Jesus and I wanted to be able to trust him but he was making that extremely hard. "In reference to your earlier question, Daryl should be here any minute now. He'll know that I'm gone by now," he said and I growled. He was the reason that Daryl wasn't in bed this morning. He had gone to make sure that Jesus was locked away. Nice one, Daryl. "But as for me. I'm, uh, sitting on the steps looking at this painting, waiting for your mom and dad to get dressed," Jesus said and I cocked an eyebrow. "Hi. I'm Jesus," he introduced himself to Carl.

Turning back to look at the younger boy, I could tell that he didn't quite understand where Jesus was coming from either. I understood about his father, that was Rick. But what was he talking about with his mother? Lori had died way back when we were in the prison. When she had given birth to Judith. Did Jesus just think that he saw a woman in there? Or did Rick really have a woman in there? I knew that he had been developing feelings for Jessie, but she had been killed my walkers. "His mom?" I asked and Jesus nodded. "His mother died almost two years ago," I said and I noticed that Jesus's face fell. I turned back quickly, realizing that what I had said was insensitive. "Sorry," I mumbled to Carl.

He merely shook his head and I turned back to see that Jesus had stood from where he had been sitting. He placed the painting that he had been looking at on the ground and I looked down at it. The Queen of Hearts. Off with his head, right? "Oh. Well, perhaps you should have a talk with your father about the woman currently in his bed," Jesus said with a smirk.

My eyebrow shot to my forehead and I made a move to shut Jesus up. As much as I did like him I didn't want Carl to hear anything about a woman being in his bed. True or not. The door opened behind Jesus and the three of us turned back to see Rick and Michonne? What the fuck was Michonne doing in Rick's room? My jaw dropped to the floor as I realized that both of the pair were wearing guilty faces. "Carl, hey, um-" Rick began before the door to the house opened and more of our people filed in. It was Daryl, Glenn, Abraham, and Maggie, all with their guns currently aimed to Jesus. "It's- it's okay. Rain, please say nothing until it's just the two of us," Rick mumbled to me and I nodded. "You said we should talk," Rick said with a sneer.

Before bothering to say anything Jesus turned to look at the rest of the group. I was pretty sure that he immediately knew that he had no chances of beating us all in a fight. There were three, large men that all looked willing to kill. There was a kid with one eye, which was probably rather unnerving. There was also a woman with a katana, one with a bow and arrow, and another that was pregnant and protective. Not that he knew that though. "So let's talk," Jesus said with a smile.

Out of the eight people that were currently standing around, it seemed like no one was having any fun with this other than Jesus. Something that I could give the man credit for was that he really did know how to make light out of a dangerous situation. I guess he wasn't afraid to die. "So, how'd you get out?" Rick asked, looking completely unimpressed.

Behind me I could feel Daryl standing tall, his chest pressed up against my shoulders. He was completely tensed up and I knew why. He didn't trust Jesus in the slightest. Not after everything that had happened out on the road and with the truck. "One guard can't cover two exits or third floor windows," he said with a little smirk. I scoffed gently, and turned back to look at Daryl. He wasn't looking at me but I made sure that he knew that I was going to chew him out later. He had left in the middle of the night to keep watch on a building that had more than one door with a prisoner that had proved himself more than capable. "Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?" He asked.

Turning back to look at the portrait that Jesus had been looking at, I shook my head. It made sense. The Queen of Hearts. She was the queen of entropy. It seemed that Jesus could care less as he was leaning back against the wall and looking at us like he would look at a friend, rather than people who were threatening his life. "Right," Rick finally responded.

The air in the room was tense as Jesus paced slowly. He was hardly moving though as our group made sure that he was trapped between us. We also made sure that Carl was pushed back slightly. Jesus didn't strike me as the type of man to hurt a child but you could never be too careful. "I checked out your arsenal," Jesus admitted and my eyebrows raised. Rick looked to me and I nodded. Keeping my gun aimed at Jesus's face, I gave him a quick search, ensuring that he hadn't helped himself to anything. But he was unarmed. "I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have. Fifty four?" He asked Rick.

As far as I knew, there were almost eighty people in the Alexandria Safe Zone. Before Rick and the rest of us had gotten here their numbers were in the seventies. I was sure that with us it put us close to ninety. But of course, we had probably lost plenty of people when the walls had come down a few months back. "More than that," Rick responded vaguely.

Jesus nodded at Rick and looked down to his hand. I followed his line of sight and for the first time since I had seen him today I realized that he was holding a cookie. He was holding on of the weird beet cookies that Carol had made. They were actually good, but the fact that they were made with beets disgusted me. "Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef," Jesus told us.

I scoffed at him and shook my head. The only reason that Jesus had gotten one of those cookies was because he had stolen it. Probably right off of the counter downstairs. "Yeah, she ain't here," Daryl snapped at him. He was extremely protective of Carol. I turned back to look at Daryl with a glare and he turned back to me, knowing that he had messed up. "Look the only reason that I left in the middle of the night was so that something like this wouldn't happen," he said and I shook my head. Then it made no difference. "I should have woken you up and told you that I had to check on him," he told me softly, trying to keep the attention off of us.

Part of me wanted to respond to him and tell him that I didn't mind but before I could, Jesus spoke up once more. "Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side- the living side," he said and I nodded. He was right about that. If more people understood that, well we might have a real fighting chance against these walkers. "You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. Well that's mostly thanks to Rain. Thank you," Jesus told me and I nodded. I wouldn't have let them leave him out there. No matter if he stole our truck or not. "I never got to really say that. You're a good woman," he told me and I smiled. "And you're a lucky man," Jesus said, turning his smile on Daryl.

Giggling slightly under my breath I noticed that everyone else was also having a hard time not to laugh at his words. Everyone knew that Daryl and I loved each other. But it was also no secret that we loved to say which one of us was better. "Yes he is. And he'd do well to remember that," I said to Jesus, keeping my hip cocked out and ignoring Daryl's scoff.

Turning back to Jesus I noticed that he was watching Daryl and I with a little smile. I guess we could be a little amusing. "I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with," he told us and I raised my eyebrows. So he was from another community. That meant that Alexandria wasn't the only place with walls. "I took your truck because my community needs things, and the three of you looked like trouble. I was wrong. You're good people," he said and I smiled. "And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other," Jesus told us.

Everyone that was standing in the hallway looked like they didn't believe Jesus one bit. But that didn't mean that I didn't. I thought that he was a good person. And he thought the same of us. "I knew that you weren't alone," I said and he smiled at me. "Please don't tell me that you're part of the people who work with this Negan," I said softly, making Abraham and Daryl's heads snap to me. Jesus shook his head and I nodded, letting out a silent breath. "In this place that you live, do you have food?" I asked him.

I knew that I had probably overloaded him with questions but he would figure them out. It went without saying that every time we met someone new in this world they were barraged with questions. "We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow," Jesus said and I nodded. Sounded like Alexandria to me. "Everything from tomatoes to sorghum," Jesus said, shooting a look over to Rick.

What the hell was sorghum? It was the second time I'd heard someone talking about it in two days. I guess it was important. Glancing over to Rick, I noticed that he looked completely unimpressed. He was probably thinking that we couldn't trust Jesus after everything that had happened yesterday. "Tell us why we should believe you," he snapped at the other man.

Without missing a beat, Jesus stood from his spot on the wall and walked over to Rick. I did notice that he kept a little close to me though. He probably trusted me to be the only one not to shoot him. "I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day, and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer," Jesus said and I smiled. This was a good thing. This meant that we could find more people. We could offer them something and they would return the favor. For once, people wouldn't have to be a threat.

Looking around the room, I noticed that everyone seemed to be a little skeptical to go with Jesus. I didn't blame them, the last time that we had found a community like that it had belonged to my father. After that we had found Terminus. It didn't seem to matter where we went, but it seemed like we couldn't trust people anymore. But this time it actually seemed genuine. I wanted to be able to trust Jesus and his people. "Wait, you're looking for more settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?" Rick asked Jesus.

He was right. I hadn't even bothered to think about that. Jesus had said that they were already trading with others. That must mean that they knew other groups and I somehow doubted that it was the men with Negan. Jesus seemed afraid of them. He must have been trading with other, trustworthy groups. "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger," Jesus said with a little smirk.

With that, it seemed like it was silently decided that we were going to go find out exactly what Jesus had to provide us with. But still, no one made to move. "Alright kids, come on!" I yelled as I pushed everyone from the building. Daryl caught Jesus and pushed him forward, everyone filing out behind them. Rick came out last and I fell into line with him. "My man Rick," I said as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He rolled his eyes at me and I smirked. He wasn't getting out of this one. "I knew that secretly down there you were a real lady killer. I'm just teasing you buddy," I told him when I received a derisive snort. "Michonne is a good woman and you're a good man. I'm glad to see the two of you happy. You deserve it. You both do," I told Rick and he nodded at me with a little smile. "I just want to know one thing, when did this happen?" I asked him.

Rick sighed as we walked outside and headed to the old RV. It reminded me of Dale and I grinned. He would have loved to see the way that Daryl and I were now. "Last night," Rick finally said and I nodded. I had figured that much. "We were just laying together talking about our days and it just happened. I didn't mean for it to. I don't think that she did either. We weren't really expecting it. I just wish that Carl could have found a different way to find out," Rick said, burying his face in his hands.

Shaking my head, I pulled his hands away from his face. I didn't want him to think that he had done something wrong. If Michonne was the woman that he chose to be with than they deserved to be with each other. I wouldn't mind and I was sure as hell that Carl wouldn't either. "Hey, I'm the last person that can say something about you hooking up with someone in a strange way," I said and Rick cocked an eyebrow at me. "I mean come on, Daryl and I hated each other before we got drunk together at the CDC," I said with a little laugh.

Despite the fact that I had been drunk I remembered that night well. I remembered passing out in his bed wearing that stupid sleep shirt. I remembered being embarrassed that he could see so much of me. I remember wanting to hook up with him. My, how things change. "Did you two?" Rick asked me, his voice dropping off slowly.

For a moment I didn't understand what he was asking me. But then it suddenly hit me. He thought that I meant that Daryl and I had slept together for the first time at the CDC. "What? No!" I yelled making Rick laugh softly. "No. Not way back then. It was when we were at Hershel's farm," I said and Rick nodded with a smirk. I remembered that they had all had the bets going on how long it would be before Daryl and I got together and I scoffed. "But nothing really happened until we were at the prison," I said and Rick laughed once more. "Oh shut up, at least you have doors here. Hey, I'm glad that you get this. It's been so long since Lori and with Jessie gone, you deserve to have someone," I said and Rick nodded. "And don't worry about Carl. You just surprised him. He'll be thrilled for you. He loves Michonne, he always has," I told him.

It was the truth. Ever since he had met her, Carl had trusted Michonne. And it hadn't been long after that that he had learned to love her. "Thank you, Rain," Rick told me and I nodded. "Just so you know you were going to be the first person I told. You always seem to be the one with the best advice," Rick told me and I nodded. "Even if you're one of the biggest assholes that I know," he said and I laughed loudly. I had been about to respond to him when I saw Carl coming up. Sensing that this was going to be a private conversation, I gave Rick one last smile before turning back and walking into the RV, giving Carl a smile before I walked in.

Jesus was sitting in the back of the RV with Maggie and Glenn and Abraham was sitting at the front, behind the wheel. Merle and Michonne were at the table and Daryl was over on the couch. I went to join my husband, who glanced up to me. "Do you think that this place is really something that we can count on?" I asked. "I mean if Jesus is telling the truth about them having supplies and livestock and everything like that than this place could be a gold mine. This could be the difference between us starving to death or not. And we can make new friends," I said, making Daryl scoff. "People are our greatest asset," I argued with him.

He just merely shrugged at me and I sighed. I knew that he wasn't going to trust these people but I hoped that he would at least try. They might be everything that Jesus says that they are. "I say don't get your hopes up too high. You don't know who this guy really is. Why do you think we're all going there with loaded guns?" Daryl asked me and I sighed. He was right but I didn't want to admit it. "Rain, don't just openly trust people like that. It's going to get you killed. I don't know what I'd do," Daryl said, grabbing my hands.

I shook my head at him and let my fingers crawl through the tips of his long hair. He caught my hands and moved them down to his side though. "You'd move on," I told him and he shook his head. "It might be hard but you'd find a way to move on. These people, they are all your family. They all are. You have Merle too. He's your brother, Rick is your brother. I love you but you have to promise me that if something happens to me you will let it go. You won't go looking for revenge," I practically begged him.

Daryl let his hands run over mine and I smiled softly. His hands were filled with scars from both before and after everything had gone down. My right hand looked like his, mangled with scars from my incident leaving Hershel's farm. We really were almost the same person. "I won't promise that," he told me and I sighed. "It's not true," he added softly.

Knowing that there was nothing that I could do to change his mind I leaned into Daryl and kissed his shoulder. He let me lean on his as the engine started and Jesus began to lead us from Alexandria to his home. "Let's chew up some asphalt!" Abraham called back and I smiled. He had the best one liners. The drive was mostly silent and I was thankful for that. It seemed like we could never have a quiet or calm day anymore. "Hey," Abraham called back to Glenn and I glanced up. "Can I ask you a question?" He asked.

Glenn looked a little suspicious of whatever Abraham had to ask him and I rolled my eyes. Abraham and Glenn were friends, what the hell did he think that Abraham was going to ask him? "Sure," Glenn said softly.

I noticed that Glenn had his arms around Maggie and I grinned when I saw that his hand was settled softly on her stomach. They were going to make great parents. I was thrilled that they were making themselves work in this world. As much as I loved the relationship that Daryl and I had, we weren't ready to start anything like that yet. There was too much at stake. And we would always be the warriors. That was just who we were. "When you were, uh, pouring the Bisquick, were you trying to make pancakes?" Abraham asked.

Snorting softly under my breath, I shook my head. I hadn't thought that Glenn was much of a cook. The only person that I ever remembered actually making us breakfast was T-Dog. But that was cute. At least Glenn was trying to be a family. The only thing that I could make my spouse was coffee. And apparently watered down coffee at that. "Uh yes?" Glenn almost asked awkwardly. "Oh, okay, um it's something that we talked about, yeah. Yeah. Why?" He asked, trying to deflect the attention away from himself.

Maggie smiled at her husband and rolled her eyes at the same time that I laughed at the pair. The one similarity that our husbands had was that they were both awkward when all attention was focused onto them. "No, I just-" Abraham started, assisting to the awkward air of the RV. "Well, given the precarious state of affairs on any given Sunday, I am damn near floored that you or anyone else would have the cojones to make a call like that," Abraham said and I rolled my eyes. Was it really Sunday?

I didn't think that Abraham, or almost anyone else, understood what it was that Glenn and Maggie were doing. They were trying to settle down. They were trying to have a life and they were trying to build something. They just saw that Daryl and I went with the flow and were quick to act. Above almost anything else, Daryl and I would defend our family's lives. But that was over almost anything. We would still make sure that other was safe first. Always. "I mean, well we're trying to build something, me and her," Glenn said and I smiled. "All of us," he added.

My head turned back to him and he shot me a smile. I was about to tell him that there was nothing wrong with wanting to build a life for yourself when the brakes were slammed and I went flying forward. Had it not been for Merle on the couch in front of me, I would have been on the floor. I silently thanked Merle before sitting back up and glaring at Abraham. "Yo, Rick," he called back.

Rick immediately jumped into action, standing and walking up to the front of the RV. I stood as well, with Daryl right behind me. I wanted to know what had nearly sent me to the floor. "What's going on?" Rick asked.

I pushed past him gently and gazed out the large window. Ahead of us, partially blocking the road was an overturned car. It was on fire and out of the corner of the window was a walker, seemingly recently turned too. Someone must have accidentally gotten in a crash a few minutes ago. "We got a crash ahead. Looks like it just happened," Abraham said and I nodded. He was right about that.

Behind me I could feel someone trying to push past me and I moved off to the side. Jesus came pushing past me and I saw him look out the window. His look of curiosity immediately turned to one of horror and I didn't need him to say anything more. I knew that look on his face. It was the look that you got when you knew that something had happened to someone that you loved. He knew these people that had been in the crash. "It's one of ours," Jesus said softly. Softer than I had ever heard him.

Before we could stop him, Jesus pushed past us and jumped out of the RV. I followed him immediately, jumping from the RV and chasing him to the building that was near that overturned car. Jesus was staring at the walker that was hanging out of the car and I nodded for him to look away. He wasn't going to want to watch this. I grabbed my knife and raised it to the walkers head, driving it into the skull. The walker fell limply and I walked back over to my group. "If this is a trick, it won't end well for you," Rick snarled at Jesus.

Jesus was trying to push past the barrier that we had made to the building and I felt horrible for him. I knew how he felt. Seeing your people dead and not being able to do anything about it. "My people are in trouble. They don't- we don't have a lot of fighters. I know how it looks, but I'll play it out. Can I borrow a gun?" Jesus asked Rick desperately.

"No," Daryl immediately snapped at Jesus and I turned an angry glare on my husband. I loved Daryl but he had to understand how desperate that Jesus was right now. He just wanted to make sure that his people were alright and still alive. The chances weren't looking so great right now though. This place seemed infested by walkers. "We got tracks right here," Daryl said and I looked down. He was right. There looked like there was a set of three or four footprints leading to the building.

Grabbing my bow off of my back I dashed up to the building with my group behind me. Jesus was the first up to the door with me and he immediately banged on the door. I pushed him back, knowing that if he wasn't careful he was going to literally walk right into a walker. "They gotta be in there," Jesus said and I nodded. They were probably in there. The question was whether or not they were alive. "We moving in or what?" Jesus asked, directing the question to me.

I was about to answer him and tell him that we were going to go in and get his people back but Rick beat me to it. He looked like he didn't trust the situation at all and I rolled my eyes. This was ridiculous. I didn't want to lose these people just because we were having a pissing contest. "How do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?" Rick sneered at Jesus.

Confused looks were exchanged around the group and I remembered that only Daryl and I knew what Rick was talking about. Everyone else was just looking at him like he had lost his mind. "You don't," Jesus told Rick honestly. My skin crawled a little bit at his brutal honesty but I had seen the horror in Jesus's eyes earlier. This wasn't a set up. He was just afraid for his people.

The air was tense and I felt my heart rate pick up at the growling that was coming from inside. If his people were in there they were trapped with walkers. We had to get in there soon. Especially if they were unarmed like Jesus had been. "We'll get your people," Rick said and I nodded. Jesus went to head back into the building but Rick pushed him back, much to our displeasure. "You're staying here with one of us. That's the deal," Rick said, making Jesus narrow his eyes at my leader.

This was ridiculous. If we kept going like this than we might as well just leave and let these people die. They were running out of time. Glenn moved to his wife and I nodded. Maggie was a good person to leave out here. With her being pregnant we had to be careful about what she was able to do. "Will you stay?" Glenn asked her.

Maggie nodded and I smiled. I was glad that she wasn't going to come in. I wanted to keep her out of danger. "Yeah. Y'all go," she told us and I nodded, turning back to the door and waiting for the affirmative to open it. "Just be careful," she warned.

The couple exchanged a quick promise that they would be careful and I smiled. It reminded me of Daryl but right now we were in defensive mode. We would still be protecting each other, but it wouldn't be as obvious as it could be. Rick moved to the door and I nodded, going to stand in front of the glass door. "You hear me whistle, shoot him," Rick said and I rolled my eyes. We couldn't even pretend to trust Jesus for one minute. Not even while we risked our lives to go save his people.

Without bothering to wait and make sure that she had said yes, I pulled the door open and stepped through the threshold. The building was dark and I scowled. Why couldn't these damn buildings ever be lit up? Walkers were growling and snarling and I sighed. Where were they? Just as I turned the corner into what looked like it had once been a front office, I saw someone fighting off a walker. Not giving the walker a second to gain more distance on the man I pulled my arrow back and sent it into the head of the walker. The man that it had been attacking screamed when he saw the arrow and dropped to the ground. I sighed and ran up to the man, helping Rick get him to stand upright. He was fighting us though, trying to get back behind a crate where I assumed he had been hiding. "Come on out. We're not gonna hurt you. We're friends of Jesus. We're here to get you out," Rick told the man. He slowly calmed down and looked back at us. "There more of you?" Rick asked him.

The man was practically drenched in blood and I sighed at him. Had we been arguing for a minute longer this guy would have been dead. He nodded at us and tried to speak over his wheezes. He was clearly afraid. Not that I could blame him. Walkers were scary when they cornered you. "Two more. They ran ahead," the man said and I nodded.

Daryl grabbed my arm and pulled me ahead, which I didn't waste any time with. Abraham and Merle went down one hallway and Glenn went down another while Daryl and I took the farthest one back. There were walkers snarling and I groaned as I saw another man that was cornered by walkers. But it wasn't just one this time. It was two. Daryl nodded at me to take the one on the right and I nodded back at him. We both pulled back on our arrows and let them go at the same time. The walkers dropped to the ground and the man came to stare at us in horror. I ran up to the man and grabbed my arrow back, grabbing him by the arm. "Come on. We're with Jesus. Let's go," I growled at him.

The man was stronger than I thought that he was though as he pulled himself out of my grip, nearly making me fall to the ground. I stood back up though and snarled at the man. If the walkers didn't kill him, I might. He was wounded too and I rolled my eyes. Come on people, help us out here. "I can't go with you. I'm looking for my friend, Harlan," he said and I wondered if he was the other one that had run forward. "He's close, and he's hurt from the crash," he said as a sharp scream came from the back of the store. The man tried to dart away from us but Daryl caught him before he could get anywhere. "No!" He screamed.

Daryl was holding onto the man tightly and I made sure to half drag him from the room. We had to get him to safety and then we could come back for the other one. They never seemed to understand that. "Come on, man, let's go. Come on!" He screamed, practically throwing him to the front of the store. I grabbed onto the man and shoved him forward. "You got him?" Daryl asked me and I nodded. "Go. Come on. Come on," Daryl pushed me forward until we had burst out of the building.

The man that we had saved, Harlan laughed as he saw another man that we had saved and the one that had run to the back. At least I assumed considering all of our people were out here and no one seemed to be in a rush anymore. Harlan dropped down to the new man and I watched as he grabbed the man's face. "You okay, Freddie?" He asked.

The older man laughed and shook his head. Yeah, near death will make you a little hysterical. "For a second back there, just when I thought he was gonna-" his voice broke as he pointed to Abraham. I guess he had nearly killed the man. I saw why, Freddie looked like a walker himself right about now. He was covered in blood and dirt. "I saw my wife. She died before all this," he said, his voice breaking. "Just when I thought it was over, there she was," he said with a laugh. "Clear as day." Great, so now he's delusional.

Snarling under my breath slightly I moved over to Jesus who was looking at me with a grateful stare. "You're right. Your men aren't fighters," I said and he nodded at me, looking a little guilty. "What the hell were they even doing out here? They would have been dead if we hadn't stumbled across them," I hissed at him.

I didn't mean to just be rude like that but people like them drove me nuts. If you were going to live in a world like this you had to know how to defend yourself. That was just the way that it was. We had already been forced to teach the Alexandrian's how to defend themselves, I didn't want to have to do that with a whole other community. Especially if they were the size of Alexandria. "They remind me of you assholes back when this thing started," Merle laughed from my side and I rolled my eyes at him.

Giving my hand to Freddie he grabbed it with a small thanks and I nodded, helping him into the RV. I made sure that the three men from Jesus's community were on the RV before I took a seat at the table with Daryl, Jesus, and Merle. "They might not be fighters but they're all that we have. I assume that you all spent a great deal of time out of the road before you came to Alexandria?" Jesus asked me and I snorted. More than he would think was possible, and still live. I nodded at him and he nodded back to me. "They never had that luxury. Most people at Hilltop have been there since the beginning," he informed us.

So this place was called Hilltop. That was a cute name. God when did I become such a girl? I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my seat, closing my eyes and kicking my feet up onto Merle. He began to mess with the laces on my boots and I smiled, letting him do it anyways. I dozed off quickly but was roughly awoken not long after by the RV spinning on the road. I let out a sharp yelp as I went flying across the table. Both Daryl and Jesus caught me and I thanked the two men before scooting into Daryl. "Damn it," I heard Rick call from the front as the tires spun under us. "A storm must've passed through. We're stuck," he told us and I groaned. If it wasn't one thing it was another.

Jesus smiled and stepped out of the RV, Rick and the rest of us following. He was walking with a large grin on his face and I followed directly behind him. "No worries. We're here. That's us. That's the Hilltop," he said with a large grin. I glanced up and saw that at the top of a small hill was the Hilltop. I grinned and nearly laughed. That was a good play on words. Good naming.

The Hilltop had huge logs that were being used as walls with what looked like a gigantic gate that was made out of the logs. It was incredibly impressive. There were armed sentries at the top of the gate and I laughed softly. It was just like Alexandria. But instead of carrying guns they were carrying spears. My eyebrows raised as we walked up. Why were they carrying spears and not guns? That was not very wise. They were susceptible to attack that way. "Stop right there. Whoa!" A man at the top of the gate yelled to us.

He was pointing his spear down at us and I smirked. The black haired Asian man on top of the gate stared down at us and I smirked when all of my group members raised their weapons. I grabbed my hand gun and aimed it at the man's head. He was sure as hell not going to have a good day if he made any one of us mad. "You gonna make us?" Daryl called back to the man.

The man looked a little panicked as he glanced over to his friend that was on the other tower. He turned back to us though and replaced his nervous look with a scowl. He was trying to look tough for us. Cute. "Jesus, what the hell is this?" The man asked, motioning to us.

Jesus sighed and shook his head. This didn't seem to be the first time that he had had an issue with this man. "Open the gates, Kal," Jesus called up to the man and I nodded. His name was Kal. "Freddie's hurt," Jesus said but Kal looked completely unaffected by the issue. Asshole. "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing," Jesus said turning back to us.

It seemed like we were going to end up in a standoff once more but I knew that Jesus was the type of man to try and resolve something without any blood spilled. Especially if his own men were involved in the fight. Kal though, he just seemed to be the type that wanted to protect himself, no matter what the cost. I hated people like that. "They give up the weapons. Then we'll open the gates," Kal said and I scoffed.

He was a damn moron if he thought that we were going to give up the weapons. We had already done that in Alexandria once and we all saw how that had turned out. We had only given them over then because we had been trying to make a life there. We were only visitors here at the Hilltop. I was not planning on becoming a permanent resident here. "Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl yelled up to Kal.

This was just getting stupid. If these people really didn't trust us that much we would be sure to turn around and forget about this place. As soon as we got the RV out of the mud that is. "Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right?" Harlan called up to Kal and I smiled. At least he recognized that he was only alive because of us. "They saved us out there," he clarified.

The man up on the right side of the wall looked like he wanted to open the gate but it was Kal who still looked like he wasn't planning on opening the gate any time soon. "Lower the spears," Jesus ordered his men.

The man on the right side of the fence lowered his spear and I nodded. That was a good choice. Now let's see if Kal will make the right one too. As I should have figured, he didn't. He still had his spear pointed down at us and I rolled my eyes. This guy was seriously pushing his luck. "Look, I'm not taking any chances," Kal told Jesus, who looked completely fed up with all of this.

I rolled my eyes as the men stood off against each other. Jesus looked fed up with the entire situation but I could tell that he still had a little bit of patience. Kal looked like he trusted us about as far as he could throw us and Daryl looked about ready to shoot Kal. Rick on the other hand looked like he was about ready to take a nap. "Tell your guy Gregory to come out here," he told Jesus.

The man shook his head and let out a slow breath. I knew that he was trying to play peacekeeper, but that was hard to do in this world. "No," he told us and I sighed. I had figured that he still didn't trust us one hundred percent. But I still didn't trust him one hundred percent. "Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns. Look, we ran out of ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you," Jesus said and I knitted my eyebrows. So maybe he did trust us. "Trust us. Open the gates, Kal," Jesus ordered once more.

Kal looked like the last thing that he wanted to do was let us into the community but he finally sighed and nodded. I watched as he turned back and motioned to someone on the ground to open the gates. It took a moment but I finally heard the squeaking of the gates and I watched as the huge wooden gates were pulled open. Inside of the community was a shock. Instead of an armored militia, somewhat similar to Alexandria, Hilltop seemed to be filled with farmers. There were trailers all around and gardens covered most of the ground. The people seemed calm, watching us and our guns with weary stares. "Hey, thanks again," Harlan told us and we nodded. "Come see me whenever. I'm just over here in the medical trailer, okay?" He asked Maggie, who nodded at him.

Our group moved slowly into the community and I looked around with wide eyes. Alexandria had our gardeners but we always had guards and sentries up towards the front of the gates, just in case we had a new visitor. "There was a materials yard for a power company nearby. That's how we put up the walls. A lot of people came from a FEMA camp. Trailers came with them," Jesus told us.

I nodded at him but I wasn't really listening. My focus was on a huge building by the back of the community. It had to be at least five stories high and it looked like it had been here for a damn long time. The whole place looked like it had been plucked out of a history book. It was almost endearing. "How did people find out about this place?" Rick finally asked Jesus, who was watching our reactions.

Jesus smiled at us and motioned for us to follow him a little closer to the large building looming over the community. "That's called Barrington House. The family that owned it gave it to the state in the '30s. The state turned it into a living history museum. Every elementary school for fifty miles used to come here for field trips. The place was running a long time before the modern world built up around it. I think people came here because they figured it'd keep running after the modern world broke down," he said and I nodded. So these people had been here from the beginning. That meant that they would be like the old Alexandria, weak. "Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security. Come on. I'll show you inside," he told us.

My group nodded at him and I made sure that I was near the front as we walked into the building. The lobby was enormous, probably spanning three floors. It had a huge ceiling and glass was everywhere. The people who had built this must have spent millions of dollars on this room alone. I was pretty sure that I had never stepped foot in such an intricate building before. "Good gracious, Ignatius," Abraham muttered beside me and I nodded at him.

Jesus wasn't looking around but that didn't surprise me. He had probably been in this building almost every day since this thing had started. He was looking at us instead, smiling at the looks on our faces. I was sure that we looked idiotic. "Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces. Even the ones that weren't bedrooms," Jesus said and I nodded. This place made for good shelter.

It seemed like even though we hadn't seen much of Hilltop, I was pretty sure that they had more people than Alexandria did. I couldn't even imagine how many people they kept in this Barrington House. "People live here and the trailers?" Rick asked.

Jesus turned back to look at our leader and he nodded. This place was so cool. We lived in pretty nice homes back in Alexandria but it was never anything like this place. Our entire group could live here and never bump into each other. The privacy would certainly be nice. "We plan to build," Jesus told us and I nearly scoffed. Where was there any room to build? Why did they need more room? This place was plenty big. "There's babies being born," he said, giving Maggie a pointed smile.

She grinned back and seemed to be about to say something before a man turned from around the corner of the building. He seemed to be coming out of an office and he smiled at us. I looked the man up and down and narrowed my eyes. I already didn't like him. He had gray hair that was cropped short and appeared to be in his late fifties. He wore a bright smile but underneath it I could tell that he was sneering at us. I also did not enjoy the way that his eyes lingered on Michonne, Maggie, and myself. All taken women. "Jesus," the old man greeted, shaking our new friends hand. "You're back. With guests," he said as he motioned to us.

So this was clearly Gregory, the leader of Hilltop. Just one look at him and I automatically knew that Jesus would make a better leader than Gregory. But he wasn't the type of man to say that. And it wasn't my place to state that fact either. "Everyone, this is Gregory," Jesus confirmed my thoughts and I nodded. "He keeps the trains running on time around here," he laughed politely.

Gregory grinned at all of us and I sneered. I wasn't a fan of this man. One little bit. He reminded me of my father and that sent chills up my spine. Not to mention the fact that he looked at me the same way that Mitch had. My stomach still churned whenever I thought about that. "I'm the boss," he said with a little laugh and I narrowed my eyes. I didn't like the way that he said that.

Glancing over to my leader I noticed that Rick looked a little weary of the man as well. He was giving Gregory a hard stare but once he managed to calm his nerves he nodded and moved to stand a little closer to Gregory. "Well, I'm Rick. We have a community-" he began before being cut off by Gregory.

"Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" Gregory asked, smiling at our group. I narrowed my eyes at him and shook my head. The only reason that we were even dirty in the first place is because we had gotten in a tussle with walkers, trying to save his people's lives. Besides a little blood and dirt on my face, I was actually relatively clean. We all looked pretty clean.

For a while the two leaders just stared at each other. Gregory was giving Rick a smile that told him that while we were in his turf we were best off to listen to him. As much as I didn't like it, he would have been right. This was his community and we were best to respect his rules. Even if it was something as silly as keeping clean. "We're fine," Rick insisted and I smiled.

To his credit, Gregory's smile didn't falter once. I did noticed though that he kept his eyes locked on our guns and other weapons. He clearly didn't like the fact that we were armed inside of his compound. "Jesus will show you where you can get washed up," Gregory said, completely ignoring what Rick had just said. We all glared at him but he didn't seem to care in the slightest. "Then come back down here when you're ready. It's hard to keep this place clean," he said with a little laugh.

It looked like Rick, and most of the rest of us, would have liked to ring his neck. Jesus seemed like a good man to me but I was not a fan of his leader. Of course, I'm sure that we had met people who had felt the same way about us before too. Maybe Gregory was just one of those people who had to grow on you? "Yeah. Sure," Rick said slowly.

Gregory smiled at us and turned back, heading back into the office that he had emerged from just a few minutes prior. Jesus cleared his throat and we turned back to him, everyone wearing skeptical stares. Jesus smiled at us and motioned for us to go with him. "Follow me," he said, leading us up a set of stairs. We walked through a hallway before coming to a large room. It had more than enough space to contain all of us and Jesus nodded to us, letting us know that we could wash up here and when we were done we could go speak with Gregory.

He made sure that we had nothing more to say to him before walking off and leaving us in the room. The door clicked closed behind him and we waited for a moment before Rick finally spoke up. "You clean up first," he said to Maggie, who nodded and stood, heading towards the bathroom that Jesus had told us was fully stocked. "You talk to him," he informed her.

I nearly laughed as Maggie's eyebrows shot up to the top of her forehead. I risked a glance back to Glenn and saw that he was looking more than a little peeved that Rick had volunteered his wife to go talk to this asshole. "Why?" Maggie asked.

Rick smirked and shook his head. I knew that he must have a good reason if he didn't want to go talk to a leader of another community. "I shouldn't," Rick said and I smirked at him. He and I both knew that he might get a little violent if he went in there to go talk to Gregory. "And you gotta start doing these things," he said and I nodded. I knew that Deanna had wanted Maggie to take over political affairs of Alexandria. She thought that Maggie had what it took. "Rain you should get ready with her. I want you to go talk to Gregory with her," Rick said.

My head shot over to Rick and my face probably mirrored Maggie's. I had no idea why the hell Rick wanted me to go talk to Gregory with Maggie. He didn't want to go himself because he didn't want to kill the man, well sending me was about the same thing as going himself. Was he sending me as protection for her? Maggie was a big girl. She could handle herself. And I was pretty sure that Gregory knew that anyone who went in to talk to him would be armed. "Why? Maggie can handle herself. She's pregnant, not useless," I told Rick.

Maggie scoffed at my side and bumped into me, making me laugh softly. She was smiling too and I knew that I hadn't offended her. "I know that she's not useless," Rick said with a little eye roll and I scoffed. "But just in case Gregory isn't willing to just talk things out nicely he might need a little scare tactic. And that's exactly what Deanna wanted you for," Rick said to me with a little nod and I smirked. Now I knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted me to do what Deanna had assigned me to do. He wanted me to be the interrogator. I could do that.

Both Maggie and I nodded at the others before stepping out of the room and into the bathroom. Maggie and I both stripped off our shirts and ran watered down towels over our chests and faces. The blood and dirt washed off of me and I made sure to wash my hands thoroughly as well. "I don't trust him, Gregory. He didn't even want to talk to us before we got cleaned up," I said and Maggie looked up at me as we put our shirts back on. I pulled my hair out of its hold and shook it out. "It's not just because he wants to keep this place clean. I guarantee that it's because he wants to think about what to tell us. He's not going to want anything from us other than maybe a little protection," I told her.

She followed my example of pulling the pins out of her hair and letting her fingers comb through it as she tucked her bangs behind her ears. "Then we use that against him. You're right, these people don't know how to defend themselves. If there's something that will make Gregory nervous it's the threat of a group. Especially one that now knows exactly where they are," she said and I nodded. "He can't play this stupidly, but neither can we. Jesus knows where we live too. You ready?" She asked me.

I nodded at her and we both sighed as we walked out into the main room and told our group that we were going to go talk to Gregory. Both Daryl and Glenn wished us luck before we nodded and headed downstairs. The door that led to Gregory's room was closed and I nodded at Maggie. She knocked gently on the door before swinging it open. Gregory was sitting in a huge brown chair and he smiled at the two of us. He looked us over and gave a small nod before motioning for us to come in. "Gregory," Maggie greeted simply.

Gregory motioned for us to walk a little further into the room and we nodded, walking close to his desk. Maggie stood a tiny bit behind me and I gave her an almost imperceptible nod. I didn't want her to get too close to Gregory in case he decided to do something stupid. I'd rather myself get hurt than her. "Natalie, right?" Gregory asked Maggie. I rolled my eyes as he looked over to me. "And uh, Sunny, correct?" He asked me.

It took almost all of my strength to not walk over to Gregory and slap him across the face. Maggie looked as irritated with him as I was. But instead of snapping at him, she merely gave him a bored stare. I wasn't sure that Gregory really knew what Maggie's name was but he had to know mine. He just called me Sunny to push my buttons. "Actually it's Maggie and Rain," Maggie corrected him.

He gave us a little smile and nod but I knew that Gregory was not going to apologize. He merely grinned and pushed himself back onto his chair. I couldn't help but to hope that the fragile thing would crack under his weight. "That's pretty close," he told us with a little laugh.

I wasn't sure if Maggie was going to say something or not so I did. "Almost as close as you are to two fully capable, and armed, women," I sneered at Gregory. He had no fear in his face but it was buried somewhere in the depths of his eyes. I knew that I was more here just in case Gregory needed some physical persuasion but I couldn't keep that one to myself.

His dark eyes gave me a once over, hovering on the gun strapped to my thigh before he let a smile grace his face once more. "She calls them like she sees them. I like that. And dangerous, I'm sure that your friends must love the intimidation factor," he told me with a sleazy grin. "Come in, let's chat. I- I came to this place once before, when it was a museum, this, um, Chamber of Commerce thing. Love that painting," he told us as he turned back to a landscape painting. I rolled my eyes and leaned against the desk that he was sitting behind. "I never figured it'd be mine, here it is. It's like it was waiting for me the whole time. Jesus told me your group saved Dr. Carson. Obviously, a doctor's a rare commodity today, so I want to thank you for bringing ours back," he told us earnestly.

Part of me wanted to tell Gregory that he was damn welcome for us saving him and his other friends. Saving people that weren't yours usually meant losing a man yourself. I was glad that it had been a quick in and out and no one had gotten too close to the walkers. This would be a vastly different conversation if we had lost one of ours. "My husband saved him," Maggie told Gregory.

Apparently Gregory hadn't known that as his head perked up a little bit and he nodded his thanks to her. "I'll be sure to thank him, too," Gregory said and I snorted. I knew that he wouldn't say anything more to our people than what he had to. "Your husband, he was the man that threatened my men," Gregory said, looking over to me. I nodded at him, narrowing my eyes. He had damn well better watch what he said about Daryl. "He was the one that nearly left Jesus out on the road. He nearly killed him too," Gregory told me.

It was like he was accusing Daryl of doing something wrong and I shook my head. None of us had actually done anything wrong yet. "Daryl can be a little hotheaded, it's something that we have in common. One of the many things that we have in common actually," I told Gregory, who merely nodded at me with a bored look on his face.

My hands fluttered over the things that Gregory had on his desk and I nearly laughed. Most of these papers were of tax statements before the world had ended. He had them sitting on his desk so that it looked like he was actually doing something. "This place, what you have here, has been here since the start?" Maggie asked Gregory, who looked up at her.

He nodded at her and I watched the tense exchange with narrowed eyes. I didn't like where this was headed. We were getting into talking about our homes and territory, and just like animals, we were extremely territorial. I was pretty sure that Gregory was too. "That's right," he told Maggie with a little nod.

Maggie looked around and shook her head. I knew what she was thinking. How had these people defended themselves? Without seeing much of these people I already knew that they weren't fighters. If they had any, they were few and far between. They had to have run into walker and people problems at least once. How had they avoided that? "And how- how is it- how have you survived here?" Maggie asked him.

Gregory smiled at her and motioned around to us. "You're looking at how. I'm good at this. And I don't get hung up on the details," he told her with a pointed look. I wasn't sure exactly what he meant by that but I figured that he meant that he took things as they came. That could either be a very good thing or a very bad thing. "Where you live, is it as nice as the Hilltop Colony?" Gregory asked.

I snorted off to the side and shook my head. It was a lot more modern than this place. The people were mostly armed and everyone had a job. Not so many people were farmers and we searched for more of our supplies, rather than gathering them. I knew that Gregory was looking for something to pick up on but I was confident that Maggie would keep her mouth shut. "It's just different," she said simply.

Gregory leaned forward to look at her and I knew that the two were having their verbal battle, along with a mental one. This was like a game of chess. They had to think three moves ahead. They had to make sure that what they said wasn't going to come back to them later. They had to make sure to keep at least a few secrets from each other. They needed to have leverage. "How do you feed everyone? Jesus said you had land for gardens, but no crops," Gregory said.

I sucked in a breath and shook my head. Something that Gregory did not need to know was how much food we had. He didn't need to know that we were on the brink of starving. That would be his leverage. "We just started planting," Maggie answered.

That had piqued Gregory's interest as he was from a community of farmers. He leaned forward and began to twirl a pencil around his fingers. "Planting what?" He asked her.

Maggie was smart enough to shrug her shoulders and act like it was no big deal. I was proud that she wasn't doing anything rash and giving anything away. She was telling him just what she needed to and nothing more. "Cucumbers, tomatoes. Oh, crops- soy, corn, hemp, sorghum. Garden stuff," she told him with a bored voice. We all wanted to get to the fun stuff.

"But you have guns, so I assume you have a decent weapons cache," Gregory said and I nodded. So that was it. We were to the fun stuff. I knew that Maggie knew what she was talking about when it came to the weapons too, but I wanted to be the one to take care of that. I was the one that was more than willing to take a human life. Anything to keep the people that I cared about safe. And I knew how to handle assholes like Gregory. I had grown up around them.

I leaned onto the desk that Gregory was sitting behind and he leaned back. I saw his Adam's apple bob and I smirked. Good, be afraid. "Doesn't matter how decent a weapons stash is. A person can have only one weapon and it doesn't matter. All that matters is how well you can wield it," I told Gregory with a low voice. He was nodding stupidly, staring at me. "All that matters is when it comes down to it, you can pull the trigger, or the string, and end a life. Can you do that?" I asked and I knew the immediate answer was no. "Can your people do that? Mine can," I hissed at him.

Gregory smirked at me and leaned forward, making me back off. He had been so close to my lips that for a moment I had thought that he was going to kiss me. I really didn't want to throw up my dinner from the night before. "I do not doubt that you can kill someone Sunny," Gregory said and I growled. He knew my name. "I don't doubt that one bit. But I do doubt that you'd ever kill any of us. You need us. You need our food," Gregory said and suddenly I couldn't help myself. I grabbed an arrow out of my sheath and slammed it onto the table, in between his fingers. The edge of it nicked his fat fingers and he hissed at the pain but he managed to disguise his obvious discomfort. "That is mahogany and very expensive," he told me and I scoffed. I didn't care. "Very well. And your infirmary, is it stocked?" Gregory asked Maggie, totally blowing me off.

Snapping the arrow out of the wood, I placed it back into my sheath. Maggie placed a gentle hand on my hip and pushed me back a little. I knew that she wanted me to calm down and she was right. I was too angry. I just wanted to kill him. He was the type of man that I hated. "Is yours? We came here hoping to talk trade," Maggie asked Gregory, hoping to diffuse the tension.

Instead of answering her question, Gregory merely laughed. "Do you have enough here for that?" Gregory asked and I snarled at him. "You see what I have here. You see what I've built. Jesus said that your food situation was challenged right now. You don't keep people fed, it comes apart. Let's speak the common tongue here, huh? You don't have shit," he snapped and I growled. "Now, I'm happy to help. I'm a nice guy. But we can't just give things away for free. How's this? Since you can't offer much, I'll let your people work here for their share. You'd be a welcome addition to the community, a smart and beautiful woman," he told Maggie and I scoffed. I would love to see Glenn right about now. "And, well, you too I suppose," Gregory told me and I rolled my eyes. Asshole. "I don't have many soldiers. Getting back to that common tongue, I can tell ya, I can make it worth your while," he told us.

All of me wanted to tell Gregory that we weren't in the slightest bit interested in what he had to offer us but I knew that this mad to be Maggie that took care of these things. This was her job. This was supposed to be what she was good at. "Let me stop you right there," Maggie said, clearly done with the dancing around the topic at hand.

I took a step forward as I saw that Gregory was still looking at us like we were two little girls that were just trying to play adult. "Let me put an arrow between his eyes," I said as I reach back for another arrow.

Gregory backed off as I grabbed the arrow and I smirked, watching him with close eyes. I knew that he was afraid of me and I was glad to see that. He had to know that he wasn't top dog around here. Not really. We were. Maggie grabbed my hand and pulled it back down to my side and I rolled my eyes at her. She just had to take the fun out of everything. "Listen, darlings," Gregory told us.

It looked like he had something else to say too but Maggie never gave him the chance. "Stop coming on to us with calling us darling," Maggie snapped at him and I grinned at her. She could still be pretty tough when she wanted to. Being a mother wouldn't soften her. "You don't have any ammunition," She told Gregory and I nodded.

Gregory narrowed his eyes at her and cocked his head to the side. He probably hadn't realized that we had known that. "Who said that?" He asked her with a little bite to his voice.

I smirked at him as I realized that he was beginning to realize that we had things that he wanted too. This wasn't just him that had things to bargain with too. Even if they had ammo, they didn't know how to use it. We did. If nothing else, we would be able to teach them how to defend themselves. "You're low on medication. You need things. We need things," she told him.

Gregory shook his head at her. I wanted him to give us a chance, no matter how much I didn't like him but I knew that he wasn't going to. He wanted us to come crawling to him and that wasn't the type of people that we were. "What, are you gonna give us a bottle of aspirin and a box of bullets?" Gregory asked us and I snarled at him. We could at least train them with silent weapons. They were actually better than guns. "Thank you, Natalie. Sunny. Been a good talk," he said.

I knew that the conversation was ending but Maggie stayed behind to argue with Gregory for another moment. She didn't take very long to realize that this was going nowhere fast though considering that she walked out of the room just a moment after me. I sighed and shook my head as I saw our group along with Jesus sitting on the couches and chairs outside of the office. I wondered if they had heard the conversation but considering the fact that they looked antsy, I assumed that they hadn't heard anything. Jesus sighed and stood in front of my group. "We want to generate trade. Gregory does. But ammo isn't something we urgently need," he said. So he heard the ending.

Rick shook his head as he walked over to Jesus. He was clearly annoyed. We had thought that we could come here to make a trade agreement but so far The Hilltop had only given me high blood pressure. I guess I should have seen that one coming. "Well, how's that?" Rick asked.

The doors to the building were open and I glanced out to see that most of the residents were talking and laughing, all smiling with one another. It was nice to see but I knew that these people desperately needed to know how to defend themselves. One look at them and I knew that they were weak. "The walls hold. We just brought in more medicine. Gregory wants the best deal possible," he said and I rolled my eyes.

All that Gregory wanted was to make sure that in any deal that he made he came out on top. I hated to even think it, but this might be a situation where we would need to use brute force to get what we wanted. Jesus would just have to forgive us. Unless Gregory could be a man and admit that he needed things too. "Yeah, well, we want things, too. We need food. We came all this way, we're gonna get it," Rick told him.

Jesus nodded at us, knowing that we were not going to leave this place, or this situation, alone until we could get things situated. He was going to give us what we wanted and we were going to work out an agreement. "I will talk to him and we will work this out. Circumstances change. We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand that," Jesus said and I nodded. He was a good man that understood how this world worked. He should be the leader of Hilltop. "Can you give me a few days?" Jesus asked us nervously.

Rick seemed to think it over for a minute before nodding at Jesus. The nervous look slipped off of Jesus's face and he smiled at Rick. He knew the dire situation that we were all in. We needed to help each other. That was the way that we all stayed alive. "We can. Yeah," Rick said and Jesus laughed lightly. There was a sudden bought of loud conversation outside and Jesus turned a nervous glance outside. "What's wrong?" Rick asked Jesus.

He said nothing for a moment as he backed into the yard. People were standing around and I watched as Jesus assessed the situation. "They're back," he said softly before running out into the yard. I was the first to follow him and it was only a moment later that the rest of my group followed, Daryl keeping at my side.

As we ran I noticed that Gregory had made his way outside as well and he stared at us. I nodded at him as I looked over three people that had seemingly just returned to the Hilltop Colony. There were two men that looked extremely pissed and one woman that looked in between ready to cry and ready to fight. That wasn't walkers that they had encountered out there. I knew that look. It was humans. "Ethan, what happened to everybody else?" Gregory asked the biggest man. "Where's Tim and Marsha?" He asked.

Considering that there were only three new people standing around that looked angry and heartbroken I assumed that those two people had been killed. Suddenly I couldn't have cared less about a deal between us. I just wanted to leave. I didn't like being here when they had just been attacked. "They're dead," Ethan responded softly.

Gregory nodded and sighed. It made me angry that he looked like he could care less about the fact that his people were dead. He just shook his head before looking back up to the large man. "Negan?" Gregory asked and my blood ran cold.

A look was exchanged between Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, and myself. Rick turned back to look at us and I nodded to him. Those were the people that we had met out on the road. These people were no joke and it seemed that Hilltop knew that too. Maybe that was why Jesus had looked so freaked out when I had asked him if he knew who Negan was. He had known exactly who he was. "Yeah. We had a deal. He said it wasn't enough. Was the drop light?" Ethan asked and I cocked my head. What deal?

I had figured that they were supposed to bring something to Negan and his men and by the sounds of it, it seemed like Ethan was accusing Gregory of making their delivery short. That seemed to be why Negan had killed the man. It made sense to me. But was Gregory really the type of man that would make a delivery short just to keep some extra supplies if it mean risking his own men's lives? Probably. "No," he answered Ethan, who looked like he didn't believe Gregory in the slightest. He was a smart man.

Shaking his head, Ethan sighed and walked up to Gregory. My hands were cold as I watched the encounter. This wasn't good. I could see that in his eyes, Ethan was guilty. But what was he feeling guilty for doing? Something that he had already done or something that he was going to do? Either way, it was nothing good. And I didn't like the way that he was looking at Gregory. I didn't like the man, but he was our ticket to food. "They still have Craig," he told Gregory and I nodded. That meant that they could save him. "They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you," Ethan said softly.

I wanted to stop this or at least tell Gregory to back up, but I did nothing. I merely stood and watched. I wanted to see what would happen. I wanted to see if Negan's influence over these men was just as powerful as it seemed to be. He seemed like a dangerous man that you would never want to cross but the question was whether or not Nathan would be willing to cross him. Sick of waiting, Gregory closed the gap and placed his hands on his hips, waiting for Ethan to tell him whatever news he had. "So, tell me," he told the younger man.

Ethan sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry," he told Gregory and that was when I saw the flash of light off of the blade that he was holding. Before I could get to Gregory I watched as the knife was driven into his stomach. This was Negan's doing. Gregory grunted and let out a breath with a shocked face before falling to the ground. I watched as Rick tackled the man to the ground and I took the opportunity to dash over to Gregory. "Get off of me! I had to!" He yelled at Rick, who was currently holding him against the ground.

Without thinking, and blocking out the noise from everyone, I dropped to Gregory's side and ripped the knife out of his stomach. He let out a piercing scream and I rolled my eyes. I knew that it hurt but I had to get it out and stem the bleeding. I tore off a piece of my shirt and went to pressing it into the badly bleeding wound. Just as I was attempting to push the material into the waistband of Gregory's pants I was tackled to the side by a younger woman. She didn't look to be much older than me and I grumbled. Rule number one in this new world was don't try to be the hero unless you knew for a fact that you could win the fight. I merely laughed at her and swung my legs over my head. She stared at me in shock as I wrapped my legs around her neck and brought her to the ground. She hit roughly and cried out as I let my legs go from constricting her throat and drove them into her head. She fell to the ground, blood dripping over her face.

Knowing that she wasn't dead I stood from my spot and made sure that Gregory knew to keep the material over his wound. Maggie ran over to me, pressing down on the wound and I nodded at her, making sure that she was alright taking care of him. She nodded at me and I dashed off. Glenn and Michonne were defending Rick and I noticed that Daryl and Merle were trying to pull a man off of Abraham. Another woman ran over to Rick and I noticed that she was brandishing a spear that she was aiming right for Rick. Before she could get to him though, I pulled out an arrow and swung it across her face. She dropped to the ground and cried out at what I assumed was a sharp pain. "Go ahead. Throw that spear and we'll see which one of us makes it out of here alive," I sneered at her.

The woman stared at me and I heard Michonne say something to Ethan. Before she could do anything I watched as Rick took out a knife that he had been holding and jammed it into Ethan's throat. The man grabbed at his neck but we all knew that he would be dead before he hit the ground. The blood had poured all over Rick's face and I smirked as his beard and lower face was stained with blood. Rick stood and stared at the rest of the Hilltop people. "What?" Rick snapped at the people.

A few people tried to continue the fight but each person was disarmed as fast as the one before. My group were standing around Gregory, who was currently being moved by Harlan. He seemed to still be alive but I knew that he wasn't doing very well right now. "Everyone, this is over!" Jesus yelled. He was panting and I figured that he had gotten in a tussle with someone too. "It's over. Ethan was our friend, but let's not pretend he was anything more than a coward who attacked us. He did this. And these people stopped him," Jesus said.

Despite the fact that the people looked like they wanted us gone that second, I nodded as Jesus led us from the yard and back into the building that we had come from. He left us in the main room, instructing us that he was going to check on Gregory and let us know how he was doing once he knew. Maggie was with Glenn the two of them making sure that the other was alright. Michonne and Rick had gone to make sure that they could clean him up. Abraham and Merle were currently trying to fix a dent that had been made in Merle's metal stump and I was sitting with Daryl. We weren't talking but he was running his hands over mine. I kissed his shoulder and leaned onto it, letting out a deep breath. I was exhausted from the last few days. It seemed like there was always something to be done.

Just as I was nodding off I heard the door open to what I assumed was Gregory's room and I jumped up from my spot. I was slightly dizzy as I wavered for a moment before nodding at Jesus. He nodded at us and we all nodded back at him, standing and awaiting the news of what had happened to the Hilltop leader. "Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up. He's in pain, but he'll live," he said.

I nodded at him and sighed. Despite the fact that I was not a Gregory fan I was glad that he was going to live. If this Negan guy wanted Gregory dead so badly he could get off his ass and come do it himself. Don't send some poor man that was willing to do anything to save his brother. He knew that Ethan was going to end up dead by pulling this stunt. He had probably just been hoping that he would take Gregory with him. "So, what happens now?" Rick asked, breaking the silence.

It seemed that both Jesus and the rest of us took notice that no one had wished Gregory well. So apparently Maggie and I weren't the only ones that didn't like Gregory. It seemed that he put most of us on edge. But now we had saved his life. He owed us. "Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled," Jesus said softly. I knew that he wasn't used to dealing with things like this.

Rick seemed to realize the same thing as he shook his head and nodded to Jesus. We all seemed to like him well enough and the last thing that I would want to make him was uncomfortable after the long day that he had just been through. "We heard the name Negan," Rick said and I glanced up, wondering why he had brought that up. "A while back, Daryl, Rain, Sasha, and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?" Rick asked and I perked up. This was something that I wanted to hear.

With a deep sigh, Jesus nodded. "Yeah, when Rain mentioned his name when I met you guys out on the road I figured that she'd met some of them,' he said and I nodded. I sure as hell had met some of them. "Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors," he added and I nearly laughed. That was quite the name. "As soon as the walls were built, the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And he killed one of us- Rory. He was sixteen years old," Jesus informed us and I blanched. That was what Wade had met when he had told us about normally killing one of them off of the bat. "They beat him to death right in front of us. Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would've chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him," he said and I nodded. "He made the deal. Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors," Jesus told us and my jaw nearly dropped. Half of everything?

No one knew what to say after that and I sighed. That was so much just to make sure that these people didn't kill them. I wasn't sure that it was anywhere near a fair trade. "It was the same way out on the road. They demanded us to give them our shit and then told us to bring them back to Alexandria," I said and Jesus nodded. But there was one thing that struck odd with me. Why had no one seemingly seen this Negan man? "And Negan wasn't there either. But what do you get in return?" I asked stupidly.

Jesus turned his head to look at me and he sighed. I knew that meant that whatever deal they had made, Hilltop was on the losing side of the proposition. But that was obvious. "They don't attack this place. They don't kill us," Jesus said sadly.

I raised an eyebrow and shook my head at him. They gave them almost everything that they owned and took these people's shit just so that they wouldn't kill them? They couldn't be that tough. D and his girls had just been plain stupid and Wade and his men had been overconfident. They were like anyone else. They had their downfalls and I was sure that Hilltop knew them. They must be the type of people that would know how to kill Negan and take out his men. "Why not just kill them?" Rick asked Jesus.

The man turned his stare to Rick and I could tell that he was having a hard time to not laugh a humorless laugh. Maybe they had tried that one before. "Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo," he said and I nodded. I assumed that Negan had a fair amount of men behind him. "I'm one of the few that could defend myself but even if we gathered everyone that could defend themselves it wouldn't be enough," he said and we nodded. I understood being outnumbered. But that didn't mean that you couldn't win.

We all knew that Hilltop was a big colony and I figured that if they could be trained then they would be able to take down the Saviors. They just had to try. They could do it. I knew that they could. "Well, how many people does Negan have?" Rick asked Jesus.

He shrugged his shoulders and I nodded. These men were confident but they sure as hell weren't stupid. I knew that they knew what they were doing. They knew to make sure that they would not have all of their people in one place at one time. They were smarter than that. "We don't know. We've seen groups as big as twenty," Jesus said and I nodded. That wasn't anything too bad.

For the first time since we had actually come into the walls, I heard Daryl speak. He stormed up to my side with a look that told me that he didn't buy any of this. "Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything?" Daryl asked and Jesus nodded. "These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit," Daryl said and I smiled.

My husband did have a knack for putting things the best way. It was one of the few traits that he shared with his brother. It made me love the two of them even more. Jesus, who had changed into a long sleeved white shirt shook his head and leaned against the chairs in the main room. "Well, how do you know?" He asked Daryl.

Daryl scoffed at Jesus and took a step closer to me. He laid a hand on my hip and I smiled at him. "A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ. Left them in pieces and puddles," he said and I smirked. Jesus looked like he wasn't sure if Daryl was telling the truth but I nodded, letting him know that it had really gone like that. "You know, we'll do it. If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up?" He asked and Jesus thought for a moment before nodding. "We want food, medicine, and one of them cows. Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with," he said and I almost laughed. Understatement of the century.

Jesus nodded to us and I let out a breath. What was important right now was that we got food to our residents. I didn't like the idea of taking a fight to this man, who clearly knew how to control people, but I knew that it was for the best. It also meant that we could be taking out a potential future threat. Jesus looked a little nervous about the situation but he finally nodded at us. "I'll take it to Gregory," he said before turning back and returning to the room that he had just left from.

We watched as Jesus walked in, letting the door close behind him. The main room was silent for a moment while we all brooded over what was to come. Just so that we could have food for a few months we were going to war. That was this new world. You had to do something to get something in return. We knew that. We just didn't like it. "They have food, we don't. We don't have enough of anything. Except us," Rick said and I nodded at him, even though he was more speaking to Michonne. "What we can do?" He asked softly.

It was obvious that he didn't want to do this either. I was sure that he wanted to find a peaceful solution to the problem. But there wasn't one. The only way that Gregory was going to give us what we wanted was if we gave him something that he wanted. And it seemed like the only thing that he wanted was to eliminate the threat of the Saviors. "This is the trade. It's gonna cost us something," Michonne responded to Rick.

A lump lodged itself in my throat at her words. She was right. This was going to mean something. We were going to lose someone or maybe we would make ourselves known to these people. One way or another, I knew that somehow this would not go the way that we intended it too. They all knew it too. We just had to pretend that we didn't. The door to Gregory's room opened up and our heads shot up as Jesus stepped out of the room. "Gregory's up. He wants to talk. To Maggie. He wants to talk to Maggie and Rain," he said and both Maggie and I nodded.

Before I stood I looked over to Daryl and he nodded at me. I squeezed his hand quickly before standing and grabbing Maggie to come with me. I wanted the both of us to be on our toes now. We had the advantage. We knew what he wanted and we had saved his life. The ball was in our court now. We just had to be sure that we knew what to do with it. "You got this," Rick said, catching Maggie and I by our arms. "Deanna was right about you. About both of you. You two can do this. Just work with each other," he told us.

We both nodded and made a silent promise to Rick that we would try our hardest and be sure that Gregory knew that this was his one chance to keep his community safe from the Saviors. We wanted him to know that this was his only option other than continuing to bow to them. "I'm sorry in advance," Jesus said and I cocked my head at him. "Gregory can be a real prick," he clarified.

I gave Jesus a little smile and nodded. I had met people like Gregory before and I knew how to deal with them. Maggie did too, but I knew better. Shaking my head at him I walked forward and heard Maggie follow behind me. "I know," she said and I smiled once more. She did have a way of putting things bluntly. No nonsense. She would be good with a child.

Gently, I rapped against the wooden door to Gregory's room and waited for a response. "Come in," I heard him call and I nodded. I pushed the door open and stepped into the room. It was dark with the blinds pulled over the window and extremely ornate. The bed was large enough to fit ten of me and I shook my head. No man needed that much. "Mm. Sorry for the gloom. They have me on these antibiotics that make me sensitive to the sunlight," Gregory said and I nodded. "This is agony. It's like somebody's twisting my intestines with a cement mixer," he said and I nearly laughed. I had been shot and stabbed more times than I could count. Gregory was complaining over nothing.

It seemed that Maggie wasn't going to fall for the pity act either. She shook her head and walked further into the room, myself following her slowly. "It could've been worse," Maggie said and I noticed that Gregory sneered at her for a moment. "You're lucky we were here. You're lucky she was here. He would have killed you if she hadn't been there to save you," Maggie said and I smirked at her. Good girl. "Come to think of it, I'm not really sure why she saved you. But you owe her," she said and I smirked once more, but this time at Gregory. He could barely look at me. "All of us. Now, Jesus told you about our offer?" She asked.

Clearly Gregory didn't quite trust us as he shook his head and shifted in the bed, crying out softly. I knew that it hurt to move after a serious injury and he should have known that too. For a day at least he would need to sit completely still. "He did. What makes you think you can do what we haven't done?" Gregory asked and I nearly laughed.

Hilltop didn't seem completely useless but I could tell that they would never be able to take on people like the Saviors. I had already taken them on twice and both times had narrowly escaped with my life. Gregory's men would be dead in a heartbeat. "We've handled people like Negan," Maggie said and I nodded at her. More times than we would care to admit.

My father, both times, the men at Hatlin's, Terminus, Grady Memorial, the Wolves, the walkers, and now the Saviors. That hadn't even been all of them. We had met men like Negan and his crew more often than not. We knew how this game worked. "How?" Gregory asked. His eyebrows were lifted and he looked genuinely curious as to whether or not we were as tough as we seemed.

For a minute I thought that Maggie might say something but I decided that this was one of those moments that I should step in. "They're dead," I answered quickly. "Maggie hasn't had a hand in all of these people. I have. Every one of them, I've been there to watch as they died," I said and Gregory nodded. I couldn't tell whether or not he was impressed or scared. Probably a little bit of both. "I tried to kill my own father, would have done it had Rick not gotten to him before I could," I said and that time I saw the fear in Gregory's eyes. It wasn't every day that someone told you that they almost killed their parent. "I have no problem with killing this asshole. We can get your man back," I promised Gregory.

Gregory stared at me for a moment before nodding slowly. He looked halfway between impressed with me and angry. "Then you must be exactly like him," Gregory told me and I cocked my head. My father? No. I was nothing like him. And Gregory hadn't even known him. "Negan," he clarified and I recoiled for a moment. I hadn't been expecting that. I wasn't anything like him. Was I? "That isn't a good thing," Gregory said before turning back to Maggie. "I don't know if Craig's worth the trouble. I mean, it's his brother who did this," Gregory said, motioning to his stomach.

Glaring at Gregory slightly, I shook my head. I was nothing like Negan and they should go to get Craig back. He was someone's brother and still one of theirs. "I know someone who did a lot of bad things just to save his brother," Maggie said and I turned back to her with a little smile. Merle. She was right. Ethan was just like Merle. "That doesn't make him a bad person. It just makes him loyal. Loyal to a fault. He was fighting to save someone he loves. He was afraid," she explained to Gregory.

I shook my head as Gregory seemed to be less than impressed with Maggie's impression of what Ethan had done. "That makes him weak," he said and I rolled my eyes. I would love to see him try and say that Merle was weak. He was anything but weak. "Frankly, I don't know if I want him back in our gene pool," he explained and I scoffed. That was a strange way to put it.

Maggie didn't seem to like the way that Gregory had phrased it as she shook her head and sighed at the man. I knew that she wanted nothing more than to throttle him but that wasn't an option here. We had to solve this peacefully. "My dad used to tell me forgiveness takes more strength than anger," Maggie said and I smiled. I missed Hershel. He was always one of the best of us. And he had saved my life on more than one occasion. It killed me that it was my father who had ended his.

Gregory merely shrugged his shoulders and I glared at him. He really had no idea what this world was about. It was about bringing the old and the new together. "Yeah, I guess," Gregory said softly.

Leaning back on the desk in the back of the room I knew that Maggie had the rest of the conversation taken care of. She was a smart girl that knew how to use our edge to our advantage. It had just taken us a minute to figure out what angle we had over them. "He's a hell of a cook. He makes these amazing baked eggs with green tomatoes," she said. I blanched at the thought of the food and shook my head. I didn't care how good of a cook Hershel was, that sounded horrible. "You give us supplies, we'll save Craig and take care of Negan and the Saviors, permanently," Maggie said and I smirked.

Gregory looked back at me, probably looking to see if Maggie was telling the truth, and I nodded at him. We would head out there tomorrow if we could figure out where they were. Gregory laughed and I turned my head to him. What was so funny? "I'm sorry, I find this whole conversation pretty funny. I mean, you balked when I proposed that your people work for our supplies, but now isn't that exactly what's happening here?" Gregory asked and I smirked. It sucked to be on the other side.

With a devious smirk on her face, Maggie nodded at Gregory and leaned onto the wooden post that supported his bed. He had his eyebrows raised as he looked at her and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise. I didn't like the way that he looked at her. "See, I had leverage and I used it. See? It wasn't personal," she said and Gregory scoffed. He knew that it was a little bit of a lie. "Yes. We need food. You have it. We're willing to work for it," she said. It just wasn't the way that he had been expecting.

His eyes were narrowed and I smiled. He had no idea just how smart we all really could be. We weren't just the stupid warriors that he thought that we were. We were dangerous. In more than one way. "Then I'll get supplies for your people," Gregory said and I nodded. "I'll talk to Jesus and he'll make the arrangements," Gregory said and I nodded. That was exactly the way that I had been hoping that this would go. "See, this was fun. Exciting," Gregory said and I nearly laughed. At least he was a gracious loser.

We both nodded at him and I turned back, ready to head out into the main room and tell our group that we had a deal. Before I could open the door though, Maggie said something that made me stop dead in my tracks. "Half," she said lowly and I turned back to her. Had she just said half?

It seemed that Gregory was just as thrown off by that as I was. He was looking at her with wide eyes and I was pretty sure that he was convinced that he had thought that he had heard her wrong. "Excuse me?" He asked her dumbly.

Maggie leaned over to bed once more and I nearly laughed. Well damn. She really did know what she was doing. Rick was right to tell her to make the deal. "Half of what you have," Maggie said and I could have laughed at the look on Gregory's face. "I saw what happened out there. Negan's expecting more supplies from this place. And more and more. And if it keeps going like that, pretty soon you won't have anything left. What happens then? Without ammo, without fighters you'd be a dead man. So half of everything you have right now or the deal's off," she said and that time I did laugh. "You see? I have leverage," she smirked at him, using his earlier words against him.

Gregory stayed silent for a minute and I knew that he knew that he had to accept the proposition. If he didn't then he would be dead in a matter of weeks. They were running out of food here and the Saviors wouldn't like that. Gregory groaned as he shifted positions and I smirked at him. "Congratulations. You have yourself a deal," he said and I smiled brightly. That was a smart choice. "You want anything else? Kidney, maybe?" He asked and I smirked once more.

Moving a little closer to his bed, I noticed that he had a bottle of whiskey on the nightstand. "I might take you up on that. How about your eye?" I asked and Gregory glared at me. He clearly didn't like me very much. "I think I'll leave you two to iron out the details. I'm going to let them know that we have ourselves a deal. It was so nice to meet you Gregory," I said, grabbing the bottle off of the table and raising it to him. "To your health," I said before taking a swig. I set the bottle back out on the table and turned to leave, giving Maggie a pat on the back. I left the room and smiled when I saw that everyone was waiting with baited breath. "Well, we have ourselves a deal. We get half of your supplies," I said to Jesus and one of the returning men, Andy. They both sighed and shook their heads. Everyone from my group either laughed or smiled. "In return we go out to the Saviors compound and we kill them. All of them. And Negan," I said and the nodded, the smiles turning solemn.

Daryl came up to me and I smiled at him. I knew that he didn't love the deal but the food was worth it. We needed it. "It's a deal," Rick said and I smiled. We were going to take care of this. "Well done Rain, and Maggie too," Rick said and I turned back, smiling at Maggie who was now coming out. "Jesus said you've been taking supplies to Negan since the beginning. We're gonna get Craig back," Rick said to Andy.

Andy shook his head at Rick and I sighed. Someone always had to come and ruin plans for everyone else. "The only way to get Craig back is to bring them Gregory's head," he said and I nearly volunteered to do it myself. Glenn and Maggie silently excused themselves and I watched with a raised eyebrow while they headed out into the yard and God knows where. I was sure that they knew what they were doing.

Daryl followed my line of sight and I knew that he didn't have a clue where they were going either. But Rick didn't look too concerned so I glanced back at the duo and watched the exchange. "We're gonna get Craig back," Rick promised Andy and I nodded. We didn't have a plan yet but we would come up with one. We always did.

Knitting his eyebrows, Andy stood with his arms crossed. "How?" He asked and I nodded. Rick nodded for us to leave and I stood, heading out into the yard. Glenn and Maggie weren't there so I figured that they had either gone back to the RV or to speak with someone. Jesus had come out with us and was now bidding everyone a goodbye as we headed back to the RV. I saw that it was out of the muddy hole that we had gotten stuck in earlier and I nodded. They must have gotten it out when we were talking with Gregory.

Before we could get out of the community I saw that Rick had stopped to talk with Andy. "We need to know what you know about Negan's compound," Rick said and Andy nodded. Rick was right. We needed someone that would be able to tell us where to go. "We need your help. We need you to come," Rick said and I saw the fear flash through Andy's eyes for a moment.

If these people were as bad as Hilltop had made them out to be I knew that Andy would not be thrilled to be going back to their compound. Not that I could blame him. I knew that he just wanted to stay home forever. I understood that. But that wasn't the type of world that we lived in anymore. "Yeah. Okay. You got room for one more, right?" Andy asked and Rick nodded. "I mean, we're talking about righting the world here. Plus, you still have my knives," Andy told Rick and the two men laughed.

Daryl grabbed my arm and pulled me back into the RV. I stumbled up the stairs and glared at Daryl for a moment before taking a seat with him on the edge of the couch. My legs were curled up in front of me and Daryl was pressed into me. I leaned into him and dropped my voice to a whisper. It was mostly quiet in the RV but there were a few conversations going. "We're going to lose someone in this," I said and Daryl turned to face me. "I know that we're tough, but clearly Negan and his men are too. It's, what, maybe twenty of us up against what could be a hundred of them?" I asked Daryl, who sighed at me.

I knew that I was being a downer right now but I was trying to be realistic. I wanted Daryl, and everyone else, to be aware that we weren't the only ones going into this that knew how to fight. We only had one advantage. They had no idea that we were coming. Daryl grabbed my knee and I looked over at him. "Hey, we've gone up with worse odds before. I told you before. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'd die before letting anyone lay their hands on you," he told me and I nodded. I knew that he was telling the truth. "We're going to go out there, take out that prick and his men. Then we're gonna come back here and I promise you that it's going to be anything you want," Daryl said and I raised my eyebrows.

What did he mean that it would be anything that I wanted? I noticed that Glenn and Maggie had climbed back onto the RV and we began to move slowly. They were holding a Polaroid photograph and I watched as Abraham took a look at it. "What do you mean?" I asked Daryl softly.

He grabbed my hands and I leaned into Daryl. He looked a little nervous but he looked more determined than anything else. It made my heart swell that he was taking whatever this was so seriously. Despite his outward appearance, Daryl was a big joker. He, like me, didn't like to take things seriously. "Anything, Rain. If you never want to fight again, you never have to. If there's something that you want, somewhere that you want to go, we'll do it," Daryl said and I smiled at him. I would always want to fight and no matter where these people went, that was where I wanted to be. They were my family. "If you want a family, then that's what you'll get. I love you," he told me.

My eyebrows shot to my forehead in shock. Daryl and I had talked about having a family a few times but we had never really come to a concrete decision of whether or not we would ever risk having one. But Daryl had finally given me an answer. He had said yes to a family. I knew that one say I would want to have a family, we just had to take care of this first. "I love you too," I said to Daryl, leaning in and kissing him quickly. I wore a large smile as I grabbed the picture from Glenn. It was an ultrasound. I smiled when I saw that it was a little bean sized black mass. It wasn't much right now but one day it would be his child. Their child. I smiled and handed the picture off to Daryl. He looked at it for a moment before nodding and handing it back to Glenn, who was holding his wife happily. I wanted that. I knew it. "We'll win. We have to. We'll win," I said softly, truly believing it. We were going to make it. It was our turn to have a life.


	52. Dealings

As the RV rambled down the road back to Alexandria I leaned back in my chair and glanced around me. Everyone was sitting together silently. After we had gotten the news that we were going to have to kill all of the Saviors, no one really felt much like talking. And after Maggie and Glenn had passed around the results of the ultrasound, the happy air in the RV faded to a much more solemn one. People all around the RV were sitting with each other, some leaning on each other, others just staring out the windows. We were probably less than ten minutes out from Alexandria and I could tell that everyone was getting antsy to get out of the confined space. We were all excited to be back home. Not that we would be there for very long. If we went with Rick's plan I was pretty sure that we would be heading back out of Alexandria tonight.

It just meant that we could get back to normal that much sooner. Although I still wished that we could have waited. For so long we hadn't been having any problems. But I knew that it could only last for so long before something else popped up. It was the way that this new world worked. I glanced around the rest of the cabin and nodded at everyone. Glenn and Maggie were curled together in the corner, both of them pouring over the ultrasound photo. I grinned softly at them. They were so happy and they deserved that. Abraham was currently laying back on the bed with his feet sprawled out and I smiled at him. At least someone was making good out of this trip. In the front of the RV both Rick and Michonne were sitting in the drivers and passengers seats. Rick was driving and Michonne was sitting in the passenger side with her feet propped up on the dash. They were holding hands just barely letting their fingers intertwine and I grinned. That was cute. In the back of the RV, the man named Andy seemed to be running something through his head. Jesus was sitting with him and he was pouring over a piece of paper. I wondered if they were deciding on the plans for attacking the Savior compound. After all, we would be relying on them. Daryl and Merle were both sitting at the table and staring out the window.

For most of the journey I had been walking around the cabin, trying to find something to keep me occupied, but it wasn't working very well. I was worked up about the attack. Finally getting sick of standing, I headed over to where Merle and Daryl were sitting and I took a seat with them. Merle's legs were stretched out in front of him and I propped my legs up on his lap. He immediately began to drag his knife that was attached to the stump on his arm and I watched as he etched designs into the leather. He didn't even bother to check if I cared, but I really didn't. I adjusted my back so that I was leaning up against Daryl. He was holding my hand and twisting the ring around my finger. I smiled and leaned back to give him a quick kiss under the chin. His smile didn't quite reach his face but the corners of his mouth twitched and his eyes brightened a little. That was all that I needed.

Glancing back over to check what Merle was drawing on my boot I noticed that it was actually nothing. He was just making little doodles on my boots. Most looked like little swirls but I could make out the thin form of a little arrow and I grinned. In what seemed like a past life I would have screamed at Merle for ruining the boots that I had spent so much money on. Now I couldn't have cared less. It was insane the way that things changed. Now they could have burned all of my clothes and destroyed everything that I owned but it didn't matter. The only thing that would ever matter was that my family was still alive. And they were. They were sitting right here with me, and the rest of them were back in Alexandria. Waiting on our arrival. They had no idea that in the few hours that we had been gone, we had decided that we were going to war. Not that they shouldn't have seen that coming by now. We seemed to always be at war with someone or something. If it wasn't people, it was the walkers.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw the first sign that we were getting back to Alexandria. I saw the walls that were rising in the distance and the sun was beginning to lower right behind them. It was still a few hours until the sun would sink fully and I knew that if we were going to attack the Savior compound it was going to be tonight. In the dead of the night. There was no way that they were going to risk an attack in the broad daylight. They would see us coming from miles away. And as far as they were concerned it had to be only Andy that was going to be there. They would immediately attack us if they saw that there were new people there. Or in the case of D, people that they knew weren't exactly friendly. The RV pulled into the gate, opened by Rosita, and we made our way into the parking space that it was always reserved for.

Michonne was the first one out of the RV and everyone piled out after her. I jumped out quickly and saw that people were milling all around the entrance to the community. They had clearly all been waiting on us to get back. Gabriel was standing with Judith in his arms and a rifle strapped onto his back. I had to give it to him, since we had saved him at his church he had really come into his own. He still wore the Priest's Collar but he now was armed and knew how to fight off walkers. All of our original group were up the closest to us but I noticed that even the original Alexandrian's were up close too. Denise was watching us with a nervous smile. Rick didn't bother to smile back though. "I need everybody in the church in an hour," he announced loudly.

Pushing her way to the front of the crowd I noticed that Carol was coming to stand near the front of everyone. I gave her a small smile which she returned. I hadn't seen much of the older woman these past few days. She had been mostly in her house. I had noticed that one of the Alexandrian men had been coming and going there recently and I grinned at the thought of her having a new significant other in her life. She deserved it. The only man that I knew that she had ever been with was Ed, who was an asshole that had no idea how wonderful his wife was. She had lost Sophia, her only real child, and Lizzie and Mika, the girls that she had taken in when their father had died. She had lost everyone, she deserved someone new in her life. "What is it?" She asked, a nervous expression on her face.

Sighing at her, Rick ran his hands through his hair. It was something of a habit that I had noticed that he had gotten into recently. Carol stood over by Daryl and I and he grabbed her shoulder tightly before I walked over to her and gave her a hug. She had the faintest hint of aftershave on her and I grinned madly. That was one of the perks of being a hunter, you had heightened senses. I hoped that meant what I was thinking that it meant. I took a quick glance at Daryl and noticed that he was smirking at me. So was had clearly both spotted it. "We'll talk about it," he told her before placing a hand on her shoulder and walking away. Both he and Michonne headed back to their house, Carl in tow. They picked up Judith before thanking Gabriel and turning to leave.

Most people began to walk away from us now that Rick had made his announcement. Glenn and Maggie headed back into our house, hand in hand and I smiled. Rosita had walked off, clearly avoiding Abraham and he walked back with Sasha. I cocked my head at them, was it the beginning of a love triangle there? Just what we needed right now. Merle ducked out when he heard Eugene call him and I turned back to see that Carol was still standing there, staring at us, as if hoping that we would tell her what was going on. I wanted to but I was sure that it was better just to let Rick tell the story. "Just please be there. It's important. We need to tell everyone about it. We need to make sure that everyone is behind us," I told her and she nodded.

Smiling at her once more, I grabbed Daryl's hand and pulled him away from the few people that were still milling around the entrance of the community. He was following me without a word and I smiled when I heard the shower running upstairs. They had the right idea. I was covered in blood, sweat, and dirt, after dealing with Gregory. Not that I wouldn't get all of those things over me later today, but even if for just a few hours, I wanted to be able to feel clean. After clearing the stairs I pulled Daryl into our room and kicked the door shut. Before he could ask what I was doing I kicked my now cut up boots into the corner of the room and stripped off my shirt and pants. Daryl was watching me closely and grinning. Before I could take my underwear off though, I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the bathroom with me, forcing him out of his vest. He laughed as I unbuttoned his shirt for him too and backed away from him. I stripped off the rest of my clothes and turned the water on, stepping into the shower. It heated up quickly and I sighed, my muscles relaxing under the heated water.

Grabbing the razor, I made quick work of the unruly hair that was all over my body and nodded, stepping back slightly when Daryl made his way into the shower. All of the water that was running off of us was black, brown, and red and I rolled my neck. That was pretty damn nasty. I grabbed the shampoo and ran it through my hair before taking the excess and slipping it into Daryl's hair. We both washed the grease out of our hair before glancing back down to see the water running clear again. Daryl grabbed a little bit of the body scrub and I turned away from him, sighing as he ran it over my back, his hands gently kneading into the knots on my shoulder. I sighed contentedly and leaned my head back onto his chest. I wanted to relax and just focus on the two of us, but this whole thing was bothering me. It would until it was over. "Do you really think that this is going to work?" I asked Daryl softly.

His hands were still working on my back, making their way lower and lower as he rubbed in the wash. I pushed the pump for the face wash and smiled as my face was cleaned from all of the dirt and grease that had been building up for the past few days. "It has to work," Daryl said and I nodded, leaning back into him. Sometimes that was all that I needed. To just feel him there, so that I knew that I wasn't alone. "We've beat people like this before. The Governor, Terminus, and the Wolves." I noticed that when he mentioned my father his voice dropped into something more of a growl. It was no secret that he hated my father. For everything that he had done to me and our friends. "Countless other people. They aren't going to be any different. We go in and take these people out, and that's it. We can do this. To keep each other safe, we have to," he said, tightening his hands on my hips.

Sighing, I turned back to him and smiled when I realized that he was washing himself off with the soap that I had accidentally rubbed onto him. He was staring down at me and I brushed his hair out of his face. It was stuck back on the top of his head and I smiled at him, using his chest as I brace as I leaned up to him and kissed him. He leaned into the kiss and I, very carefully, stepped back in the shower stall. It was only a moment before I was pressed back up into the glass of the shower wall. It was freezing from the water but I said nothing. We didn't get moments like these anymore. So I smiled into the kiss and let him tangle his hands into my hair, tugging on it to bring me closer. Not that we really could have gotten any closer. I didn't know how long we stayed tangled together like that but it wasn't long enough. When he finally pulled away from me I moaned and wanted nothing more than for him to come back to me. But once this whole thing was over I knew that we would have all of the time to ourselves that I wanted.

Daryl backed off of me to let me stand back under the water and wash off all of the soap that was still clinging to my body. He was shaking his hair to get the rest of the wash out and I smiled as one of his hands dropped to my hip to trace the tattoos that I had there. They were tracing all of the ones that he hadn't really looked at in a while. "These aren't like normal people though," I finally spoke up and he looked at me as if stunned that I had said anything more. "We've met them more than once. Out in the woods, the two of us. They started firing at us before they even knew who we were. D and his friends?" I said softly and Daryl nodded. We weren't soon to forget them. "They were escaping from them. We haven't met anyone before that people were dying to get away from. The Saviors, they're dangerous," I warned. I didn't want to lose my family. Not any more of them. Too many had already died.

Sticking his head out from under the stream of water, Daryl looked over at me and nodded. I walked up to him and brushed a little speck of dirt out from under his collar bone. "Yeah they are dangerous," he told me and I cocked my head at him. I had thought that he was far this because he thought that we could win against them? "But that doesn't matter. Months ago I swore to you that I would protect you for as long as I could. And that is still true. I'll protect you until my dying breath," he told me and I nodded at him. I knew that. But I couldn't have him dying on me. Not yet. He had to live so that I could be with him. I didn't know what I would do if he died. I wouldn't live. There was nothing that I would want to live for if he was gone.

He seemed to know that though as he waltzed up to me and pressed his mouth to mine. We were standing under the water and I felt it run over my lips and his, making our bodies slide together. His hands were twisting their way up my back until they ran up my spine and my body shivered as his hands wound their way to my skull and pulled my hair back, making me deeply wish that we had more than an hour before Rick wanted to make his announcement. I knew that we were almost out of time. Finally I pulled away from him and smiled. "Well do me a favor and don't die. Yet. I still kind of like you," I told him and he smiled down at me. It was one of the rare smiles that I only saw when I knew that he was genuinely happy. I was one of the few people that he would actually smile at.

He was towering over me and I knew that he wanted to challenge me. We weren't the type of people to let the other push us around. I was just curious to see what he was going to hang over me. "Yeah?" He asked with a little smirk and I nodded at him. We both knew that we were challenging the other. "That's nice of you. I like you just a little bit too," he told me and I grinned. Of course he did, I was impossible not to like. "Although sometimes I wonder why I do," he muttered and I laughed, shoving him roughly. "You're a pain in my ass and every time that you're in danger, I nearly die myself," he said and I laughed again. That was somewhat true.

Of course I wasn't going to tell him that. So I turned from him and flipped my hair over my shoulder, grinning manically when I saw that the water that had flung from the tips of my hair had splattered him in the face. "Just part of the perks that come with being married to me," I told him and he scoffed loudly, turning the water pressure down a little bit. It was now falling steadily, like a soft rain. "Come on, it makes life more fun. You would be so bored without me around," I said and he smiled at me. I knew that I had gotten him on that one. He was always so quiet before I had come into his life. And he had hidden behind his big brother. I liked to credit myself as the one that had brought him out of his shell. "And you'd have to sleep in that big, cold, bed all by yourself. No one to keep you warm at night," I purred at him, waltzing up to him and pressing myself into his body.

Staring at me for a moment, Daryl laughed and shoved me back into the other end of the shower. I laughed and slipped slightly as I slid onto the seat that was designed to shave your legs with. "Shut up," he hissed at me and I rolled my eyes. He was only saying that because he wanted to have more than an hour before we had to be in the church. I could tell by the way that his normally blue eyes had gone nearly black. Although a moment later he had straightened up and was back to smirking at me. "At least I wouldn't have someone to take all of the covers off of me or someone that, even though you barely weigh anything, are remarkably good at nearly shoving me off of the bed in her sleep," he told me with a knowing smirk.

Blushing lightly, I turned from him. I had been with guys before that had told me that I kicked in my sleep and rolled around a lot. They had all told me that I was a blanket hog and I knew that I had kicked a few men out of my bed on accident. I didn't think that I had ever done it to Daryl though. "I don't do that!" I yelled at him and he narrowed his eyes at me. "Okay fine, maybe I do," I said and he nodded at me. I was still blushing though as I shook my head at him. "But that's just because I need my space and it's hard with you always laying exactly where I want to be," I said and he scoffed. I knew why. He was normally on the very edge of the bed because I took up most of the space. It drive him nuts but he never said anything. He let me have the entire bed most nights and he would merely lay wherever it was that I wasn't. "Come on, we need to be at the church soon," I said with a little sigh.

Downstairs I could hear Maggie and Glenn calling up to us to tell us that we only had about ten minutes before the meeting was to start. Daryl heard the warning and turned the shower off, letting me step out of the shower first. I grabbed the first towel on the rack and then tossed the extra towel back to Daryl. We wiped ourselves down quickly and I ran a brush through my hair, letting it run down my back. For one day I wanted to let my hair down. I almost always had it tied up. In the mirror I could see that my wet hair looked almost brown and I smiled. It was so nice having clean hair. Daryl was already out in the bedroom and grabbing his clothes. I had the towel wrapped around my waist and I snatched the shirt that Daryl was trying to put back on. There was no way that he was wearing that. He turned to me with a little growl before grabbing a dark, long sleeved shirt and pulling that on instead.

Nodding at him, I turned back to the drawer that held my clothes and grabbed a few things out of the top. I wanted everything to be as dark as possible. I would need it for tonight if we were going to try and sneak in during the middle of the night. So I quickly settled on a long sleeved, black shirt. It hung loose off of one shoulder and I made sure to grab a pair of dark jeans. Buttoning them up I grabbed both my thigh holster and my waist holster, which hung loose off of my waist. I grabbed my gun and slipped it into the holster along with two knives. On my thigh holster I slipped in another gun and pulled the arrows and my bow across my back. Today we all had to make sure that we were ready. We had to have everything on us that we owned. I was sure that once we were ready I was going to be able to take a rifle as well. Just in case we couldn't make it a silent strike. I would just rather rely on my knives and bow and arrows.

Once more I heard Maggie and Glenn call to us that it was time to go so Daryl and I ran down the stairs and smiled at the other couple, both of who were also sporting wet hair. Maggie was swallowing a pill that looked like a prenatal vitamin and I smiled at her. We waited for her to wash it down and once she nodded at us we stood and headed out into the road where everyone seemed to be booking it over to the church. We were there within two minutes and we took a seat in the front pew with those of us who had been in Hilltop with Rick. Those of us who knew what was going on. Michonne was sitting right in front of Rick and Carl was sitting next to her. Maggie, Glenn, Daryl, Merle, Abraham, Jesus, Andy, and I were all sitting towards the front. Everyone else was sitting behind us but I noticed that Gabriel, Carol, Morgan, Tara, Heath, Denise, Rosita, Eugene, and all of our closer members were close behind us.

Rick was strutting back and forth at the front of the church pews, running his hands over his face. Everyone that was sitting and watching him were clearly worried. They all knew that nothing good was coming. Not when Rick looked like this. They were lucky though. Not all of them would be coming to take down the Saviors. We had to take only the best fighters. I knew that it automatically meant that Glenn, Rick, Daryl, Heath, Abraham, Rosita, Michonne, and I would be going. "Rick, what's going on?" Carol asked, finally starting up the conversation. If there was anything that I was ever grateful for her doing, it was that. I was getting sick of having to sit in the tense air. I had been about to announce what it was that we had signed up for.

Sighing deeply, Rick turned to look at the rest of the group. "We're gonna have to fight," he announced and I heard the shocked murmurs running through the crowd. I knew it. They felt that we had just gotten out of a fight. They didn't want another one right after. But that was this world had come to. "And we can work with the Hilltop. Maggie and Rain hammered out a deal. We're getting food- eggs, butter, fresh vegetables," Rick announced and the people that were sitting behind Maggie and I were patting us on the shoulders. I shook my head at them. They had forgotten the first thing that Rick had said. "But they're not just giving it away. These Saviors, they almost killed Rain, Sasha, Daryl, and Abraham on the road. Now, sooner or later, they would've found us, just like those Wolves did, just like Jesus did. They would have killed someone or some of us. And then they would try to own us. And we would try to stop them. But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place," he said and murmurs were shooting up everywhere. "This needs to be a group decision. If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece," he said softly, glancing around the room.

Every fiber in my being told me that someone was going to object to the fight and I had a lingering feeling of who it would be. Everyone was chattering behind me and I noticed that Carol had her head down. She looked extremely conflicted. Not that I blamed her. She was probably hoping that this meeting would be called for something good. But when had anything like that ever happened? We were always having streaks of bad luck. "You're sure we can do it?" Morgan spoke up and I nodded. I had figured it would be him to speak up. "We can beat them?" He asked.

At least he was asking a reasonable question. I wasn't absolutely sure that we could beat them, and neither was Rick, but we would never say that. These people had to be assured that there was no way that we were going to lose. That was the only way that we could get them on our side. If they were smarter than they would know that there was never a guarantee. "What this group has done, what we've learned, what we've become, all of us- yes, I'm sure," he said softly.

Morgan was standing, the only person in the church other than Rick to be doing so. It made me think that he didn't want to just ask the one question. He wanted to tell us that we didn't have to kill them. I hated to think it, but we did. There was no way that they were going to let us out of this one. They were going to eventually find us, and they were going to kill us. "Then all we have to do is just tell them that," Morgan argued with Rick.

I couldn't help myself. I knew that it was rude but I didn't care. I let out a barking laugh and every eye in the church turned to me. The Alexandrians looked horrified that I could make a joke out of this. Morgan hadn't broken eye contact with Rick. Rick was glaring at me. He clearly hadn't appreciated my laugh. All of my group though were looking at me with little smirks and smiles. At least someone thought that I was funny. Daryl was smirking into his lap, probably trying to make Rick think that he hadn't found it funny. "Well, they don't compromise," Rick finally said, his attention now back on Morgan.

I was hoping that Morgan would just let it go after that but I knew better. He had a whole ideal that we could be better than we had been. He thought that we could make it in this world without having to kill anyone. He had no idea how wrong he was. "This isn't a compromise," Morgan said and I raised an eyebrow. Was he now saying that we were actually going to fight? That he was going to come fight with us? "It's a choice you give them. It's a way out, for them and for us," he said.

Rolling my eyes at this, I sighed and leaned back a little further into the pew. This was going to be a long conversation that was going to just run in circles. Of course I should have known that Morgan was going to want to do anything other than fight. But that was the way that we were going to be able to feed our people. We had to kill the Saviors. "We try and talk to the Saviors, we give up our advantage, our safety," Rick said and I nodded. He was right. This had to be a blind strike. "No, we have to come for them before they come for us. We can't leave them alive," he hissed.

A few of the people that were in the back rows were whispering to each other. A few of them were asking how Rick could be so brutal. Others were saying that this was something that needed to be done in order to eat. They were the smart ones. There were some that were completely silent. A few people seemed like they were looking for a way to sneak out when no one was looking. They were the cowards that should have been the first to die in this world. They had just gotten lucky. "Where there's life, there's possibility," Morgan said and I scoffed.

This time no one looked back at me. All eyes were currently on Rick and Morgan, both of whom didn't seem ready to back down on their views. I wondered if either one of them would ever budge on their views. If one of them did, I was pretty sure that it would be Morgan. Rick had tried to argue for peace before. It hadn't ended well. "Of them hitting us," Rick added to Morgan's statement that there was possibility with the Saviors.

Nodding at Rick, I knew that he knew what a big deal this whole fight was going to be. Things would not go well if we just stayed here on our asses. The Saviors would eventually find us here and they would demand the same thing that they had from Hilltop. We would lose the element of surprise. "We're not trapped in this. None of you are trapped in this," Morgan said, trying to appeal for everyone sitting around us.

A few people that were in the back of the church were nodding vigorously, evidently thinking that Morgan was on the right path. When I looked back at them I noticed that most of them were older or had children back in their homes. I rolled my eyes. We weren't asking for all of these people to come and kill the Saviors with us. In fact most of these people would be staying here. We just had to let them know that they would have to hold this place together for the night. It was easy. "Morgan, they always come back," Rick said softly and I nodded.

We had made that mistake thinking that once my father had slaughtered his men and left the prison he would never be back. But we had found out a few months later that he was still alive. That had made us lose Hershel and Beth had separated from us after that. It had gotten her killed and Carol and I hit by a car. He had done so much damage just because we had made the stupid assumption that once he had left he would never come back. We were not going to make that same mistake now that we had a real place to call home. "Come back when they're dead, too," Morgan said softly and I snapped my head over to him.

That had not been the thing that I had been expecting him to say. But we were smarter than that. We knew that when we went to kill all of them we were going to have to make sure to get them in the head. We didn't want to have to deal with them more than once. "Yeah, we'll stop them," Rick snarled and I grinned at him. "We have before," he said and I nodded at him.

Morgan took a few steps out to the side and made his way out of the pew. He was now standing in the middle of the aisle and every eye in the church was on him. Mine were too. "I'm not talking about the walkers," Morgan said softly and I sighed. I understood not wanting to take a human life, it was hard, but we had to do what we had to do. In the past world I would have been with Morgan in saying that there was another way to go about this, but I knew that we couldn't risk doing that now.

Rick once more ran his hands through his hair and I stared at him, thinking for a moment that he looked like Shane. I shivered at the thought and shook my head. Rick was not Shane. He never would be. Daryl noticed my shiver and looked at me with a curious gaze but I shook my head at him. It was nothing to worry him over. "Morgan wants to talk to them first," Rick announced, now addressing the rest of the church. "I think that would be a mistake, but it's not up to me," he said and we all nodded. At least, the people that were agreeing with Rick to attack the Saviors. "I'll talk to the people still at home. I'll discuss it with the people on guard now, too, but who else wants to approach the Saviors, talk to them first?" Rick asked and I noticed that no one raised their hands. Everyone looked too nervous to say anything. "What happened here, we won't let that happen again. I won't. Looks like it's settled," he said as no one made any objections. "We know exactly what this is. We don't shy from it, we live. We kill them all," Rick hissed and I nodded.

I was about to stand so that we could get together to find out what we were going to do tonight with them. I sighed and shook my head as Morgan was standing in the middle of the aisle, clearly still having at least one thing to say to Rick. "We don't all have to kill," he said and I nodded. He was right about that. I noticed that a few people around the church were nodding along with him.

For a moment Rick just stood there, up near the alter. But he finally nodded and I let out a breath. I had been hoping to avoid a fight here. We didn't need one with everything that was going on now. "But if people are gonna stay here they do have to accept it," he said and I nodded. He was right about that. The majority of people here were going to stay and await our return. But they couldn't just hate what we were doing. They had to know that we were doing it to protect them. To keep their families, and ours, whole.

People were awkwardly shifting and I knew that no one was going to move until someone else made the first move. So I stood and raised my voice loud enough so that it would carry over to where Morgan was standing. "Morgan I hate to break it to you but I've seen these people before. A lot of them," I said and Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham were all nodding along with me. "They're strong, they're smart, and they aren't going to give this up without a fight. They have Hilltop in a bind and apparently they have other groups with them too," I said, noticing a few eyebrows shoot up. They all knew that Jesus had another group but now they all knew that there was more than just the Hilltop near here. "Groups that are just as tough as we are. Rick is right. This is how we live through these people. If we don't want to be their slaves, we go in there and we kill all of them. If we don't then they could come back here. And we lose a lot more people that way," I said before walking out and down the aisle. My group joined behind me and as I passed Morgan I grabbed his shoulder and looked up into his eyes. "I'm sorry Morgan. This is how it goes," I told him.

Not bothering to stay and see if he was going to say anything else, I made my way out and walked with Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, and Rick over to where they were milling with Andy. We were all watching him draw up plans to the Savior compound and thinking about what to do and how we were going to be able to get inside. It looked like it had once been a television broadcast center and I sighed. That would mean a lot of hallways. That could either be a good or bad thing. I wasn't sure yet. For nearly two hours we watched Andy draw out the plans, point us to everything that he understood, explain the Savior's security system, and mark the areas he didn't know with question marks. It was a complicated drawing that we had laid out, but listening to him explain everything, it was beginning to make sense. He was even telling us stories about everything that he had ever seen the Saviors do. They were clearly just about as smart as we were.

Andy was standing over the drawing and we were all having difficulty actually looking at the drawing considering that there was so much writing all over it. Of course that was the way that we could explain everything happening. "We need someone on the perimeter keeping watch," Andy said and we nodded. That could be Carol, who didn't seem much for fighting these days. Maybe even Maggie, if she was insisting that she wanted to go. Which it seemed that she would be. She was never one to sit the action out.

Rick nodded at Andy, probably having already assumed that we were going to have to keep someone on watch at the perimeter. That would be foolish if we went in there. They could easily have people out there that could trap us inside. It would be a slaughter. On our side at least. And that was not what we were going there for. "Describe it," Rick said, not bothering to look up from the plans.

As I looked over them I nearly laughed. Years ago I had been a construction major in college. I could tell that Andy most certainly hadn't. His lines were all scribbled and his writing was slanted and messy. I could barely read half of the writing. And the drawing of the building looked more like a cat stuck in a box with gigantic ears sticking out of its back. But I understood the drawing well enough. "Rectangular building, big satellites on it," he said and I nodded. It had definitely been some sort of broadcasting building before.

Rick nodded at Andy as he leaned onto the hood of the car that we were planning around. The sun was sinking in the sky and I knew that we had to be getting close to nine at night. That was good. I was pretty sure that Rick wanted to leave around midnight and Andy had said that with all of the stops that we would be making it would take us about an hour to get there. "Any windows?" Rick asked and I looked over to him. If they were smart they would have picked an area with no windows. Made break ins easier.

For a moment Andy screwed up his face in concentration and I watched him. I assumed that he hadn't been to the Saviors compound in a long time. It made more sense that the Saviors came to them. That way there was less of a chance that someone could come and attack them. "I don't remember any," Andy said and I sighed. That made our job that much harder. It meant that we would have to go through the entrance. "I think they made it so there's only one way in," he said and we all nodded. It went without saying that we were all thinking that we would have done the same thing. That was what we had done. Both Alexandria and Hilltop had one way in and one way out.

"Guards outside?" Rick asked and I turned to him with a screwed up face. I wanted to smack him over the back of the head for that question. Of course they were going to have guards outside. We had already come to the conclusion that even though they weren't very nice, they were smart. Smarter than the Hilltop had ever given them credit for.

Andy seemed to think less of the question though as he looked up to look over at Rick. Our leader finally glanced up at Andy, tearing his face away from the page for the first time in nearly two hours. "Yeah, two of them, at least," he said and I nodded. I was impressed. I thought that it was going to be only one guard, but this had just made it harder. He had said that there were always at least two guards. That meant that there was a chance that there could be more. Everyone seemed to have gotten a little nervous at those words.

Going back to a conversation that we had already had, Rick turned to look at Andy once more. Daryl was looking down at the map that Andy had drawn out and was making a few markings that looked like arrows pointing back and forth. He was clearly trying to make out a plan for us. "And you don't know how many people they have?" Rick asked and I looked back over at him. I assumed that it was going to be a lot of people. When I saw how many of the men had been with Wade, I automatically assumed that they were all in big groups like that. It meant that a lot of people were going to be in that compound. It meant that it was going to take a long time to get them all.

Andy looked a little bit startled by the question as his face shot back up to Rick and he shook his head. I had the tiniest feeling that he was a little afraid of us. I mean he had to think that we were crazy. We were voluntarily going after the Saviors, just because we needed food. Hell, maybe we were a little crazy. "No," Andy answered shortly and he started a little when Rick turned a glare on him. "Uh, I mean, no. I saw a place where they stored food. It wasn't that big, so-"

He had still been explaining the layout of the compound when Rick immediately cut him off, not allowing Andy to finish his comment. "You've been inside?" Rick asked and I rolled my eyes. He had been spending too much time out in the sun. Obviously if he had been able to draw us some of the hallways and some of the indoor rooms he had been inside. Of course, Rick could have thought too that he had just overheard some of the layout by the Saviors. That would have explained the question marks.

The interruption obviously caught Andy off guard as he stared open mouthed at Rick for a moment. He finally seemed to get back into it as he shook his head and went back to the question. "Yeah," he finally said. At the questioning look of all of us, Andy finally continued to explain why he had been inside of the compound before. "They had us load in supplies one time," Andy said with the shrug of his shoulders.

Clearly he thought that this was no big deal, but it was. Wherever he had been inside of the compound that meant that we had a little idea of where to go. Hopefully he knew where the sleeping areas were, and if they had an armory. "Hmm," Rick hummed and nodded. He seemed to be thinking over the new piece of information. "What do you remember?" He asked and Andy rolled his eyes up to the top of his head, probably thinking back to what he had seen when he was in the compound. "And you didn't see any other rooms?" Rick asked and Andy shook his head at that, not needing a moment to think.

"No, it's a big place," he said and I sighed. That made things hard again. If the place was big that meant that there was a good chance that we could miss someone. And if we left Negan alive he would only regroup and build his numbers up again before coming back for us. This time to kill. That would not be a fight that we would win. "This is the hallway I saw," Andy motioned to the long hallway that led to the back of the compound which led to a question mark. "There is more," he informed us, letting us know that where the drawing stopped was not the end of the hall.

Leaning back over the drawing, Rick motioned to the only room that was clearly labeled on the drawing. It was marked as a supply room and I sighed. It was enormous the way that Andy drew it. The halls were all twisting and turning in his clarified drawing and I pushed my face into my hands. If we pulled this off it was going to be a miracle. This place looked so complicated to navigate. "And every time, they had you bring things into here?" Rick asked and Andy nodded. "Jesus," Rick moaned, putting his head in his hands as well. We were all nervous, this was not going to be an easy thing to do. We would have to bring as many people as we could to make this go by quickly.

We were all leaning over the drawing and staring at it with a look of desperation on our face. No one seemed to have a lot of faith that we were going to manage pulling this off. "We brought a couple spears for them," Andy said, looking at us with something between a look of pity and a look of determination. We all looked up at him and nodded at him to continue whatever it was that he had been talking about. "Two of the Saviors took them down this hallway," he motioned down the long hallway with the question mark at the end. "Now, they must've done something with them because they didn't come back with them. Maybe a weapons locker, an armory," he said and we nodded.

That definitely made things better. If we could get someone in there to seal up the armory there was a way that we could get this to be an easy fix. It meant that they at least wouldn't have a way to defend themselves. This was a good thing. Maybe we were back to being on track. "Okay. We get in there, secure the armory, that's how we end it," Rick said and I nodded. That had been the same thing that I had been thinking. "That's how Carol ended it here," Rick said and I nodded. He was right about that. Carol had been the one of us to make sure that she had access to the armory when Alexandria hadn't trusted any of the rest of us.

For the first time since we had been finding out a way to get into the Saviors compound, Maggie spoke up. Her voice had startled me out of my daze and I jumped to look over at her. "But we don't know if they have an armory or where it even is," she said, looking nervous. I didn't blame her. She had her child and her husband to protect. I knew how she felt. She wanted to know that we could do this before she went in there.

Rick shook his head at her and looked over to her with a little nod. I knew that he was silently telling her that he was going to protect her. He was going to make sure that her baby was safe. Just like Judith. "Well, we've got a lot of good guesses. We've done more with less," he said and we nodded. He was right about that. We had walked into Terminus completely blind and we had walked out of that place without any losses. "We go in at night while they're sleeping," Rick said and I nodded. I had figured that he would want to do something like that.

Seemingly a little nervous, Andy shook his head at us. "The guards won't be sleeping," he said and I nodded. I had figured that they weren't going to be sleeping. It was smart to keep guards on duty around the clock. That was what we did here and I was pretty sure that Hilltop did it too. "Like I said, I think there's only one way in and there's no way to bust through that door without waking up the rest of them," he said and I looked over to Rick, who was currently wearing a victorious smirk.

Raising an eyebrow at Rick, I watched as he pulled everyone else into us. Rosita and Aaron came up first, followed by Abraham, Sasha, Michonne, Merle, Heath, and Jesus. "We don't need to. They're going to open it for us, let us walk right in," Rick said with a victorious smirk. "They want Gregory's head, right?" Rick asked Jesus, who nodded. "We're gonna give it to them," he said and my eyes widened. We were going to kill Gregory? Not that it was a huge loss but that was harsh, even for Rick. "We're gonna get a walker head. One that looks like Gregory," Rick said and I grinned. Smart man. "Aaron, Rosita. You start here," he said, talking about woods about half an hour outside of the Savior compound. "We'll peel off every quarter mile, meet back here in a couple of hours," he said, motioning back to the spot right outside of the Savior compound. Daryl and I would be allowed to sleep, seeing as we had spent all day running around already. We had to be awake and alert. "See what we got. There's no turning back now. We're gonna take a look around, try to get a feel for how many people are in there. We like how it looks, we go in. A couple of hours before dawn," he said and I nodded. So far the plan was foolproof. "The guards outside will be tired. Everyone inside will be sleeping. We don't like what we see, we head back, make a new plan. They don't know who we are," he said and we nodded once more. "Just is case we keep Rain and Daryl in the back at first. They know them. We'll keep Jesus in the shadows too. This is how we eat. This is how we eat. We roll out at midnight," Rick said and we all nodded.

Everyone was hanging around in the RV and the red car that Andy would be riding in. He would be going up first and we would all be hiding in the woods in the RV. "But how are we working this out once we get inside?" I asked, drawing all of the attention onto myself. We needed to have a plan. "We can't all just scramble around stumbling on rooms that have already been emptied. It's a waste of time. We need to be in and out of there as quickly as possible," I warned and everyone nodded. We needed to make this fast.

Rick nodded and walked around, eyeing everyone that was standing around, waiting to head out. We had about two hours before we could start grabbing the heads. We were leaving shortly. "She's right. Alright, everyone, come here. This is how we're going to do this. Okay, we are going to go in with pairs," Rick said and we all nodded. "Daryl, you'll be with me," he said and I crossed my arms. I had been hoping that I would be with Daryl. My husband looked a little upset with it too. "Abraham and Sasha, the two of you will be together. Glenn and Heath, you two will be together. Rosita and Aaron, you two will be the last in. Rain and Merle, you two will be together too," he said and we nodded. At least I had Merle. "Michonne, I'll have you in reserve. You will keep guard at the front. Make sure no one comes in and no one gets out. To make sure that we don't just keep running into each other we will each have a section. Abraham and Sasha, Rosita and Aaron, you guys will get to the very back. Make sure they all get trapped. Go in from alternating sides. Michonne, like I said, you'll be up front. Glenn and Heath, there's a hallway back here, you two take that one. Rain and Merle, you will be with Daryl and me in the front of the building. You take the front of the hall, we'll take the back," he said and we nodded. At least I would be near Daryl and Rick. "Go with each other and alternate between the rooms. Everyone understand?" He asked and we all nodded.

It was an unspoken agreement that the evening would be going quietly. We all hopped into our respective cars and I jumped into the RV, laying in the back on the bed. Daryl and Maggie were squished in the bed with me and we all were yawning. It was a good idea that we were going to sleep. The last thing that we needed was to start falling asleep in the middle of an attack. It was only a minute before I was drifting off to sleep in the back of the RV. I knew that we weren't going to leave yet, but that didn't matter. It made no sense for me to head all the way back home just to come back here in two hours. So I laid my head on Daryl's chest and let Maggie lay across my stomach. I could just barely hear Merle and Abraham talking in the front of the RV before I finally fell asleep.

A sharp voice a few feet away from me made me shoot upright. Daryl had jumped underneath me by the sudden movement and I had accidentally knocked Maggie off of my stomach. I apologized quietly to her but she shook her head, staring at where Carol was standing with her hands on her hips. She looked furious at Rick, who was standing in front of her. I glanced out the window and saw that we were moving. I assumed that we were on our way to the Savior compound. It must have been well past midnight as it seemed that everyone was up and moving around anxiously. We must have been getting ready for the hunt for the walker head. "Why is Maggie here?" Carol snapped at Rick and I nodded.

So that was why she seemed so angry. Not that I could blame her. I know that she wasn't happy that Maggie was here, but that wasn't her option. Maggie had wanted to be here. And even Glenn couldn't have stopped her. She just wanted to go and provide for her group, for her family. "She's guarding the perimeter," Rick told Carol, looking not at all impressed with her new attitude. I had never known Carol to be very defensive of Maggie before. The behavior was actually a little surprising to me.

Clearly wanting to keep his wife away from the stress of being back with Carol and Rick, they walked up to the front of the RV. I wanted to leave as well but with the couple up in the front of the RV, there was now no room to be anywhere but the bedroom. So I leaned back on the bed and absentmindedly ran a braid down my back. "Yeah, but why is she here?" Snapped Carol again.

Narrowing my eyes at the older woman, I shook my head at her. I liked Carol just fine. She was a good friend of mine and she was one of the first people here to be a friend of mine. She was one of the first people to show that she really cared about me. But lately something had been happening to her. She had become extremely introverted, not wanting to get into any fights. I wasn't sure what it was but I did know that she needed to snap out of it. "'Cause it's her choice," Rick said with a little shrug.

I knew that she was going to be worried about her while we were in there. It was probably safer for them to be out there but that didn't mean that there was no danger out there. We didn't know how many of Negan's men could have been in surrounding areas. Hell, we could be walking right into a trap. But that was just a risk that we were going to have to be willing to take. "I want to stay out there with her," Carol said and I raised my eyebrows. I hadn't even realized that she would be coming with us. But we didn't need two people guarding the perimeter.

It seemed that Rick shared my thoughts about keeping Carol on the inside as he shook his head at her. Rick sighed at her and shook his head as he leaned back against the wall and shook his head at her. "Well, this whole thing's a race to the armory," Rick said and I nodded. He was right about that. We needed to get that place sealed so that they had nothing to fight back against us with. Hopefully they didn't sleep with guns. "We need as many people inside as we can get," Rick told her.

I had been hoping that Carol would nod and understand that we needed her in there, but she clearly didn't care. She merely shook her head and I rolled my eyes. I loved Carol but this was ridiculous. We needed her to be on our side. And right now, this was not being on our side. "She shouldn't be out there alone," Carol said and I rolled my eyes. Maggie was pregnant she wasn't useless. This was one of the many reasons that I didn't want a kid yet. I wanted to be able to help. I didn't want to have to worry about protecting another person. "She shouldn't be out here in the first place," Carol said before brushing by Rick and heading forward into the RV.

As she made her way I looked into the rest of the RV. I was amazed that we all fit in here at the moment. Daryl, Rick, and I were on the bed in the back. Aaron was on the ground, against the wall, chatting softly with Rosita. At the couches were Merle, Abraham, and Sasha, all talking with each other. Carol was at the table with Maggie and Glenn. At the front of the RV, Michonne was in the passenger seat and Heath was driving. In the red car in front of us, Andy was driving and Jesus was in the passenger seat. Everyone was chatting softly, looking somewhere between nervous and angry. Everyone wanted this day to be over with. We wanted to go home. We wanted this to be over with. We didn't want to go to war, this was just something that we had to do.

We had been driving for about another twenty minutes when Rick called for us to stop. We were going to head out and try to find a walker head that looked close enough to Gregory. I was hoping that we could find something. Although Rick came over to me and said that I would be one of the people that would be guarding the RV. I rolled my eyes but nodded at my leader. No point in fighting with him now. Daryl, Heath, Glenn, Abraham, Sasha, Rosita, Rick, Aaron, and Jesus headed out into the woods to get the heads. That left Merle, Andy, Carol, Maggie, and me to guard the RV. Maggie was at the front with Carol, who wasn't letting the pregnant woman anywhere out of her sight. Andy was at one side of the RV and Merle was at the other. Both of them were facing the woods. I was at the back of the RV, holding a borrowed rifle in my hands. Nothing was happening though. We were still too far away from the Saviors camp to risk running into them. So I was stuck here, staring at the stupid road. Why the hell hadn't Rick let me come into the woods with everyone? Now I knew how Merle felt when he had almost lost his life to my father and had barely been able to move out of bed for weeks. It fucking sucked.

It had been about a half an hour when I began to lean back against the RV and drift off. With nothing to do in the hours that I was normally asleep my previously nervous attitude had diminished and I was now in between asleep and fuming that Rick had made me hang out here. "Hey girl," I heard the familiar scratchy voice of my brother-in-law. I turned to see him and forced out a smile. He looked upset at being left behind too. "You ready for this?" He asked me and I nodded. "Don't worry, you won't be in there alone. I'm going to go in with you. If everything checks out we'll head off to the right side of the building. That's what Rick said," Merle told me and I nodded. He must have been giving extra instructions while I had been asleep. "Take out people with knives. Silent," he said and I nodded.

That much I had known. There was no way that we were going to be able to use guns. It would be like ringing their damn doorbell. We had to make sure that they stayed asleep while we ran through the halls. "Works for me," I said as Merle leaned against the RV, letting me lean against him. I could hear a walker growling off in the distance but I ignored it. The thing was probably at least half of a mile away. No point in tracking it down. "We just have to take care of these people and then we are free to live whatever life that we want to. One last group that we have to take care of. It seems like it never ends," I groaned before driving my forehead into his shoulder.

Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could tell that he was smiling at me. He used his hand to push my hair ff of my face and I smiled into his shoulder. Even though Merle barely ever showed it, I knew that he was a real sweetheart deep down. But Daryl would always call him his dick of an older brother. "Don't worry sweetheart. We are gonna take care of these assholes. You deserve to get to live whatever life you want," he said and I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Without having to deal with pricks like this. You deserve it more than anyone else here. For everything that you've done for all of us," he told me with a small smile.

I leaned up to him and kissed Merle on the cheek. It wasn't often that he said things like that. I knew that he was thankful for me saving his life and plenty of other things, but he never really voiced them. None of us did. We were family. Saving each other and risking our necks for each other was just something that we did. No thanks necessary. "Thanks Merle," I said to him and he nodded at me. "I know that we can take care of this, we just have to believe in ourselves. Hey I think that they found a head for Gregory," I said as a few figures began to wind their way back to the road. I could see that Glenn and Heath were carrying heads. Glenn had two and Heath had a third. "Let's go see what they found," I said and Merle nodded at me, as we all went to join the rest of our group on the road.

Rick had been towards the back of the group. I noticed that he was walking up to see Rosita playing with the hair on the walkers. I could tell that she was trying to get the comb over look that Gregory had. I had to hand it to my friends. They had done a good job finding walkers that clearly hadn't been dead that long. And in the right light these things did look a little bit like Gregory. Although none of them were the spitting image. "She's done with the hair?" Rick asked and Glenn nodded. "What've we got?" Rick asked as he walked up to the heads, which were laid out on the road.

We were all looking at the different heads, trying to figure out which one looked the most like Gregory. I knew that it wouldn't be the man on the far left. He was far too thin. His cheeks were hollowed out. Gregory had been a little overweight. His face definitely was bigger than the one on the edge. The one on the other end was wrong too. The facial hair wasn't quite right and he looked too young to be Gregory. The one in the middle seemed to be the right one. It looked about Gregory's age and the facial hair was right. The only problem was that the nose was completely straight. Gregory had a little bit of a hook on his. "That one," Glenn said.

He was pointing at the middle head, the same one that I had been looking at. Rick seemed to agree as the rest of us were all nodding. At least, those of us who had seen Gregory. "Yeah, that's it. All right. Though, it's probably good we're doing this at night," Rick said and I nodded. In the middle of the day it would have been obvious that it was not Gregory. I hoped that the men would be more concerned with insulting Andy to actually pay attention to the fact that we were coming to deliver a head in the middle of the night. Hopefully the sentries weren't the smartest of the men. "Something wrong with it?" Rick asked when he heard Andy snort.

He was shaking his head as he looked at the middle head. I figured that he was thinking about all the ways that this could go wrong. Of course, I didn't blame him. He was the one that was going up to them first. If they thought that anything was wrong, it was Andy that was going to die. "The nose. Gregory's is a different shape," Andy said and I nodded. I had thought that Gregory's was a different shape.

Sighing, Rick rolled his eyes and grabbed the head from the other three. Daryl kicked away the other two and I glared at him. He had not needed to do that. Rick walked over to me and handed me the head. I stared at him for a moment as though he was crazy. What the hell did he want me to do with the damn thing? "Rain, take it please. I'm gonna fix the nose," he told me. Bile rose in my throat but I grabbed the head and held it away from my body. It smelled awful. I held it while Rick reared back and punched the head. Bones cracked in the head and the jaw slackened. Blood was now running down the front of the head and I groaned, dropping it. "He fought back. He broke your hand, right?" Rick asked Andy, as if he hadn't just given a severed walker head a broken nose.

Not really wanting to touch the head again, I kicked it over to Jesus's car where he picked it up and slipped it into a brown fabric bag. He smiled at me and I smiled back before stepping away and heading back to where Andy and Rick were still standing. "Guess there's no reason to be subtle about it," Andy said with a small smile on his face.

Rick seemed to take Andy's words to offense as he turned to the man with a little snarl on his face. I noticed that for a brief moment fear flashed through Andy's eyes, but he quickly brought it back to a smile. "What?" Rick snarled at Andy, who was watching him with a small smile. I was standing close by, hoping that they weren't about to start a fight.

Instead of looking the least bit intimidated by Rick, Andy smiled at Rick and leaned back onto the red car. He looked tired and ready to get this thing done with. "The Saviors, they're scary, but those pricks got nothing on you," Andy said and I grinned before he turned on his heel and headed back into the red car. Rick immediately motioned us all back into the RV and we followed the order, staying with our partners. We made sure to leave Carol and Maggie up at the front. They would be getting out first when we got to the woods.

For about half an hour we drove, no one saying anything. We were all thinking about what was going to happen once we got there. It was obvious that everyone was nervous, and no one wanted to jinx anything by saying that we would be fine. We finally came to the final approach of the Savior compound and Jesus pulled the red car to a halt near the edge of the road. Maggie and Carol got out first, giving us all a quick goodbye. They headed off to one edge of the woods and nodded to us, hiding behind a fence, each one facing a different part of the woods. Michonne went out next and headed around the building. She was going to be the one to sneak up on the guards. With the RV parked par away enough for no one to find it, we all ran through the woods, stopping when we were at the edge of the compound. We each had our knives in our hands, hiding behind trees and ducking lowly. The Savior compound was exactly the way that I had thought that it would be. It was a gigantic rectangle and had two huge satellites on its roof. As Andy had said, there were no windows and only one door.

Jesus had gotten out of the red car with us and was now hiding in the woods alongside us. Andy was just approaching the compound in the red car. He stopped it a few meters in front of the building and climbed out, the bag with the walker head in hand. He hadn't even made it two steps before a blinding red light came out of emergency lights on every side of the building. Each of us ducked even farther into the trees, praying that we weren't about to be seen. Just as Andy had told us, two men stepped out of the compound, both holding rifles. The first was staring straight at Andy, a mean look of his face. The other was surveying all around the compound. So they weren't stupid. "Stop right there! Announce yourself, asshole!" The first man yelled. I wondered if these men had never been to the Hilltop.

Even from this distance I could tell that Andy had frozen in his steps and was shaking. It wasn't like I blamed him. He was out there alone. If these men decided to shoot, there was no way that we could get to them in time. He was risking his life so that we could get in there. "It's Andy from Hilltop!" He yelled and the men dropped their guns a little bit. Good, this was good. They were staring at him, both still holding the gun, but not looking ready to shoot. Yet. "It's done!" He yelled loudly.

The same man that had yelled at Andy the first time took a step closer and I wanted nothing more than to draw my guns and shoot them. We could do it. But the problem was that they might hear the noise inside and raise the alarm. "Step out!" The guard yelled and Andy nodded, moving himself away from the car. The brown bag was stained with blood in his arms. "Is that it?" He asked loudly.

Andy nodded, looking a little pale in the face. He was obviously nervous. "Yeah!" He yelled back to them. I cringed at how loud they were all yelling back and forth. There was a good chance that they were going to wake up the people inside the compound and we couldn't have that. For this to work, they needed to be asleep.

The same guard that had been speaking the entire time moved forward, staring at the bag that Andy was currently swinging in his hands. He was probably hoping that this was going to go as smoothly as we thought it would. "Bring it here, shit brain!" The man yelled and I narrowed my eyes at him. These were some serious assholes. Andy moved forward with the head in hand, looking completely shaken. Poor man. "I don't want the bag, needle dick," the man hissed as Andy handed out the covered head. Andy started and pulled the head out of the bag, handing it to the man with the outstretched hand. The man looked over the head and my heart began beating rapidly. This was it. "Will you look at this shit? Will you look at this shit?" The man asked his friend, showing him the head.

Even from way back in the woods I could tell that Andy was getting nervous. He clearly thought that these men didn't believe that this head was from Gregory. Andy shifted nervously before pointing at the head. "He broke my hand. I broke his nose," Andy explained, motioning to his bandaged hand. I couldn't help but to wonder when he had gotten it. I couldn't remember him getting hurt. "That's why he looks that way," Andy added on softly.

To my pleasure it seemed like the guards weren't thinking that Andy's behavior was suspicious. They just thought that he looked nervous because of them. Good, it was that hardheadedness that usually got people killed. Finally the second guard spoke for the first time. "Little bitch broke my nose," he mimicked Gregory before making a little whining noise that made me scowl at him. I hoped we got him first. "Okay, looks like you learned. I'll get your guy, you'll go home, and you bring us more stuff next week, hmm?" He asked with a little smirk before turning and heading into the building. The first guard said nothing, just stood there, waiting. We were all slowly making our way a little closer to the front of the compound. We were about ready to attack. Once Craig was out safely, we would be ready to attack. Michonne already had her sword brandished and Daryl had his hunting knife out. We were only a few feet from the edge of the building, waiting. The door finally opened and I saw Craig coming out, bound and gagged. He looked horrid. But at least he was alive. "Well, well, well. Look who it is," the man who was bringing him out whistled before throwing the man into Andy.

Panicking, Andy immediately caught his friend and barely managed to keep him upright. Craig was crying out in pain as Andy pulled the gag off of him. I grimaced at the sight of him. At least he was getting out of here. Andy and Craig would be waiting outside for us. "It's okay, it's okay. We're bringing you back. We're bringing you back," Andy soothed Craig. I knew that this was our chance, while the guards were watching Andy and Craig head out. Michonne, Daryl, and the rest of us broke through the tree line quickly. Michonne's sword skewered the first guard and I watched as Daryl grabbed the second guard, keeping his hand over the man's mouth. Before he could get a scream out, I grabbed my knife and shoved it through the second guard's throat, pulling it out immediately. I didn't want his blood on me.

We were pulling the men out of the front of the building and hiding them in the woods. I finished dragging the second guard out into the woods before running back to the front of the building. I was already sweating but I knew that it was more from nerves than anything else. Rick walked up to the front of the building, motioning everyone to get into their pairs. Merle quickly found his way over to me and we walked over to where Rick and Daryl were standing near the doors. "Check the doors. Find the arsenal. We take them out," he ordered and we all nodded. Tara and Gabriel, who had come to help get Andy and Craig out safely, were getting the men into cars to get them back to Hilltop. We wouldn't see them until we got back to Alexandria. Jesus was keeping watch at the front of the building with Carol and Maggie out in the woods, watching from afar.

Without saying another word, he ripped open the doors and we all managed our way in. I moved to the side to let most of the pairs through to the back of the compound before moving forward, leaving Michonne at the front, taking out the people in the front few rooms, and guarding the doors. Once everyone was safely into the back of the compound, Daryl and Rick motioned for us to head out. The corridors were so quiet that I felt like our soft footsteps and breathing were like screams. Quickly Rick and Daryl split off, Daryl giving me a little squeeze on the arm before he passed. Merle nudged me gently to the back of the hallway and I nodded.

Two doors were right in front of us and Merle nodded at me to go in. He walked into his room and I took a deep breath before walking into my own room. Two beds were in the room and I took a deep breath. The men sleeping in both beds were fast asleep and snoring gently. My heart was beating rapidly as I walked over to the man in the far corner. I grabbed my knife and leaned over him, plunging the knife through his forehead. He made a little strangled noise before falling limp and I sighed. The man that was laying in the other bed made a little movement and my heart skipped a beat. But he finally settled down and gave a small snore. Walking over to him before he could wake up, I plunged the knife through his throat. His eyes snapped open but I had severed his vocal chords. He was putting up a better fight than I had thought that he would so I drove the knife into his neck again, staring at his now severed head.

Shivering, I moved away from the man on the bed and I glanced at what was overhead his bed. It looked like he had been an avid baseball fan. He had bats that were hanging up all over the top of his bed. I noticed that most of them were splintered with dried blood on them. I couldn't help but to wonder if that was what he used to kill walkers. On the bottom of the wall I noticed that he had engraved something in the steel. It was a name. Lucille. Had she been his wife or girlfriend? Maybe she was someone that he had known? Shaking my head, I turned and left the room.

Merle was already out in the hallway, covered in blood on his torso. I hadn't heard any noise in his room but maybe he had gotten in a little bit of a fight with one of the men that had been sleeping in that room. So far the only people that I saw in here were men. Maybe they didn't have any women. In this place at least. I know that they used to have at least two. Merle moved us down to the next two rooms and I slipped inside. On one corner of the room there were photos. Of people that had been cruelly murdered. Some heads were bashed in and others were missing their heads. Some had organs ripped out and others had just been slashed to hell.

Shaking my head I moved over to the far bed, the one with all of the photos hanging over the top of it. The man was heavyset and bald and looked mean as hell. He had tattoos all over him and I rolled my eyes. Taking my knife out, I drove it through his temple. He didn't move or stir in the slightest. He just laid there and I nodded. I rolled his head over to the other side so that he was now looking at the pictures of the people that I assumed he had killed. These people weren't just cruel, they were sadistic.

Knowing that I only had so much time to kill all of these people, I walked over to the other man. He was smaller than his friend. He had brown hair that hit the back of his neck. I held the knife at my side and walked over to his bed. Just overhead I noticed that there was a fire alarm. I supposed that there was one in every room. That was more than likely what they used as their intruder alarm. I hoped that no one set it off. Those things were dreadfully loud. Shaking my head once more at my wandering thoughts, I leaned over the man and raised my knife to my waist just as the man's eyes popped open. I dropped the knife and forced myself to remain calm. "Who are you?" He asked me, sleep evident in his voice.

My heart was beating erratically and I was sure that any moment now I was going to keel over and die from a heart attack. "I-" I began weakly, but nothing more came out. The man was staring at me and I knew that any moment now he was going to attack me. Finally I settled on something that I was praying would work. I put on a playful smile and sauntered to the very edge of the bed. "You know me you idiot," I said softly with a little laugh. "I'm one of Negan's girls," I said and his eyes widened. They were quickly replaced with a smile and he grinned at me. Good, so I wasn't messing up anything. "I mean I know that he doesn't let us out that much but I would have thought that you remembered me. We had a lot of fun that night," I told him, hoping that he would believe me.

The man grinned at me and grabbed my hand. I was glad that it was dark in here or else he would have noticed that I was covered in blood. "I don't really remember you, but I must have been drinking that night. Besides, who would I be to turn down one of Negan's personal girls?" He said with a little grin as he grabbed me and pulled me to sit over him. I did so with a smile and prayed that I could get out of here in one piece. The knife was right below me. All I had to do was grab it. "You're ballsy to try going to someone else. He doesn't usually like to share," the man told me and I smiled at him, wanting nothing more than to pry his slimy hands off of me.

Still though, I managed to keep a smile on my face. He had to believe that this was normal. He had to believe that I really was with Negan, and not with another group that was currently killing all of his friends. "That's all right, I don't usually like to be tied down to one man,' I told him and he grinned at me before looking over to his other friend. I grimaced and turned his head back to look at me, glad that I had turned the man's head the other way. "Don't bother with him, he's out cold," I told the man and he nodded. "Now come here. And be quiet, the last thing that you would want to do is draw attention to us, right?" I asked him and he nodded at me. I leaned in to kiss him, dropping my body as low to his as I could. My eyes were open and I was scanning the floor for the knife. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw that Merle had just come to the door. He looked panicked and confused on what to do so I shook my head as gently as I could. He had to leave this up to me.

The man's kisses were wet and sloppy and I groaned internally. It was nothing like kissing my husband. Finally my fingers scraped the knife and I grinned. The man of course thought that my smile was to get a little friendlier with me and he broke off the kiss, grabbing the edge of my shirt. He seemed to notice that one of my hands was drooped over the edge of the bed and he looked down, my shirt still bunched in his hands. He was about to scream when I brought the knife up, covering the man's mouth with my hand. I drive the knife into his eye and then pulled it out, driving it back into his forehead. The man was panicking and he threw me to the floor. I hit it roughly, almost screaming when his corpse landed on top of me. His eyes were open and he was staring at me, his blood running onto the ground. I groaned in pain at the sudden shock of the metal floor and hoped that no one else had heard me fall.

I was shaking badly as I stared at the corpse of the man. I couldn't believe that my plan had actually worked. I had thought for sure that he was going to get me. I guess today was really my lucky day. Merle came running into the room and grabbed me, helping me back to my feet. He was checking all over my body to make sure that the man hadn't hurt me. "Hey are you alright?" He asked me in a low whisper and I nodded at him. I was fine, just startled. "That was good thinking. How did you know that Negan had a bunch of girls?" He asked me.

I shrugged lightly, not really sure how I had guessed that Negan had his own little stock of women. "Mostly it was a lucky guess. He just seemed like the man," I said and Merle nodded at me. "But I remember D and Honey. She was his wife but when I was trying to sleep I remember her saying something about being with their old leader. Being forced to be with him. I just assumed that he was the type of man that took other men's wives for himself," I said and he nodded at me, clapping me on the back. He was probably relatively impressed that I had been able to think on my feet so quickly. "Do me a favor and never tell Daryl about this," I told Merle, who nodded at me with a little laugh.

"That goes without saying," he told me and I smiled at him. It wasn't that I was embarrassed over what had just happened, I just didn't want him to tease me for the rest of my life that the only way that I could kill the man was to pretend that I was his leader's whore. "Smart girl and I'll be sure to applaud you later but we have to keep going. We've only managed to take out a few people so far. We need to catch up to the rest of them," Merle said and I nodded. We were about to leave the room when a deafening ringing began to sound throughout the building, lights flashing as well. "What the hell is that?" Merle asked me, looking panicked.

He wasn't the only one that was panicked though. I was too. "Alarm!" I yelled. One of our people must have gotten caught. I hoped that they were alright. I swung my rifle off of my shoulder and stood so that I was at the door of the room. "They know that we're here! No point in being quiet now, just get the hell out there and take out the rest of them. Come on! We've lost the element of surprise but hopefully they're still groggy," I screamed to Merle before darting out of the room that we had been hiding in.

Running out of the room I saw that there was already an arsenal of men running towards us. Merle pushed me back and swung the door out so that we could hide behind it. Gunshots were ringing off of the metal door and I leaned around it, shooting at any foot that I saw. I knew that I had hit a few men as they went toppling to the ground. Merle managed to shoot the rest and I nodded at him, swinging the door back closed. A few men were still trying to stand and get back towards us. I shot them all in the heads as Merle watched out for anyone else. We were all still worried about any other men running after us seeing as the alarm was still blaring.

We darted out from behind the hall and ran off to the side. Men were already waiting for us as we both slid to a stop and I went sprawling onto the ground. I grabbed my gun back and backed away on the balls of my feet, shooting each of the men. They fell and I watched, standing back up so that we could run out of the hall and make it to the rest of our people. I automatically assumed that we would have to be leaving so we both ran back towards the exit. I could see Rosita and Aaron at the far end of the hall, clearly trying to beat back a few people. Michonne and Jesus were firing at men that were standing close to the doors and Abraham was running back to us, having just popped off a few rounds. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that Sasha was not with him or anywhere else to be found.

I was getting ready to run off and help Abraham find Sasha when a sudden weight hit me, slamming me into the wall. I called out for Merle but he was currently engaged with holding two men off. The man that was pressing me against the wall had knocked my rifle out of my hands and I groaned and the pressure that he was putting on my back. All I had to do was grab my pistol. My hand just barely closed on it and I pointed it on the ground, letting a shot off at the man's foot. He screamed loudly and hit me over the back of the head. I groaned in pain before pressing one foot up against the wall and pressing back as hard as I could. He was doing a good job holding me back but one hard push and I sent us flying into the other wall. My pistol went flying and we both lunged out to get it. But before he could wrap his hand around it, I grabbed it and turned back, blowing a bullet through his skull. It tore apart in front of me and I felt his blood and a few pieces of his brain spray across me.

Groaning I fell back into another body. I screamed and jumped back, raising my gun at the man's face. Daryl was standing behind me and knocked the gun out of my hand, clearly afraid that I was going to kill him. I apologized softly to him and he nodded, handing me back my gun. With most of our group back together, we all huddled together and headed out of the main hallway. Daryl yelled to me that Glenn and Heath had secured the armory and I nodded, glad that at least something was going right. As we walked out, shooting at anything that wasn't one of our own, we all realized that we were doing well. Almost everyone was back to us. Daryl and Merle were at my sides. Sasha and Michonne were checking hallways. Rick was at the front of the group. Rosita, Aaron, and Abraham were monitoring the back. That left only Glenn and Heath, who were making their way up from the armory now.

We were walking through piles of bodies, stepping over corpses and shooting people that were still fighting for life. As we made our way up to the front of the building, Glenn and Heath walked up to us, both of them looking stressed out. I knew that Glenn had never killed a living person. I assumed that he was thinking about the lives that he had finally had to take tonight. Judging by the look on Heath's face too, he had also never killed a living person. I knew how they felt. Killing a walker was nothing, it was like killing an animal because you were hunting. Killing a person though, that was taking away a life. As we all made our way out of the doors we sighed.

The sun was already up. We must have been in the building for longer than I had thought we were. Judging by the light outside I assumed that it was about seven in the morning. We had gone in just before daybreak. As we all made our way out of the building I noticed that everyone was quiet, no one really wanting to talk about what had just happened. But as I passed Rick I noticed that he was carefully examining each body that was laid out in the hallway. "What is it?" I asked him as I passed him, placing a hang on his shoulder.

Rick looked distressed as he was looking over the bodies. Michonne was walking up to him and I smiled at her. "Just- just want to know which one of them was Negan," he muttered softly before turning and walking out of the building. As we walked I got the sinking feeling that none of them were Negan. I wanted to believe that one of them was him, but they all seemed always willing to die to make sure that Negan was safe. If he had been in the compound, wouldn't everyone have flocked to him? To make sure that he was safe?

Still though, I didn't want to say anything to him. He had the right to believe that Negan was one of the men that we had just risked our lives to slaughter. As we walked out of the building I looked around at everyone and noticed that we hadn't suffered any losses. Jesus was standing in the grassy area at the side of the building and we were all smiling at each other. It was over. We had lived through this. We were safe. All we had to do was pick up Maggie and Carol and we would be on our way. Just as we were heading to the woods where they were waiting for us, I heard the loud banging of something that sounded like a garage door. Behind us, I saw a man, Hispanic and around his thirties, on a motorcycle, clearly trying to get away from us. But it wasn't just any motorcycle. It was Daryl's. "Son of a bitch!" Daryl yelled, chasing after the man and knocking him off of the bike, which went sprawling away from him. "Where'd you get the bike?" Daryl hissed at the man.

Running up to meet them, Rick had his gun pointed at the man as did I. We were both standing over the man who seemed to be the only person in the compound that we had left alive. He was staring at us, looking somewhere between amused and angry. "Just do it!" The man yelled at both Rick and I. His nose was bloody from where Daryl had hit him. He looked like he had a black eye too. "Like you did everyone else, right?" He asked as us with a little laugh.

Rick clicked the hammer on his gun and looked like he was about to shoot when his radio began to hiss and click. We all looked over at the radio that was hanging on his waist. "Lower your gun, prick," called a woman's voice on the radio. We all began to look around, wondering if the woman was somewhere close. If she was, we could shoot her. "You, with the Colt Python. All of you, lower your weapons right now," she said over the radio and my heart skipped a beat. So she could see us if she could see what gun he was using.

Jumping slightly, Rick pulled out the radio and I noticed that he was shaking as he grabbed the radio and clicked the button to talk to the woman that was on the radio. "Come on out. Let's talk," he said with a strong voice. He had to be brave. We had just killed their men. We were the ones with the bargaining chip. We had one more of theirs. They had nothing.

The radio hissed again and I looked around, wondering where this woman was actually hiding. "We're not coming out, but we will talk. We've got a Carol and a Maggie," she said and my heart dropped. So much for them not having a bargaining chip. Damn it. "I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about," she said and I could tell that she was laughing. I was looking everywhere to see if I could find where they were hiding with our women, but I couldn't. Rick patted me on the back to keep watch over the man on the ground and I nodded at him. He went to looking for the woman that was holding Maggie and Carol and I sighed. We had really thought that this was going to work out. We were foolish.

People were beginning to sweat and I could tell that Glenn had straightened up completely, praying that his wife was safe. He obviously didn't want to lose her. She was his wife and she was pregnant with their child. We had to get her back. "Now, we're gonna work this out right now, and it's going to go our way," Rick said. He was trying to keep his voice steady but it was shaking just a tiny bit. He released the button and there was no audio, the static just kept hissing. I could tell that Rick was panicking. "You can see we have one of yours. We'll trade," he said, looking down at the man who was laying on the ground, not breaking eye contact with me.

Static was hissing loudly as we all waited with baited breath to see if the woman on the radio would speak again. I was currently staring at the man on the ground, who was smirking up to me. He was clearly enjoying this after we had killed all of his friends. The woman on radio finally responded to us. "I'm listening," she said after what felt like an hour.

Rick was staring into the walkie as if he stared at it long enough he could kill the woman that was on the other end of it. Finally he pressed the button and I listened carefully to what he was saying to her. He had to be careful with his words there. They could easily kill our friends, I was pretty sure that they didn't really care about whether or not their man lived. "First I want to talk to Maggie and Carol, make sure they're all right," he finally told her and I nodded. That was a good idea.

It took a moment, a moment in which I was pretty sure that none of us were breathing. Glenn was walking around making short paces and I sighed at him. I could only imagine how he felt right about now. The radio finally hissed and we all turned back to it. I wanted to turn back but I knew that Rick would have my head if I looked away from the man for even a moment. "Rick, it's Carol," I heard the older woman's voice call over the radio. I breathed out and noticed that the tension in Daryl's shoulders fell away too. "I'm- I'm fine, but-" she began before being cut off.

The line went silent once more and we all sighed. I didn't blame the woman. She didn't want us to know anything more than the fact that our friends were safe. I would have done the same thing. Now we just waited to make sure that Maggie was safe too. "Rick, its Maggie. We're both okay," Maggie called over the radio and I heard Glenn give a soft sob. I wanted to go comfort him but this wasn't the time. "We'll figure this-" she continued but the line went dead once more. The woman clearly had control of the radio once more.

It was a moment that I could hear some rustling on the other end of the radio and I heard two more women speak. One sounded a bit like a smoker. I could hear her coughing and wheezing. The other sounded younger, maybe in her thirties or so. "You have your proof. Let's talk," the woman snapped at Rick, her patience running thin.

I hoped that Rick would tread lightly with this woman. We had no idea how short her fuse was and I could only imagine what she was going to do to Maggie and Carol is we accidentally pissed her off. I hoped that Maggie or Carol would scream, alert us to where they were hiding. "This is the deal right here. Let 'em go, you can have your guy back and live," Rick snarled into the radio.

Scoffing loudly at him, I drove the palm of my hand into my forehead. That was not the way that I wanted this to work out. I was pretty sure that what he had just said was something that she did not want to hear. He wasn't reasoning, he was demanding. "Two for one, that's not much of a trade," she said with a little drawl to her voice. She sounded bored, like she wasn't trying to trade for someone's life.

Obviously Rick didn't like that she wasn't willing to make this easy so he turned the radio back on and for a moment I really thought that he was going to just start cursing her to the heaven's. "You don't have another choice or you would've done something about it already," he said before taking his hand off of the button. We waited for a few minutes but no voice came back through the radio. So he tried again. "Look, I know you're talking it over. It's a fair trade. Just come out, we do this, we all walk away," he told her. I was pretty sure that he was actually being honest about that. But once more there was only static on the other end. "Do we have a deal?" Rick asked.

It felt like hours that we were just sitting around, waiting for her to say something back to us. But nothing came back through the radio for nearly five minutes. We just sat on the ground, myself and Daryl holding our guns up at the man who was watching us with curious looks. The radio static finally cut out and without meaning to, I looked away from the man and over to the radio. "I'll get back to you," the woman said and I scoffed. Rick and Glenn bit out a few curse words before coming together, Daryl leaving me in charge of watching the man who looked extremely pleased with himself. Not that I was sure why. We could still kill him easily.

For a while I just sat opposite him, my gun resting on my knees, angled right at him. He wasn't looking at me. He was looking all around us. Most of the rest of the group were standing around us, talking among themselves. But they all still had weapons aimed at the man. Not that they needed to. I had it covered. Rick, Glenn, and Daryl were off to the side, probably trying to devise a plan to get Maggie and Carol back. Not that there was really anything that they could do. We had no idea where our two girls were and even if we did, the minute that we came anywhere near them I knew that the woman over the radio and her friends would shoot the two women.

As we sat there, everyone staring at each other, I laid back in the grass a little, still aiming my gun at the man. I couldn't help but thinking, looking at him, whether or not he was Negan. That would explain how he was getting out of there without anyone else and why the women had not killed ours yet. It actually all made sense. But I wasn't sure if I could really believe that the man sitting right in front of me was the horror story that I had heard so much about. "Hey, you," I called to the man that was sitting in front of me. "What's your name?" I asked him.

He hadn't been looking at me but the moment that I asked him what his name was, he turned his head to me with something of a devious grin. Maybe he knew what I was going to ask him. He certainly looked like it. My heart was pounding as he leaned into me. My grip on the gun tightened a little bit at his movements. "Why do you care?" He asked me with a teasing lilt to his voice.

Scoffing at him, I leaned back and aimed my gun directly at his heart. Something about him was getting a little unsettling now and I didn't like it. Daryl had turned away from the two other men and he was watching us with narrow eyes. I gave him a tiny nod though, letting him know that I had this under control. "I don't really care what your name is. I'm just checking that you aren't the man that I'm looking for," I told him, knowing that I had just revealed to him who I was looking for.

The man smiled at me and laughed loudly. Loud enough that everyone turned away from me and came back to look at where the man and I were sitting, glaring and smiling at each other. Daryl and Rick both came to walk up to us but I motioned for them to back off. This was between this man and me. "Negan I take it?" He asked me and I found no point in lying to him. So I nodded, my heartbeat erratic. "Nah that ain't me. My name is Primo," he said and I nodded, not showing him the huge breath that I released. "Not that you care. I'm just gonna end up dead once this is over. You guys win, you kill me. They win, they kill me for getting caught by y'all assholes," he told me.

Part of me wanted to say something back to Primo, but before I could I heard Rick click on the radio. So I looked up over Primo's head and stared at where Rick was pacing, probably thinking of something that he could say to the people who had Maggie and Carol. "Have you thought about it?" Rick asked but the radio was silent. "Talk to me," Rick hissed, a hint of desperation sounding in his voice.

Just as I had expected, the only sound that was emitting from the radio was the same static that we had been listening to for over a half an hour. It was actually probably closer to an hour that we had all been sitting here, just waiting on any news. We couldn't leave either, we had to make sure that we had Maggie and Carol before we could go back home. "You weren't listening," the woman's voice finally called over the radio and every head snapped up, none faster than Glenn's. "I said I'd contact you," she snapped at us.

The static started to hiss once more and I sighed. This was obviously not going anywhere. At this rate we would be out here all night, waiting for one of us to make a move. Nobody wanted to be the one to start firing first. "Would it make a difference if I said I was sorry about that? What do you think?" Rick asked but the woman said nothing. The static went back to hissing and we all sighed. The only thing that we wanted was for this whole trade to work out. It was easy. "I think we're gonna make the trade, so tell me where," Rick told the woman.

I could only imagine how stressed out this woman actually was. Probably more than anyone else here. She knew that she was outnumbered and outgunned. Her only chance was to outsmart us, and that wasn't something that was going to be easy to do. She had no idea how smart we all were. We had been through this before. "We haven't agreed to that," the woman finally responded to us.

Out of the corner of my eye I could tell that Rick was about ready to throw the radio and have a fit. But he had to remain calm. Right ahead of me Primo was laying back in the grass, utterly pleased at the situation. We had been out here for an hour and he was raking the time to evidently work on his tan. At least he had a sense of humor. The static hissed for another minute before Rick pressed the button once more and said in a darker voice than I had heard from him in a while. "You will," he hissed at her.

The radio once more went silent and I rolled my eyes. That did not seem like a good thing to say to me. "You know what? I'm not so sure," the woman said and I sucked in a breath. This was exactly what I had been afraid of. Her deciding that this wasn't worth it and shooting Carol and Maggie and being done with it. They could run and we would never know where they were. "We'd be taking most of the risk, not getting much in the way of a reward," she said and I scoffed.

Before Rick said anything back I glanced over to Primo who looked like he hadn't even heard what the woman had said. He was leaning back in the grass with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. I scowled at him and flipped the gun over in my hands, wanting nothing more than to shoot him for not even trying to care about this. "The other option won't work out for you," Rick warned the woman.

This time, the woman over the radio took almost no time to respond. The radio immediately clicked and I leaned it a little bit to listen to what was going on between the two negotiators. "We'll take our chances," she told Rick flippantly before the static began to hiss again and Rick threw down the radio. I sighed and dropped back into the grass, staring at the man.

Now that the conversation had died back down and no one knew what else to say, we all sat there in silence. No one said anything for nearly two hours while we waited to see if the woman would ever call us back. But after that long of an absence it became clear to us that we were going to have to call her back ourselves. But no one knew what we were supposed to do. So we just sat there and stared at each other. Finally Rosita came over to me and relieved me from my duty of watching Primo and I smiled at her, thanking her and standing up, stretching my muscles. It took me a moment to crack all of the bones in my back before walking over to where Daryl was standing.

He seemed to be deep in thought because when I put a hand on his shoulder, he jumped a little bit. He turned to me and I gave him a soft smile, sinking into his arms. I had never really thought about how grateful I was that he hadn't been hurt during the invasion. He kissed me on the top of my head and I looked up at him. "You think that this is going to work?" I asked and Daryl cocked an eyebrow at me. "That we're going to get Maggie and Carol back? I want to think that we will but we don't know. We must have killed thirty, forty, of their men. And now we're holding another one captive. If they were smart they'd kill Maggie and Carol and leave. It would make things at least a little more even," I told him.

Daryl immediately shook his head and I leaned back into the fence, trapped between his arms. I could tell that people were watching us but I tuned them out. They didn't need to hear what we were saying to each other. "Don't say that. We're going to get them back, understand?" He asked me and I nodded at him sadly. I just wanted this day to be over. "Good. We get them back and then this thing is over. We get to go back home and pretend all of this never happened. We get to be a real family," he told me and I couldn't help but to smile at him.

It wasn't long ago that Daryl and I hated the thought of having a family together. It wasn't even that long ago, just over two years that we had hated each other. It was amazing how things could change between two people. He was right. I wanted a family, but this was not the time to have one. It might never be. But it meant the world to me that he at least wanted one with me. That he had one with me. "That's what I want. But you know something?" I asked Daryl, something still bothering me. He nodded for me to continue talking. "I was looking all over the place and I never saw D. I thought that he would have come back to the Saviors once he was caught," I said softly, not alerting anyone else to our conversation.

Daryl shook his head at me and I sighed. I knew that he wanted to believe that this was over but I couldn't. I was under the impression that this was nowhere near done with. "He had to have come back. This was the only place that he could find to go that would keep him safe. But I'm hoping that the second that he got back here Negan will have killed that asshole," Daryl told me and I nodded. That could be true. Negan could have had D killed the moment that he got back. "I didn't see him. He's gone. Just like Negan," Daryl told me and I nodded absentmindedly.

The radio hissed with static and I heard a voice call over it. "Asshole, are you there?" The woman on the radio called. It had been on the ground and quickly every other than Rosita ran over to it. The fact that she had insulted Rick blatantly went over all of our heads as we gathered around Rick and the radio. We were hoping that this was about to end.

Rick scrambled for the radio, nearly dropping it a few times as he finally managed to press the button. He took a few seconds to compose himself before speaking into the radio. "I'm here," Rick said quickly.

It seemed that this time around no one was waiting to say anything. It seemed that the women on the other end of the radio now wanted this over with as quickly as we did. That was a good thing. It meant that this would be over with soon. "We've thought about it. We want to make the trade," the woman said and I smiled brightly. Fantastic.

For the first time in what seemed like the years since this thing had started we were all thrilled because things were going right. We had taken out the group that was proving to be the biggest threat and we were going to get back the two other members of our family. It would mean that we suffered no losses. Things weren't going exactly the way we had planned but this was going better than I had thought that it would. It just took a few hours. "That's good," Rick said, a small anger in his eyes.

I could hear that the woman was saying something to her friends but I couldn't quite make it out. It was a moment before she finally cleared her voice and came back over the radio, clearly speaking to Rick once more. "There's a large field with a sign that says "God is dead" about two miles down I-66. Good visibility in all directions," she said and we nodded, knowing that we needed to get there soon. We had to get the jump on them before they could get there. They had to know that we were the ones that were going to win this thing.

Rick nodded and we moved forward into one group. I saw that Rosita had forced Primo to his feet and was currently coming up to the rest of us. We were all standing around and waiting for everything to happen. People were already running off to the RV getting ready to start it up so that we could get the hell out of here. "We'll meet you there. Ten minutes?" Rick asked the woman.

It was silent for a moment before we finally got the response that we were waiting for. "Ten minutes," she said before the line went dead. Rick nodded for us all to get back to the car and that was what we did. Everyone set out in a full sprint to the RV and I could hear Rosita and Glenn yelling at Primo to run faster. We arrived to the RV quickly and everyone piled in, people slamming the doors behind them. Rick and Glenn weren't really even in the RV before Abraham slammed on the gas to get us out of the Savior compound. The RV was flying down the road as we came up on the sign that the woman had told us about. But it had been nearly ten minutes and I noticed that the road was deserted. It seemed wrong to me.

Had we walked into a trap? That was what I was wondering but I looked off to the side to find a building, similar to the one that we had attacked, smoking. It looked like someone had set a fire from the inside and I stared at it for a moment before realizing what was going on. It was a signal. From Maggie and Carol. They were close to the road. This was probably supposed to be an ambush but Maggie and Carol had gotten to them first. Now they were warning us where they were. Or at least, that was what I was thinking. "Hey look! The building is smoking out there. It's Maggie and Carol. They got the woman that was holding them. They've killed them. I know they have. That's their message to come and get them," I said and everyone nodded.

It wasn't exactly like I had the best logic but it was better than just giving up. So we all jumped out of the RV and ran through the woods, praying that it was them inside the building. The doors were sealed once we got up, but one bullet from my clip and the lock released, allowing us all to swing the doors open and jump inside. To our pleasure, Maggie and Carol were standing there, stunned and shaken, but unharmed. I ran up to her and grabbed her in a hug, which she responded to. "Maggie. You okay? We got your trail. You start a fire?" He asked her, noticing the fire going in the room at the end of the hall we were standing in.

Rosita and Aaron were heading back further into the building and I noticed that there were walkers in the fire room. Walkers that had clearly been people not long ago. There were also walkers all over the hall, their bodies hung on rods. This had clearly been a massacre before we had gotten here. I could tell why Maggie and Carol looked so shattered. They were sick of the killing. "Yeah," Maggie said softly.

Glenn ran up to her and grabbed her, bringing her into a tight hug. I wanted to stay and make sure that she was alright but I assumed that it was something that was better left to her husband. So I turned around and looked back to see Daryl embracing Carol. She was standing there silently and looking like she was about to burst into a million pieces. I felt awful as I walked up to her and gave her a hug once Daryl had let her go. "Hey, you good?" He asked Carol once I had let her go.

As I walked away from her I heard her say no but I tuned it out as I walked forward and looked at the figures that were now clearly dead. The one that I believed was the ringleader had bright red hair and a stressed face. She had clearly been through a lot even though she didn't really look that old. Another woman was heavy set and looked about Carol's age. She was the one that I had assumed was a smoker. Looking at her I could tell that she certainly was a smoker. Her teeth were yellowed and the entire time that I had heard the redhead on the radio the other woman had been hacking and coughing. Those were dead giveaways of a smoker. The last woman had dark brown hair and looked like she was a few years older than me. They were all pushed back into the wires and being chewed on by walkers that were caught on the poles as well. For once I didn't bother killing the walkers. These women deserved it.

Rosita and Aaron finally returned from the back of the building, looking a little sick. I wanted to ask them what had happened but I felt like they probably wouldn't appreciate me saying anything. So I stayed quiet as I walked up to where Rick was now staring at Primo, looking extremely pissed. Daryl came up to one side of me and I stood up against him. Maggie was on my other side and she leaned against my shoulder. I moved my hair off to the side so that she could put most of her weight on me. "Your friends are dead. No one's coming for ya. So you might as well talk," Rick snarled at Primo, who, for the first time, looked a little nervous.

But his nervousness was nothing compared to the seething anger that was radiating off of Daryl at the moment. He was looking back in the room where the fire was still raging and snarled. "Let him burn," Daryl sneered at Primo. If we left him here long enough than I was sure that the fire would burn through the doors and it would eventually kill him. He would have it coming.

Leaning over to look at Primo, who was standing in the middle of the thick of us, I knew that there was no way that he was going to get out of this thing alive. We weren't bringing him back home. That would be too dangerous. We were risking too much by bringing him back. "I'm gonna ask you one last time how'd you get the bike?" Rick asked.

Primo snorted at us and shook his head. "We found it," he said and I scoffed loudly. That was bullshit. Both Daryl and I knew that it was a lie. D and his damn woman had taken Daryl's bike, his crossbow, and my longbow. I knew for a fact that these things had been taken from us. And after we had been trying so hard to make friends with those people. I hoped Negan had killed D.

Daryl seemed to be as upset with Primo as I was at the lie that Primo was telling. Maybe D had told them that he had found it but we knew that it wasn't true. He had stolen the bike and everything else from us. "Like hell you did," Daryl snapped.

Our leader was giving Daryl a look that told him to back down. Daryl did so, but he didn't look happy about it. "We found it," Primo repeated and I rolled my eyes. We were getting nowhere with this.

Obviously trying to do something other than asking where Primo had gotten the bike, Rick walked back over to Primo. The Spanish man was now on the ground and was looking up at us like we were evil. Of course he might have thought that we were. Not that it mattered. We needed information, and he was the one man that could give it to us. Not that I really trusted him to tell the truth. "Was Negan in that building last night or was he here?" Rick asked Primo.

For a moment Primo was silent and looked like he wouldn't answer. But suddenly he began to laugh. Not a quiet laugh like he couldn't believe this was happening or a humorless laugh. It was like he actually found this whole thing hysterical. Like he couldn't have cared less about what was going to happen to him. "Both," he said and I cocked my head at him. What the hell did that mean? "I'm Negan, shithead," he said with a nasty snarl and my heart jumped into my throat. Was he telling the truth? "There's a whole world of fun that we can talk about, so let's have a chat," he told us, grinning madly. A shiver shot down my spine at his words.

An unreadable expression passed over Rick's face and he shook his head at Primo/Negan. "I'm sorry it had to come to this," he said before brandishing his gun and shooting the man in the forehead. As he fell to the ground I thought that I would feel relieved, even the slightest bit happy. But I felt nothing. Carol was wearing a look of shock and everyone else seemed happy as we left the building. They thought that this was over. But as we left the building and I turned back to look at the corpse on the ground I got the sinking suspicion that Negan was still somewhere out there, probably in the woods, laughing his ass off at us. It was just a matter of time before he really came for that chat.


	53. Loose Ends

A bird was chirping outside of my window and I nearly laughed. We were in the middle of the damned apocalypse. People were all trying to kill each other, walkers were constantly trying to eat us, and I was almost positive that I would never be the suburban housewife that my mother had once wanted me to be. Not that I would have ever wanted to do anything like that. I didn't want the all American Dream. Kids might be something that I would think about one day, but that day was not now. All I wanted was a life with my husband. Who was currently nowhere to be found. As he was half of the mornings that I woke up. Honestly, if things were different I would have thought that he was cheating on me.

Standing up from bed, the sheets fell from around me and I shivered at the sudden blast of cold air against my bare skin. My clothes were strewn about the room from the night before but his had all been picked up. I did appreciate the fact that he had grabbed my weapons and set them back in their little corner at the back of our room. I walked over to the dresser and pulled it open. These days it was beginning to get a little colder so I knew that I would have to be careful about what I wore. I grabbed a pair of jeans that went down to my ankle with a slight roll in them. There were tears all down the legs and I tripped a few times, trying to pull them on and not get the tears caught in my toes. I grabbed my boots and pulled them on over my jeans before grabbing a bra and searching through my shirts. I didn't bother trying to search for a shirt that matched my clothing. I just grabbed a shirt off of the top and smiled at the one that I had gotten. It was a red and black plaid shirt with the sleeves torn off. It had once been Daryl's. I had stolen it long ago, when we had still been at the prison. I buttoned only two of the buttons in the middle of the shirt, leaving the neck dipping down slightly and the stomach open. The nights were getting chilly but the days were still hot.

As I walked into the bathroom I examined myself and nodded. Not that I really needed to look good in this world, but I did enjoy the looks that Daryl would give me when I wore low cut things and short pants. Smirking to myself I grabbed a brush and ran it through my hair. When all of the knots were finally out I braided my hair down my back and walked back out into the main room, grabbing my bow and arrows, a gun, and a knife, slipping the knife and gun into my thigh holster. Once I was satisfied that I had everything that I needed I walked out of the room and shut the door, making a vow to myself that someday soon I would clean out the room. Daryl and I were always clean in the prison, but the rooms were tiny. Here in Alexandria the rooms were huge and we had room to throw our things around. Since we were both so busy we had almost no time to clean the room. We actually didn't even spend that much time there in the first place.

As I walked out of the room and headed downstairs I smelled freshly brewed coffee. I hoped that it was Daryl making it so that I could take it and not get yelled at. As I walked down I prepared to greet Maggie but I was surprised to see that it was none other than Carl in my kitchen. I stared at him for a moment in shock and glanced down when I heard a cry. Judith was on the floor and I smiled at her, leaning down to give her a quick kiss before walked over to Carl. Carl finally turned back at me and smiled at me with a somewhat guilty smile on his face. I shook my head at him and walked over to Carl, leaning against the counter. "Sorry about this. Coffee maker is broken at home. I knew that yours was working," he told me and I nodded. That made sense as to why he was here. "You want some?" He asked me and I nodded once more at him.

He was pouring me the cup and walking over to the refrigerator to grab some of the creamer that we had made. It wasn't as good as store bought, but it wasn't too bad. It was just hard for us to get. The cows we had here weren't very fond of us meddling with them. "How's everything going with you, buddy? I haven't seen much of you lately," I said and Carl looked over at me with a sad sigh. His eye-patch was over the missing eye and I sighed at him. I was glad that he had taken it from me. I had joked at the time that it made him look like a pirate and I had always wanted to be one. He had laughed and I had fought to keep from looking at the gaping hole where his eye had once been. "I'm glad to see that you're doing better. You're one tough son of a bitch. Got shot in the chest and lost an eye, nothing slows you down," I told him, roughly punching his shoulder.

Carl laughed at me and punched me back. He was tough. He had come a long way from the little kid that had gone running to his mother every time that he had seen a walker. He was now tougher than most of the rest of the group. With the exception of Rick, Michonne, Rosita, Abraham, Sasha, Merle, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, Carol, and myself. The young boy handed me the cup and I thanked him, keeping the boiling mug on the counter. "You know, I thought that having one eye was going to be harder. It isn't bad at all actually," he told me and I cocked an eyebrow, grabbing an apple and munching on it, handing it to Carl. "It's just a little bit harder to see everything. But I'm, getting back into shooting and using my knife without any problems," he said and I nodded.

He handed me the apple back and I took it, smiling that he had nearly bitten the entire thing off. "Good, good," I told him absentmindedly, dumping the core into the trash and grabbing a package of peanut butter and a spoon and digging into the mushy substance. Carl and I traded off eating the snack as we both leaned against the counter. "Now what about with everything else?" I asked him and he glanced up at me with a curious face. "How are you getting on with your dad and Michonne?" I asked carefully, hoping that I wasn't about to offend him.

He seemed to be okay with the fact that his father and Michonne were in a relationship but I didn't know what was really going on behind closed doors. It could be a disaster. But I would have thought that Rick would have mentioned something to me if Carl hadn't liked them together. We usually went to each other if we had some type of relationship issue. Whether with our significant others or other group members. "I kind of saw it coming. I think that everyone did though," he told me and I nodded with a little laugh. He was right about that. I had thought since I had seen the two of them together at the prison that they were going to get together at some point. "No one could ever replace my mom but Michonne is just as good as one," he told me and I smiled brightly. I had always figured that Carl had seen Michonne as a second mother figure since Lori had died. "And I see how happy she makes him. I'm glad that he has her. It's been a year since she died. Maybe more. Jessie was the wrong person for him but Michonne, I think that she's the right one," he told me.

Once more I grinned brightly, glad that Carl could see on the bright side of things. But I hadn't thought that Carl hadn't liked Jessie. Although I didn't blame him. Something had always seemed a bit off to me about her. But maybe it was because I was biased since one of her shitty kids had threatened to kill Rick and had then shot Carl in the eye. "Me too," I told him and he smiled. "I'm glad that you approve of them. I know that it means everything to your father to have your approval. So what about with you?" I asked him with a little grin. He stared at me sidelong and I smiled brightly at him. He may have been a kid but that didn't mean that he couldn't have a little fun. After all, I was pretty sure that Carl was fifteen now. "He has Michonne, who do you have? What's her name? Enid right?" I asked, eliciting the response that I wanted. His eyes went wide and his face went white. "What's going on there?" I teased.

For a moment Carl just stood there, staring at me and stuttering stupidly. He was such a typical fifteen year old boy. He wanted nothing to do with girls. He wanted to be out with his friends and family, killing walkers and the enemy. Not a normal experience for a fifteen year old. I could only imagine what Judith was going to be like. "Enid?" He finally managed to choke out and I smiled at him. He really had no idea how much entertainment I got out of him. "Oh nothing. She's nice but she's a little weird. I've been trying to get her to open up to me and tell me what's been going on but she won't. I'm trying to figure her out though," he told me and I nodded with a little smirk. I was making a bet with myself that he was going to end up with her. "She seems to like Maggie and Glenn," he told me.

Over the past four or so months that we had lived here I had seen Enid coming in and out of the house a few times. Glenn had apparently caught her running from Alexandria and had brought her back to protect her. She had evidently became close to them after that. I had exchanged a few words to the younger girl. I liked her, she reminded me of myself when I was younger. Perhaps one day I would have to sit down and have a little chat with her. "Yeah I've seen her over here a lot with them. I haven't said much to her but she seems nice enough," I told Carl, who nodded while putting away the peanut butter. "Anyways, do you have any idea where my husband is?" I asked him. I had been thinking that Daryl would be down here but he was nowhere to be seen. "I swear I need to put a tracker or a bell on him or something. He disappears all the time on me," I muttered.

Although it sounded like a joke I had actually meant it. Daryl always left and never told me where he was going. One of these days I was going to put that bell on him. It made me so mad that he couldn't even tell me where he was going. Of course the number of times that I had run off and ended up being injured, on the verge of death a few times, he had a right to leave me without saying where he was going. Usually it wasn't far either. We rarely left the community without telling each other. Carl laughed at me and nodded. "He's right outside. Just sitting on the steps. I think that he was waiting for you to wake up, he didn't want to bother you," he told me.

I nodded at him and sighed. I would have to grab Daryl and force him to find something to do with me for the day. It was very rarely that we didn't do anything during the day. Those days were usually spent huddled up in our room together but that wasn't something I wanted Carl to know. I sighed and for a moment thought that maybe it would be better if we just hid from everyone today. It would be so nice just to get to watch movies and eat popcorn and lay together for a day. But that wasn't our life. "Alright, thanks kid," I told Carl before ruffling his hair and walking past him. He shook his head at me as I walked past and I smiled at him, making sure that I had my coffee. "Hey just do me a favor and clean up those cups will you!" I whisper yelled to him. I wasn't sure if Glenn and Maggie were awake yet and I didn't want to be the one to wake them if they weren't. Especially not Maggie. Never piss off a pregnant woman. "See you around. Watch out for your dad for me, new love makes people stupid," I told him as I walked through the living room.

"Really?" Carl asked me and I turned back to him and nodded with a little smile. When I had been thinking about my feelings for Daryl way back at the farm a walker had attacked me because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. I didn't want Rick making the same mistake. "I didn't know that yours and Daryl's love is new," Carl told me and I stopped dead in my tracks. He was normally such a stoic boy and I rarely heard him make jokes. But that had been a good one. I laughed and grabbed a pillow off of the couch before chucking it at Carl. It hit him in the face and he laughed, tossing the pillow onto the couch.

Not bothering to say anything else I walked through the living room and opened the door, ready to head out and see where it was that Daryl had gotten off to. To my pleasure though, he hadn't gone far at all. He was sitting on the middle step of our porch and I smiled at him. He had only been waiting out here because he wanted to smoke. He had a cigarette dangling from his lips and he was blowing some smoke out. He was clearly out here waiting for me to wake up. I smiled at him and took a few steps forward. He stiffened immediately and I smirked. He was a damned good hunter, he could always sense the slightest change in the atmosphere.

Slowly walking up to him I took in a drink of the coffee and walked over to him. I sat on the step below him and smiled as he wrapped an arm over my shoulder, letting me lean back into him. I did so and took a drag of the cigarette before nodding at him to take it back. "You got out of bed early. Still thinking about the other day?" I asked and he grunted. His hand was over my arm and he was circling patterns into it, making me smile at the goosebumps that were rising on my arms. "Me too," I said softly, grabbing the cigarette and taking a few long drags and blowing them out. A few parents walking by me were glaring at us but one quick stare from Daryl and I sent them scurrying the other way. Most of the Alexandrian's were smart enough to realize that we were protecting them but they still didn't like us. They thought that we were brash and rude. And in Daryl and I's case, they thought that we were inappropriate with our clothing choices and smoking. "I wish that I felt better about it. I just can't shake the feeling that we didn't see D or Honey. And I have a feeling that they were both captured by Negan's men. He doesn't seem like the type to just let people leave," I said and Daryl grunted.

He took the cigarette back from my hands and I turned to sipping the coffee. Right in front of us was Daryl's bike and I smiled, knowing that he was glad to get it back. Now if only we could get my bow and his crossbow back. "That wasn't all of them. You're right," he said and I cocked my head at him. He rarely liked to admit that I was right. "I was up all night thinking about it. It's just a matter of time before we find them again. It's gonna be war when we find them," he told me and I nodded. There wasn't the slightest doubt in my mind that if we ever found the Saviors again we would go to war. "And I'll be sure to say hello to D again," he told me.

Laughing softly I shook my head and rolled my neck back to crack my neck. Daryl rubbed against the bones in my neck and I sighed contently. His hands were rubbing over the sore muscles as Carol walked up to us. I smiled at her and gave her hand a tight squeeze as she took a seat on Daryl's other side. Daryl gave her a silent greeting and I rolled my eyes. It was only on his best days that he would actually say hello. "Got your bike back," she noted, pointing at the bike that was directly in front of the house.

With the three of us up on the porch together I sighed. The weather was warmer today than it normally was. But it was nice. I was going to hate this first winter in Virginia. There had been a reason that I had always lived down South. "Yeah," Daryl told her. I handed him the coffee and he drained a few sips before thanking me and handing the cup back.

Taking the cup back from Daryl I handed it over to Carol and she took a sip before handing it back to me. I knew that she was more of a tea person but we all wanted coffee in this world. Anything to help us perk up for the day. "You got another one of those?" Carol asked, motioning to the cigarette in his hands. He nodded at her and handed her one, lighting it quickly. She took a drag before letting out the smoke and sighing, leaning back into the porch. "Thanks," she said and he nodded. We were silent for a moment before she spoke up once more. "Those people you met, the ones in the burnt forest, they took it from you?" She asked him.

Once more, Daryl said nothing. "Yeah," he muttered to her, clearly not wanting to talk about it. I knew that he was still sore from the fact that he had lost the bike and our weapons in the first place.

She nodded and leaned up from the porch. She was sitting with her head slightly between her knees. She looked sad and I wondered what was going on with her. I knew that she and Tobin had been together for a few weeks and she seemed to like him, but something always seemed missing between the two of them. I had a feeling that she was keeping herself closed off from him. "You saved them, right?" She asked Daryl, who nodded, looking a little upset that she had brought this up. Carol seemed to notice immediately. "Sorry. It's who you are. We're still stuck with that," she said, clearly trying not to make it sound like a bad thing.

Shaking his head, Daryl drank a little more of the coffee until he drained the cup. I scoffed lightly, having only gotten a few sips of it. But it was alright. I always stole food off of Daryl's plate while he wasn't paying attention. I knew that he knew that I stole his food, but he never said anything. It warmed my heart. "No, we ain't. I should've killed them. Rain wanted to kill them. I made the mistake to go back to them," he told me and I sighed, grabbing his hand. He had done the right thing. I was just the person that needed to try and trust people more. "She was right. It's just how she always said. I should have listened to her," he said.

Not liking how dark the conversation was quickly turning after my lighthearted chat with Carl a few minutes prior I shook my head and nudged Daryl softly. "Well we all know that. Daryl, I'm your wife. You should know that a man who listens to his wife is always the happiest," I said and both Daryl and Carol laughed at me. She nodded and told him that I was right before she spotted Tobin walking past. He looked like he wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to interrupt to say something to her. "Go see him," I told her and she nodded at me, walking off with Tobin. I waited for a moment before grabbing Daryl's hand and pulling him to his feet. "Come on, you. We should go see if we can help. Unless you'd like to stare at your bike a little longer?" I asked him with a little teasing grin.

He scoffed at me and shoved past me as we began to head towards the front of the community. We walked together and I noticed that on the other side of the lake Merle was walking with Moira. I smiled and waved at the two of them. Moira was smiling at him and waved him off as Eugene walked past. Merle strutted off with the dark haired man and the pair were joined a moment later by Abraham. "It's nicer to me than you are," Daryl said and I glanced over at him.

How was that bike nicer to him than I was? I slept with him. That automatically made me better than his damn bike. "Says the man that hit me with a baseball bat the first time he met me," I snarled at him. It was a joke but we were both going to mess with each other. It was something that we did when things seemed to be getting a little too serious.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders like it didn't matter that I had been hit with a baseball bat and I shook my head. That really fucking hurt. I wished that I could go back just so I could hit him with it and he could see just how badly it had hurt. "That was Glenn," he told me and I rolled my eyes. That was actually true. "And you head-butted me," he said and I scowled at him.

It had been because of the head-butt that Daryl and I had first yelled at each other. But still, it didn't matter. They had both hit me and it had hurt. Plus he so deserved the head-butt. He had scared me. "Still counts," I told him with a shrug. "And you scared me! And I tried to apologize to you but you yelled at me. And left me to deal with your brother!" I hissed softly, glancing over to Merle, who was currently helping someone who seemed to be having car trouble. "Oh and let's not forget to mention that I got shot trying to save your stupid brother. You two are the reason that I've nearly died so many times," I scoffed as we passed Sasha and Abraham.

We all chirped hello's to each other as we continued to walk towards the front of the community and Abraham and Sasha walked towards the back. I sighed softly as I heard the pair laughing and chatting together. I knew that Rosita had been with Abraham for almost this entire time and now he was no longer with her, clearly interested in Sasha. I could only imagine how angry she was. But recently she seemed to have taken a mild interest in Spencer, Deana and Reg's remaining child. "At least we make your life more interesting," he told me and I scoffed. That was true. With the Dixon boys I never had a dull day. "And yet you still said yes," he told me with a little smirk.

He was right. I had said yes and I hadn't even thought about it before I had. I had known that I wanted to marry Daryl. He was the only person that I would have ever wanted to marry. "Well that should say something about my awful taste in men," I told Daryl with a little chuckle and he rolled his eyes, shoving me back. As we walked up to the gate I noticed that Denise was standing near it, watching Daryl and I as we walked. I smiled at her and she smiled back at me, looking like she was debating whether or not we should go up to her and say something. "Denise looks like she wants to say something to us. Let's go see what she wants," I told Daryl. He rolled his eyes at me and didn't look happy about my suggestion but I forced him with me. "Hey Denise," I chirped at the blonde woman.

She was shuffling her feet against the floor slightly but she smiled at us anyways. "Hi Rain. Daryl," she said. I noticed that she didn't sound nearly as friendly with Daryl as she did with me. I knew that she was more afraid of him than she was of me. Not that I blamed her. Daryl was intimidating. "Look, there's something that I wanted to ask the two of you about," she said and we both nodded. "After I got out of DC, I just drove," she said and both Daryl and I cocked our heads at her. What was she going on about? "I remember seeing it right when I realized I had no idea where I was going. Edison's Apothecary and Boutique. It's just this little gift shop in a strip mall, but if it's really an apothecary, they had drugs," she told us and we both nodded, finally understanding.

Out of all of the things that we went through so quickly, medicine seemed to always go the fastest. Even though it seemed like people weren't sick or injured that much. But when people were sick or injured it was always awful. Like when Carl had lost his eye. I knew that we had burned through a lot of medical supplies for him. Any time that someone was stabbed or shot, we went through nearly half of the medical supplies. It took a lot to keep someone alive and healthy after being shot or stabbed. "How do you know they still got 'em?" Daryl asked.

He was right. If she hadn't been to that place since the beginning of this thing there was a good chance that it could have already been emptied. Drugs and food seemed to have gone first. Clothes were the only thing that came in abundance these days. "It isn't that far. I just wanna check," she told me and I nodded. If it wasn't that far we could probably be in and out in an hour or two. "And you, Rain, and Rosita aren't out scavenging or pulling shifts," she tried to convince Daryl, who looked less than thrilled.

Over these past few days he was exhausted and I didn't blame him, I was too. But even after everything that we had been through and everything that we had done we still needed to continue on with life. We couldn't just stop because of what we had done. It was heavy shit. We had killed nearly thirty men. But just as before the end of the world, life goes on. You do something hard and then you keep on ticking. "Look, its fine. She's right, we have nothing better to do. Might as well make ourselves useful. We'll go," I said to Denise and Daryl scoffed. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Rosita walking with Spencer and I called her over. "Rosita! Come here!" I yelled and she glanced up. She said a quick goodbye and began to head over to us. "Look, Denise says there's an Apothecary not far from here. It has drugs. We can go and scope it out, be back long before dinner," I told her as she walked up to us.

Immediately Rosita turned a scrutinizing glare on Denise and I saw the woman shuffle on her feet for a moment. I didn't blame her. When Rosita gave people that piercing stare it was a little nerve wracking. Before she could say anything though, Denise cut in. "I wanted to check. I just wanted to help," Denise said softly. I could tell that she was uncomfortable being around three people that clearly knew what they were doing.

Part of me felt bad for Denise. I knew that she felt useless. She couldn't handle herself around the walkers. But most of the Alexandrian's couldn't. They were all the type of people to let us take care of the problems and then have dinner ready for us when we got home. At least they did something. Denise was a good doctor, but I knew that she wasn't as confident since Pete had been killed by Rick. He had been a real surgeon. Not to say that she was a bad doctor, but Pete was better. And she knew that. But she was good enough. After all, she had saved Carl after his eye had been shot out. He could have died but she had saved him. And she's been keeping a good eye on Maggie over the past few months. "How much time you spend out there?" Daryl asked her.

Before Denise even opened her mouth to tell him the answer, I knew what her answer would be. She hadn't spent any time out there. I could tell by just how nervous she was. She knew that all of us were thinking about whether or not this run was going to be worth it. We were risking four lives just too maybe get some drugs. "None," she answered sheepishly.

Part of me wanted to step in to defend the woman but I knew that there was nothing to defend her with. She was weak. She had nearly thrown up when we told her that we were going to go and kill all of the Saviors. Of course most of the Alexandrian's had reacted that way. They didn't understand the kind of threat that people could be. "Forget it," Daryl snapped and Denise and I sighed. Rosita was nodding in agreement and looked a little angry that I had interrupted her day for this. I wanted to let Denise prove herself but I knew better than anyone else that this world was a dangerous one to try and prove yourself in. One small mistake would get you killed. Beth had learned that far too soon. I refused to let it happen to anyone else.

Rosita began to walk away but before she could Denise spoke up once more. "I can ID the meds," she called out and Rosita turned back around. I could tell that somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that potential medicine was too good to pass up. "I know how to use a machete now. I've seen roamers up close. I'm ready," she told me and I snorted, not meaning to. Seeing them up close was nothing. Before I had left my apartment two years ago I had seen them up close. But the first time that I had ever gotten into a fight with the walkers I had nearly gotten bitten. Seeing them up close and fighting them off were two totally different things.

Shaking my head, I knew that things would have to get desperate to have to babysit her while we went out on the run. It was risking too much. We couldn't have our last doctor dead. We needed one in case of Maggie. And it was too far for her to have to wait out a trip to Hilltop. "You could make us a list too. Tell us what we need. Or we go and get everything," I told her. Daryl and Rosita both nodded at me, seemingly happy that I was siding with them to not let Denise come, no matter how bad I felt about leaving her here. Especially when the Apothecary had been her idea in the first place. "This isn't the first run we've ever made to get drugs. We know what it is that people need," I tried to console her.

She looked disappointed that I didn't want her going but I wanted her to know that I wasn't saying no to her because I didn't think that she was capable. Even thought that was true. I was telling her no because we couldn't risk our only doctor. We had almost always had one and in the times that we hadn't had one, we had always gotten lucky with people not being injured. "So you're saying no to her going?" Daryl asked me and I nodded, feeling immensely guilty at the put out look on Denise's face. "You good with this?" Daryl asked Rosita, curious if she was alright with bringing Denise along. If one person was then we would probably have to bring her.

Of course we didn't have to think about the final solution for very long before Rosita answered. "No," she snapped. She was leaving no room for an argument. But Denise didn't sense that.

Standing with her hip cocked out to the side I smiled as I saw just a little hint of Tara in Denise's stance. Denise had definitely come out of her shell since Tara had come into her life. She was good for the girl. Denise brought Tara a little bit of peace in her life and Tara brought out the fighter in the doctor. They made a good balance. I was always convinced that Daryl and I just revved each other up. But we enjoyed it. The banter we had going together seemed to cheer people up during hard times. "I'll go alone, if I have to," Denise told us.

My heart immediately jumped into my throat and I shook my head at her. If Denise went with us there was a chance that we could keep her alive. She would be with three well trained people. But if she went on her own I had no doubt that she would end up either dead or injured. She wasn't that strong. If she went out there she had to go with some form of protection. "You'll die alone," Rosita snapped at her and I turned to the woman.

I liked Rosita, so did most of the group. She was as tough as nails and had a good sense of humor when she chose to use it. She reminded me of myself a little bit. And besides Carol and Maggie, I was pretty sure that I was the closest to Rosita. Although I also butted heads with her from time to time. It was probably because we were so similar. Neither one of us ever wanted to budge when we were set on something. "I'm asking you to make sure I don't," Denise told her. I was impressed that she hadn't backed down at Rosita's cruel jeer.

Clearly Rosita wanted nothing to do with Denise though. She had about as much tolerance for people that didn't know how to handle themselves as I did. The only thing was that I appreciated the fact that Denise was trying. Rosita just thought that it was a way to get herself killed. "I'm not babysitting her by myself," Rosita said and I rolled my eyes. She wouldn't be babysitting her by herself. We would be with her. There would be three of us. We would keep Denise either in the middle or in the background while we made sure the place was safe.

Shaking my head, I knew that there was only one way to end this thing so that we could all get what we needed and no one would end up dead. "Look if we don't go, it's obvious that she's going to follow us and get herself killed. We might as well let her come with us so she doesn't end up dead," I said. Rosita stared at me for a minute before scoffing and nodding. She didn't want to do this but she clearly wanted to avoid a fight with me. And I assumed if she sat here all day with nothing to do she was going to go stir crazy. Not that I blamed her. "Stay in the back and keep away when we tell you too, got it?" I asked Denise. She nodded at me and I smiled. "Good. Let's go. We're wasting daylight," I hissed as we walked out of the community.

Up in the guard tower Rick and Carl were on duty and I yelled to them what we were doing. They nodded and warned us to be careful before allowing us to leave and take one of the trucks. It was one that Michonne had found and apparently it was quite temperamental. Daryl had insisted that he would be able to work it though and Michonne had tossed him the keys. It was set back a ways from the community and I stared at it with distaste. It was an old green pickup truck that was battered a bruised. If there was one thing that I had spent money on before the world had ended I had been on my cars. I had had two. A truck that I used for my internship to lug things around that I used most of the times. But I had also had an older Firebird that I had loved. I didn't take it out very often and it had pained me to leave it. I wondered if I went back to my old apartment right now if it would still be sitting in the garage or if someone had long since taken it.

Sighing at the loss of my old car I jumped into the passenger seat of the truck and crinkled my nose. It smelled like a cat had died in here. As Rosita jumped behind Daryl, who was in the driver seat, she scoffed at the smell as well. Denise climbed in behind me and she seemed to be the only one that the smell didn't bother. Daryl immediately threw the car into gear and I noticed that it was a stick shift. I was okay with them but I didn't know them as well as he did. The gears began to grind and I lurched forward with the truck as it came to a grinding halt. Daryl stared at the truck in wonder as did Rosita. I heard Denise mumble something in the back and I turned back to her. "It- the what?" Daryl asked as he looked in the rear view mirror to see what she was talking about.

Denise's face immediately went red and she shook her head, glancing down into her lap. I could tell that she didn't want to say anything to Daryl to make him think that she was stupid. I didn't blame her. Daryl didn't hold back what he was thinking. Not even to me. And I was his wife. I could only imagine what he would say to her. Some girl that wasn't even his friend. "Forget it," she finally mumbled.

For a moment I thought that Daryl was going to let it go. But once more the truck lurched forward and my head snapped back to the seat rest. I turned to Daryl with a glare and he sighed before glancing back up to her. He continued to try and get the car to run but all that was happening was the gears were grinding together. It seemed like any second now the truck was going to fall apart. "No, what?" He asked her.

It was obvious that Rosita and Daryl thought that she was going to say something stupid but when she did, I smiled at their doubt being shot down. "I think maybe you're disengaging it too soon," she told her. I grinned as he turned back and stared at her for a moment. He looked pissed that she might have known something that he didn't. Especially about cars. She blushed and looked down at the floor. I smirked at her, knowing that she was afraid that he would turn back and yell at her to shut the hell up. "I've been driving stick since I was fifteen, usually beat-up trucks like this. I mean, before- you know, before I left home," she said. I nodded at her and Daryl finally managed to throw the car into gear, this time the truck gave a small lurch but continued to drive. My husband looked so infuriated that I couldn't help but to laugh. Even Rosita had the tiniest bit of a smirk on her face. "My brother taught me, so I just know," she said and I smiled. Daryl heard me snort and smacked my leg before going back to driving. I hissed in pain and shook my head, leaning back and putting my feet up on the dashboard, blocking out Denise's directions.

We went flying down the road and I sighed, leaning back in the chair. The ride was nice with the windows down and I let the breeze flutter through my hair. I had gotten some woman to cut it the other day and it felt so much lighter. Instead of hitting near my waist now it was hanging right around my shoulder blades. I could hear Denise giving Daryl instructions and I smiled. I had a feeling that somewhere in the back of his mind he did like the woman. After all, he had gone through all of that trouble just to get the orange soda for her that Tara would have wanted. I hoped that Tara was safe with Heath out on their run. They were going to be gone for nearly two weeks. I was pretty sure that they still had another week to go before they came back. I was sure that it was driving Denise nuts not knowing where her girlfriend was.

Not knowing where Daryl was would drive me up the damn wall. I could only imagine how he felt that night after we had left the farm. I had passed out that night but Daryl had been awake the entire night, wondering where I had been. It was how I was sure that we both felt after the prison had fallen. But Daryl had been through more with me than I had been through with him. He had waited for me to wake up after the sickness at the prison, and after the fall of the farm. He had seen me abused in more ways than possible and he had seen me be abducted more than any person should ever be. He had seen me get shot trying to protect his brother. It was a wonder how Daryl hadn't had a heart attack yet at the ways that I made his life harder. But we both knew that we wouldn't want it any other way. I would rather spend the rest of my life worrying over Daryl rather than never have known him. My life had been nothing before him, before all of my family.

A soft call came from the back of the car and I snapped myself out of my reverie to glance over at Daryl and the road. I saw that there was a huge tree downed in the road and I sighed. There was no way that we were getting around that and there were trenches all around us. We weren't going to be able to drive around this. The rest of the trip would be a walking one. Hopefully it wasn't far to the Apothecary. "Daryl," Denise called out and a moment later I heard the gears grinding as he slowed the truck down.

The only good thing was that a gas station was right next to the downed tree. We could check that out before we went on to the Apothecary. Gas stations were usually good for grabbing hygiene items. "Yep," Daryl said as he pulled the car to a complete stop and I grunted at the lurch that the truck gave. I hated this damn thing. "Stay here," Daryl warned Denise as Rosita and I climbed out of the truck.

She looked like she wanted to argue but she said nothing, merely laying back in the chair. I slammed the door shut and walked out onto the road, heading back to the gas station with Daryl and Rosita. She decided to stay by the truck to make sure that Denise had protection while Daryl and I were going to search the old gas station. It didn't look very big but it would probably have something that we could use. I heard a walker snarling off in the distance and I turned back, seeing one slowly hobbling towards us. "I got it," I chirped and my group members nodded to me. Nocking an arrow I let it fly and watched as the walker fell. I hated this thing. The string was too loose. Rosita went to grab the arrow and I thanked her as Daryl and I headed into the store.

There was more growling behind us but Rosita took care of the walkers as Daryl and I walked into the store. There were a few walkers in the store but they were clearly breaking down from the lack of food. It took almost nothing to take them down and continue on with our search. "This happened fast. Tree rotted out. It wasn't people," Daryl said, referring to the trees that were downed outside. I nodded at him, knowing that this wasn't a person that had done this. I was convinced that it was more than likely weather or diseases that were traveling through the trees. The growling of the walker's stopped and we made our way to the racks. "Come on, it's clear," Daryl told me.

Nodding at him, I grabbed a basket and made my way into the back of the store. There wasn't a lot but I could tell that the store had never been sacked. This place just didn't have much in it. It was in the backwoods and these stores usually didn't have much in them. Still I picked up a few bottles of shampoo and conditioner not caring what they were. Once I was satisfied that I had enough I grabbed a few packages a feminine hygiene products, making sure that they weren't the cheap ones. As I walked through the aisles I grabbed some toilet paper and a few boxes of condoms. There were plenty of couples in Alexandria and I was sure that most of them weren't looking to get pregnant. After tossing in a few boxes of standard painkillers I walked into the final aisle and grabbed some razors. It wasn't much but it was more than nothing.

Daryl whistled to me and I walked over to him, glancing at what he was holding. It was a bottle of cheap wine and I rolled my eyes with a little laugh. It was so like Daryl to grab something like that. Of course it looked like we couldn't eat much of what was in here. I supposed he had probably grabbed it for the two of us to drink tonight. Smirking at him I kissed him quickly on the lips before dragging him out of the store. As we walked out Rosita immediately walked up to us and glanced at my find with a smile before turning to Daryl. "What'd you find?" She asked him.

Smirking at her, Daryl walked up to her and handed out the bottle. As I glanced at the underside I laughed and shook my head. In the previous world the bottle would have cost three dollars. It was just a cheap mix that college students would go and buy to get drunk. I was familiar with it. "Bottles of booze. Any takers?" He asked.

I smiled at Daryl and shook my head, tossing the bottle and the hygiene products into the back of the truck. Rosita smirked and shook her head at Daryl's antics. She had been around him long enough to know that my husband was funnier than he looked. He just had a different type of sense of humor. Denise on the other hand looked extremely sick as she looked at the bottle. I wondered if maybe she had been an alcoholic at one point. "No, thanks," she said as Daryl held the bottle out to her.

He merely shrugged his shoulder at her and turned back to me. He gave me a little wink and I rolled my eyes. I knew what he was hoping for tonight. Not to say that I wasn't though. I was young and with all of the work that I did to keep myself in shape, my stamina was at an all-time high. It made for some long nights. I laughed and rolled my eyes as Daryl nudged me. "For later," he whispered to me.

On the other side of me I heard Rosita snort and she laughed softly, nudging me on the shoulder. I was sure that she would appreciate bringing a bottle of that back to Spencer as well. I wasn't going to say anything to her but she had good taste. Spencer was hot and he was slowly getting better acclimated to this world. "I'm not bringing these to the pantry," Denise said and the jovial mood was cut off. We all turned back to Denise with the cock of our heads. "I'm good. They were kind of my parents' thing. Which is why they aren't mine," she said and I nodded. Now I saw what she meant. For a moment I wondered if her father was anything like Daryl's or mine.

My two other companions shrugged and began to head back to the truck. They were about to climb back into the truck but I shook my head, grabbing Daryl. There was no way that the truck could make it through that. It was too big. The bike was probably the only thing that could make it through there. And even that would be a tight squeeze. "That truck ain't gonna make it past this tree," Daryl noted and I nodded. Rosita seemed to agree as she walked away from the truck. Denise didn't look like she wanted to believe him but she nodded anyways.

We all sighed knowing that the walk was probably longer than we wanted to deal with. But there was nothing that we could do other than walk or turn back. And we had come out here too far to turn back. "Come on, let's walk," Rosita said and I nodded. Not that I wanted to walk. I groaned and she laughed softly, pulling me with her.

Walking straight along the road I sighed and kept along with Rosita and Daryl. Denise was standing close by us and every once in a while we would all look over at her to make sure that she was alright. Perhaps we were all thinking that she was going to keel over and die on us at any moment. I wouldn't be surprised. I didn't know when the last time it was that Denise had gone long distances but it clearly hadn't been recently. As we walked we came up to railroad tracks and I smiled. This would probably cut the trip in half. But it would also leave us exposed. "Hold up. Looks like a straight shot if we follow the tracks," Denise said.

Daryl had been about to walk past the tracks and I assumed that he was thinking the same thing that I was. People tended to stay on the tracks most of the time. And I was absolutely positive that the threat of the Saviors was still out there somewhere. If we met them again I wanted it to be all of our strongest against them. Not just Daryl, Rosita, myself and a woman that we needed to protect. "No. No tracks. We'll take the road," Daryl said and I nodded. It was longer but probably safer.

Despite the fact that I agreed with my husband both Rosita and Denise looked pissed at the thought that he didn't want to go over the tracks. They weren't thinking beyond their own exhaustion. "That's twice as far," Rosita argued.

Shaking my head at her I grabbed my bow and nocked an arrow onto it. I had the horrible feeling that someone was near despite the fact that all was silent other than our quiet conversation. I was probably just being paranoid though. "He's right," I said and Rosita glanced over to me. "People tend to stay towards the tracks. That means that there's a good chance that we can run into some unsavory characters. Going around is longer, but it's safer too," I told her.

She nodded but looked like she still didn't want to go with us. I didn't blame her. It was abnormally hot for this time of year and we were all wearing warmer weather clothes. I couldn't believe that Denise was wearing jeans and a jacket. At least Rosita and I had stuck with long sleeved shirts. We stood there staring at each other before Daryl finally spoke up. "Go whichever way you like. I ain't taking no tracks," he snapped and I rolled my eyes at him. He really was one of the most polite people I knew.

He began walking without waiting for any of us and I sighed, speeding up to follow us. Behind us I could tell that Denise and Rosita were still standing near the tracks. I didn't know whether or not they were going to follow us. It was another half minute before I finally heard Denise pipe up. "We should stick together," she told Rosita before speeding up to follow us. We had only been a few meters ahead of her but she still seemed out of breath once she caught up to us. Turning back I noticed that Rosita was following the tracks and I shook my head at her. My heart spend up a little bit as I watched her stalk off. I didn't like the fact that she was going off on her own.

Unfortunately there was nothing I could do. I just kept up pace with Daryl and made sure to check back a few times a minute to see that Denise was still behind us. She was doing fine but she was puffing a little and looked exhausted. Not that I could blame her. She really did need to get in shape though. I assumed after a few minutes that Rosita had probably already reached the Apothecary and was waiting for us. The thought made my blood boil. I just wanted to be there so that I could get back to Alexandria and lay in bed for the rest of my day. As we walked we saw a few walkers and they were all fast take downs. I would fire at them from a few feet away and Denise would pick up the arrow before making her way over to me. It was a good system that we had designed. It gave her a purpose to be here on the walk.

Almost fifteen minutes after we had gotten to the tracks in the first place we came back up on where they crossed and spotted Rosita. She was sitting on the tracks and smirking at us. I rolled my eyes as I walked up to her and smiled. She said nothing but smirked at Daryl and began to walk with us to the Apothecary. Thankfully it was only a few minutes' walk from the tracks. Once we were there we had to take down a few walkers but it was no problem. The building was large and had heavy metal doors. Before even going in I assumed that there wouldn't be any walkers in there. It would have been hard for them to get in. But that probably meant that we were going to find a few bodies.

Without wasting another minute we pushed into the building by breaking open the locks on one of the doors and stepping through. Daryl and Rosita immediately went to work getting the medicine but I noticed that Denise walked around the trinkets for a little while. She picked up a little key chain that had the name Dennis on it and I narrowed my eyes. She was gay, so maybe a friend? Or a brother? Father perhaps? Shaking my head I motioned for her to get to work before following Daryl into the racks of medicine. Nothing looked familiar so I just began to grab anything, slipping them into the bag that I had. I was probably grabbing a lot of things that we didn't need but it didn't matter. We would have everything and Denise could pick out what she wanted.

From the back of the building I heard a loud crashing and I dashed back to where I had sent Denise. I damn well hoped that there were no walkers back there. I didn't want to be the one that had accidentally killed her. Dashing into the back of the store I saw that it wasn't a walker but it was a gruesome scene. Denise was on the ground, having probably tripped over something, and trying to look away from the scene before her. A walker was trapped under a few metal bookshelves and a bench and I shook my head. Was that what had startled her? As I moved forward though, I saw exactly what it was. There was a metal basin that was filled with blood, and at the bottom of it was the corpse of a child.

Shaking my head I moved back over to Denise, who was currently dry heaving. She looked like she was about to expel her breakfast. I assumed that the walker was the parent of the child. They had presumably killed their child maybe after either being bitten or just because she didn't want them to have to deal with this world. The parent had probably died of starvation and had become a walker. A gruesome end for the small family. A moment later Daryl and Rosita ran into the room, examining the scene with narrowed eyes. Denise was gagging on the floor and Daryl stared at her. "We gonna find out what you had for breakfast?" Daryl asked her.

Smirking at my husband I shook my head at him and leaned down to Denise. She looked like she was about to be sick so I kept my distance from her. Still though, I wanted to try and help her back up. I knew that this wasn't what she was expecting to see. But this was the world now. "Oatmeal," she said and I smiled at her. "Just so you know." At least she had a sense of humor about the whole situation.

Shaking my head at her I handed her my hand, which she took. I noticed right away that her hands were incredibly clammy. I tried to keep back from her slightly, still afraid that she might empty her breakfast into my lap. I suppose that was better than walker guts though. "Hey let's get you out of here. Go outside and sit down for a while. Take a deep breath and drink some water. It will help, I promise," I told her and she nodded. "Call out if you need us," I told her and she nodded.

It was a few moments before she moved though. We had managed to get her out of the back room but she was now standing and looking completely horrified with herself near the key chain rack. "Hey," Rosita called, trying to snap Denise out of her strange trance. "You want me to hold your bags, or?" Rosita asked, trailing off towards the end.

Nodding at us slowly, I wondered if Denise didn't trust herself to speak. I didn't blame her. There had been more than one occasion that I nearly threw up so I forced myself to keep silent. I appreciated it. I didn't want to wear an oatmeal sweater. I wasn't that fond of oatmeal. "Yeah. If you set 'em on the counter, I can tell you which," Denise finally spoke and I nodded. Easy enough.

As we both moved to grab the bags and the rest of the medicine and Denise moved towards the door I heard Daryl speak up. "No, we're gonna take it all," he told her. It seemed like great minds do think alike. It was the same thing that I was going to do.

Denise narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure?" She asked him and he nodded. It made more sense and it meant that we could get out of here faster. And that made me happy. I wanted to get the hell back home. "Because-" she continued but Daryl cut her off.

"No, it's fine," Daryl told her and she nodded. Denise walked over to the side of the store and I sighed. At least she was being stronger than to want to go out of the store. She just wasn't going to go to the back. Not that I blamed her. It was never nice to see things like that.

She walked over into the far racks which we had yet to check. I could hear thudding in the back of the store but I ignored it. Part of me wanted to yell at her though. She was making a hell of a lot of noise and I was still afraid that there might be walkers nearby. And we had no way to get out of here if they did get in here. The car was a few miles away from us. I could hear her rattling a few pills around and I groaned as I tossed in a few pills with names that I could have never began to hope to pronounce. "It's just one. It sounds like it's stuck," Daryl called out. I turned to him with a cocked head and I realized that the noises weren't coming from Denise, but a stuck walker. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a few more pills. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Daryl release the walker and take it down. The walker did come a little faster than he had been expecting though because as it fell it hit a glass case and I grimaced as it shattered, tearing part of its face open.

Denise groaned and ducked out of the building and I sighed, walking out with her. I didn't want to leave her out there with no protection. So I walked out and saw her sitting on the ground with her head in her hands. I sat down next to her and stayed silent before I could no longer tolerate just hearing her dry heaves. "You know when Rick's daughter was born I had to go on a run with Daryl to get formula. His wife had died during the birth. We had to cut her open to get the baby out safely," I said and watched as Denise's head shot up to look at me. That was when I remembered. She had never known Lori. Rick rarely spoke of her. "Yeah, he was married. Her name was Lori. Anyways, we had no formula so Daryl and I volunteered to get it right after she was born. We went to this nursery. While Daryl checked the back I was in front. I heard this hissing coming from a crib. I didn't want to look but I had to," I told her. Denise's eyes went wide and I knew that she didn't want to hear the story. But she had to. I had to tell her. "It was a baby girl. She couldn't have been older than a year. Big bite wound on her abdomen. She looked awful. Her skin was grey and peeling off, her eyes were yellow, her skin was coming off in chunks. It was horrifying. But I had to look at her and I had to get over it. That's the way that this world is. You see shit and you have to get past it," I told her.

My words had probably come out a little harsher than I had meant it to but that didn't matter. I needed her to see that this was the way that things were now. You saw things that no person should ever have to see. You saw it, you understood it, and then you moved past it. You couldn't dwell on things. "That's horrible," she told me and I nodded. "I don't think that I could have dealt with it. I mean you just saw me in there. I'm pathetic. You've seen so much and you're so strong," she told me.

That was true but I was mildly surprised that she said it. Very few people would ever actually ever admit that they weren't strong. "You're right. About it all. I am strong and you are pathetic," I told her and she looked up at me, probably shocked at my words. I was even a little shocked that I had said that to her. "But you don't have to be. This, coming out here with us, it's the first step. The only reason that I'm so tough is because of the way that I was raised and because when this all started I didn't have anyone. I didn't have any choice but to get the hell off of my ass and do something," I told her honestly. I had never wanted to die alone in my shitty little apartment.

Denise sighed and nodded at me. I sometimes forgot that these people hadn't been with us the entire time. They hadn't seen the days when we were weak. Not that weak, but weaker. We had lived hard lives since the beginning. It made us strong. They were weak and had always been pampered. "My brother protected me at the start of this. He wanted to teach me how to defend myself. I should have said yes but I was afraid," she told me and I nodded. Dennis must have been her brother. "I have to ask you something," she said and I nodded at her. "How do you get to be as tough as someone like you? You said it was the way that you were raised," she told me.

Part of me wanted to tell her to buzz off, that it wasn't her business. But she was right. I had brought it up. And she should know. Everyone should know that they could become something great. "It isn't something that I'd recommend to anyone. I left home at fourteen because I couldn't stand my father. My mother died knowing that the last thing that I had ever said to her was that I hated her. I never said a word to my sister. Not that she could ever remember anyways. I spent two months in jail when I was sixteen. For a while I was a drug addict and alcoholic. I have scars all the way down my back because of my father and men that saw me as nothing more than a warm body. The first life I took didn't affect me. My father shot me after this all went down. He let a man do something to me that no one should ever have to endure. He tried to kill my husband," I prattled off. That had only been a fraction of it. We would be here all year if I was going to tell her everything. "The way that I was raised was something that I would never wish upon my worst enemy," I mumbled.

The look on her face was something that I wanted to wipe off the second that I saw it. I could tell that she was horrified and what had happened to me. It made no matter. It was over with. My family was dead. The Blake's were nothing more than a memory. "I'm so sorry. If I had known I wouldn't have said-" she began but I held up a hand to cut her off.

I didn't want to hear her sorry. I wasn't looking for her pity. "Don't be sorry. It's too late to take anything back. I'm glad in a way that everything happened to me. It's made me the person that I am today. I used to be ashamed of myself. But now I'm glad that everything happened to me. I wouldn't take anything back. It's why I met my husband. It's why I met my real family," I told her and she nodded. "You might not always like the hand that's been dealt to you, but you learn to live with it. You learn to work with it. And one day, when you're least expecting it, you win the game. Whatever game it is that you're playing," I told her.

Denise actually looked like she was contemplating my words and she nodded at me. If I got her to get up and do something with her life I would be happy. She had to know that you could always get up from the lowest points. You could always change to the person that you wanted to be. The door opened to the store and I glanced back to see that Rosita and Daryl were both walking out of the store. They seemed to have all of the medicine and Rosita had Denise's bag in her arms. "Hey. You did good finding this place," Rosita told Denise who nodded at her. "Tried to tell you that you weren't ready. We all did," she told her.

Denise nodded and I wondered if she was still thinking about what I had told her. Maybe. But I didn't think that my words ever had that big of an impact on someone. "I know," she said.

We all got up from our spots and began the trek back to the truck. We would thankfully be able to get back just about an hour or so before dinner. As we walked I noticed that Daryl fell into step with Denise. I fell back a few steps so that I was walking with Rosita and we watched the pair that were walking a few paces ahead of us. "So was he older or younger?" He asked Denise and I raised an eyebrow. I didn't think that Daryl had seen Denise pull the key chain. Of course he noticed more things than I gave him credit for.

Denise looked a little surprised that he had noticed this as well. She turned to him and gave something akin to a smile. She still looked a little uncomfortable though. Just like with most of the people that we came across, Denise was afraid of Daryl. "Older. By six minutes," Denise said and I nodded. They were twins. Losing him must have been hard for her. "My parents came up with the Dennis/Denise thing on one of their benders. Hilarious, right?" She asked and I nodded. So her parents had been alcoholics. I guess some people coped with it other ways. It had driven Denise into her shell. It had made me tough as nails. "Nothing scared him. He was brave. He was angry, too. It's kind of a dangerous combination," she said softly.

I knew that she was right. In some way it sounded almost like my father. But that wasn't true. My father wasn't brave. He was a damned coward. It had taken me too long to figure that out. "Sounds like we have the same brother," Daryl said and I couldn't help but to laugh and shake my head. It did sound a lot like Merle. Denise laughed too and I was surprised at the sound. I had never heard her actually laugh. But she knew Merle and like most of the people in Alexandria, she stayed far away from him.

We made the rest of the walk in silence and when we came up to the tracks I smiled when Rosita walked past them with us. It seemed that after the trip to the Apothecary she was in better spirits. We had made our way past Daryl and Denise who were standing a bit behind us. Denise was in the middle and Daryl was bring up the rear. I walked past the train tracks when Daryl ran up to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards them. I cocked my head at him as Rosita yelled out. "Hey," she called to him.

She was standing a little ways past the tracks and watched with curious eyes as Daryl began to tug me down the tracks and I grinned. He seemed to be in better moods after the trip to the Apothecary as well. He had been a little off since the trip to the Savior compound. But we all had. I guess I had to thank Denise for bringing him back to his old self. "This way's faster, right?" He called off to Rosita.

She smirked and walked over to us as we began the trek back to the truck. We were all silent but the tense air had long since disappeared. As we walked I yawned a few times, exhausted from the past few days where I barely slept. As we walked down the tracks I noticed that there were cars along the edge of the tracks. There was some growling and I could tell that walkers were around the area. There was one in a car as well and I watched Denise carefully as she walked close to the cars. It made me nervous that a walker was going to jump out and get her. "There's a cooler in there!" Denise cried as she looked into a car that had a walker laying in the front seat. "Might be something we can use inside," she called back to us.

Neither Rosita nor Daryl glanced back at Denise as we walked past the cars. I didn't want to risk getting bitten by a walker so that we could get a cooler that might have nothing in it. Plus it would only slow us down and we all wanted to get back home with the medicine that we had spent so long grabbing. "We got what we came for," Rosita called back.

Daryl seemed to agree with her. "Nah, ain't worth the trouble, come on," he called back to her. I sighed and began walking past with a yawn. Daryl noticed and bumped me with his shoulder making me laugh. I just wanted to go to bed but I knew that I couldn't right now. I had to get back to the community and get everything put away first. And probably drink that bottle of wine with him.

Behind us I could hear a few grunts and the near unmistakable sound of a door opening. Panicking I turned back to see that Denise was currently hanging half out of the car so that she could grab the cooler. I shouted something undecipherable at Daryl and Rosita, who both turned to see what I was gawking at. I ran back to her watching in horror as Denise wrestled the cooler away from the walker. I thought that she had it but I screamed softly as it latched onto the cooler and Denise pulled the walker out of the car with her. "Shit," she hissed as the walker landed on top of her. We all spend up and I grabbed my knife, ready to kill the walker. Denise was struggling with her machete but seemed to finally notice us coming back up to her. "No, don't!" She yelled and I backed off slightly. I didn't want to watch her die as the walker nearly clamped its jaws around her throat. Just as it was within an inch of her neck she finally jammed the machete through its head and I watched as she jumped off of it, immediately throwing up onto her glasses. She spit once before coughing a few more times. "Oh, man. I threw up on my glasses. Hot damn," she mumbled.

Part of me wanted to slap her but the other part was proud that she had finally grown a pair. Although she had nearly died just to get a damn cooler. There had better be something good in there. "What the hell was that?" Daryl hissed, walking up to her angrily. "You could've died right there, you know that?" He snarled at her.

Instead of backing down like she normally did, Denise stood her ground proudly. When I had told her that she had to grow up this wasn't exactly what I meant. Start small, like standing up to Eugene. Standing up to Daryl, Rosita, and me was probably not a good way to start off a personality change. "Yeah, I do," Denise said and I shook my head at her.

Daryl was clearly angry with her as he stomped up to her and leaned over her. Denise was tall though so he didn't dwarf her. When he stood over me I felt like he could step on me. Denise saw nearly eye to eye with Daryl. She was a hell of a lot taller than me. But everyone was. "Are you hearing me?" He snapped at her loudly. I was nervous that they were drawing walkers and people to us.

Deciding that this had gone on long enough I walked up to them and shoved Daryl back. "Hey back off. We all do stupid shit. Daryl is right though," I said, turning back to Denise. "You shouldn't have done that. You almost ended up dead and then what would have happened? We would have gone back there and told Tara that you were dead. I don't know if you've ever had to do it but I've had to look people in the eyes and tell them that I couldn't save their loved ones. It sucks. It fucking sucks. And I'm not doing it again. Not when I know that there's something that I could have done to stop it. You can learn to defend yourself but not by being careless. That's how you get your head blown off by another group or your throat torn out by walkers," I snarled at her, my temper rising slowly.

Denise shook her head at me and turned back while throwing her arms out to the side like she could have cared less about what had just happened to herself. Not even that Tara could have just lost the woman that she loved. She was being selfish, not brave. "Who gives a shit?" She asked me loudly.

Suddenly my temper took over and I took a few steps towards her. Even though she was taller and bigger than me, I saw her eyes widen in fear for a moment. Good. "What the hell did you just say to me?" I snarled angrily at her. She was asking to get her head torn off right about now. "I'm trying to save your ungrateful ass! Did you see anyone else lining up to babysit you today? No? That's right. We were the only ones," I said to her, motioning around to Daryl, Rosita, and myself.

To her credit though, Denise didn't back down. She merely stood a little taller and backed away from me so that she was addressing all of us. Not only me. "I didn't ask any of you to come out here and help me if you didn't want to! I could have done this by myself, like I said I would, and I would have come back to Alexandria-" she said before I cut her off.

"As a corpse," I muttered. I was a little surprised that I had said something like that and I almost felt bad for it. That was more than a little cruel. I shouldn't have said something like that but she pushed my hand. Anger made people see things that they would never normally say. Even Daryl looked a little shocked that I had said something like that.

Even Rosita though looked like she was angry with Denise. I knew that she was the one who had wanted to be out here the least. She was sick of this whole world. She had been through too much lately. She wasn't in the mood for some weak little Alexandrian. "I'm not the only one that risks my life to do something that I shouldn't have. You could've died killing those Saviors, all of you, but you didn't," she said, nearly flooring me. I didn't want to admit it but she was right. "You wanna live, you take chances. That's how it works. That's what I did," she said, motioning back to the car and the dead walker.

Denise popped open the cooler that she had fought so hard for and I felt like I was somewhere in between laughing hysterically and killing her. All that was in the dame cooler was sodas. They were fucking sodas. And to my horror Denise began to rummage around in the sodas. For the first time in a long time, I yearned to kill someone that was a part of my group. "For a couple of damn sodas?" Daryl snarled at her.

Looking back up at him, Denise wrapped her hand around a soda and pulled it out. "Nope. Just this one," she said. Denise pulled out an orange soda and popped the top, letting the juice run down her face. I remembered her saying a few weeks ago that Tara was the one that loved orange soda and Denise hated it. I supposed she felt on some level that she had done this just for her. My heart was still racing and I was sure that my heart was racing with anger. My face was contorted with rage as I watched her finish the can and crumple it up.

The four of us were silent for a moment before Rosita stepped in with a fury evident in her eyes that I had never seen before. She looked like at any given moment she might blow off Denise's head. I wasn't sure whether or not I would feel too badly for her. "Are you seriously that stupid?" She asked, panting lightly. I could tell that she was furious too. "Are you? I mean it," she snapped when Denise didn't answer her.

The doctor drew up to her full height and for a moment I gave her credit for not shrinking back against us. "Are you?" Denise asked, making the three of us recoil. "Do you have any clue what that was to me, what this whole thing is to me? See, I have training in this shit. I'm not making it up as I go along, like with the stitches and the surgery and the I asked you to come with me because you're brave like my brother and sometimes you actually make me feel safe. And I wanted you here because you're alone. Even you two, you're married but you're alone! Because you refuse to completely let each other in, no matter how hard you try," she told me and my heart dropped. Was she right? "Probably for the first time in your life. And because you're stronger than you think you are, which gives me hope that maybe I can be, too. I could've gone with Tara. I could've told her I loved her, but I didn't because I was afraid. That's what's stupid. Not coming out here, not facing my shit. And it makes me sick that you guys aren't even trying because you're strong and you're smart and you're all really good people, and if you don't wake up and face your-" Denise ranted before the world came to a stop.

The point of an arrow pierced Denise in the eye and for a moment I thought that it was a joke. But blood began to run down her face as her eye fell to the ground and I froze as her dead body dropped to the ground. What the fuck had just happened. I tried to grab my gun but I was too slow. Guns cocked around us and I glanced up to see a group that I immediately knew were the Saviors. Their leader walked up first and I was shocked to see that he was holding Daryl's crossbow. Which he had just used to kill Denise. "You drop 'em now!" He said before removing it from his face. I glanced at him in utter shock. I knew him. It was D. But he was different. The left side of his face looked like it had been burned. What the hell had happened to him? He immediately looked over Daryl and I and smirked. "Well, hell. Nice to see the two of you again. With a new friend this time. You got something to say to me? You gonna clear the air? Step up on that high horse? No," he said when none of us responded to him. "You don't talk much. Still getting the hang of her. Kicks like a bitch, but-" he ranted before Daryl cut him off.

"I should've done it," he said. I did a quick mental count of the soldiers and was pretty sure that there were about ten of them. Too many for the three of us to take down together. One of the men near the back was holding a bow and I immediately growled once I recognized it. It was mine. And judging from the smirk that the man was giving me, he knew that it was mine.

Condemning the man to die in my mind I turned slightly so that I was facing D once more. He was smirking at both Daryl and I. The half of his face that was burned twisted and contorted and I smirked slightly. I hoped that it had hurt. And if it was Negan who had done that I would make sure to thank him. "Oh, what's that?" D asked with a smirk and both Daryl and I scoffed. "Seriously, I didn't catch what you said," D prompted.

A little louder, Daryl repeated himself. "I should've killed you," he told D. Rosita risked a quick glance over to me as if to ask whether or not this was the man that had captured us in the burned down woods. Nodding at her, she gave me a quick nod before turning back to watch D, who was standing slightly in front of all of his friends.

Giving us a little shrug, D shifted on his feet slightly and made sure that Daryl's crossbow was out so that he was practically dangling it in front of us. "Yeah, you probably should've. So, here we are. Kind of begs the question, right? Who brought this on who? I mean, I get that you'll just have to take my word for this, but she wasn't even the one I was aiming for," he said, motioning flippantly to Denise's body. I felt the blood rush through my ears at his careless attitude. "Like I said, kicks like a bitch. It's nothing personal. Look, this isn't how we like to start new business arrangements, but, well, you pricks kind of set the tone, didn't you?" He said and I scoffed.

It was easy to tell that he was referring to the first time that we had met. When they had attacked us, thinking that we were a part of the Saviors, and then we had attacked them. And just later that day we had killed Wade and nearly fifteen of his men. We had attacked them numerous times, but they were like a Hydra. You cut off the head and two more replace it. "What do you want?" Rosita asked, speaking us for the first time.

Perhaps D hadn't even noticed her seeing as he had been so glad to see Daryl and me. He glanced over to her and gave her a smile that she immediately recoiled from. "I'm sorry, darlin', I didn't catch your name. I'm D, or Dwight," he said and I raised my eyebrow. Dwight. That was what D stood for. It made me feel like I wasn't ten being able to say that his name was Dwight. "You can call me either. So? What's your name?" He asked her.

For a moment I thought that she wasn't going to say anything. But finally, right when Dwight seemed to have given up hope that she would speak with him, Rosita finally spoke up. "Rosita," she hissed and Dwight nodded. "What do you want?" Rosita asked, repeating her earlier question. To my horror, Dwight motioned for one of his men to bring forward someone. I sucked in a breath when I realized who it was. It was Eugene. And he didn't look good. What the hell was he doing out of Alexandria? How the hell had they found them. Dwight glanced over at me and smirked when he saw my concerned expression. One that Rosita and Daryl were mirroring.

This time, Dwight seemed to finally understand that she was asking him something. "Well, Rosita it's not what I want," he said and I scoffed. That was essentially confirmation for me that Negan was still alive. "It's what you and Daryl and Rain are going to do. You're going to let us into your little complex. It looks like it's just beautiful in there," he said and my heart jumped into my throat. Did that mean that they knew where Alexandria was Of course not. They would have attacked us by now. They weren't the type to wait it out. "And then you're going to let us take whatever and whoever we want or we blow Eugene's brains out. And then yours. And then his," Dwight motioned to Daryl last.

Sucking in a breath, I took a deep breath and shook my head. They weren't going to touch a hair on his head. Not over my dead body. I waited for a moment to see what Dwight was going to say about me but he never did. For a moment I thought that he might have just thought that he had included me. But I had to know. "And mine?" I asked him with a hand on my hip.

Daryl looked infuriated that I had said anything to bring the attention back to me but I shrugged him off. For a moment I thought back to both Mitch and Martinez and my skin crawled. I didn't think that Dwight would do that though. He had his wife with him. "Oh Rain I thought I made it clear the last time that we saw each other. I don't want you dead. Just the opposite in fact. I'd make sure to keep you alive," he told me and I cocked my eyebrow. I didn't like the way that this was going. There was only one reason that I could think that they were going to keep me alive. "Introduce you to Negan. He'd love to meet you. I've already told him about you actually," he said.

My eyebrow shot to the roof of my head and I shook my head at him. He wasn't serious. Was he? Had he really told Negan about me? Why? Was I really that interesting to these people. "How sweet of you," I snarled and he rolled his eyes, giving me a smirk. The men behind him all were eyeing me like they were about ready to rip my head off. "I like to have a reputation that proceeds me. Now what the hell happened to your face?" I asked, genuinely curious. "I mean, you were never too pretty, but this. This is just sad," I muttered.

On my side I could hear both Daryl and Rosita laughing. A few of Negan's men even laughed. But Dwight merely shrugged it off and gave me a little smile. "Little present from Negan for not seeing what was right in front of me," he said and I nodded. So I was right. It was something that Negan had given him for running away. "But it's nothing compared to what he has coming to you," he told me and I snarled at him. "Now I hope it doesn't come to that, really. Nobody else has to die. We just try and start with one. You know maximum impact to get our point across. So what's it gonna be? You tell me," Dwight said.

Rosita, Daryl, and I all stayed silent. I gave a quick glance down at Denise's body and sighed. Blood was streaming down her face and my heart shattered when I thought about how I was going to have to tell Tara that she was dead. Exactly what I had been telling Denise would happen just a few hours earlier. Now that she was going I couldn't believe half of the things that I had said to her. "You wanna kill someone, you start with our companion hiding over there behind the oil barrels," Eugene barked and I glanced over at him. I hadn't heard him speak since he had been pulled out of the car. He was kneeling right in front of Dwight, who glanced down at him. What did Eugene mean, our companion? Was someone we knew back there? And why the hell was Eugene selling them out? "He's a first-class a-hole and he deserves it so much more than us four. Go check it out," Eugene nodded to the men.

Dwight stared at them for a moment staring at us. He clearly wasn't sure that we had someone back there. None of us could tell who was back there. Dwight motioned for two of his men to go check it out and I waited to see who it was behind the barrels. But just before the men got back to the barrels I saw Eugene turned back. It was only a moment before I registered what he was doing. His jaws were clamped around, through Dwight's jeans, biting his dick. If the situation weren't more serious I would have laughed. Dwight was screaming and howling in pain as Eugene fought to hang on. It turned out that the man behind the barrels was Abraham and he was now firing at Negan's men.

Rosita, Daryl, and I were all standing, completely shell shocked before realizing what the hell was going on. Eugene had been thrown off of Dwight and I screamed when Eugene was shot by Dwight in the stomach. He couldn't be dead. We had already lost one woman today. I dropped to the tracks where Dwight was now firing at us with his rifle. I grabbed my hand gun out of my holster and began firing at Dwight. Daryl seemed to have managed to catch him in the shoulder but I had missed. The bullet had just barely grazed him though and Dwight began to push backwards away from us. I shot a man that standing near the oil barrels and was just about to take out Abraham. He nodded back to me and I smiled at him. "Fall back! Fall back!" Dwight screamed.

He had left Daryl's crossbow on the ground, having dropped it to trade it out for the gun. Daryl grabbed the crossbow and I watched as he shot a man near Eugene's limp body. I saw the man that was holding my bow and I knew that I had to get it back. I might never get another chance. So I ran after him, sprinting past Daryl and Rosita. "Mine! Give me that back. Asshole!" I shrieked as I caught up to him. He yelled as I jumped onto the man and wrestled the bow away from him. He growled and pulled out a gun, aiming it at my face. I gasped and without thinking, brought the bow back and smashed it into his face. He yelled and let off a shot that narrowly missed my left ear. Dazed at the blast of the gun I grabbed the bow tighter in my hand and brought it back down onto the man's head over and over, making sure that he couldn't get the gun. Finally I wrestled it from his hand and noticed that he had gone completely limp. I glanced down at him and noticed that the front of his head was smashed to bits and I could see a little bit of the white bone under his forehead.

Gasping at what I had done, I stumbled off of the man, grateful to have my baby back. I dropped the old bow that I had been using and began to chase after Dwight, whom Daryl was currently in pursuit of as well. We dashed after him but I already knew that I wasn't close enough to grab him. So there was only one thing that I could think to do. Still running, but slowing slightly I nocked an arrow. "Daryl, Rain, stop!" Rosita yelled after us. I aimed the arrow at Dwight and let it loose. I had just barely grazed him and I screamed in anger. I had only missed him by less than an inch.

Daryl tried to hit him as well but once more he came up a little short. Damn it, Dwight was one lucky man. I couldn't believe that we had both actually missed him. And we were such good shots. Knowing that there was no way that we could catch up to him, I grabbed Daryl and forced him to stop alongside him. We had to get back and make sure that everyone else was alright. We had to get Denise's body back to bury her. We had to make sure that Eugene wasn't dead. And I had no idea what had happened to both Rosita and Abraham. I grabbed Daryl's hand and brought him back to where Rosita and Abraham were now lying next to Eugene. They were yelling at him and moving him so I assumed that he wasn't dead yet. That was good. Maybe we could get him back to Alexandria. Not that we had a doctor to take care of him.

I came to a grinding halt next to the trio and both Daryl and I leaned over Eugene, trying to shake him and get him to come back to us. He was mumbling softly and groaning and I could tell that he was in a lot of pain. "Damn it, Eugene. Eugene? You alright?" I asked him. Eugene nodded and let out a little groan and I took that like he was telling me that he was alright for now. "He's responsive but we need to get him back now. That was good. I never thought about biting a man's dick before. But that's good. I'll have to keep that in mind," I said, trying to lighten the mood. There were a few chuckles but the mood was still dark. "Come on. Grab Denise, we got him," I ordered.

Daryl and I grabbed Eugene and lifted him into the hatchback while Abraham and Rosita grabbed the corpse of Denise. I managed to find a sheet that was stuffed inside a car and grabbed it, once we had laid Eugene down into the back of the bed of the truck. Rosita quickly crawled in with him and laid his head in her lap, running her fingers through his hair. Abraham helped Daryl and I wrap Denise up before climbing into the back of the truck, keeping her body still. Daryl hopped back into the driver's seat and I followed in the passenger seat. Following Denise's instructions, he released the gears at the right time and I sighed as we began to roar down the road. "Are you alright?" Daryl asked me after a few minutes. We were flying down the road at well over one hundred miles per hour and I sighed. We would be back within minutes. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell everyone what had happened. I wasn't ready to ever face Tara again.

Trying as hard as possible to avoid looking at the rear of the truck to see the body of Denise, I sighed and leaned against the dinner. But I had to answer Daryl's question. He would never let it go. I knew my husband well enough to know that he never let it go when he knew that something was bothering me. "Do you know what the last thing that I told her was?" I asked him, even though I knew that he knew what I had said to her. "I told her that she was going to go back to Alexandria as a corpse," I said.

It hurt so much because now I knew that it was the truth. I had told her that she was coming back to Alexandria as a corpse and I was right. But it wasn't even her fault. It was mine. Because someone had been hunting us. Her death had been my fault. "She knew that you were just saying that because you were angry. Because you were stressed out with her. She died having finally done something brave. She should be proud of that. Tara will be proud of her," he said and I shook my head angrily at her.

That was a lie and he knew that it was a lie too. Tara was going to lose her mind when she found out that we had accidentally gotten her girlfriend killed. Especially right after she had told Denise that she loved her. And Denise had never even said it back. Even though she had known that she loved Tara. "Tara will be devastated. We couldn't save the girl that she loved. It's not the first time either," I said and Daryl glanced over at me. "With Beth, I couldn't save Jimmy or Zach," I said. Zach had been attacked by walkers and so had Jimmy. The latter had been trying to save my life. "I couldn't save her either. Lori, T-Dog. Dale. Hershel. Sophia. So many more. There have been so many people that I couldn't save," I said weakly.

In the back of my mind I knew that I shouldn't be thinking like that. But I couldn't help it. Having been there and loving these people, it was so hard to think that I hadn't saved all of them. It was so hard to think that their deaths weren't my fault. "Don't think like that," Daryl said, grabbing my hand. "Think about all of the people that you have saved. Merle, you risked your life to save him. Glenn and Maggie, more than once. Rick. Aaron and Eric. Me. In more than one way," he said and I glanced up at him. "I didn't like anyone, I had never cared about anyone before you came into my life. You haven't just saved me from walkers and people more than once, you saved me from myself," he told me.

In the backseat Abraham was looking out the window, probably trying not to overhear Daryl and I's conversation. Looking back at my husband I squeezed his hands and sighed. "Hey don't just think that it was one way. You saved me too. You pulled things out of me that no one else ever could. You've also made me angrier than anyone ever could. I love you, but one of these days I'm going to kill you," I told him with a smile. We had to press on. I would miss Denise and hate myself for saying the things that I did to her, but I had to keep going. Daryl leaned over and kissed me on the forehead and I smiled, leaning back into the chair.

The rest of the trip was made is silence but Daryl and I never let go of each other's hands. Neither one of us wanted to let go of the other. We needed to company of another person right now. The truck finally approached Alexandria and I climbed out weakly. Members immediately began running up to us and horror struck their faces when they saw Eugene and the wrapped up body of Denise. Carol came over to help us and as we left I heard Rosita and Abraham recounting everything that had happened to us. Most of the people around gave us their condolences as we walked to the makeshift graveyard and began to dig the grave. We worked in silence until the grave was dug and Daryl climbed down to lower Denise's body into it. We filled the grave up once more before standing in front of the grave, no one knowing what to say. So we said our silent goodbyes, guilt wracking in the air. We all departed silently, giving each other hugs before Daryl and I made our way to the hospital.

I felt a little sick looking at Eugene lying in bed with a thin sheen of sweat over his body. He looked alright, but definitely sick. Rosita and Abraham were both standing at the sides of his bed. I supposed that the near death of a friend was enough to bring the two of them back together. But they weren't speaking with each other so I assumed that they hadn't actually made up their relationship. "Rick's coming," Daryl said and I nodded. He had been ready to head over as soon as he got Judith to bed. "How is he?" He asked.

Shrugging at us, I could tell that Rosita was distraught over the fact that Eugene had come close to dying, and Denise had died because we hadn't been paying enough attention. Because we had continually been putting her down. "Bullet just grazed him, but it's a good thing we got him back when we did. Antibiotics we picked up could save him from an infection. Could save his life," she said and I nodded, glad to hear that there was a good chance that he was going to make it. "That's what Denise did," she said and Daryl and I nodded silently. Before long Daryl pulled me from the room and I walked with him back to our house. Maggie and Glenn were both already in the house, eating dinner. There were two plates sitting on the counter with food on them and I smiled pathetically.

Daryl immediately walked into the kitchen and grabbed the plates, taking my bag with him. I thanked him softly and walked over to Maggie. She had stood up to say hello to the both of us. "Hey, what have you guys been doing all day?" Maggie asked as she walked up to us with a smile on her face. She pulled me into a hug and I hugged her back. Even though she didn't say anything I knew that she knew something was wrong. "I checked your bedroom earlier to see if you wanted to come on a run with us," she told me and I nodded.

We had gone out on the run pretty early and Glenn and Maggie were both late sleepers. They were like I used to be, but after having been with Daryl for so long, I was slowly getting used to waking up earlier. "We went out with Rosita and Denise to check an Apothecary not far from here. On our way back she tried to prove herself. She did alright," I said and Maggie nodded with a smile. "Dwight, the man that took Daryl and me in the woods with two other women, some of Negan's people, came out of the woods and shot her through the eye. She's dead. We tried to go after Dwight. We weren't fast enough," I explained softly.

Out of the corner of my eye I heard Glenn's plate go crashing to the ground as he stood and walked over to us. He pulled me into a hug and out of the corner of my eye I watched as Daryl walked back up into our room. I sighed and let myself melt into Glenn. "Oh God. Come here," he said, grabbing me tighter than he had in a long time. Probably since he found out that Daryl and I were married when we had been trapped in Terminus. "Don't worry," Glenn told me and I nearly slapped him. There was so much to worry about that it wasn't even funny. "Denise wouldn't want things to just stop. She would want you both to keep on. For her. It's what we do," he told me and I nodded. He was right. That was the way that we were. We lost someone that we loved but we pushed on. For them. We had to.

Nodding at them, I said a quick goodnight before walking out of the room. Both of them decided not to follow me and I thanked them for that. I didn't want to talk to anyone. Just maybe my husband. Making my way upstairs I pushed open the door and smiled at the sight before me with a little laugh. Daryl was sitting on the perch by the window and I grinned at him. He had plates sitting by him with our dinner and the cheap wine was laid out before him with two glasses. The lights were off but a few candles were lit around the room. I smiled and blushed slightly. We had never really had a real romantic dinner with ourselves. The closest thing had been to the CDC. But we had just barely been liking each other at that point. Now we were married and we had never had a real romantic dinner together. We had never done anything romantic. Unless you counted killing walkers together as romantic.

Smiling at him I took my weapons off and gently sat them in the corner, taking great care with my bow. I noticed that Daryl had done the same with his crossbow. Grabbing my shirt and pants I pulled them off of my body and walked over to the dresser, trying to go get something else to wear. But instead of grabbing a fresh set of clothes I closed the drawers and walked over to where Daryl was. He poured me a glass and I thanked him, draining the glass before scarfing down my food. We both did. We both were starving. It wasn't really romantic, but it was nicer than most dinners that I had ever had. Once we had finished eating, Daryl grabbed me and pulled me into him on the cushioned bench. "Things like this are always going to happen. I guess we just have to remember that there are still people that we love," I told him softly.

He nodded at me and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. I smiled at him and leaned half in his lap. "There are always going to be people that we love. No matter what happens to those we love the most," he told me. I shivered at the hidden meaning behind his words but nodded anyways. He was right. We were silent for a moment before Daryl spoke back up. "I'm going after Dwight in the morning," he told me.

The words probably should have come as a shock to me but I had already seen that coming. He was furious with Dwight already but after he had killed Denise, now it was a personal vendetta. And he wasn't going to go out there by himself. "You aren't going alone. We leave at first light," I told him and he nodded. "But until then. I just want to pretend like things are somewhat normal. I want to try and imagine that we don't live in a world where we all have to kill each other just to have a maybe chance to live," I said sadly.

Daryl nodded at me and handed me another glass of wine. This one I took a little slower. The liquid was extremely bitter and I knew that he felt the same way. But still, it was better than anything else that we had had in a while. I drained the glass and set in on the floor grabbing the bottle instead. Daryl and I took a few long slugs from the bottle and we both laughed softly at each other. He had a slight haze in his eyes, but I knew it wasn't from the liquor. "Come here," he growled at me softly and I complied. Leaning into him, he gave me a deep kiss before pulling me back onto him so that we were laying on top of each other on the wooden box. I laughed at his forwardness and laid on top of him, letting our wine fueled haze take over me. Daryl pulled away for a moment and I smiled at him before shrieking as he rolled and let me fall of him. I hit the floor and coughed before glancing up at him with a dark glare. He was chuckling and looking down at me with a smirk. "You said you wanted things back to normal. I happen to remember you on the floor a lot when we were at the farm and at the prison," he told me.

Knowing that he was right, I rolled my eyes and sighed. He wasn't going to get away with throwing me onto the floor and making fun of me. I happened to remember something that I had done to him a few times as well. I grabbed his arm and yanked roughly. He immediately slipped off of the back and I laughed as he fell on top of me. He had caught himself slightly and I grinned at him. He still grabbed me though and brought me into a roll before we stopped and he laid over me. I knew what he wanted. He wanted a night where we forgot about all of our problems. We both did. For tonight he wanted to be just man and wife. So I grabbed his shirt and unbuttoned it as quickly as humanly possible before shoving it off to the side. He helped me remove his pants and boxers and my underwear was close behind it. Our clothes were thrown around the room carelessly as Daryl picked me up and threw me back onto the bed.

It was long into the night that we were still enjoying each other's company, sweating and laughing alone with other noises that would have made a grown man blush. Glenn and Maggie were probably still trying to block us out, but for that night I didn't care. I let Daryl take out his anger on me and I took it out on him. We rolled around together, winding up in the bathroom, main bedroom, and the floor all more than once. My breath was coming in short gasps and the room had heated to an almost unbearable temperature but I couldn't have cared less, as long as we remained wrapped together. Our noises never once quieted down and we didn't even think about stopping until long after we had first sat together on the wooden box. Once we were finally tired out, probably only an hour before the sun came up, we collapsed together in bed. Daryl grabbed me and pulled me into him, keeping our bodies pressed together as tightly as possible. Our legs were wrapped together and he was drawing patterns into my back. As my breathing fell back to normal and Daryl's movements began to slow I thought to myself that if the rest of our lives could be just like that, the world would be perfect.

The morning came in probably just under two hours and I groaned as the sun streamed in through the windows. Daryl was still laying, asleep, and I smiled at him. It was pretty rare that I actually saw him awake. Smiling softly I pushed Daryl's hair out of his face and he immediately woke. He caught my hand but quickly relaxed once he realized it was me. Giving me a lingering kiss, he moved out of bed with a sigh. I knew that if it were up to either one of us we would stay here for the rest of the day. Like a real married couple. But we had things to do and people to kill.

Daryl leaned down and kissed me once more and I smiled at him before pushing him gently off of me. "Hey come on. It's time to go," I said. We both stood up from the bed and I noticed that as we began to move we were both limping slightly and I couldn't help but to laugh. We had gotten closer than we had been in a long time last night. Daryl quickly pulled on his clothes from yesterday while I grabbed a pair of nearly white jean shorts, from having been washed so much, along with a sheer black shirt. Without bothering to do my hair, I pulled it up into a ponytail and grabbed my weapons before nodding at Daryl that I was ready to go. Without wasting any more time we dashed out of the room and down the stairs, sprinting through the doors, trying to be as quiet as possible. Once we were out of the house we made a run for the gates.

As we ran I noticed that more people were out than I had been expecting. Already Glenn, Rick, and Michonne were out and milling around the gates. I could only hope that they wouldn't say anything to us. We had to get out of here undetected. None of them would let us go if they knew what we were planning. But as we jumped on the back of Daryl's motorcycle I heard Glenn call out from behind us. "Where are you two going?" He asked us as he walked up.

Immediately I knew that he was suspecting what I had told him last night. About the man that had killed Denise. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it was that we were doing. "Out," Daryl snapped.

I could tell that there would be no joking in the woods or laughing with each other. This was a serious mission and he was in the right mood for it. But that clearly wasn't enough for Glenn. He seemed to be nervous that we were going to do something foolish because we were angry. He might very well be right. "No, shit. You got specifics?" Glenn asked.

Smiling at the Asian man, I tried my best not to tip him off to the fact that something was clearly wrong. "We'll be back, Glenn. Just keep this place held down until we get back. We will be safe, I promise you. Just let them know that we had to take care of something," I told Glenn. I quickly grabbed his arm and smiled before taking a seat on the back of Daryl's bike. He had already revved the engine and began to speed out of the community before I got situated on the bike and I nearly fell. But somehow I managed to keep seated on the bike as Daryl charged the gates, slipping out of them before Sasha closed the gates. As we drove I leaned into Daryl to yell over the roar of the engine. "You really think that we're going to find him?" I asked him loudly.

He nodded back at me and grabbed my leg tightly. I could tell that he was nervous about today and I didn't blame him. There were many ways that this could go wrong. "Hell yeah I do," he told me and I nodded. If he was confident I knew that I could be too. "Hang on, I know where we're going," he said before pulling off on a tight bank to head back to where we had been yesterday.

We parked the bike near a huge bush and Daryl and I managed to slide it under. We weren't going to lose this thing again. The day seemed to drag by as we walked through the woods, neither of us speaking to the other. We walked on opposite sides of the path and every once in a while we would step off to check on a noise that we had heard. The whole day was extremely tense and it made me nervous. At lunch time we had stopped to catch a few squirrels and cook them for lunch. We had exchanged a few words but they had seemed forced. We both knew that our minds were on the hunt. Not long after we had sat down on the logs we fell silent. It wasn't uncomfortable though. We were just thinking. Daryl had sat with his hand entertained with my own. But we had still been holding our weapons.

As we continued on the hunt we kept our eyes peeled for anything. The problem was that Virginia was such a huge state that it was damn near impossible to find one man. Walkers though, they were easy to find. We had come across probably ten or fifteen in the few hours that we had been out and every time we had taken them down. I walked with my bow in hand and an arrow nocked. Daryl also stood with his crossbow out, clearly ready for a fight. About an hour after lunch I spotted a few footprints on the ground of the woods and I motioned Daryl to them. They looked fresh and a man had definitely made them. They were too big and wide to be a woman's. That could have meant that they were Dwight's. Daryl seemed to have been coming to the same conclusion as me as he nodded at me and we began to follow them. They were leading us in a totally different path then we had been going but it didn't matter. If they were leading us to him, I would follow them all through the night. But I knew that if it reached nighttime we would have to go back. The hunt would be damn near impossible at night and it would get dangerous.

Picking up the pace a little I heard a crack not far from where we were and I sucked in a breath. Someone was coming. Daryl and I both stiffened and dropped to the ground, aiming our weapons at the intruders. Hopefully it was Dwight. I wanted nothing more than to take his throat out. Or his eyes. Just so that he knew how Denise felt. That's who this was all for. Denise. Even though I hadn't known her that well I felt like I owed this to her. I turned to a second crack and nearly loosed my arrow. It was lucky that I hadn't though. Stepping through the underbrush was Rosita, Glenn, and Michonne. Michonne and Glenn looked furious but Rosita looked sympathetic. "You shouldn't have come," Daryl snapped, lowering his crossbow.

Shrugging his shoulders, Glenn glared at Daryl. "You shouldn't have left. Either of you," he snarled at me angrily. I could tell that he was furious that we had come out here without telling anyone what we were doing. Glenn was my oldest friend that was still alive and I sighed. I knew that I would be broken without him, and I assumed that the roles were the same vice versa.

But he had to know that this was more than a pathetic little vendetta. This was because someone had killed an innocent woman. Someone that we had only lured to her because we had been there. Tara deserved us to go back and get vengeance against him. I knew that Glenn would feel the same way if this was about Tara. I knew that he was extremely close to her. "Glenn, all of you, you know why we're out here. We have something to do and it's something that we need to do alone. The two of us made a mistake and now we're going to fix it," I said and I noticed Rosita nod. "We won't risk your lives out here too," I said, motioning to the other three.

Daryl nodded, clearly agreeing with me that we couldn't risk their lives. Not for something that we had come out here to do, only the two of us. We had given consent to potentially die at Dwight's hands. They were only out here to get us back. When we split off from Sasha and Abraham, he was out there in the woods, in that burned-out forest with them girls, put a gun to my head, tied me up. He didn't do anything to her, but I wouldn't have put it past him. I even tried to help him. She tried to talk me out of it. She was right. I should have listened to her.

Sighing, Glenn stood with his hands on his hips. I knew that he wanted us all to come back so that nothing was going to go wrong. He had a pregnant wife back at Alexandria. I couldn't believe that he had even left her out there in the first place. If I was in his place I wouldn't have ever wanted to let her out of my sight. Not with how dangerous this world is. And especially after what had happened with Lori. "So, you think it's your fault?" Glenn asked, the exasperation heavy in his voice.

Shrugging his shoulders, I noticed that Daryl wasn't even trying to look at Glenn. I could tell that he didn't want to look at him and force himself to go back to Alexandria. He had set his mind on going to find Dwight. Not only because of Denise, but because of me. Dwight had said one too many things to make Daryl ever feel like he was able to trust the man. Or just ignore his presence. "Yeah, I know it is. I'm gonna go do what I should've done before," Daryl said before turning back to the woods.

He didn't make it far before Glenn called to him, making Daryl turn back with a pained look on his face. One that broke my heart. It had been a long time since I had seen him this distraught. "What, for her?" Glenn asked. Even though Daryl didn't answer, we all knew that his answer had been yes. "She's gone, man," Glenn said and I turned to him with an angry stare. How could he say that? He was friends with Tara, the woman that she loved. "You're doing this for you," Glenn snapped.

Even though I didn't want to admit it, I was a little afraid that Glenn was right. Maybe Daryl was just doing this for him. He hated that Dwight had ever gotten away from him in the first place. Maybe he was doing this just to prove to himself that he could get him. But it didn't matter. I was doing this for Denise, and I wasn't going to stop until Dwight was dead. "Man, I don't give a shit," Daryl snarled.

But it was obvious that Glenn did care. Even though the men had gotten off terribly together, they were now good friends. Just like Rick and Daryl, Daryl and Glenn were brothers. But their companionship was a quieter kind. "Daryl we need to get back there and figure this out from home. Our home. We need you, both of you, and everyone back there needs us right now," Glenn said and I knew that he was pulling at our heartstrings. "It's- it's gonna go wrong out here," he said and I heard his voice crack. Maggie. He was thinking about her losing him, or one of us. "We'll square it. I will. I promise you. Just come back," Glenn pleaded.

Glenn looked to me first but I shook my head. I couldn't. Not yet. "I can't," Daryl said, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him back to the woods. I knew that he wasn't going to give this thing up until Dwight was dead. We would come out here every day if we had. It didn't matter. Neither one of us were going to rest until we had separated Dwight's ugly head from his body.

But I should have known that things would not be over that easily. "Daryl," Glenn called as Daryl began to drag me through the woods. And literally drag me. I was tripping over roots and branches that were littering the path.

Faster than I had thought was possible, Daryl whirled back around to Glenn and gave him a seething stare that I hadn't seen him use in a long time. "Man, I can't!" Daryl yelled. I jumped at the sudden rise in volume and looked around to make sure that no walkers were coming towards us. Glenn fell back a few steps, completely silent. It had been a long time since Daryl had spoken to him like that.

I could tell that both Daryl and Glenn regretted everything that they had said but neither said anything about it. Instead we all stood in an awkward silence and I sighed. We were getting nowhere with this and we were losing the daylight that we had to go hunt down Dwight and his men. Finally though, a voice broke the silence. "I can't either," Rosita said and I glanced over to her in shock. She had been silent and I had never known that she had liked Denise. But maybe her final words had really had an impact on her.

Nodding at her, I motioned for her to join Daryl and I. She did so and I saw a sour but defeated look cross over Glenn's face. Michonne was nodding like she had seen it coming. She probably had. She was good like that. Wanting to diffuse the tension I walked up to where Glenn was standing. "Listen Glenn, we have to get this sorted out. I'm sorry, but we owe this much to Denise. We were there. We saw her die. We have to do this. So we're going to go," I said and he nodded. I was glad that he hadn't fought with me. "We'll be back by tonight. I promise. Rosita, Daryl, and I. We'll be safe. We get this done and that's it. Go back. Protect them for now," I said.

It was obvious that he understood my hidden meaning to be with his wife. I wanted him to be there for her for every moment that he could. Not out here, fighting a battle that had already been lost. He took a moment but he finally nodded. "Be careful. All of you, please. Don't sacrifice your own safety just to kill him. It isn't worth it," he said and we all nodded. I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, grabbing Michonne and hugging her afterwards. "I'll hold you to your word Rain. I'll see you guys at dinner tonight," Glenn said and we all nodded.

We had stood there staring at each other for a minute longer before waving each other and walking off. Glenn and Michonne were heading towards Alexandria and Daryl, Rosita, and I were following the tracks. It could have been only half an hour or maybe it was well over three hours before we finally saw it. We had been dead silent on our walk and I was grateful when I saw it. A campsite. And judging by the men and what they were wearing, they were Savior people. We made our way a little closer and I held up my bow. Dwight was here. I could feel it. I knew that he was here. I didn't see him but that just meant that he was somewhere nearby. As we looked around the campsite, I caught a sight that stopped my heart.

Glenn and Michonne were in the middle on the campsite, bound and gagged. I motioned to Daryl and Rosita and they nodded. The pair were looking around for a way to get away but it didn't matter. The Saviors were all watching too closely. My heart leaped into my throat as I stared at them. They had come out here because of me. Rick was not going to lose his girlfriend and Maggie was not going to lose her husband because we were careless. We made our way through the trees carefully and I noticed that we were only about twenty feet from where they were tied up. Daryl had his crossbow risen to his eyes and I had my arrow nocked as we advanced on them. Glenn finally seemed to notice us as he looked over at us and began to shake his head frantically. I cocked my head at his as if to ask what was wrong but it was too late. We were already caught.

Turning back slowly I saw that Dwight and a few men were standing behind us with their guns raised. Dwight's was aimed in between Daryl and I and I took a deep breath. No way. "Hi, Daryl. Rain," Dwight said and I nodded. I dropped my bow as Dwight cocked the gun and aimed it at Daryl. His crossbow went to the ground a second later, followed by Rosita's pistol. A shot rang out directly next to my ear and I howled in pain, falling to the ground. Everything was muffled as I glanced up to see Daryl on the ground as well. Blood was running down his chest and shoulder and my eyes widened as my heart stopped. That hadn't just happened. "You'll be all right," I could just barely make out Dwight saying through the muffle in my ears and my earth shattering screams.


	54. Desperation

My white jean shorts had speckles of blood on them. Daryl's blood. What the fuck just happened? Was this really happening to us? We had come out here to kill Dwight. And now he had found us. We were cornered. My ears were still ringing from the shot and I saw Rosita trying to get to both Daryl and I. I could hear her yelling but her yells were muffled. All I heard were a few choice profanities. Glenn and Michonne were still struggling from their spots on the ground. But they were stuck. Dwight's men were standing close, laughing at them and watching me. But I was still too stunned to do anything. Dwight was watching me with bright eyes as I dropped to the ground next to Daryl. He was curled in on himself and groaning in pain. At least he was alive. The shot had gone clean through his shoulder.

Finally I seemed to snap back into myself. Dwight was watching me with a sly grin on his face as I stood and turned to face him. "Did you just fucking shoot my husband?" I shouted at him. He was watching me closely with a grin in his eyes. Growling deep in my throat I jumped over to Dwight and wrapped my hand around his throat. I sent a quick punch at his eye and he groaned before shoving me back. I fell to the ground next to Daryl but jumped back up quickly. I wanted to make him regret ever knowing my name. Dwight's men grabbed me around the waist and forced me to my knees next to Daryl. I tried to grab him but they kept me back.

He merely smirked at me and kicked Daryl in the shoulder. He groaned and I saw his eyes rolling back in his head. No. Not Daryl. Please God. Not Daryl. Dwight smiled at me and leaned down in front of me. "Oh don't worry. We aren't gonna leave you out of this. You get special treatment. You finally get to meet him. Negan," Dwight purred. My blood curdled in my veins and I fought to get away from Dwight. I had been hoping that we would never have to meet each other. Doing something probably very stupid, I spit directly in Dwight's eye. He recoiled away from me in disgust before looking back down at me. This time he wasn't smiling. "Take her out," he hissed. Were they going to shoot me now? My question was quickly answered as a gun slammed down on my head and I collapsed to the ground, the world going dark.

The world came back to view slowly. I wasn't sure how long it had been since Dwight's men had knocked me out and I wasn't sure that I cared. I just wanted to make sure that my people were still alright. I couldn't have cared less about what was going to happen to me. I could tell that wherever I was I was no longer outside. The room that I was in was dark. I was trying to open my eyes but I still couldn't see anything. Just a few slivers of light. It was hot in here too. Boiling. Sweat, or maybe blood, was dripping down my forehead. The stupid room was cramped too. My feet were pushing against the other wall. But it was squishy. Was that a person?

My head was spinning and I realized that the room wasn't really a room. It was a box. A metal box. There was only one sliver of light coming from a small opening in the metal box. There were other people in the box too. I was pretty sure that I had just kicked one of them. "Rain? Rain?" A male voice asked me. It wasn't rough enough to be Daryl's. But I knew the voice. It was Glenn. Thank God. At least he was still alive. His hands were on my face and rolling my head around on my shoulders, trying to get me to open my eyes. "Hey look at me. You're alright. You're alright. We're all alright." All? Did that mean that Daryl was still alright? "We're going to get out of here," he told me, pressing a small kiss on my forehead.

Finally I managed to open my eyes the entire way and I saw that Glenn was sitting directly in front of me. He was on his knees and I brought him into a hug. Other than a slightly bloody cut on his forehead he looked alright. Michonne and Rosita were in the corners of the box and they both gave me something that I was sure was meant to be a grin. I attempted one back. It didn't work. They looked alright though. Other than the sweat running down their faces and bodies they looked perfectly healthy. Glenn moved off to the side of the box so that I could see Daryl in the center of the box.

He had the most room out of any of us. He was laid out with a gray blanket draped over his shoulders. Blood was still dripping from the wound. He was pale and sweating, his eyes holding a slightly purple look to them. He was awake but looked like he might fall at any given moment. I cried out softly at the sight of him and slid over to him on my knees. He looked over at me and grabbed my hands. His free hand tangled in my hair and I fought back tears. We were alright. We were going to live. "Thank God. Thank God you're alright," I said, knowing that he wasn't really alright. For once I didn't care who was watching. I grabbed him and gave him a deep kiss like it was the last one that I ever would. Just in case. His fingers traced into my back and I felt his hands shaking. Backing away from him, I glanced over his features. He looked tired but happy to see me. "What happened? Where are we?" I asked him softly.

He shifted slightly and I heard him hiss in pain. Daryl had only been skimmed by a bullet once. I had been shot a few times. I knew how awful they were. They hurt like hell and they made you want to sleep forever. But I was sure that he had been watching me since I had been knocked out. He was going to make sure that I was alright before he cared about his own injury. "They knocked you out, stuffed us in here. Been here for about two hours or so," he said and I nodded. "Said once you woke up that prick wanted to talk to you," he said and my heart nearly stopped. Why did they want to talk to me? I didn't want to talk. I wanted to leave. Daryl noticed my panic and he grabbed my face in his hands. "Look, you're going to be alright. We're all gonna be alright. We're gonna get out of here and kill all of these fuckers. Staring with D," he sneered.

I nodded and backed away from his slightly. It was too hot to be up close to each other. It must have been well over a hundred degrees in here. "Are you alright?" I asked him and he nodded. Liar. I knew that he wasn't alright. "All of you?" I asked, looking to the other three in the box. Everyone nodded back at me. I sighed and leaned back on the balls on my heels. This was what we had fought so hard to make sure didn't happen. Daryl swayed on his knees a few times and Glenn and I jumped to steady him. "Look at me," I said to him, snapping my fingers in front of his face a few times. His eyes were hazy. "I love you. You're right. We're going to get out of here," I promised him. I couldn't help but to feel that it was an empty promise. I had no idea how to get out of this.

The door to the box opened and a blinding light flooded into the small area. A Savior was standing at the door and I backed away. "Thought I heard your voice in here. Come on!" He yelled, grabbing me by the ankle. I shouted as I went tumbling out of the box and onto the wooded ground. I coughed a few times and the Savior yanked me to my feet. My friends were trying to get to me and I stumbled, trying to get back to them. I was too slow though. Just as Daryl opened his mouth to say something another Savior slammed the door shut and I could only hear his muffled voice. The Savior gave me a hard yank and I glanced around.

To my surprise we hadn't made our way out of the clearing yet. We were still there. But it was different now. There were more cars and more people. God, there must have been at least fifty Saviors here. And I assumed more were hiding. They were all giving me low grins. I realized that the room that I had been pulled out of was actually a metal box in the back of a truck. It was like an animal control vehicle and my skin crawled. They were treating us like we were less than human. Across from where we were walking was an RV. A Winnebago. Just like the one that Dale had owned. Just like the one that we had back in Alexandria. We were headed straight for it and I sighed. Even if I could get away from this man there were twenty that would be on me in a second if I tried to run. This was not going to be solved by fighting.

The man who was walking with me yanked on my shoulder roughly and I felt it pop as we walked. He was holding onto my arm but I was shocked to see that his grip wasn't strangling. He was actually only hanging on with the force that it would take to physically walk me in the right direction. I glanced up at the sky and saw that the sun was starting to sink. It had to be getting around six or seven. Come on Rick. See that we're missing. We need you. The man led me to the RV and pushed me in gently. He followed but didn't close the door. "Wait in here. He'll be here in a minute. Water is in the fridge." The man pointed to a mini fridge and I nodded at him. Without another word he turned and left the RV, closing the door behind him.

Standing stupidly in the middle of the RV I couldn't believe what was happening. They were actually being something akin to polite. Not really, but they weren't threatening to kill me. And they had offered me water. I wanted the water desperately but I wasn't willing to take anything from these people. For all I knew they were trying to poison me. I could make it. Rick would find us. And I could have all the water that I wanted after I got back home. I took a seat at the table in the center of the RV, facing away from the door. I didn't want to see him. I wasn't waiting long. My nails had been drumming on the table before I heard voices on the outside of the RV. I recognized Dwight's voice and the man that had brought me here. The third was one I had never heard. The door to the RV opened and I felt the man step in, shaking it slightly.

He took a few steps before coming to a stop. He was only a few feet behind me. He was silent and I could hear my own heart pounding in my chest. This was it. He was here. "Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day," he sang to me. Every muscle in my body tensed at his voice. He carried a light lilt in his voice but I heard the hardness under the amusement. He was laughing. It set every nerve in my body on edge. I bunched my fists on the table but said nothing. I remained facing away from him. "It is Rain, isn't it?" He asked. I still stayed silent. "That's what Dwight told me. Man you pissed him off sweetheart. Like what I did to his face?" He asked me, finally piquing my interest. So he had burned his face. "I think it's an improvement," he laughed. Despite the situation I nearly laughed. But I remained silent. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" I heard his feet stomping on the floor before he finally stepped into my view.

We both spent a long time looking the other over. Neither one of us said a word as we scrutinized each other. I had imagined him so many different ways. But I would have never been able to correctly picture him. He was probably about Daryl's age. Maybe a little bit older. He was rather large but still lean. He was extraordinarily tall. Probably about my father's height. That immediately put me on edge. Also the fact that he carried no weapons. It told me that he was so confident that I would be scared of him that he wouldn't need one. He had medium length black hair that was slicked back away from his face. He was clean. He obviously wanted to make a good appearance. He had a deep tan but was clearly an American. He was wearing a pain of long brown pants and black boots that they were tucked into. On his arms was a biker jacket that was zipped up almost all of the way. A red scarf was tucked in underneath the jacket. He was smiling down at me and I realized with a hint of disgust that he was actually rather handsome.

He was still looking me over but it wasn't in the way that he told me that he wanted to do something unsavory to me. He was just giving me a scrutinizing stare. Judging by the look on his face I assumed that some part of me was pleasing to him. He was grinning madly at me. I knew that he wasn't going to say anything to me until I spoke up first so I took a breath and bit the bullet. "So you're Negan?" I asked stupidly. He grinned wider and nodded at me. "Not too impressive," I shrugged.

All of me had expected him to be furious with me. I had thought that he would strike me or shoot me with a hidden gun. Maybe stab me with a hidden knife. Or just snap my neck. But he did none of those things. Instead he just laughed at me. He took a few steps towards me and I sucked in a breath as he took a seat across from me. I had never noticed just how narrow these seats were when I was with my group. I was now well aware that Negan and I were knocking knees. "Dwight told me that you had a sharp tongue on you," he said with a laugh. I merely narrowed my eyes. Dwight was the first one that I was coming after. "I like them like that. Damn Rain. Just damn. We've both come a long way. You and I," he said and I cocked my eyebrow. What did that mean? "A long fucking way."

He seemed to be thinking that I was going to play along with him but I wasn't about willing to do that. I was sick of people like him. I had spent enough time trying to deal with people like him. All that I wanted was to get to the point. "What the fuck do you want?" I hissed at him. He didn't look shocked at my language at all. He was still smiling. His grin hadn't slipped from his face once since I had first looked at him. "From me? From any of us?" I asked, motioning back to the box where my friends were being kept.

Negan merely smirked at me and shook his head. He was laughing softly but he never looked away from my eyes. If there was one thing that I could credit him with, it was luring someone in with a false sense of security. If I hadn't known Dwight or any of his men a little better, I wouldn't have been afraid of him. "Now, now. You don't seem like the type to speak like that normally. Don't change on my account," he told me with a smirk. "Right now, nothing. Right now I just want to know your story," he told me and I scoffed. There was nothing about me that I wanted Negan to know. "I like to know who I'm gonna kill," he said with a laugh.

My heart jumped into my throat at the threat that he was going to kill one of us. But I wasn't afraid for my own life. I never would be. I would always fear for my family. Daryl. My husband. I couldn't let anything happen to him. It would devastate me. I'd rather offer myself up than have to watch him die. Any of them. "Kill me now. I don't give a damn. But I'm not here to play your fucking game," I said and Negan's smile widened. He clearly enjoyed that I wasn't going to take this lying down. "I take it Dwight told you all about me? Daryl too?" I asked and Negan nodded. The smile was no longer on my face but he still had a strange giddiness about him. "Good. I'm glad. Then I hope you know that the only reason that they lived is because we spared them. We could have killed them. Now we will," I hissed as I leaned forward. "Just like the rest of your men," I told him with a smirk. Every last one of them was going to die. Negan would be mine to kill. Just like my father had been Rick's.

Instead of saying anything back to me he merely laughed loudly. He leaned back in his chair and popped a piece of gum in his mouth. He chomped on the gum for a moment before finally speaking to me once more. "You've got a good damn spirit about you. I appreciate that. But you aren't going to kill me," he said and I raised my eyebrows. Did he really think that after his man shot my husband I wouldn't kill him? "I don't think that you can. Can you?" He asked.

I wasn't really sure whether or not the question was rhetorical but I wasn't sure that I really cared. I wanted him to know what type of person I was. I wanted him to know that I was not the type of person who would cower in fear from him and the rest of the Saviors. We were not Hilltop. We would fight. "You don't know shit about me," I snapped quickly. I had one card to pull here. "I tried to kill my father," I snarled at him.

He simply stared at me for a moment, probably trying to process what I had said. It took him almost a full minute before his eyes finally brightened and he let out a barking laugh. Damn it. I should have figured that he wouldn't be afraid by something like that. This man was a psychopath with no empathy. He probably thought that my trying to kill my father was funny. "Oh!" He called loudly, almost making me jump. "Now we're fucking getting somewhere! Good. Good. This is just the shit that I wanted to hear," he laughed. He had a water bottle in his hands and took a long gulp from it. My mouth watered at the sight but I pushed it down. I just had to wait for Rick. Then I could have all the water that I wanted. "You tried to kill your father?" He asked me and I nodded. "Tell me more," he prompted. I stayed silent though. I had said enough. If he wanted any more, he would promise to let the rest of us leave. "Come on now. Don't get quiet on me now," he said.

Despite the fact that I was no longer cooperating with him he still had a smile on his face. Even when he was threatening someone. It was a sure sign that he was dangerous. It made my nerves stand on end. Someone that was happy like that all of the time, even in a life or death situation, usually had no idea of right and wrong. "I'll repeat. What do you want?" I asked him once more, when I saw that he wasn't going to speak before I did.

He sighed and leaned back onto the table. His knee briefly brushed against my own and I shuddered. I was sure that he hadn't meant to do that but it still made goosebumps rise to my skin. And not the type that I got when Daryl touched me. "Those people that we're keeping you with?" He asked me to ensure that I knew who he was talking about. I nodded slowly at him. I already knew where this was going and I didn't like it. He was turning to threats. And the smile still hadn't fallen from his face. "I think I'll kill the Korean boy first." No. Not Glenn. Maggie would never get over it. "Then the black woman." Not Michonne. Rick had finally fully moved on from Lori. I couldn't accidentally take another woman he loved from him. "Then the Spanish woman. Rosita I think?" He asked with a smirk. Rosita was my friend and she was not dying. Not on my watch. "I'll save your husband for last. Daryl." Every fiber of my being wanted to tear Negan's fucking heart out. He would not touch my husband. "I'll beat his fucking brains in. Wipe them across your face. Leave you in that box to starve to death with his corpse. How's that?" He asked me. My nails were digging into the wood of the table and cracking under the weight of my grip. "Now we can do this the easier way. Get to know each other! Who knows, if I like you enough I might just let you live," he laughed.

We could make a deal. But not for my life. For theirs. "No," I snapped and Negan's eyebrow quirked slightly. "Not me. I do as you say and you let them go," I told him. He snorted and shook his head. I had an idea. It wasn't something that I wanted to do but I did have an idea. It would make me the cold hearted bitch that I had never wanted to be but I was desperate to save them. "I- I can give you someone else." Negan's smile finally dropped and it was replaced by a look of curiosity. "I could give you a- a man. Or a woman. Anyone. Whoever you want. Someone from my group. Just not them," I said softly. There were people in Alexandria that I could give up. Spencer. Olivia. Enid. Scott. Tobin. Bruce. Francine. I would feel horrible to give any of them up, especially Enid seeing that she was a kid, but I would do it. If it meant that my family, my real family, lived.

Negan's smile was once more on his face and he looked like he was overly pleased with my answer. He had probably been hoping that I would stoop to something like this. "Well, well. I think we're already peeling back layers on you. I'll think about it," he said and I nodded. It was better than nothing. "So let's start simple. What did you do before all this shit broke out?" He asked me like we were having afternoon tea.

Huh? He really just asked me what I had done before the outbreak. Was he insane? Probably. But that was another matter. I didn't even know what all of my friends had done before this shit. I knew that Rick was a Sheriff, Daryl fixed bikes, Carol was a stay at home mother, and Glenn delivered pizzas. But that was about it. "Does that really matter?" I snapped.

He had clearly been expecting me to ask that. "Everything fucking matters," he said. I couldn't help but to recoil slightly. He had much cruder language than anyone else I knew. The only reason that I was being as profane as I was being was to show him that I could keep up with him. "Tell me. An answer for a possibility of me sparing your friends," he said.

Even though he was only promising me a possibility I knew that I had to tell him. If I didn't I could very well be sentencing my friends to death. Besides all he had asked was what I had been doing for work. "I didn't do anything. Not really," I said with a shrug. "I was still in school. Finishing up my Bachelor's degree for building construction. I worked part time at a gun store until I could graduate. I was going to graduate in four days," I told him honestly. He nodded at me. "That's when this shit hit the fan. Packed up and ran," I said softly.

Negan stayed silent for a minute. He said nothing but sipped on the water. He downed it quickly and I nearly groaned. I wanted that freaking water. But I refused to ask the man that held my husband's life in his hands for water. It was demeaning enough being here and having to give him my life story. "Southern accent you got there," he told me and I nodded. It wasn't thick but it was noticeable. "Where is it from?" He asked.

Once more I was nearly thrown by his questions. He was so strange. They had made him out to be this invisible warlord but now that I had finally met him, I almost wasn't scared of him. But I knew that it would change soon. He was only going to be peaceful for so long. "Georgia," I answered quickly and he nodded at me. "Spent most of my life there." We sat in silence for a minute longer before I once more snapped. He was baiting me and I was falling for it. But that didn't matter. I wasn't fond of the cat and mouse ploy. "I don't like this game. Do what you want. I've already told you that I don't care. Anything as long as it keeps them safe. I've seen it all," I said with a shrug. The smile fell off of his face as he stared me down. The only emotion I could read from him was curiosity. "Beat the fucking life out of me. Humiliate me. Shoot me in front of Daryl," I said, cringing at the thought. "Take me if you want. Give me to one of your men," I shrugged.

Despite the monster that Negan was, I was pretty sure that I would rather let him have me than one of his men. He seemed that he at least wasn't going to stab me or something like I was pretty sure that his men would. "You realize what would happen if I gave you to them?" He asked me and I cocked my head. I wasn't a moron. I knew exactly what they would do to me. "They'd look at you like nothing more than a piece of ass," he said and I snorted. Duh buddy.

Shaking my head at Negan, I couldn't help but to roll my eyes. For a man that thought he was so smart I was now thinking that he was a damned moron. "You think I'm fucking stupid?" I snapped at him. He had an odd look on his face with an emotion that I couldn't read. His look threw me off slightly but I kept talking. "I know that. I know that would happen. It's happened to me before," I said and a quick flash of emotion shot through his eyes. The longer we were on this topic the more uncomfortable I sensed that I was making him. "I have no doubt that now that I've met you it won't happen to me again. But I'm sick of waiting. Do it now or not at all. I won't fight you," I said with a shrug.

If it meant that Daryl, Michonne, Glenn, and Rosita could live, I would be more than happy to take it. It wouldn't bother me. Negan could keep me to be his and it wouldn't bother me. Not as long as they got to live out their lives. "You think that I would do that?" He asked me. His voice was the most serious that I had heard it so far. But his question caught me off guard. Would he not rape me? Would his men not? I was pretty confident that they would. But people had surprised me before. Still though, I nodded. He immediately shook his head. "No. Fucking no. No," he snarled. I backed into my seat as far as I could. "There are many things that I do that are bad, Rain. Many, many things. I kill who I want. Splatter their brains over their friends. Take whatever shit I want. But there are a few things that I won't do," he said and I nodded. Even an evil man had a code. "Lay an unwanted hand on a woman is one," he told me.

I thought back to the man in Negan's compound that I had accidentally woken up. The one who had asked me if I was one of Negan's girls. Of course. He was lying to me. If he had multiple girls I was pretty sure that some of them did not want to be there. "I don't believe you," I snarled, feeling stupid that for a moment I actually had.

The air in the room had gone from slightly normal to tense in a matter of seconds. Negan was silent for a moment, looking deep into my eyes. I refused to break his stare. He leaned back and let a sour look fall on his face. "It's happened to you." It was not a question. He was stating it. My eyebrows knitted slightly. He was completely demure. Other than a few statements and the profanity that he used he had been nothing like what I was expecting.

Deciding that there wasn't much more that I could do to make this worse- which was a bad idea to think- I decided to push him just a little more. "By men just like you," I said. And it was true. The man when I was in prison. Martinez. Mitch. In some way they all reminded me of Negan. But in other ways they were nothing like him.

Instead of getting angry with me he merely laughed. His laugh wasn't cruel or creepy. It was a normal laugh. It was like I had just told him the punch line to a bad joke. He sobered but the smile was still on his face when he looked back at me. "There are no men like me," he said proudly. He leaned back in the seat and spread his legs slightly.

My eyes narrowed slightly. That was not true. I had met plenty of people just like him. "There are always men like you. My father was one," I snarled. Negan's eyes brightened as he knew that I was getting to the deeper shit in my life. He opened his mouth to speak but I talked over him. I was sick of this shit. If he wanted to know something about me, he was going to get it. No more lies and distractions. "Have the balls to actually get to the deep shit. You want to know me. Here's what's to know," I snapped at him. This time he didn't bother to say anything. He watched with a confused face as I pulled off the black shirt that I was wearing. He sucked in a breath but to his credit his eyes never once strayed from my own. I turned quickly and heard his sharp breath at the scars that traced all over my back. "These are from my father," I growled softly. I slipped the shirt back on over my head and took a seat once more. Negan was watching me with an odd look.

Taking a few deep breaths I sucked up my want to stop talking about my father. I hated him so much. But I had to say this. Negan wanted to know my story? I was going to tell him. All of it. "He did that to me. At fourteen. Fourteen fucking years old," I snarled more to myself than him. It had been a long time since I had said any of these things. It was time for me to face them. "My mother died in a car crash. The last thing that I told her was that I hated her. I used to hate that it was the last thing that I told her. I don't anymore. Because I meant it. She let him do this to me," I said quickly. It was true. I had always known it but never wanted to think. "He hit me one too many times and I left home." I decided to omit the part about Uncle Philip.

For a moment I waited to see if Negan would say anything but he was silent. Clearly he wanted to let me finish my rant. I was on a role and he was learning everything that he wanted to know about me. "At sixteen a man mugged me. I killed him. It was an accident. But I did it," I said. I couldn't tell if Negan was bored or impressed. "In prison I had a man take the one thing that was still mine. Do you know what he told me? "Don't cry. You're a woman now. Act like it." He left me. Came back every night," I said, cutting short that part of the story. Negan looked furious and I scoffed. My story wasn't nearly done yet. And I had cut out huge chunks of the story. The entire one would take me years to go over.

Taking a few deep breaths I convinced myself to keep talking. I was so close to the end of the story. He had to know everything. He had to know the type of person that he was really dealing with. "After all of this shit happened I met my father. He gave me up to one of his men. Nothing happened. Almost did. He did it twice. Two different times. One time it worked," I said softly. Mitch. Daryl had killed him. "He brought me back to my group and threw me down like I was the dirt on the bottom of his shoes. The man who did it acted like I was a prized horse that had been broken. I had to see the guilt in my leader's face. I saw the horror in the women's faces. The- the fury on my husband's face," I stumbled over my words. I could still see his face like it was yesterday. "But the worst thing. He smiled," I said, remembering the grin that Mitch had given when he had recounted what had happened between the two of us. "So you want to know why I don't believe you. Because that look on your face? I've seen it before," I snarled, leaning back into the seat once more.

A few minutes went by before Negan finally spoke up again. "Are you done?" He asked me and I nodded. I was seething. Never in one time had I talked about all of those things. They brought back so many emotions. So many emotions that I had been trying to push back for all of my life. But I had brought them all forward and now I didn't know what to do with them. "I am sorry about your father," he told me and I snorted. No he wasn't. "I am," he said, more forceful that time. I silenced myself at his strong voice. "Long before all of this I taught at a school. Sports coach," he said and my jaw dropped. He taught kids? "Never had kids of my own but I always liked them. Never could imagine a parent doing that to their own child," he sighed.

Clearly my threats and snapping words weren't enough. There was something else that I could do. I could try to appeal to his humanity. I wasn't sure if it would work but it was worth a try. "Then think about what you're threatening," I said softly. I could practically see Hershel beside me, begging my father not to attack the prison. Now I knew how he felt. How desperate he was to save his daughters. "You're saying that you will kill us. We are all the children of someone else. There- there is a pregnant woman in our group," I told him, my heart twinging at the thought of Maggie. God I missed her. I needed to get Glenn back to her. I wanted them to be parents. "If you like kids, leave us be. Leave her to be a mother," I pleaded.

For a moment I thought that I might have actually appealed to his humanity. But obviously it didn't work quite like that. He went from silent and stony to once more a laughing mess. He was shaking his head with a little smirk gracing his lips. "See I can't do that. I can't. You pushed my fucking hand," he said and I let out a breath. Fuck. What could I do? I was running out of options here. "You actually led Dwight back to me. So thank you for that," he said with a little laugh. The only thing that gave me any solace in this was the fact that Dwight's pathetic face had been blown half to hell. "But you killed Wade and his men. I let it go," he said and I scoffed. That wasn't true. He would have come back to kill us. "But then you come to my home. My fucking home! And you killed more of my men. They tried to capture your people, and you fucking killed more of them! See, how would you like it if we did that?" He asked me.

I growled deep in my throat. He was acting like this was all us. "Don't act innocent. You've caused us trouble too. The only reason that we even met you people in the first place was because you ran us off of the fucking road!" I yelled at him. It was his damned fault. We could have all lived in ignorant bliss forever. But he had forced our hand. Not the other way around. "Your man, Dwight. He killed our only doctor. Denise. This is not just us. We've both made mistakes," I said. He said nothing back. "But we can end it. Right here, right now. You kill me. Or I kill you. This ends with one of us dead," I said honestly. "I know that. You know that," I told him and he smiled.

The thing that put me on edge the most was that Negan never really smirked. It was almost a smile. A real smile. And that was the worst part. He didn't seem to be getting that much amusement out of this. He seemed to simply be pleased with all of this. "I'm not going to kill you, Rain. I have a much better system," he said and I scoffed. I somehow doubted that he had a good system. "And we have to wait for the rest of your little friends," he told me brightly. My eyes widened. What had he just said? We had to wait for the rest of my friends? Was he on the lookout for the rest of my people? Were they out? Maybe he saw Tara and Heath out on the run. Negan clearly knew that he was making me uncomfortable at the thought that he had my family trapped. "Yeah. Yeah they have a Winnebago right?" He asked me. I said nothing. But he was right. A Winnebago. We had one. "They were leaving and heading west. Heading towards another little group. Hilltop. You might know them?" He asked me. This time he was wearing a smirk. He knew that he had the upper hand in this fight.

My heart was practically beating out of my chest. He had to be joking. They were heading for Hilltop? Why? Maybe they had finally realized that we had been gone for too long. With every passing second Negan seemed to be doing better and better in this fight. Damn it. I was losing any traction that I had gained in this conversation back. But he had known this since he sat down. He was just waiting for the time to play this card. "What are you going to do to them?" I asked desperately.

I was trying to keep the desperation out of my voice but I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried. These were my family and right now Negan was the finger on the trigger of the gun that was pointed right towards them. I had to be careful. One wrong word and he would kill them all. "Exactly what I'm doing with you," he said and I sucked in a breath. Was he really going to kill them all? God, please no. "Have a little chat. But I'll be a little less personal with them. Yeah," he laughed at the incredulous look on my face. He was just going to talk to them? No way. He wasn't going to let us kill nearly fifty of his men without killing at least one of us. "They've already been cut off in two directions. About to cut them off the final way. We're gonna trap them right in here," he told me with a grin. My fists were curling and uncurling. I was beyond pissed. Getting Glenn, Michonne, Daryl, Rosita, and I out of here was going to be hard enough. But now I was going to have to deal with at least three more members. "I expect they have about a half an hour. Maybe less. They look like they're starting to panic," he laughed.

They were panicking? Why were they trying so hard to get to Hilltop? Finally it seemed to click on why they were so desperate to get to Hilltop. It would explain why my group was fighting so hard to get to Hilltop. But it wasn't something that I liked to think about. The only reason that we would be heading to Hilltop after we had finished the deal was because someone needed a doctor. Since Denise was dead. They would only risk going out to Hilltop if it were a medical emergency. And there was only one person with a medical emergency that I could think Rick would be willing to risk his life for. And that meant that I had to do everything in my power to get them there safely. "Oh my God. Maggie," I breathed.

My eyes were watering with tears and I blinked them back. Maggie was fine. Her baby was fine. Glenn was going to continue being a husband and he would soon be a father. Negan looked sideways at me with a curious face. "What was that?" He asked me. It was time to drop my pride. They needed to get to Hilltop.

If I could see myself now when I was back at the prison I would have slapped myself. I would have never thought that I would beg for anything. And especially not from a man like Negan. But this was not the time for my pride. I had to wipe everything for my mind. The only thing that mattered right now was Maggie and her baby. Glenn was going to be a father. He was going to be a husband. "Please," I begged softly, shocked at how weak my own voice was. Negan seemed a little surprised too. "You have to leave them be. Let them get to Hilltop. Let them get there. Please. The only reason that they would be going there is because they need a doctor. We don't have one." Negan looked shocked that I was begging just for a doctor. If he liked kids maybe I could catch him off guard. "There's a woman, a pregnant woman. It's her. I know it is. There's something wrong with her. Let them pass. Please," I begged, tears nearly falling. Not my best friend. Not my sister.

He didn't bother to even attempt to feel sorry for me. Not that I had really expected him to. "You have any kids of your own?" Negan asked me and I shook my head. But I might. Daryl would make a good father. And he was so confident that I would make a good mother. "Yeah, me either. Had a wife though. She loved them. Could never get pregnant though," he told me and I nodded. It was strange to hear him talk about his old life. He seemed so normal. "She had this sickness. Real fucking bad. We knew it. One day we were out in the garage. I had scared off a few kids that I taught while I was playing ping pong. She came out to tell me to be nicer to them. To tell me to not be the cool teacher. She just collapsed. Right in front of me. Died a few hours later," he said. I could tell that he missed her but he was good at suppressing the emotion.

If he was going to tell me a story like that maybe it meant that he was willing to work with me. If he was than I was more than willing to tell him every last story about my life. As long as he let Maggie get to the Hilltop. I needed her to live. "We had a pregnant woman once in our group. Her name was Lori. She was my leader's wife," I said and Negan glanced up at me, curious. "We had been staying in a prison. Gates broke open. We were trapped. Ran with her and two other members back to the boiler room to wait it out. One of them is the woman who is now pregnant. The other was Lori's son. Rick's son." My voice wavered slightly but I kept strong. I couldn't turn into a sniveling mess. "He watched his mother try to give birth. We had to do an emergency C-section. She begged me to do it. I tried to keep her alive. But I couldn't. I killed her. Saved the baby though. A little girl. Judith. Barely a year old," I said. "I can't- I can't let that same thing happen to Maggie. Not twice. Please. Call your men off," I begged him.

He nodded at me and I actually found myself rather impressed that he didn't laugh at me or call me weak for begging. Maybe he understood just how desperate he had made me. "You beg a lot for their lives. But not once, not once have I heard you beg for your own," he told me curiously.

I nodded slowly. "I've never begged for my own life. I ain't about to start now," I said, repeating the words that Oscar had told Daryl and T-Dog and I almost a year ago. It seemed like another lifetime. But I wanted to remember him. He had been willing to come to Woodbury to get me back. He had died during the recovery. "My life means nothing. I'm nothing. Just another passing face," I said and he nodded. I meant what I was saying. I meant nothing. But my family, they were the best this world had to offer. "The world. It needs people like them. People like me and you. We aren't worth a damn thing," I snarled at him.

He said nothing to me. It actually surprised me. I would have thought that he would argue that he was a new coming God. He smirked at me and stood. He turned to the door of the RV and left. I sighed and dipped back into the seat. For the first time in nearly an hour since he had come to first speak to me I felt like I could completely relax. Turning my head over to the window I saw that the lights outside were fading. The sun would more than likely be going down soon. I couldn't help but to let my mind wander back to my friends. I wanted to know if Daryl was alright. A shot to the shoulder wasn't going to be fatal but it did need treatment. We couldn't let it get infected. He had already been showing signs of a fever when I had been with him in the box.

I wanted to know if Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita knew what was going on or if they were blind to this whole thing. I wanted to know if my group knew that they were going to be caught no matter what they did. I wanted to know if Negan had left to call his men off. I wanted to know if Maggie was still alive. I wanted to know if her baby was alright. I wanted to know if it really was her that was sick. I wanted to know what the hell was going to happen to us. I could hear a few voices talking outside and I sighed. I wasn't going to be alone much longer. I could hear Dwight and Negan's voice. They were the only ones that I recognized. I could tell that despite the fact that Negan had women in his little group, it was only the men here tonight. He didn't want any weak links with him. The door to the RV opened once more and this time I turned back to look.

As soon as I had though, I wished that I hadn't. Over his shoulder was a leather jacket, similar to the one that he was wearing. He let it drop on the counter as he made his way over to me. A smile was gracing his face and I knew that it was because of the new addition to his ensemble. He had a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat hanging over his shoulder and he was displaying it proudly. He was whistling a tune that set me on edge. It had sharp notes and high pitches. I certainly didn't like hearing it. He handed me a water bottle with his free hand but I refused to take it. "Come on now, take something. Can't have you dying of thirst on me now," he laughed. I grabbed the water bottle but didn't open it. He was not getting the satisfaction of seeing me drink out of it. "No. See, I'm gonna tell you exactly what I want," he said.

I didn't need to hear him say it though. I already knew what it was that he wanted from the groups that he took over. "Half of our shit. I already know. Gregory told us when we went to visit Hilltop for the first time. We struck a deal with him," I said and Negan smiled. Maybe if I sold him out he would let us live. I was willing to do anything. "Went to come kill you and your men. We made a mistake. We shouldn't have gone after you people. Daryl and I should have killed Dwight the first time."

Nothing I said seemed to faze him though. The only thing that I had said that had gotten a negative reaction was me telling him that he was the same as Mitch. I had to get him to kill me. An eye for an eye. If he killed me, it was over. He only wanted one of us. And that much I could give him. "Yeah. You really shouldn't have fucking done that. But it's too late. You know what I want. And I'm going to get it. But not just half of your shit. I need payback for killing my men. It's the fucking circle of life sweetheart. One life to start with," he said, reassuring me that he only wanted to take one life. "More as time goes on," he said and the breath left my body. No. Only one. I could only give him one. "But I gotta meet your people first. Pick which one I want. Not you. No. I like you. I like you a lot," he smiled with a little laugh.

The fury shot up in my chest once more. He had to pick me. "Then pick me!" I yelled. Not my husbands and not my best friend. Everyone had suffered too much. Including me. If I died I could die with hope that they would eventually avenge me and kill him. "Please. Don't be a fucking coward," I hissed at him. For the first time since I had met Negan I saw a little hint of anger shoot through his eyes. He was no longer amused. I hoped that if I could keep pushing him he would kill me. It would keep the rest of them safe for at least another day. "Think about your late wife. If she could see you right now. What would she think? Would she think that you were a coward? I think so. I'm here, offering my life to you. Trying to do something good in my life. But you won't do it. You can't. You're a fucking-"

Faster than I thought that he was capable of moving, Negan brought up the bat and slammed it down onto the table. I shrieked lightly and moved my hand away at the last second. The barbed wire end landed right where my hand had been a moment before. If I had been a second slower I would be without a hand. The wood table was now splintered and broken where the barbs had hit. "Good reflexes," Negan said with a little laugh. He had recovered faster than I had been expecting. I could barely breathe as Negan took his spot back across from me and laid the bat out over the table. "You're pushing my limits, Rain. Pushing my fucking limits. I like the people like you. People that think nothing of themselves. Selfless beyond a doubt but can't see it. People like you are fun. You blame yourselves for everything," he said and I growled. He was right. "Tell me, how many things do you blame yourself for?" He asked me.

"Everything." I had officially decided that it was better not to lie to Negan. They could always see through lies. But I certainly did blame myself for everything. Merle losing his hand. Sophia dying. Carl being shot. Rick losing Lori. Maggie losing her sister. All of it. Nearly everything that had happened to my group I felt that I had some hand in.

Even though I didn't say these things it seemed that Negan understood my meaning. He nodded at me with a little smile and I knew that with every passing second Negan was getting a step higher than me. God Maggie should be here. She was better at this. And Deanna was wrong. I was no interrogator. Not when it came to men like him. "I thought so," he said softly. He was smiling down at the table. "See, you can't do that shit to yourself. Gonna kill yourself and man, I wouldn't like that shit. Not one bit. No." I shook my head at him. I somehow doubted that he really liked me that much. "Me and you? We're gonna be friends. Good friends. Dwight told me not long ago that you reminded him of me. I didn't know what the hell he meant at first. Oh but I see it now. I see it," he said, looking me over.

I shook my head at him so fast that I felt a few vertebrae in my neck crack. Not that it mattered. He had to know that I wasn't anything like him. Dwight was wrong. He was wrong. I was better than them. That was exactly why I was doing this. It was exactly why I was going to give myself up. "I'm nothing like you," I snarled at him.

Once more he just laughed at me. He shook his head and began to swirl his finger around the handle of the bat. "Honey you're everything like me. Willing to do anything to protect the ones that you love. Not afraid to die," he said and I couldn't help but to nod. He was right. Death didn't scare me. "Look at you. Steaming in your own anger. Your dad? Been gone what, a year?" He asked me. I nodded. It might not have been exactly a year. Probably more like six months. But it had been long enough and I rarely thought of him anymore. "Yeah but you're still fucking seething over him. Aren't you? You don't let things go. Me either. That's exactly why one of your little buddies is gonna die tonight," he smirked before grabbing the water bottle and taking a little sip. "That's exactly why it isn't gonna be you," he laughed.

Even though I couldn't see my face I knew that it had paled further than most people would think was possible. Why? Why did he do that? I wanted it to be me! It had to be me. But that was exactly why he wasn't going to let it be me. He knew that I wanted to die. So he was going to make sure that I knew it wasn't me. "What would it take?" I asked him calmly. Negan cocked his head to the side. I noticed that he was disturbingly stroking the bat, almost lovingly. The way that somebody would pet their dog. "What would it take to make me the one that you kill?" I asked him.

He was grinning madly at me. It was probably the happiest that I had seen him since we had met. He had clearly been banking on me saying something like that. "A whole fucking lot. This is Lucille," he told me, motioning down at the bat. He had named the fucking bat? "And she's thirsty," he growled. I was extremely unsettled by his behavior towards the bat. He treated it like it was a real person. "But not for you. Not yet. People like you. You take a lot of work to push over the edge. I have a little program. This is the first step. I'm gonna line them all up out there and pick one. At random. There's nothing that you can do to predict it. Me either," he said with a shrug and I had to suppress a sob. There had to be something that I could do. "Tends to make people a little more afraid of me. Knowing that I'll kill anyone. A kid." Carl. "A father." Rick. "A pregnant woman." Maggie. "A husband." Daryl. He wore a big smirk on the last two examples.

Ultimately I couldn't stop what came out of my mouth after that. Fuck being civil, fuck appealing to his humanity, fuck trying to stroke his ego. He was going to hear what I thought about him. "You do this, you go out there and kill any one of them that isn't me, just know. Know that you've made a damn bad enemy. I will not stop until you are in pieces. And you can join Wade, Dwight, and your fucking wife in hell," I shouted the last part.

He was clearly amused with me though. He leaned forward to me and gave something in between a laugh and a scoff. He grabbed Lucille and swung her over his shoulders before leaning in a little closer to me. I could smell the gum on his breath. "Sweetheart. I look forward to it," he laughed in my face.

Just outside of the RV I knew that something was now happening. The men outside were whistling an eerie tune that was carrying loudly into the compartment. My group. They were here. And they were surrounding them. I could hear shouts all around the RV but I blinked back tears. I had to keep strong here. This was my last chance to do something. Negan was no longer speaking but he was smiling at me. He was clearly enjoying my internal panic. He was standing by the door and I half wondered if he was going to leave me in here, wondering who it was that he was going to kill. I could hear people talking outside and briefly I heard Glenn shout something. I was positive that the voice that responded to him was Maggie. Thank God. She was still alive. Maybe it hadn't been her that was injured.

The whistling had come to a stop and I watched as Negan leaned up against the edge of the RV. He must have just been waiting on the signal to go out and meet the rest of my group. Please, don't have brought the majority of them. "All right!" An unfamiliar Savior voice called out. All the soft mutterings stopped. "We got a full boat. Let's meet the man," he said.

Even from in here I could hear the amusement in his voice. They were all looking forward to this. After all, we had killed their friends and family. We had this coming. "Come on sweetheart. It's show time. Gotta meet the rest of the Brady Bunch," he said with a laugh. I stood weakly and had to force my legs to not shake. I walked weakly over to Negan and realized just how small I was compared to him. He was nearly a foot taller than me. He handed me to leather jacket that he had come in with earlier. "Take this. It's a little chilly out there. Hate for you to catch a damn cold," he told me with a laugh. A man on the other side of the door knocked and I sucked in a breath. This was it.

Negan had me slip the jacket on and I did so. Mostly I was just hoping that he was going to let them live if I complied with his every whim. The jacket was a little thinner than the one that he was wearing but it was certainly oversized. It hung to my mid thighs and swallowed most of my body up. He opened the door to the RV and I glanced out to see that there were at least ten of my group members on the ground. Probably more. I caught Maggie's eyes and I couldn't help but to sob. They were all on their knees and Maggie was barely managing to stay upright. Her face was dripping sweat and there were tired bruises under her eyes. She looked like she was about to die. "Oh my God. Maggie!" I yelled pathetically.

Without thinking I tried to break into a run for her. I didn't make it more than a few steps though before Negan grabbed my arm and yanked me back. "Nah ah ah. I've come to enjoy your company," he said with a little laugh. I was trying to keep from crying at the sight of them. There were twelve of them here and I loved each one more than the last. No. Not them. "Not yet. Not yet," Negan laughed at me. Lucille was biting through the back of the jacket and I nearly cried out when I saw Daryl. He looked very similar to Maggie. He called out my name but his voice was so weak I couldn't even hear him.

I stared at the rest of them in horror. This couldn't really be happening. Not one of them here was someone that I could tolerate losing. God. The only thing that was good was that Morgan and Carol weren't here. Neither was Judith, Father Gabriel, Tara, or Heath. But everyone else that was on their knees were all staring at me in horror. I knew that I was giving them the same looks back. They could all clearly tell that nothing good had happened while I was in there. But I would be alright. He hadn't actually laid a hand on me. Other than the near miss with Lucille, Negan had actually been rather respectful and polite. I could barely look at them. I knew what was happening. One of them was about to die. And I was powerless to stop it.

The lineup was all of people that I loved and I had to suppress a sob when I saw that Glenn was down on his knees in the middle of the line. Maggie was a few spots down from him and he hadn't taken his eyes off of her once. He glanced over to me briefly, silently asking me if I was okay. I nodded once and his eyes shot back over to his wife. He pregnant wife. His sick wife. God. Please don't kill him. He needs to be a father. He's earned it.

Michonne still looked reasonably healthy and I sighed. At least nothing had happened to her. Like the others who had been kept in the box she was sweating and weaponless. She looked otherwise fine. Her eyes were hardened into slits, watching Negan closely. I sighed at her and shook my head. He couldn't kill her. She had lost so much. At the beginning of the outbreak she had lost her best friend, boyfriend, and son. She had finally gotten these things back. She had Carl, Rick, and the rest of us. Despite the rough start that we had all gotten off to, she had come so far. She was a huge part of us.

Near Michonne was the woman that I was willing to do anything for right now. We were all willing to do anything for her right now. She had become to priority over the past few months. She was the first pregnant person that we had dealt with since Lori and we had all been determined to not see the same thing happen to Maggie that did to Rick's late wife. She was down on her knees and looked like at any moment she might collapse in the dirt. Her eyes were drooping and she was staring off into space. I was relatively confident that she wasn't completely aware of where we were right now. She couldn't die. She was going to be a mother. She had earned that right. She had lost her father, her sister, everyone. She couldn't lose her child too. We had to get her to Hilltop soon, or it might not just be the child in danger.

On the other side of Daryl was Rosita. She was one of the few people in line that looked close to unfazed by the whole thing. She was sweating and shaking a bit but other than that displayed no emotion on her face. I was proud of Rosita. She was so tough but she was also one of the sweetest people that I had ever known. I really had only gotten the chance to talk to her late at night but I knew that she deserved all of the happiness in the world. She had thought that she had found that with Abraham but he had left her for Sasha. Rosita needed someone. She had to get someone. If anyone deserved it, she did. She had dropped everything to get Eugene, a man she hadn't even known, to D.C. She had earned her life.

A few people over from her was Sasha. Sasha. She was so strong. Even after losing Bob and Tyreese. Her brother, her brother who had meant the world to her. And a lover that had fought so hard to worm his way into her heart. He had only had his spot for a few days before dying. It wasn't fair. But she had Abraham now. I wanted her to get to be with him. After losing so many people she earned happiness. She had gone through so many phases. Hating us, barely speaking, and a manic depressive state. Michonne had saved her and Sasha had earned Abraham as a reward.

Speaking of the redheaded man, he was near the other side of the line. He was actually propped up, trying to stay at the max height he could. His face displayed no fear. He only looked angry. He looked so different than the light hearted and funny man that I had met so many months ago. He was harder now. But that wasn't all. He was smarter. He was more loving. He was better. He had lost his wife and daughter before this. He had proved himself to them over and over again. I wanted him to stay here. To prove even more to them that he was a prize. Not a man to be feared.

Away from the group was Eugene. A damned high school chemistry teacher. Bad with words and not personable, Eugene had come so far from the man that I had met in the Terminus train car. He had become stronger. He now knew how to defend himself. He was making friends now. No longer was he just some guy that we all had to protect, he was a friend that we wanted to protect. He had done everything to survive. He had faked a cure just to get protection from strong survivors. He was smarter than any of the rest of us. The world needed people like that. And I had to see Eugene become stronger. I knew that it was still in him. We had yet to discover all of him.

On one end of the line was Merle. My brother. He had started as nothing more than a pain in my ass who hit on me at every given chance. But he had become so much more. He had proven himself to be an ally against my father. He was always on my side. He had been the one to marry Daryl and I. People had thought that he was just a good for nothing drug addict. But he was so much more. He was smart and strong. Brave and funny. Happy and wise. I hadn't seen enough of those sides of Merle. Neither had Daryl. We both deserved to see more of it.

Next to Merle was one of the few people that I had hoped to hell wouldn't be here tonight. Carl. A little boy who had been forced to grow up far too fast. He had never had a chance to be a kid. He had been forced to kill his own mother. He had gotten his fucking eye shot out by a boy who had thought that he was to blame for his mother dying. Carl had gotten one of the worst cards in this entire game. He deserved none of it. I wanted him to be a normal kid. I didn't want him to be here with his father. With any of him. For a moment I actually wished that he was with his mother. I wanted him to be away from all of this. No matter what happened, who it happened too, Carl didn't need to be here to see it.

Right next to his son was Rick. Rick. My friend, my leader, the one person who always believed in me. One of my first friends in this new world. The man who had given up everything for us. He had killed his own friend for us. He had lost his wife. He had almost nearly lost his son multiple times. His daughter might not even be his. At least she wasn't here. Rick was kneeling on the ground with sweat pouring down his face. I knew how he felt. No matter what happened today he would feel like he was at fault. Me too. But it wouldn't be him. Negan wanted him to live with the guilt. I was sure of that.

On the other end of the line was a face that almost surprised me. Aaron. The Alexandria scout. I was more than a little shocked to see him here. God, why had he come here? What would happen if he was Negan's victim? I could only imagine the look on Eric's face if we had to bring back his corpse. I couldn't imagine Aaron being killed because of something that we had done in the first place. It couldn't happen. This was our fault. And Aaron had been the one to bring us in. He had saved us when we had been on the brink of death. And how had we repaid him? By bringing these people to his front door. We all owed him our lives, and this was what we had given him.

The last person that I looked at was the one person who made a single tear fall. Daryl Dixon. The man that meant the world to me. The only person that knew all of me. The only person that knew everything about me. The only person that I would ever, truly be able to love. He was barely staying stable. The blanket was still wrapped around his shoulders and he was staring straight at me. I saw it all. I love you. I'll save you. It will be alright. You'll be fine. He was telling me all of those things. But he didn't understand. I didn't care about myself. I didn't care about anything. I was willing for anything to happen to me as long as he was safe. He had done everything for me. He had become the one thing in this world that I couldn't live without. I needed him. I needed him to live. My life was nothing compared to his.

Negan's voice finally startled me out of my reverie and I glanced up at him. The rest of our group was looking up at him with mixed faces. Some angry. Some scared. All confused. "Pissing our pants yet?" He asked with a little laugh. "Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. Yep. It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon. Which one of you pricks is the leader?" He asked but no one said anything. I did notice Rick's face get a little harder. "You said Rick, right?" Negan asked, glancing down at me. I said nothing back to him.

He didn't seem to mind as the same Savior that had brought me out to RV a few hours ago called out, catching Negan's attention. "It's this one. He's the guy," he said, motioning to where Rick was leaning.

Negan gave a small sigh before walking over to Rick. He handed me over to Dwight, who grabbed me tightly. Negan kneeled down in front of Rick and smiled. "Hi. You're Rick, right?" He asked. Rick said nothing and made no indication that Negan was right. "I'm Negan. And I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is. But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes. Yes, you are. You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this, and it's really very simple. So, even if you're stupid, which you very may well be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes. Pay attention. Give me your shit or I will kill you," he said before standing.

I had figured that it wasn't just going to be Rick that he was going to grill. He continued to walk down the line, eyeing up everyone that was in line. He hadn't smiled at any of them the way that he had smiled at me when he had first seen me. He grabbed my arm from Dwight and began to walk with me once more. "Today was career day. We invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do. You work for me now. You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job. Now, I know that is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will. You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want. And what I want is half your shit. And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more, and it'll even out sooner or later. This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone knocks on your door you let us in," he said with a little laugh. "We own that door. You try to stop us and we will knock it down. You understand?" He asked, stopping in front of Abraham. The man said nothing back and merely stared down Negan. "What, no answer? You don't really think that you were gonna get through this without being punished, now, did you?" He asked with a laugh.

He continued to walk. No one had interrupted him once since beginning to speak. No one wanted to see what happened to the person that cut him off. "I don't want to kill you people. Just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me. You can't do that if you're dead, now, can you? I'm not growing a garden. But you killed my people, a whole damn lot of them. More than I'm comfortable with. And for that, for that you're gonna pay. So, now I'm gonna beat the holy hell outta one of you," he said and I tensed. Please be me. Negan seemed to catch my sudden movement and he glanced down at me. "Rain here," he stated, catching the attention of anyone who had been looking at the ground. "Oh it was so cute. She begged me to make it her," he said. Every face in the group looked pained. "But no. No I'm not gonna do that. Because I like her. So it's your lucky day Daryl! Your wife gets to live another day!" He yelled happily. Daryl looked pissed. But I noticed that he did look relieved at the knowledge that I was safe. But I wanted it to be me in that line and Daryl up here. I was fighting back tears as I looked at Daryl. Every nerve in my body was telling me that it was going to be him. I was preparing myself for it to be him. "Hold her," Negan stated, handing me over to Dwight. I felt the man's gun press into my temple and I stood ramrod still. Please shoot me. "Don't you dare fucking kill her," Negan snarled at Dwight.

His face lightened up a bit as he turned in the line and headed back over to Rick. Negan had dropped Lucille off of his shoulders and was now showing her to the rest of the group. "This- this is Lucille, and she is awesome. All this, all this is just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honor." He inhaled sharply as he smiled at the bat. "Huh. Ugh, I gotta shave this shit. You got one of our guns. Whoa. Yeah. You got a lot of our guns." He continued to walk and stopped for a moment in front of Carl. "Shit, kid, lighten up. At least cry a little," he said with a little laugh. When Carl didn't return the laugh Negan continued to walk. "Ahem," he cleared his throat with a little sniffle as he stopped in front of Maggie. He kneeled down to her and backed off slightly. "Jesus. You look shitty. I should just put you out of your misery right now," he chuckled.

To my horror Glenn had taken the threat completely seriously. "No! No!" He yelled before jumping out of his spot. I wasn't fast enough to catch Glenn and neither were any of the Saviors. He went straight for Negan. Dwight threw me back to the Savior that I had seen earlier and I landed weakly in his arms as both Negan and Dwight sent a few hard blows to Glenn.

Maggie was weak but she was still strong enough to try and move. "Stop it! God!" She was screaming. Glenn was still trying to fight but he wasn't being very successful. A bundle of fear gathered in the pit of my stomach that Negan was going to soon get bored and decide Glenn would be Lucille's meal. He had already backed off of the Asian man and was now letting Dwight take care of him. Maggie was still yelling for her husband.

"Glenn stop, get back!" I cried out. I wanted him away from these men. If I could try to keep the attention on me maybe Negan would decide that I was the one that would need to die. "Negan, please!" I screamed. But he wasn't looking at me. He was still looking down at Glenn. "Remember what I told you. Remember it. Negan!" I yelled once more.

Finally he looked up at me and seemed to see how much I was panicking. He grinned at me before walking over to where the fight was still going on. Negan dropped beside Dwight and pulled the man's hand back so that he could no longer hit Glenn. "Nope," he said and Dwight nodded, backing off of Glenn slightly. I sighed deeply as Dwight nodded to his leader once more. "Nope, get him back in line," he said and Dwight silently agreed.

Glenn could barely stand and I could already see bruises forming on his face. He looked awful. "No," he grunted as Dwight dragged him back to his spot in the line. He dropped Glenn in the dirt and the young man immediately collapsed. "No. No," he groaned, trying to get to Maggie. He was sobbing and I heard Maggie calling for him. My heart broke for them but I knew that I had to be strong. I still had a mission. "Don't. Don't," Glenn begged as Negan came to stand in front of Maggie once more. Dwight had come back to grab me and I was struggling against him but it wasn't working. I couldn't break from his grip.

Ridding his face of any irritation, if there had been any there to begin with, Negan began to chuckle once more. The air stilled at his laugh and I noticed that both Glenn and Maggie had silenced themselves. "All right, listen. Don't any of you do that again. I will shut that shit down, no exceptions. First one's free. It's an emotional moment, I get it," he said with a little shrug. He left Maggie to stand once more in front of Rick. He smiled down at my leader, whose head was down. For the first time since the outbreak, Rick knew that there was no way to win this. We all did. "Sucks, don't it? The moment you realize you don't know shit. This is your kid, right?" He asked, looking over to Carl. He looked over Carl's face for a few moments before nodding. "This is definitely your kid," he said with a little laugh.

It looked like he wanted to say something more but he never got the chance. Before Negan could say something Sasha opened her mouth. "Just stop this!" She cried out. Negan's attention had been drawn to her and I panicked. I didn't want him looking at anyone else. Only me. No one was going to die tonight. No one but me.

"Negan!" I shouted. Dwight had me pressed down on my knees in the dirt but I was determined to get up. Anything to challenge his authority. I went to stand up but I hadn't seen it coming. A man from behind me hit me in the back of the knee and I immediately went falling to the ground.

My entire group was calling out to me but there was only one voice that I could make out as the man that had hit me came down on his knees at my side. Good. Kill me. Take my blood. Not theirs. This was exactly what I wanted. "Get the hell off of my wife!" Daryl screamed. No Daryl. Shut up. I'm doing this for you. I tried to shake my head as Daryl stood up to defend me, but thankfully he was too weak. He fell over onto his knees and Michonne and Rosita steadied him back to the kneeling position.

Another Savior tried to hit me as the man that had hit me first sat on my back. I closed my eyes, waiting for the end, but it never came. Instead it was a call from Negan. "Hey! No! Get your fucking hands off of her," he growled. The men were thrown from me and I nearly sobbed as Negan grabbed me and pulled me to my feet. No. They were supposed to kill me to end this. "No. This one is good," he said as he grabbed me around the upper arm. He dragged me away from the group and shooed off a few Saviors that were standing around us. "Now what is it, darling? Why would you interrupt me when I was just getting to the good part?" He asked with a little smile.

He had impeccable patience. I'd give him that. But I was done trying to be subtle. It was time for full out pleading. "Negan please. Leave them be. I already told you but I'll tell you again. Do anything to me. Kill me, take me, I don't care. Do anything. Just don't hurt them. Please. None of them. Feed me- or whatever you want to call it- to Lucille. She's hungry? Give her me," I begged pathetically. Negan said nothing. He just stared at me. This was mortifying but I had to do it. They had to be safe. They were the family that I had always wanted and now I had to fight for them.

I motioned back to my group and fought back tears. "Glenn. He's about to be a father. You're a horrible man, but would you really take a father? Michonne. She's come so far from the woman she once was. Don't take that from her. Maggie. She's pregnant. Would you really kill a pregnant woman? I couldn't. Aaron. He saved our lives. I owe him this. Eugene. He's so smart. Smarter than any of us. Abraham. He was a man that fought for your life in the past world. Sasha. She's lost her brother. Her boyfriend. She's lost everything. Except for herself. Rosita. She's so strong for a woman that's seen so much bad. She could help you. Carl. He's just a kid. You told me. You liked kids even though you've never had one. He just lost his eye. He's been shot. He's been through so much. Rick. Rick has done everything for us. He has given everything. Merle. He started out as barely a man. A monster. But he's come so far. I saved his life. I'll continue to do it. Daryl," I said, stuttering over my words for a moment. "He's- he's a good man. He's everything that you aren't," I said softly.

Negan nodded for a few minutes before giving me a little smile. This was it. This was the end. I had to do everything in my power to make sure that I would be the one to die. Maybe I would see my father in hell. "And now what about you?" He said and I cocked my head at him. "You've had something good to say about all these assholes. What about you? What good do you have to say about yourself?" He asked me.

That was the whole point. That was what I wanted him to understand. There was no reason to save me. I wasn't pregnant. I wasn't intelligent. I wasn't that strong. I was nothing. Nothing compared to all of them. "Nothing. That's why I'm begging you. Kill me. Not them," I told him.

He was silent for a moment before a grin spread over his face. Before he even said anything I already knew what he was going to say. "And that's exactly why you're the only one who's safe," he said loudly enough for my group to be safe. I turned back to see the brief smile slip over Daryl's face and I sobbed. It should be me! Not him. Not any of them. "Bring her to the side!" Negan ordered one of his men.

As I had expected, it was Dwight that came over to grab me. I tried desperately to fight, to get back to my group, but nothing worked. The grip that Dwight had on my hair was iron. "Negan, please!" I begged. Tears were now steadily falling. I didn't care what he thought about me. All I cared was that he didn't really do this. "No!" I screamed as he walked back over to Carl.

"Hey!" He shouted back at me. There wasn't a sneer or frown on his face though. He was smiling. He had gotten what he wanted. Me, broken. He knew that he had finally pushed me to my limit. "Do not make me kill the little future serial killer," he said, motioning down at Carl. My mouth snapped shut and I forced the tears to stop falling. There was nothing that I could do now. Nothing. I had done everything that I could. Everything, except die for them. "Don't make it easy on me. I gotta pick somebody. Everybody's at the table waiting for me to order," he said as he began to whistle, making a few laps up and down the line. A few Saviors were passing in front of me and I fought to see. I had to know. "I simply cannot decide," he said with a little chuckle. "I got an idea," he said as he laughed once more. "Eenie, meenie, miney, mo, catch a tiger by his toe. If he hollers let him go. My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are it."

His men were now completely blocking my view of the line of my group members. I had no idea who Negan had stopped in front of. My heart was pounding and once more tears were falling over my face. The group had come silent and I watched as Negan raised Lucille high in the air. He was speaking but I heard none of it. I was screaming and so were the rest of my group. It was too late. I had failed. God. Please don't be Daryl. Please. The moment that he lowered the bat was the moment that the first intelligible scream slipped from my mouth. "Negan!"


	55. The Day Will Come When You Won't Be

We stood in the middle of Zone 5 of the CDC. Everything was going wrong. Alarms were sounding and the doors were sealed. We were trapped. We were going to die in here. At least that's what we were all thinking. Up until we saw the metal doors slide open. "There's your chance. Take it," Dr. Jenner said to us.

I'd never seen a man look so broken. I supposed that was why he was still planted in the chair. He was not moving any time soon. His fight was over. "I'm grateful," Rick said to Jenner, leaning over the older man.

Jenner's head turned up to look at Rick, the first emotion I had seen since the doors closed flashed through his eyes. It was unreadable. He stared at Rick for a moment before sighing. "The day will come when you won't be," Jenner mumbled.

Over the head of the Savior standing in front of me I saw Lucille come down in a hard swing. Screams echoed loudly over the clearing from the rest of my group. Shockingly enough none of the Saviors were laughing. Not even Negan was. The man in front of me stepped out of the way and I let out a loud sob when I saw who it was. Abraham. He was struggling to get back up on his knees. There was a tiny chunk of his skull missing where blood was dripping down his face. I let out a piercing scream at sight of my friend, fighting to get past the remaining Saviors that were blocking my path. "Oh! Look at that! Taking it like a champ!" Negan yelled with a laugh.

The clearing went silent as all eyes turned on Abraham. Most were teary, Sasha and Rosita watching on in horror. They loved him. "Suck my nuts," Abraham muttered to Negan. Nothing that he could have ever said would have been more like Abraham. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw that he held up a peace sign towards Sasha and tears slipped out of my eyes. If I could get out of his grip and get to Negan I could stop this before any more harm was done to Abraham. He could still live. I knew that he could. He was strong.

Negan merely smirked at Abraham's words before raising Lucille high into the air once more. My mouth dropped open and a high pitched shriek erupted from my throat. Everyone was mirroring my screams as the bat came down once more. Over and over again Negan brought down Lucille on Abraham's head. It was nearly ten hits before Abraham finally stopped moving. My screams had softened but the tears were rolling in streams down my face. My prayers for him to stop his assault on Abraham had silenced. He was gone. Dead. His head had been sunken into a bloody mess. Had hit not been for his body I would have never thought that the bloody mess had been a person. To the side of me I could see that Sasha and Rosita were in tears, the latter in hysterics.

After what felt like hours Negan finally ceased his assault on Abraham's body and turned to us. My eyes were down at Lucille. It was dripping in blood and chunks of brain. Abraham. More tears slipped out at the thought. "Did you hear that?" Negan asked, laughter echoing around the solemn clearing. "He said, "Suck my nuts." Phew," he muttered, wiping away some sweat from his brow. He laughed once more before turning back and swinging Lucille at the bloody mess that was Abraham. I cried out softly before turning my gaze away from the slaughter. I could hear the hits coming over and over again, the squelching of blood and bone louder than anything that I had ever heard before. Everyone in my group was crying and dry-heaving. The only sound that could be heard over the tears and cries was the sound of Negan's horrid laugh.

We were making our way slowly back into the back of the store. We were here for Abraham and Sasha. I knew that they were alright. They had to be. If Daryl and I had gotten away from D and Honey they had gotten away from the rest of them. As I turned the corner I saw a head of bright red hair and I launched myself forward and into waiting arms. "Abraham! Thank God you're alright. Both of you," I said when I saw Sasha.

Abraham smiled at me and let me drop from his arms slowly. I hugged Sasha and then stepped back to look over the pair. Other than being a little rattled, they looked alright. "Damn girl, the two of you get in a fistfight or something while y'all were out there?" Abraham asked me when he finally looked over the two of us. "He making moves on some sweet walker?" He asked me and I laughed once more. Abraham was a good man. I was sure that he had been a good father too. More than anything, he was a good friend. A friend that I would always treasure.

It wasn't long before I was brought out of my reverie by the sound of Negan's voice. "Oh, my goodness! Look at this!" Negan yelled. He swung Lucille towards me and I cried out in a mix of horror and disgust as some of the blood and brain matter of Abraham sprayed across my face and chest. Tears began to run down my face once more as I looked away from his body. My sobs were loud and Negan smirked. "You guys, look at my dirty girl! Sweetheart, lay your eyes on this," Negan snarled. I looked up, thinking that he was speaking to me. However he was faced away from me, Lucille pointed in Rosita's face. She was crying and fighting to keep her gaze on the ground. Negan sighed heavily as he leaned over Rosita's broken form. "Oh, damn. Were you- Were you together? That sucks. But if you were, you should know there was a reason for all this. Red- and hell, he was, is, and will ever be red. He just took one or six or seven for the team! So take a damn look," Negan growled at Rosita. She was breathing heavily, tears falling into her lap. "Take a damn look!" Negan shouted.

Rosita jumped at the sudden volume increase, as did the rest of the group. I thought that she was about to look up at Lucille before Daryl jumped up. My eyes shot over to him and I watched in horror as he leaped after Negan and delivered a hard punch to his eye. A horrified scream echoed from my throat as I fought to get to my husband. Negan grunted at the impact before stumbling back. "Daryl! No! Oh, no," Rick yelled.

He looked like he was about to stand but a Savior quickly shoved him back down. Two Saviors easily subdued Daryl and I cried out as he was pushed to the ground. One was Dwight and the other was the one that I had been taken by earlier. I was sobbing heavily as I managed to rip out of a Savior's grasp. I tried to run to Daryl and I managed to get close before Negan caught me. Dwight pointed Daryl's crossbow down into his face as he was shoved into the dirt and I cried out as Negan forced me to look at my husband. "Daryl!" I sobbed. Negan merely laughed. "Please, get away from him. Please," I begged Dwight.

Negan laughed once more and brought me a few steps closer to Daryl. My knees were shaking underneath me and I was sure that at any given moment they would give out. Still I fought to get to Daryl. The barbs on Lucille were scratching against my legs but I couldn't have cared less. I had to get to Daryl. It wasn't a choice. Daryl shook his head at me as tears began to run down my face. My breathing was labored as I went into hysterics. Daryl nodded at me once, trying to tell me to calm down. "That? Oh, my! That is a no-no. The whole thing- not one bit of that shit flies here," Negan laughed, finally addressing the rest of my group.

Another loud sob escaped my mouth as Dwight leaned down and pressed the tip of the crossbow down into Daryl's shoulder. The same one that he had been shot in earlier. I knew that it was hurting him but he would never show me. "Do you want me to do it? Right here," Dwight asked Negan. Daryl grunted at the added weight of Dwight.

Negan laughed loudly before turning to me. He brushed the hair back off of my face in an almost caring manner. He motioned me towards Daryl as tears ran down my face and over his hands. "What do you think? Should I let Dwight kill him?" Negan asked me.

There was a teasing note in his voice and I fought to get to Daryl once more. But it didn't matter. Negan's grip on my hair and around my waist were too tight. I wasn't going anywhere. "Please. Please, no. Take me, not him," I muttered to Negan despite the fact that I hadn't looked away from Daryl.

The panic had set into Daryl's eyes and for the first time I saw him fight back against Dwight and the other Savior. "Should I, now?" Negan asked me with a laugh. Negan raised Lucille in his other hand and I shuddered as he stroked the barbs of Lucille across my face. I sobbed softly as Abraham's blood smeared across my face. I wanted to wipe it off but I couldn't. "No. No, you don't kill them not until you try a little." Daryl grunted once more as he tried to get to me. My tears were falling, mixing in with the blood from Abraham. "And anyway that's not how it works. Now, I already told you people- first one's free, then- what'd I say? I said I would shut that shit down! No exceptions. Now, I don't know what kind of lying assholes you've been dealing with but I'm a man of my word. First impressions are important. I need you to know me. So back to it," Negan said flippantly.

Without taking any care Negan unraveled himself from me before tossing me off to the side. My balance was too poor from the lack of food, water, and sanity. My feet stumbled over themselves and I fell to the ground. Rick tried to stand and get to me but before he could a Savior grabbed me and pulled me to my feet. Negan raised Lucille over Daryl's head and my scream pierced the near silence of the woods. "No! Please, please! No, no, no," I begged, fighting against the man that was holding me.

The world seemed to go still and silent as Daryl turned his head to look at me. "I love you," Daryl said softly. There wasn't a trace of panic in his eyes.

Lucille was raised high over Negan's head and I screamed bloody murder as he sent it down quickly. Even Merle was howling in horror as the baseball bat came down. But at the last moment Negan swung Lucille off to the side, whacking Glenn over the back of the head. "No!" I screamed in utter horror.

Gasps and loud screams were exchanged through the group as we all stared at Glenn on the ground. He looked horrible. Blood was already running over the back of his head and I could see some of the bone broken underneath. He was clearly hit much harder than Abraham had been. He was struggling to get to his feet and for a moment I turned to see the look of shock on Daryl's face. "No!" Maggie sobbed and I turned to her. No. Not Maggie. She needs her husband. Her baby needs its father. This can't be happening. Glenn finally came back to his knees and he was struggling and gasping for breath. Blood was running down his face and I screamed in horror when I saw that one of his eyes had been slightly dislodged from the socket. Maggie and I were both sobbing loudly, myself struggling to get to Glenn. Maggie was leaning over the ground, horrified at the sight of her husband.

Glenn fell to the ground once more and I watched in horror as Negan prodded at my friend. Glenn was barely able to come back to the kneeling position once more. "Buddy, you still there?" Negan asked with a hint of amusement. Glenn grunted and sputtered, clearly trying to speak. "I just don't know. It seems like you're trying to speak, but you just took a hell of a hit. I just popped your skull so hard, your eyeball just popped out, and it is gross as shit!" Negan yelled with a hint of laughter.

My group had gone silent, tears running down everyone's faces. It was horrifying. This was Glenn. My first friend in the new world. The first real friend I'd had since I was fourteen. Glenn moved and turned to look at his wife, who was sobbing at the sight of him. "Maggie, I'll find you," Glenn muttered Tears were raining down my face as Maggie gave a dry heave. "R-Rain," Glenn hissed, turning to look at me. I sobbed loudly and nodded for him to speak. "T-take c-care of her," he told me.

I nodded, tears running down my face and over my chest. "I will, Glenn," I muttered softly. And it was the truth. All of Maggie's family was about to be gone. I would protect her with my dying breath. For Glenn. I would honor his last wish to the best of my ability.

"You won't," Negan told me with a laugh. He turned back to Glenn and sent Lucille over his head once more. Maggie's scream echoed in the forest and the other screams followed shortly after. Maggie was certainly the loudest, in between looking at the corpse of her husband and looking at the ground. My sob were barely able to escape my throat, the breath catching. My knees gave out from underneath me and I went crashing to the ground, the Savior not bothering to catch me. Negan continued to beat against Glenn's body for a moment before stopping and turning to my broken group.

I was always the fastest runner of anyone that I knew. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I could outrun any of them. But that was until the man who had hit me with the baseball bat earlier managed to cut me off. He was faster than I was anticipating. Raising the knife, prepared for a fight with the man, I saw the fear rise to his eyes as he began to stammer. I tried to jump at him, not really wanting to hurt him, only wanting to scare him away.

"W-w-wait! Please, I'm so sorry for hitting you with the bat, I was just scared a-and I thought you were a guy with your hair tied up, not that you look like a guy!" He babbled and I nearly laughed. He was so awkward that it was almost cute. Maybe he wasn't that bad. But I still wasn't willing to risk it. "Please, just put the knife down, we don't want to hurt you, we brought you back here so you wouldn't be walker bait. Look, I'm Glenn. What's your name?" The boy was Asian, probably about my age. He would be a good friend. I knew it.

We were in the peace of the farm but currently there was a fight brewing between Glenn and myself. Glenn was shuffling his feet nervously in front of me. He knew that he was in trouble. "Oh! Well uh- we all kind of had a uh bet going," Glenn stammered, looking away from me. "It was me, Dale, T-Dog, Rick, Lori, and Carol. We were all betting on when you two would uh- get together."

"And," I grit out between my teeth, "What were the bets?"

"Well, I thought that it would be here at the farm, Dale had thought that it would be back at the quarry, T-Dog didn't think it would happen for a while- neither did Lori- but they both thought that it would happen, Carol thought that it would be right after he got shot, and Rick- uh thought it would be while you two were out on a camping trip one day," he told me with a guilty look on his face.

"When were these bets made?"

"We uh started them at the quarry and they've just kept going," he told me, stepping back as I advanced on him.

"Mm-hmm. You better run Glenn Rhee! I may have a bullet wound but that doesn't mean that I won't catch you!" Glenn took off in a dead sprint, and I followed, running toward the house. Glenn was one of my best friends here. But that didn't mean that I was going to let him get away with those stupid bets.

We were moving into the Greene's house. Finally something was going our way. "Just leave it there," Rick told Glenn, who grunted as he dropped the box of food. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his wrists, trying to get the kinks out of his joints. I laughed and shook my head at his dramatics.

"Need to get back to the gym there soon buddy," I prodded at Glenn, poking him in the arm.

"Shut up, Rain." He was trying to look serious, but that made it all the funnier. I laughed and soon enough Glenn was laughing as well. I noticed the odd look I was getting from Daryl, so I smiled at him. He scoffed and turned away, but I saw the small smile turn up on the corners of his lips before he could turn completely away. They both loved me. Whether or not they wanted to admit it, I knew that they did.

I wore a large smile as I grabbed the picture from Glenn. It was an ultrasound. I smiled when I saw that it was a little bean sized black mass. It wasn't much right now but one day it would be his child. Their child. I smiled and handed the picture off to Daryl. He looked at it for a moment before nodding and handing it back to Glenn, who was holding his wife happily. They were each my best friends and I would fight for them. Until the day I died.

The forest had gone silent with the exception of the a few sobs from the remainder of my group. "Oh. Oh, hell. I can see this is hard on you guys. I am sorry. I truly am. But I did say it. No exceptions!" Negan yelled. He was not sorry. Walkers began to growl in the background as Negan beat in the remains of Glenn's head. To the point where it was nothing. Just like Abraham. I sobbed softly and looked away, trying to drown out the sound of the blood squelching and mixing in with the bone and brain matter. The group behind me continued to cry. Negan ceased his assault for a moment to turn and look at us. "You bunch of pussies. I'm just getting started. Lucille is thirsty," he warned us. My heart was pounding in my ears as he laughed once more. "She is a vampire bat. What? Was the joke that bad?" Negan asked. He dropped the bat to the side before walking to stand in front of Rick. "Jesus," he muttered. He swung Lucille and I watched as blood sprayed across Rick's face, similarly to the way that it had done with mine. Negan laughed softly. "Simon what did he have, a knife?" Negan asked.

The man that had been standing behind me kicked me low in the spine, forcing me forwards. I cried out as I was dragged to fall next to Rick. Rick's arm wrapped around me as we stared up at Negan. I knew that he was asking and referring to the weapon that Rick had been holding when they got to the clearing. "Uh, he had a hatchet," Simon told Negan.

"A hatchet?" Negan asked curiously. Simon showed him the weapon and Negan nodded. "He had an axe," he said. He laughed before kneeling in front of Rick and I. "Simon's my right-hand man. Having one of those is important. I mean, what do you have left without them? A whole lot of work. Do you have one? Maybe one of these fine people still breathing? Oh. Or did I-" He asked, clicking his tongue. My heart skipped a beat. Rick had four. Glenn and Abraham were two of them. Daryl and I were the others. Negan sighed when Rick didn't answer. "Sure. Yeah. Give me his axe," Negan said. He inhaled deeply as he grabbed the axe from Simon. "I'll be right back. Maybe Rick and Rain will be with me. And if not, well, we can just turn these people inside out, won't we? I mean the ones that are left," he said with a laugh. Negan grabbed the top of Rick's shirt and began to drag him back towards the RV. He motioned for Simon to grab me and I began to struggle as he grabbed onto me. Behind us I could hear Daryl struggling to get to me. "Let's go for a ride." Negan tossed both Rick and I onto the floor and Simon slammed the door of the RV behind us. Rick helped me get back to my feet, wiping the remains of Glenn and Abraham off of my face. Taking a rag on the floor I began to wipe some of the sweat off of Rick's face.

It was our RV from back in Alexandria and my entire body was shaking as Rick pressed me up against the wall, shielding me from Negan's sight. He took a seat in the front and I listened as the engine sputtered weakly as Negan tried to get it to turn over. "Wow. What a piece of shit," Negan said with a laugh. Rick was sure to keep my head in his shoulder.

Rick leaned up slightly and I watched him as he looked up towards Negan. He was shaking and sweat was still trailing over his face. "I'm gonna kill you," he muttered, just loud enough for Negan to hear.

The man ceased his movements up front. The RV had turned over by now but Negan had put it in park so that we would not be moving any time soon. Rick shoved me behind him and I gasped, falling to the floor. He didn't bother to turn back to me but I didn't mind. "Are you kidding me? Did you see what just happened, what I just did? You just-" He spoke before sighing and cutting himself off. He took a moment before speaking again. "Your best chance is to stand up, grab that ax, and drive it through the back of my head. See how you do. Keep actin' tough. Go ahead. Grab the damn axe," Negan snarled. The RV was still for a moment and I jumped in surprise as Rick jumped up and grabbed the axe that was lodged into the table. Rick was about to drive it through Negan's head before he stood at the last moment, the barrel of the rifle under Rick's chin. "Drop it," Negan ordered.

Rick gasped softly as did I, praying that Negan was not about to fire. "Oh," Negan teasingly muttered before driving the gun up harder against Rick's chin. He still hadn't dropped his hand. Fearing for Rick I walked over and grabbed his hand from behind. I couldn't lose someone else today. After a moment Rick dropped it and it clattered loudly against the ground. "Don't make me get up again," Negan warned before walking away and sitting back at the driver's seat. This time he began to drive away and Rick pulled me to sit with him on the floor. The entire time that we were driving Rick kept my head against his shoulder, tears still leaking from my eyes.

I had lost two of my friends today. Not even two friends. I had lost two family members today. Glenn Rhee. Abraham Ford. I would never forget their names. I would never forget their faces. I would never forget every smile and laugh that I'd shared with the two men. I would never forget what we had all done with each other. I would never forget how they had both fought to protect me. Most importantly I would never forget the man who had so callously taken their lives. I would get revenge for both of them. If it was the last thing that I did.

Glenn... One of my best friends in this new world. We had been through so much together. From everything at the quarry, him being the first person that I trusted, to watching him fall in love with Maggie at the farm. It had been so strange to watch Glenn come from a boy who had delivered pizzas for a living to a real leader. Despite his brief stint as an overlord during my father's attacks at the prison Glenn had always been so level-headed. It had only increased when Maggie had become pregnant. He would have been such a good father. I knew it. I was going to honor his last wish. To watch over Maggie. I would keep her safe when Glenn couldn't. That would always be my goal. I would make sure that wherever he was watching from he would always be proud.

The hurt from Abraham wasn't as horrible but it wasn't to say that it didn't feel like my heart had been carved out of my chest. I hadn't known Abraham nearly as well as I'd known Glenn but the man had always been someone that I could speak too. I couldn't count the times that I had stayed up on guard with Abraham and the two of us had chatted and laughed long into the night. We had been good friends. I'd known so much about Abraham and he had known so much about me. I had known how he had thought that Rosita was the last woman in the world. I had also known that he realized that she wasn't. That had led him straight into Sasha's arms. God, poor Sasha. She had lost every man shed ever cared about. The thing that hurt the most was that I knew that Abraham had never told her how he felt about her. He loved her. I wasn't sure whether telling her would help or only make things worse.

My head was still buried in Rick's shoulder as tears began to leak out once more. I couldn't believe everything that had happened in the last few hours. I'd watched Daryl get shot in the shoulder and begin to suffer from a severe fever. I'd learned that something was severely wrong with Maggie. Perhaps her child. I'd begged for their lives. I'd watched as Negan beat the life out of Abraham and Glenn. So much had happened. So much had caused me to feel like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I wanted to wake up and be back in Alexandria, Daryl in bed next to me and Maggie and Glenn downstairs waiting for us with coffee ready.

"Well, look at that," Negan purred from the front seat. Both Rick and I looked up. Partially because we were curious and partially because we didn't want to see what would happen if we didn't. We couldn't afford another dead friend. "Dawn is breaking. It's a brand-new day, Rick. And what about you, Rain? Are you ready to see what can come from the new day?" Negan asked with a laugh. Underneath me I could feel Rick stiffen. "I want you both to think about what could have happened think about what happened, and think about what can still happen," Negan told us before revving the engine.

It was exactly the reason that neither of us were speaking. We weren't willing to accidentally get each other or someone else back at the clearing killed. Killed or injured, it didn't matter. We couldn't risk losing anything else. We'd already lost too much. We lost two strong men and two wonderful people. We lost a husband and a father. We lost a comedian and warrior. Today we lost two family members. Tomorrow we would kill a dictator. Negan would not live to see the winter. Not after tonight.

A chuckle from the front of the RV echoed loudly and I turned back to see that Negan was slowly increasing the speed of the RV. My heart was pounding as I watched the odometer tick up to ninety. It was too foggy this morning. I could barely see anything from out of the windshield. It wasn't long before we began to swerve through a thick of walkers. A little gasp escaped my throat as we slammed into walker after walker. It reminded me of the time that we were on the way to get the medicine for the prison. But the RV was actually able to maneuver through the countless walkers; some close to the RV and others wandering at a distance.

Another loud laugh echoed from the front of the RV and Rick grabbed me tightly around the waist, pressing me against the wall. I grabbed his hand and pulled him into me, ensuring that we wouldn't go flying. The engine revved once more as the engine ticked over one hundred. One of the walkers slammed against the windshield and I jumped as the blood and bits of black brain matter went flying across the windshield. Negan laughed once more as he turned on the wipers, smearing the blood. "Oh! Boom!" He yelled as we hit another walker. "That remind you of anybody you know?" He asked with a laugh. Both Rick and I tensed at his words but remained still. We were surrounded by walkers. Now was a bad time to pick a fight. "Oh, yeah."

Loud growling was echoing outside of the RV and I gasped softly. Wherever Negan had brought us, it was clearly dangerous. There were walkers everywhere. And as I looked out the window I saw that the walkers were already circling around the RV. They knew that fresh meat was ready and available. Nearly ten more walkers were smeared across the front of the windshield before Negan slammed on the brakes. The sudden jolt sent Rick and I flying forward, landing roughly on the carpeted ground. The engine shut off a moment later and I watched from my spot on the ground as Negan stood and walked over to Rick and I with a smirk.

My legs were shaking from the rough ride as Negan held out a hand and waited for me. I shook my head and slipped back slightly, standing and offering a hand to Rick. He took it and brought himself to stand. It was a moment later that he pushed me behind him, standing face-to-face with Negan. It was then that I realized how much shorter Rick was than Negan. Rick was no small man. He was about five-foot-ten. Although Negan was tall. He was well over six feet. And he was using that height to his advantage.

He was leaning over us slightly. I knew the tactic well. He was trying to shrink us down and make us fear him. "You both are mine. The people back there- they are mine. This- This is mine," Negan told us. He grabbed the axe that had been on the table and rotated it in his hands a few times. He smiled at us before turning back and opening the door to the RV. My heart skipped a beat as Negan swung at a few walkers that had been milling by the door. He decapitated some and slashed open other's skulls. Before long they had all fallen but I knew that others were in the area. The only thing that mattered was that I couldn't see them. Not through the fog. I could only hear them. I didn't like it. He twirled the bloodied axe in his hand for a moment before tossing it out into the fog-infested area. "Hey, Rick go get my axe. Let's be friends. Oh," he laughed under his breath as Rick refused to move. "Get my axe," Negan demanded, this time no laughter present on his face.

He stood for a moment and watched Rick before grabbing him by the shoulder and throwing him out of the RV, into the fog. Rick tried to fight back but he was too slow. Negan slammed the door closed behind Rick and I leaped forward. "No!" I yelled, fighting to get to the door.

Negan stood in front of me and shoved me back against the floor. I hit it roughly and cried out when Negan grabbed me, pulling me over to the table. I was stumbling over myself as Negan pressed me into the seat and took a spot across the table from him. I was glancing out the window to try and see Rick and I could just barely see him through the fog. He was fighting against the walkers that were roaming in droves outside and my knees shook. I had lost so much. I was not going to lose more.

Laughter filled the RV as Negan looked out the window to watch Rick run back and forth. My heart was pounding in my chest as Negan closed the blinds, leaving me unable to see Rick anymore. "Rain, you've been awfully quiet. The first time that we spoke you wouldn't shut up. Now you're damn near silent. Come on. Talk to me," Negan said softly, the same way that one might speak to a small child.

My throat was dry as I tried to form the first real sentence since begging Negan for their lives last night. "You were angry. Last night. When Rick said that he was going to kill you," I barely squeaked out.

Pain was laced in my voice and it shook from the screams that I had been letting out earlier. Negan seemed to realize that as he grinned at me and leaned back in his seat. His hands were folded over the table with no weapons near him. I assumed that Lucille was up front. Or perhaps back in the clearing. "After everything I've fucking done to you people, you still think that you're the hot shit?" Negan asked me.

My hands were shaking as I realized that they were drenched in blood. Glenn's. Abraham's. I was sure that it was all over my face too. "You aren't the first person we've dealt with that's caught us in a dangerous position. You won't be the last either. We've defeated them all. We'll defeat you too. For Glenn and Abraham. We have to. We owe it to them," I muttered the last part mostly to myself.

Negan smirked at me and leaned forward. He was so close that he could have kissed me had he really wanted to. I was sure that I would have rather let him hit me over the head with Lucille. "Tell me about them," he whispered.

I wasn't one hundred percent sure why he wanted me to tell him. "Some we had names for. Others we don't. A group of men around a farm we lived at once. My father, twice, when we lived at a prison. Cannibals when we briefly visited a place called Terminus. A group of wannabee cops at a hospital, Grady Memorial. The Claimers. Men like you. Rick ripped out one of their throats with his teeth when he threatened Carl. We battled sicknesses too. I had it. I was one of the few that survived it. We survived a suicidal doctor at the CDC in Atlanta. We didn't kill him. We talked him into letting us go," I said under my breath. Dr. Jenner. I wondered what he would think if he saw us now.

"Pussies," Negan growled.

My eyes narrowed as I stared down at my hands. "No. We aren't. We weren't. We never will be. There's something that I need to tell you. It takes a strong man to kill someone." Negan nodded with a smirk of victory. "It takes a brave man to know when to spare a life. You are not brave," I snarled under my breath.

He laughed and shook his head at me. "And you think that you're brave? You think that Rick is brave? How about your husband? What did you tell me earlier? You told me that Gregory propositioned you and your little friend. What's her name?" My teeth ground together but I didn't give in to the bait. "You're telling me that a brave man knows when to spare a life. Dwight told me that you and your husband threatened to kill him if you ever saw him again. That doesn't sound brave to me," Negan told me.

Shaking my head at him, I swallowed the lump that was in my throat and leaned back a little further. I didn't like how close he was to me. Not after everything that he had done. "No. But what Rick said about killing you? He won't. Neither will I," I told him honestly.

"Finally!" Negan yelled, startling me slightly. "Glad to know that you're finally starting to see things my way. I'm not going to die. Your friends, they will. But me? No," Negan grinned.

Once more I shook my head. "You're right that you won't die. I won't let you." The grin on Negan's face told me that he was buying right into my story. "Because you don't deserve death. Death is... final. There's a peace in finality. And that is not something that you deserve. Not after what you've done to my group and Hilltop. Chances are that there are other groups too. You see, I'm not going to let you die. I'm going to find a cell for you. Just barely big enough for you to live in. And I'll watch you starve. A slow and painful process from what I hear. Then I'll feed you again. Just enough to keep you alive. And then I'll starve you. Again and again. I'm going to watch you be driven insane. And I'll watch. Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Even if I die before you, I'll die knowing that at least I can have peace. You will rot. And nothing will make me sleep sounder at night," I snarled, ensuring that Negan knew exactly what my intentions were.

The entire time that I had been telling my plan to Negan I could tell that he was getting happier and happier with my words. He wanted to get me to this point. He knew that he could. Negan was more than a physical threat. He was a mental threat. "I look forward to that day, Rain. I look forward to the day that these things happen. But until then, you work for me. I'm not the same as these second-rate assholes that you've been dealing with before. I'm something brand-new baby! And you get to be the one to try me out," Negan told me with a grin.

I hated the way that he looked at me. It made my skin crawl. I didn't want to know what Negan was capable of doing to me. I just knew that he was not going to treat me the same way that Mitch and Martinez had. He was not going to do anything to me. I was going to end his reign. For Glenn and Abraham. For Maggie, Sasha, and Rosita too. "You aren't anything new. Just a different incarnation of the same old villain. And there's one thing about the ending to stories. The villains always lose," I warned him.

Once more Negan laughed. His laugh was cold and horrifying. It was even worse than the laugh that I had heard from my father months ago. "Good thing that this isn't a story," Negan purred at me. We sat in silence for a moment and I heard a loud thump. I jumped slightly, looking up. A stupid thought really. I couldn't see through the damned metal roof. "I think your man Rick's found a place to hide," Negan said with a laugh.

My heart was thumping loudly in my chest and for a moment I thought that he might have been able to hear it. But the smirk wasn't aimed at me. The smirk was aimed up at the roof. He was seemingly impressed with Rick's actions. "What would it take to leave us be?" I asked, bringing Negan's attention back to myself.

His brows knitted as he looked over at me. The confusion was only on his face for a moment before he brightened. He knew that he had backed me into a corner. "More than you have," he laughed.

Negan began to slide out of the booth and I jolted slightly. I wasn't done bargaining with him. Until I could get him to leave the rest of my family be there was always going to be something that I could do. "There has to be something!" I yelled. Negan stopped walking and turned to me with a curious gaze.

We sat in silence for a moment before Negan walked back over to the booth and sat with me. He stared at me and I nodded. There had to be something that I could do. "You want to know what you can do?" Negan asked me. After a pregnant pause I nodded. "I'm gonna take half of your shit. That is not going to change. But I suppose there is something that you could do to save everyone back in the woods right now. One thing and I could leave them without another word. Other than the instruction for what kind of shit I want," Negan said with a laugh.

"Name it," I snapped before I could lose my nerve.

The smile that was on his face told me that whatever he was going to tell me was not going to be something that I would like. Not that I had been expecting it to be. "See, I have a few women back at our compound. The Sanctuary. That's what we call it. And they are super-hot! One of them is Dwight's wife. Sherry. Well, ex-wife," Negan corrected with a laugh. My stomach roiled at the sound mentions of his women. "But they're all weak. Trophy wives. In this world and the one before. I've never had a fighter as a wife before. Now I don't take any by force. Not like that. They all have to say yes. Ask any of them. I'm good to them. It pays to be a wife of Negan."

My head spun for a moment as I thought about what he had just said. He was telling me that there were women that he was married too. From the sounds of it they were wives of other men. And he had told me that Sherry had been Dwight's wife. Now she was Negan's. But no matter what he seemed to have a no-rape policy. Could that be why he had been reasonably kind to me? "Are you asking me to be your wife?" I asked him stupidly.

Negan laughed once more and threw his head back. "I'm not going to force you. I don't force anyone. Especially not anyone super-hot. Not like you. Besides, you'd fight. I have ones that wouldn't dare put up a fight. That wouldn't want to fight. Now you have your husband. I know that. But it would be so easy for you to come back with me. No one back there gets hurt," Negan told me.

I couldn't do it. I would never be able to do it. I loved Daryl. I loved my friends and family but I wasn't sure that I would be able to fall into Negan's bed every night. It was the one thing that I couldn't do. Never. "No," I snarled.

Negan hummed before standing and walking back up towards the front of the RV. "You made your choice. Too bad that it's a dumb ass choice. I'll give you some time to think on it," Negan said to me before turning his gaze up towards the roof. "Bet you thought you were all gonna grow old together, sitting around the table at Sunday dinner and the happily ever after," Negan yelled up to Rick, the laughter echoing throughout the RV. Even from down here I could hear Rick's sobs and heaves.

We all sat at a table with a white cloth laid over it. Food was spread as far as the eye could see. We had faced some hard trials and tribulations but somehow we had done it. We'd all found ourselves in safety. Laughter echoed over the otherwise silent Alexandria. We had seen so many hardships over the past few years that it just seemed right to eat together. It was something that we hadn't done since our first days behind these walls. It was something that we hadn't done with just our family in far too long. We were a strange combination but it didn't mean that we didn't love each other. We came from all different walks of life, ages, and nationalities. But we were a family.

Rick sat at the head of the table. He was laughing softly under his breath at something that Father Gabriel had said. He was sitting in the last seat to Rick's left. Beside him was Carol, smiling and clapping as her salad was passed around the table. Carl was next to her, grabbing a basket of bread from Enid. Aaron was next to her, grinning at the conversation being passed from person to person. Eugene was on his other side and I smiled as Merle tried to get him involved in the conversation. Spencer was next to the older Dixon. We were trying to involve him in our odd family. On his other side at the other end of the row sat Maggie. She turned in my direction briefly and I sent her a wink, earning a small chuckle.

At the other head of the table was Glenn. He was staring at his wife like she was the center of his universe. And in his arms bounced his year and a half old son. His black hair was a messy mop on the top of his head. Abraham was next to Glenn on the other side of the table, laughing at the look on Eugene's face. Next to him sat a fairly pregnant Sasha. She had a glow about her and I smiled softly. Morgan was next to her, helping Abraham serve her dinner. Rosita and Tara were after them, each one happily conversing with Aaron. Next to them was Daryl. My husband. He turned to me and grinned, passing the salad bowl over me and to Michonne, who sat on my other side, so that he could serve me. In my arms was our daughter. A giggling, smiling, mess.

As Daryl sat the bowl of salad down Michonne pushed back her head of soft blonde hair and I smiled as her bright blue eyes glinted in the sun. "Dada," she babbled softly. I grinned and handed her to Daryl, who took her. As he looked over both myself and our daughter I saw nothing but love.

Daryl leaned over to me and kissed me softly, our daughter making a soft fuss as she was pressed between us. The group at the table laughed as Glenn and Maggie's son began to cry softly. We all knew what they wanted. Daryl and Glenn both stood, each placing our children down in the grass. The toddlers began to roll together, playing with the toys that had already been laid out. Glenn and Daryl grinned at each other before taking their seats once more, neither looking away from the children.

My hand snaked its way over Daryl's shoulder and I noticed that Maggie was doing the same to Glenn. "We did good, Daddy," I told Daryl under my breath.

He turned back to me, breaking eye contact from our daughter, who was currently trying to steal one of Judith's old toys. "Yes. You did." Daryl placed a soft kiss on my forehead and I leaned into him. We were not the most typical family in the world but we worked. And we would do more for each other than anyone else ever would.

"No," Negan's voice shocked me back to reality. My heart longed for the daydream to become reality. I wanted it. I needed it. I deserved that life. We all deserved that life. But now, with this man around us, we were never going to get it. Not unless I did what I needed to. Not unless I became a wife of Negan. "Doesn't work like that, Rick. Not anymore. Think about what happened. Get me my axe," Negan demanded once more. The roof was silent, Rick clearly not bothering to move before Negan tried once more. "Get me my axe! I thought you were the guy, Rick. Maybe you're not. We'll give it one more go. Now, I really want you to try this time. Last chance. Bring me my axe!" Negan shouted.

Before I could comprehend what he was doing I saw Negan grab the rifle that he had threatened Rick with earlier and aim it up towards the roof. He fired a few rounds before I could shock myself back into action. I screamed loudly and launched myself at Negan. "Stop! What are you doing? Stop!" I sent a punch to Negan's eye and he recoiled for a moment before straightening up.

He threw me off of him before aiming back up at the roof. He fired a few more shots and I jumped after him once more. There had to be something that I could do. "Please stop! I'll do what you want! I'll- I'll be one of them!" Negan ceased firing and I took a deep breath. I had sealed my own fate. But I may have just safe-guarded theirs. "I'll be one of them," I said softly once more.

"You sure about that?" He asked me. I wanted to scream and shout no, that he was never going to lay a hand on me. But Negan was right. This was the one way to ensure that my family remained unharmed for the most part. This was the one way to ensure that my family was safe. So I nodded. "I'll think about it. I told you, Rain, I only take ass that's willing," Negan told me with a laugh. "And if you do so choose to leave your husband to come to me I want to make sure that he's there to see it," Negan smirked.

He knew that he was winning this fight. A little sob rose in my throat as a tear slipped out. We were so pathetically outnumbered outsmarted that it wasn't even funny. Negan looked away from me and out to the ground where Rick was currently fighting a stream of walkers. He was nearly outnumbered. Hell, he was outnumbered. If someone didn't help him I was sure that he was going to die. The axe was nothing against an army of nearly thirty walkers. "Clock is ticking, Rick! Think about what can still happen," Negan shouted so that Rick could hear him over the growling and hissing of the walkers.

The walkers had all scattered in front of Rick and my heart was thumping in my ears. It was only going to be another few seconds before he was overtaken by them. And that was not something that I was willing to let happen. "Negan! Help him. Please. I'll do it. I'm willing," I muttered under my breath.

Before turning back to the walkers I saw a pleased smile cross over Negan's face. "It's so damned fun to watch what people are willing to do when someone they love is in danger. It's even more fun to leave them wondering exactly what their words cost them," Negan told me. I knew that it was a warning bot for what, I wasn't quite sure. Negan brushed past me and honked the horn. A few walkers meandered to the front but most of them continued to surround Rick in the back. He was nearly overtaken before Negan opened the window in the back of the RV and began to fire the rifle, taking down all of the walkers immediately surrounding Rick within seconds. "Attaboy!" Negan yelled with a laugh as he walked over to the door that Rick was currently running to. He kicked the door open and grabbed Rick's hand, yanking him back into the RV. Negan dropped Rick's hand immediately and I grabbed it, pulling him into the back of the RV with me.

We both hit the ground roughly as Negan started up the engine to the RV once more. We began to rumble down the road once more, back towards the clearing. Not as fast as it had been earlier but still quickly. "Are you alright?" I asked Rick as I turned to him.

He nodded and grabbed my hands, pulling them away from his face. He was walking with somewhat of a limp and I assumed that he had taken a hard fall. More than likely when Negan had chased him off of the roof of the RV. "I'm fine, Rain. Are you?" He asked me.

My hands were shaking harder than I'd realized before. And just like Rick, I had sweat trailing down my face. He had to know that something was wrong. "I made a deal, Rick. It's a deal that will keep you and everyone else back in the clearing safe. I think," I said softly, trying to ensure that Negan couldn't hear me.

"What was the deal?" Rick asked me. A hint of panic had set into his voice. It wasn't like I blamed him. He knew as well as I did that Negan was no good news. No deal that I could make with him was going to be good.

My eyes closed for a moment and a few tears escaped my eyes. Rick raised his hands to my face and wiped them away. My hands were shaking as he grabbed them in his own and pulled me flush against himself. "Don't ask. You don't want to know. Rick, I need you to promise me something." Rick took a moment but he finally nodded. "Negan is going to take me as his own. It's alright, I know what I've done. Please take care of Daryl. He'll think that this is his fault. Don't let him. Please watch after him," I begged.

Rick's hands tightened against mine and he kissed the top of my head. "Rain, you can't do that. I would protect Daryl with my life. But you can't do that. We'll find another way," Rick pleaded.

"You won't," I muttered. "And you will not argue with me. You've always been the leader, Rick. I've followed you with blind faith for two years. And now I'm asking you. Just this one time trust that I know what I'm doing. And keep my word. Please," I whispered.

A few minutes passed before Rick finally nodded at me. "I will." I thanked him under my breath before leaning into his chest. He stroked my hair softly as I cried into his shirt. He was covered with walker blood and I was covered with the blood of Glenn and Abraham. Both made me want to empty the very little food in my stomach onto the floor. But I managed to hold my stomach and close my eyes, fighting back the tears, and failing.

"We're here, prick. Sweetheart," Negan purred my name softer than he had Rick's. I felt Rick tense underneath me and growl deep in my throat as I forced myself to open my eyes. I had been trying to sleep. I had wanted to pretend like this was all a terrible dream. But like everything else, I had to come back to reality at some point. Negan scoffed as he pulled into the clearing. I could see some of the wandering Saviors fall back into their spots surrounding my group. "This must be hard for you, right? I mean, you have been King Shit for so long. And you, you've always had a choice. You still have a choice. You gonna stick to it? Losing two of your own like-" he cut himself off with the snap of his fingers. "Getting 'em clipped like that, one nut, then the other, and in front of your boy? That is some screwed-up shit! Ah. Oh. Goody. You were in charge. Hell you were probably addicted to it. And now, well, clip, clip- that's over. But you can still lead a nice, productive life producing for me. I think you're gonna need it. I just got a feeling," he told us with a sigh. He reached up at the front of the RV before turning the engine off and walking back over to Rick and I, handing Rick the axe. "So take it." After a long moment Rick grabbed the weapon. "Here we are," he said.

The door swung open at Negan's grasp and Rick grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the RV. We walked together, the two of us walking side by side. The sweat on our hands mingled together as we walked back towards our broken group. Maggie was still sobbing harshly and I noticed that she was looking anywhere but at Glenn's body. Sasha and Rosita were crying as well, the two of them avoiding Abraham's body. No one else still seemed to be sobbing but the air was thick and solemn. Broken. Daryl looked up as we walked out of the RV and I noticed that he straightened up. There was next to no emotion in his eyes but it was something as he looked towards me.

Negan walked the two of us over back to our group. He shoved Rick back down in line where he had been before but kept me at his side. "Let me ask you something, Rick, do you even know what that little trip was about?" Rick remained silent and Negan growled in the back of his throat. "Speak when you're spoken to," Negan growled. Once more he gave Rick a few moments to respond. Rick did not. "Okay. Okay. That trip was about the way that you looked at me. I wanted to change that. I wanted you to understand. But you're still looking at me the same damn way like I shit in your scrambled eggs, and that's not gonna work. So do I give you another chance?" Negan asked.

The blood was pounding in my skull as I thought about the promise that Negan had made me. He would spare my family if I agreed to be with him. And I had. Rick breathed in and out raggedly for a moment before nodding to Negan. "Yeah. Yes. Yes," Rick muttered softly, staring at the ground.

He was shaking and so was I as we all watched closely to see what Negan would do now. "Okay," Negan said with a hint of glee, laughing and turning to the rest of us. "All right. And here it is, the grand-prize game. What you do next will decide whether your crap day becomes everyone's last crap day or just another crap day. Get some guns to the back of their heads," Negan motioned to the Saviors and my group. I sucked in a breath as they all stood behind each member of my group. Naturally Dwight positioned himself behind Daryl. I noticed that Rick and I were the only ones without guns at the back of our heads. "Good. Now level with their noses, so if you have to fire-" Negan said as he imitated an explosion, "-it'll be a real mess. Kid. Right here. Kid, now," Negan repeated. My breath caught in my throat as Negan motioned for him men to get Carl to kneel next to Rick. "You a southpaw?" Negan asked.

It must have been something that was commonly said in the North. I'd never heard of it and clearly neither had Carl, as he wore a genuinely confused face. "Am I a what?" Carl asked. He sounded furious.

Negan shook his head and motioned down to Carl's hands. "You a lefty?" He clarified.

I nodded, suddenly understanding what he was talking about. As far as I knew Carl was not a lefty. I was pretty sure that no one in the group was left-handed. Although I wasn't sure about Daryl. I'd never seen him write before. "No," Carl finally answered.

"Good," Negan finally said, more to himself than to Carl. I watched as Negan motioned for one of his Saviors to come forward. The Savior that did held out a belt and I sucked in a breath. Was he going to whip Carl? But I was quickly proven wrong. They weren't going to whip him. As Negan tied the belt around Carl's left arm I realized that they were going to cut off his hand. "That hurt?" Negan asked as he tightened the belt.

Carl, ever the brave soldier, kept a steely face as he stared up at Negan. "No," he grit out between his teeth and under his breath.

Negan shrugged his shoulders. "Should. It's supposed to. All right. Get down on the ground, kid, next to Daddy. Spread them wings," Negan ordered. I watched in stunned silence for a moment as Carl got down on all fours and spread his arms out to the side. Negan held down his left arm and all of a sudden it hit me like a train. Negan was going to cut off Carl's left arm. I began to struggle against Dwight but the man maintained a strong grip on my hair and waist. "Simon, you got a pen?" Negan called back.

The air was silent with the exception of Rick's loud gasps and sobs. He had clearly learned what Negan was going to do to his only son. "Yeah," Simon called back. He dug into his pocket as he walked up to Negan, producing a thin black Sharpie marker.

A small grunt came from Carl as Negan pushed him down into the dirt. My struggles started up once more as I fought to get to Carl. Negan was rolling up Carl's sleeve to halfway up his arm, just over his elbow. He popped the cap off of the marker and looked down at Carl as he held the point over Carl's arm. "Sorry, kid. This is gonna be as cold as a warlock's ball-sack, just like he was hanging his ball-sack above you and dragging it right across the forearm." My eyes narrowed at the way that he described it and I watched in horror as Negan drew the circle around Carl's forearm. He was not going to cut Carl's arm off. Not Carl. He was a kid. He was fourteen, maybe fifteen, years old. "There you go. Gives you a little leverage," he said as he moved Carl's arm to prop it up slightly.

Rick was now crying and sobbing. A mix of saliva, snot, and tears were all trailing down his face. I was sure that it might look absolutely ridiculous in other situations but right now it was horrifying to watch a father plead with a man to not cut off his son's arm. "Please. Please. Please don't. Please don't," Rick said, his saliva dripping down his face.

Negan merely grinned, knowing that he had gotten to Rick. He knew that he was coming to break Rick. He knew that after Rick there would only be two people left to break. Daryl and myself. And he knew our weaknesses. "Me?" Negan asked. He shook his head and laughed at Rick. It echoed off of the trees and mixed in horribly with Rick's pathetic sobs. "I ain't doing shit. Ahh. Rick, I want you to take your axe cut your son's left arm off, right on that line." Despite the fact that I had seen Carl's arm being cut off coming I hadn't seen it coming at Rick's hand.

My subtle fights against Dwight ceased as I froze in my spot and the stares of all of our group once more turned to horror. Little sobs were once more echoing across the clearing. Negan merely grinned and leaned down to Rick's level. "Now, I know- I know. You're gonna have to process that for a second. That makes sense. Still, though, I'm gonna need you to do it, or all these people are gonna die," Negan said as he motioned around us. Although as his arm swept across the group he stopped on me and dropped his hand. "Maybe not Rain," he said with a grin. The color drained from my face and my legs quivered in horror. If it meant that he would leave Carl and the rest of my family be I would do it. A million times I would do it. "Then Carl dies, then the people back home die and then you, eventually. I'm gonna keep you breathing for a few years, just so you can stew on it," Negan warned.

It was one of the few times that we could actually do anything that we wanted to do. Carl was attempting a handstand. I knew that he could do it. He laughed and went to do one before turning to me. "Here, I'll spot you. When you go up, I'll catch your legs and steady you." Carl nodded at me and quickly went into a handstand. He had gone up a little too fast and slightly to the side, but I easily caught him. "OK, I've got you steadied, now I'm going to let go. If you feel yourself falling, just move to the opposite side to steady yourself. Ready?"

"Yeah," he called up to me. I let go of his legs and watched as he swayed a bit, but steadied himself.

"You've got it!" I called to him. I felt like I was sure that Lori did right now. A proud mother.

"Good job baby," Lori praised her son.

"Whoa!" I saw Carl begin to lose his balance and I rushed to catch him, but I was too late. He went down, but bounced right back up, wrapping his arms around my midsection. "That was awesome! Thanks Rain!" Carl ran back out and continued attempting his handstands, having a harder time keeping up without me there to catch him. In the back of my mind I supposed that I knew that I would always be there to catch him when he fell.

But right now I couldn't imagine that I would ever be there to catch him when he fell. I couldn't protect Glenn or Abraham, no matter how hard I had tried to fight to save their lives during my previous conversation with Negan. I couldn't save any of them. Or maybe I could. "You- You don't have to do this. We understand. We understand," Michonne said. She was the first person in hours beside Rick, Carl, Negan, or Simon I'd heard speak.

Seemingly in surprise Negan turned to look at Michonne. It almost seemed that this was the first time that he was seeing her. "You understand. Yeah. I'm not sure that Rick does," he told her before turning back to Rick. I was glad to see that Negan seemed to have no interest in Michonne. "I'm gonna need a clean cut right there on that line. Now, I know this is a screwed-up thing to ask, but it's gonna have to be like a salami slice. Nothing messy, clean, forty-five degrees. Give us something to fold over. We got a great doctor. The kid'll be fine. Probably," he said flippantly. No matter if they had a doctor, they were not going to butcher a child. "Rick this needs to happen now- chop, chop- or I will crush the little fella's skull myself," he said.

No part of me thought that Negan was lying about killing Carl himself. Especially not after I'd seen that he could kill an ex-military man and an expecting father in cold blood. So I ripped forward, tearing some of my hair out in the process. But I only made it a few steps before Dwight caught me once more. Still though, it had caught Negan's attention. I made sure to keep my voice low as I spoke to him. "What about what we spoke of earlier? You swore to me that you wouldn't harm any of them," I muttered to him.

Daryl had straightened up and I knew that at any moment he was thinking about running over and saving me. But he wouldn't. Not after Glenn. Negan stood from Rick's side for a moment to walk over to me. Dwight loosened his grip on me to let me stand normally in front of Negan. "Now that's the funny thing about a deal like that. You are right, Rain. I swore that I wouldn't harm any of them. But I never said when that deal would kick in. Hell, I never even told you that I would take you up on your offer. I said that I'd think about it. And as for right now, our deal does not stand. But trust me, it will," Negan snarled.

He came to stand barely two inches from me and my skin crawled as he placed a hand on the side of my face. He grinned and stroked down the side of my face. My legs were shaking as I took a step back from him. I nearly tripped over a rock and Negan reached out, grabbing me and straightening me back up. "You bastard. Not today. Not tomorrow. But you'll get yours," I told him.

Negan smiled at me and nodded, motioning out to the rest of the clearing. "Maybe. But I promise you that if that day ever comes you'll be at my side, not on the other team." Negan laughed once more before turning back to Rick and kneeling in front of him once more. I noticed that Daryl's eyes were locked onto me and I turned away from him. If the day ever came that I had to take Negan up on his offer I was going to be sure that Daryl never knew the terms of the agreement. He couldn't. It would kill him. Especially after tonight.

Startling everyone back from the odd conversation between Negan and myself Rick spoke up once more. Tears were streaming down his face, the sweat had completely slicked his hair and forehead, and his eyes were a bright red. He looked horrible. But he was desperate. I knew how that felt. "It can- It can- It can be me. It can be me. W-W-" He stumbled over his own words, barely able to choke anything out. Panicking slightly, I began to struggle in an attempt to get to Carl. The young boy was looking in my direction and I blinked back a few tears. The ones that had already fallen were dripping onto the ground. Carl was being strong. I needed to be strong too. I nodded to Carl slowly. He was going to be okay. He had to be. "Y-You can do it to me. I c- I can go with- with you," Rick attempted to make amends.

Instead of laughing I realized that for one of the very few times since I had first met Negan he was completely serious. "No," Negan snarled. "This is the only way. Rick pick up the axe," Negan snarled. Rick didn't move. He was crying and sobbing, his dry-heaves echoing louder than anything that I had ever heard. "Not making a decision is a big decision. You really want to see all these people die? You will. You will see every ugly thing. Oh, my God," Negan groaned as Rick continued to sob, still refusing to pick up the axe. "Are you gonna make me count? Okay, Rick. You win. I am counting. Three!" Negan yelled.

As Carl watched his father with pained eyes I was brought back to the young boy in the quarry. The one that Lori had yelled for during the first walker attack. I saw the boy who had stolen Daryl's gun to try and kill a walker out in the dried up swamp. "P Please," Rick begged. The crying hadn't stopped. He had only turned more hysterical. "Please," Rick said, gasping for breath. "It can be me. Please!" Rick screamed over his sobs.

"Two!" Negan shouted as Rick continued to refuse to pick up the axe.

Rick was crying and shaking his head, barely able to look at his son without collapsing to the ground. This time my tears couldn't stop as my sobs mixed in with the rest of the groups. Now it was Carl nodding at me and telling me to be brave. "Please, don't do-" Rick begged, fighting against himself.

He couldn't watch his son be harmed by a man that had already brutally murdered two of his friends. Two of his family members. Two brothers. He was not about to harm his own child either. But Negan was leaving him no choice. He had to break Rick. And this was the way to do it. "This is it," Negan warned.

"Aaah!" Rick let out a piercing scream. My tears ran down my face as I stared heartbroken at the father and son duo. Negan was watching with something in between curiosity and boredom. It made me want to drive Lucille into his stomach. Rick was still trying to look away from Carl as he finally grabbed the axe, rolling it in between his hands. I'd never seen Rick as broken as he was right now.

The clearing seemed to go silent as Carl spoke once more. "Dad just do it," Carl said, forcing Rick to look over at his panic to his son. It was something even worse than the actual act. Carl had already forgiven his father for what he was about to do. But Rick was never going to be able to forgive himself. Never. "Just do it," Carl repeated when his father didn't move. Only cry out softly.

This time when Rick raised the axe he didn't drop it right away. He held it for a minute, tears and sweat trailing down over his face. He seemed like he was about to collapse into a pile on the ground. I hated seeing him like that. He was always my strong leader. He had never been this sobbing and hysterical mess that he was right now. I supposed that was what Negan did to people. But it was not going to continue happening. We would stop this.

I desperately wanted to look away from Carl and Rick but the former's eyes were on me. So I nodded at him once more and fought to stop the tears. I had to be brave for him. He had been brave for me. Rick had the axe over Carl's arm and I couldn't stop a lone tear from falling as he screamed loudly, ready to bring the axe down. Just before he could though, Negan spoke softer than I'd ever heard before. "Rick." Negan was leaning down in front of Rick once more as he held out his hand to stop my leader. My tears began to flow steadily as Rick dropped the axe weakly. Carl was safe. "You answer to me. You provide for me. You belong to me. Right?" Negan asked. Rick didn't answer, simply sobbed loudly. "Speak when you're spoken to! You answer to me. You provide for me," Negan snarled.

Rick nodded a few times before finally nodding at Rick. God. This was not Rick. This was not my leader. This was some other man. This was a creation of Negan. "Provide for you," Rick muttered, barely able to speak.

His voice was scratchy and barely loud enough for anyone to understand. Clearly it was not good enough for Negan. "You belong to me, right?!" Negan yelled. I jumped slightly at the volume increase but Rick did not. Nothing would ever shake him again. Not when he had come so close to mutilating his son.

Rick was breathing heavily as he nodded at Negan, still gazing down towards the ground. Rick hadn't bothered to look at Carl once since everything. I assumed that he was ashamed at what had just happened. "Right. Right," he whispered. The silence of the area made his weak voice echo.

Negan smiled once more as he stood, seemingly back into his old self. I had a feeling that his tough-guy act wouldn't stay for long. He stood and walked over to the rest of my group, smiling at us once more. He grabbed Lucille back from Simon and I noticed that blood was still running off of it. Briefly he turned back to look at Rick. "That is the look I wanted to see," Negan told Rick before turning back towards the rest of the group.

He looked so much happier than he had over the past few minutes. He seemed overly pleased that he had managed to finally break Rick. He was the only person that I had ever seen successfully do so. "We did it all of us, together even the dead guys on the ground. Hell, they get the spirit award, for sure." My teeth ground together at his insensitive words. They were our friends. They were our family. They always would be. They would live inside of us. We would avenge them. Negan sighed before spinning and heading back towards where Aaron sat. "Today was a productive damn day!" He yelled before sighing once more. "Now, I hope, for all your sake that you get it now that you understand how things work. Things have changed. Whatever you had going for you that is over now," Negan told us with a laugh. The clearing was silent for a moment before Negan turned to look at Dwight. "Ah. Dwight load him up," Negan ordered.

My eyebrow cocked as I wondered what exactly it was that Negan was talking about. But I realized all too quickly. Dwight walked over to Daryl and caught him underneath the shoulders. He dragged Daryl into the back of a truck and I panicked, running after him. "No! Daryl!" I screamed as Simon caught me around the waist.

"Rain!" Daryl yelled as he fell back against the floor of the van. I fought to get to him once more as the doors to the van closed and Daryl was trapped inside. They were taking him. They couldn't. I'd offered Negan myself. He was not going to take Daryl and leave me here. That was not the plan.

I fought harshly against Simon but he had a surprisingly strong grip for a man that was older in years. I had a feeling that Simon was well over fifty. But he showed no signs of letting go of me. I could tell that in his spot Merle was also fighting to stay still. That was his baby brother. I looked to Merle and he shook his head at me. He had promised Daryl long ago that if something were to happen to my husband Merle would protect me. He was going to keep that promise. "He's got guts- not a little bitch like someone I know. I like him. He's mine now. But you still want to try something?" Negan teased Rick.

Despite what I wanted to think I knew that Negan was no fool. He was smart. He knew that he had killed two of Rick's right hand men. He had killed the first that was strong. He had killed the one that would not bow. He had killed the one that he knew would take the biggest toll second. And now he was taking captive the main man. He was taking captive the one man that would never kneel. He was taking the one man that he knew could break me. "Not today, not tomorrow," Rick muttered.

Negan turned back with a slightly surprised look on his face. I assumed that he had thought that after the Carl situation he thought that Rick wouldn't dare defy him. "'Not today, not tomorrow'? I will cut pieces off of..." Negan trailed off. He was motioning towards the van where Daryl was being held. "Hell's his name?" Negan asked, turning to where Dwight was standing.

"Daryl," Dwight answered quickly. My teeth ground together and I shook my head. He knew what Daryl's name was. I had told him earlier. But he would never admit to his people that he knew him. He had a God complex. He had to treat everyone else like they were lesser than him.

Negan seemed slightly surprised at Dwight's answer. Maybe he had forgotten Daryl's name. "Wow," he said with a laugh. "That actually sounds right. I will cut pieces off of Daryl and put them on your doorstep- or, better yet, I will bring him to you and have you do it for me," Negan said with a laugh. He knew how Rick reacted to a situation like that. I was sure that he would want to see it happen again. "We can leave them with Rain," he said, turning to me. "Ahh! Welcome to a brand-new beginning, you sorry shits! I'm gonna leave you a truck. Keep it. Use it to cart all the crap you're gonna find me. We'll be back for our first offering in one week. Until then ta-ta," Negan grinned before turning and walking away. I sighed, dropping away from Simon.

Before they could make it a few steps Negan turned back. The rest of the Saviors continued to walk around us and I slowly and weakly made my way to Maggie, who had her arms open to me. Tears began to leak down my face as I walked into her. I had barely managed to catch her hands before a hand wrapped around my shoulder. I let out a small yelp, standing in front of Maggie protectively. Negan was grinning darkly at me. "Now you didn't think I was gonna forget you, doll?" Negan asked.

A soft gasp escaped from my throat as Negan grabbed onto me tightly and dragged me up to another truck. It was near the one that I knew that Daryl was in. I could hear my name being called loudly by the rest of my group and I saw Maggie fighting to stand back up. She looked awful. "Maggie, be careful! I'll be back!" I promised her before I was thrown into the passenger seat and the door was slammed behind me. I collapsed into the seat and I turned back leaning my head against the window. My entire group was watching me carefully and I jumped as Negan pulled himself into the driver's seat, closing the door behind him. We were the only two in the truck. "What am I here for?" I asked him.

Negan grinned at me as he turned the engine over. "Insurance, sweetheart. Rick and your little buddies won't do a damned thing against me while I have you and Daryl. It's why I took him," he said and I nodded. I had figured that was why he'd taken Daryl. That, and to break him. "But you... No I took you because I like you, Rain. This is gonna be a good chance for the two of us to become friends. After all, you have room for two more in your heart," Negan teased.

My gut twisted painfully at the obvious blow to my love for both Abraham and Glenn. But I managed to stay strong as I thought about what I was about to ask. I had to play nicely. "Negan, let Daryl go back," I said softly. Before Negan could start the caravan away from the clearing he looked over to me. "You don't need two hostages. You only need one. They'll do whatever you ask. Just let Daryl go. Come on, I'll do whatever you want," I told him.

It he wanted a wife, I would be a wife. If he wanted a friend, I would be a friend. Whatever he wanted I would be. As long as no harm came to Daryl. "I got a funny feeling that you're going to do whatever I want anyways. You and Daryl, you aren't each other's anymore. You're mine," Negan chirped at me. A shiver ran up my spine at his words and I gulped deeply. "Both of you. See? Your friends, they're so happy for you that they're crying!" Negan laughed.

I had barely been realizing that Negan was holding Lucille in his hands. My chest thumped with pain as Negan brought Lucille over his legs to hang her over mine. The blood from both Abraham and Glenn began to pour off of her with a shake from Negan and I let out a little sob. Blood and bits of soft tissue ran off of Lucille to slide onto my bare legs. A soft sob emanated from my lips as the blood spilled over both sides of my thighs to trail down my shins and pool around the floorboards near my feet.

Negan laughed at the look of horror on my face as I leaned my head against the window, letting tears flow down my face and trying to keep my sobs as low as I could. Lucille was tossed into the back of the truck carelessly as Negan started to drive away from the clearing. The rest of the caravan began to follow us. Daryl was two vans behind Negan and I. I watched my group disappear in the background, each one crying as they gathered together. Until we disappeared over the edge of the forest I watched them and they watched me. "You're mine, Rain," Negan purred, setting his hand on my thigh, slicking it with the blood of two of the greatest men that I would ever know, and never get back.

The day will come when you won't be...


	56. The Sanctuary

The truck rumbled down the road for well over an hour. I was sure that we were taking an alternate route to try and throw Daryl and I off. I had spotted a tree with a rotted out birds nest at least three times. Wherever we were going, it wasn't far from the clearing we had been in.

The clearing that I had watched Glenn and Abraham die in. Every time that I tried to close my eyes and forget that it had happened, I just saw them. I saw Abraham, standing tall even until the last minute. His last words had been one last insult to Negan. He was so much braver than any of the rest of us. And Glenn... The last concern that Glenn had was to make sure that his wife was being taken care of. I had sworn to him that I would protect her and now here I was. As far away from her as I would get.

And Daryl... He was in the other truck. God knows what was happening to him. I wanted him here. I wanted to tell him that I didn't blame him for what had happened to Glenn. Maggie didn't blame him. Rick didn't. None of us did. But I knew that he would never believe us. I just wanted to be able to hold him and tell him that things would be alright. They had to be. They always were. We would be able to work things out.

The truck took a hard lurch and I was knocked against the glass slightly. My knees knocked together and I looked down to see the blood still on them. A sole tear slipped out. As much as I wanted to pretend that it hadn't happened I knew that it had. Glenn and Abraham were dead. Daryl and I were prisoners of Negan. Alexandria was under the rule of the Saviors. Everything was wrong.

We hit another hard turn and I glanced up to see that we were approaching a building. A fucking huge building. It was their home. This was so much more than the outpost that we attacked. It looked something like the prison. The walls were all a deep gray and there were windows on almost all of the part that stuck up in the air. About three stories of the building were a typical building. Long and rectangular. From there, there was a piece of the building, about a third of the length of the main area. It spanned over fifteen floors. There were smokestacks that rose in the air; they weren't working. A staircase brought someone up the entire front of the building. There were even buildings on each side of the main building.

This place must have held well over a hundred people. I was sure that it had room for over five hundred. Good God, how many people did Negan have here? The entire place was surrounded by a chain-link fence, just like the prison had been. The strange thing was that there were spikes all over the ground that walkers were attached to. Some were even hung up on the fence. They were all wearing the same uniform. A beige long-sleeved shirt and pants, somewhat like a track suit. Each one had a different letter on them.

That was when it hit me. Oh my God. These are his people. Something had happened to these people and Negan had hung them up on his fence. What the fuck was wrong with these people? "Jesus Christ," I muttered before I could stop myself.

Negan pulled the truck up near the gates as the others surrounded his. My eyes kept on the one that Daryl was currently being trapped in. I stared awkwardly as we approached the compound. Even more of Negan's men were surrounding it. I could already see a hundred people or so standing around. Negan cut off the engine of the truck and turned to look over at me. I stayed seated.

He waved to the building in front of me and I stared down at my feet. "Welcome to the Sanctuary, Rain," he told me. The Sanctuary? That's what this place was called. "Let's meet the crew," Negan told me as he half-shoved me out of the truck.

No one made a move to grab me but they did surround me, pushing me towards the center of the road. We were heading towards the front of the building. I saw members standing all around us. Each one was looking at me with an utterly pleased face. They all must have known who I was. Who we were. Daryl was dragged out of the truck, staring at me in shock. I remembered that he hadn't seen me get dragged out here. He had been hoping that it was only him to be taken.

He made a move to come to me but he was grabbed by a few of the Saviors and dragged back. Negan laughed and took a step towards him. His hand was on my back and he pushed me forward gently. Negan walked over to Daryl and smirked down at him. "Welcome to the Sanctuary, Daryl. This is my home. This is now Rain's home. It could be yours too. I just want you to make the right choice. And I know that you will. Eventually. But not yet. Not right after I killed your friends; your fault, of course. Bring him down to the cell," Negan ordered.

I watched in horror as Dwight stole the vest from around Daryl's shoulder. I tried desperately to get to him but I was held in place by Negan. "No, no, no, Rain. Not yet. You're going to go on a tour with me. Don't worry, they won't hurt Daryl. Not right yet. Not as long as you do what I say," he told me. I nodded, trying with all of my might to not attack Negan. I watched desperately as Dwight and a few other Saviors dragged Daryl away.

Doing something very foolish, I turned on Negan and snatched myself away from him. Other Saviors were watching but with one wave of the hand they all went about their business. "Where the hell are they taking him?" I snarled at Negan.

He grinned down at me and motioned back through the main entrances. "They're bringing him down to a cell. He's alive. You're going to be part of the reason that he stays alive," Negan told me. I scoffed as he grabbed me by the arm and led me to the entrance.

His arm was out for me to take and I glared at him. I didn't want his damn hands on me. But he refused to move until I grabbed his arm, and after a swing of Lucille that came a little too close to me I decided that there would be some things I would have to give with. So I grabbed his hand and let him lead me into the building. Two Saviors, clearly guards, had their arms out. They opened the door for us, each one smiling at me.

If I had thought that the outside of the Sanctuary was impressive I was dead wrong. The inside was even better - worse, I suppose. The entrance hall was huge. It spanned at least four stories. Most of it was a large, open, area. There were nearly forty Saviors just milling around. There was a catwalk that surrounded the entire second floors. Doors and corridors led everywhere. Probably to the rest of the compound. I couldn't even begin to explain what went where. Or where Daryl had gone.

There was so much more that I couldn't even begin to describe. So I stood and stared in horror. This was clearly only used for travel. Nothing permanent was set up here. Negan let out a high-pitched whistle and I noticed everyone turn to stare at us. Their eyes all stopped on me. Most of them hadn't been in the clearing. I assumed that they were all wondering who I was. Some looked pleased, others looked startled, and some simply looked confused. The women all wore smirks. There were more women than I had been expecting.

Startling me slightly, everyone in the room dropped onto their knees. Suddenly all eye contact was broken with me as the gazes of the Saviors dropped to the ground. What the hell? "Impressive, right? Didn't take long for them to know that everyone kneels," Negan whispered to me. "Come on! Let's go show off the new kid," Negan teased as we made our way up a flight of stairs similar to the ones that were on the outside of the building.

We stood on a perch that was painfully similar to the one that Daryl and I had shared for a brief time back in the prison. The people on the first floor were still kneeling but they were once more looking at us. Me, more specifically. "Everyone, we had a little... issue tonight. Met some new friends. Gained some new workers. And we've brought more Saviors home. Two more. This is one," Negan said, motioning to me. I wanted desperately to fight against him but I knew that I was wiser to stay silent right now. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

Despite knowing that he was egging me on I stayed silent. He was not going to get anything more out of me. "She's shy." There were a few scattered chuckles. "This is Rain. Rain Dixon. Her husband is here with us too. Daryl. He's currently in one of the cells. He got a little unfriendly during our first meeting. Now I want you all to be very friendly with Rain. I like her. She's my new friend. Let me tell you the story of Rain and her friends. A few months ago Rain crossed paths with Wade and his group. They met up with them because Dwighty boy, Tina, and Sherry made to escape. They ran into Rain and Daryl. Took their shit and left them in the woods. Later on Rain, Daryl, and a few of their friends ran across Wade's group. They blew the dickless gang half to hell. It's impressive. Then you met up with the Hilltop Colony. And from there you made a deal with Gregory to kill me, and all of the rest of us.

"Bad deal, Rain. But still you and your people went through with it. You went to that outpost, the one that our friends over in the Hilltop thought was the main camp. You and your friends killed forty of my men in there. Later on you were out scavenging with some of your friends. Dwight and my men were out there. They caught you and killed, finally, one of your people. As retaliation you killed some more of my men and then, the next day, you went to go get revenge for her.

"But it didn't work so well. Did it? No. It didn't. You, Daryl, and your friend Rosita were caught by Dwight trying to rescue two more of your friends. Rain and I sat down and had a long chat while we waited for the rest of her group to show up. She tried a whole bunch of things to save them. Even offered to let me kill her instead. As long as I let them go. I appreciate that. I appreciate bravery like that, don't get me wrong. But that was the whole reason that you were the only one that was safe last night.

"So anyways, a few hours later everyone is in the clearing. Turns out these kids are from another community. Similar to ours and not far away either. Just a damn coincidence that we never ran into each other. We're so grateful that you made us aware. So we sit and figure out which one of them dies. A redhead." My eye twitched at what Negan had so carelessly called Abraham. "The rule is only one. I was only going to kill one. And then Daryl thought that it would be a good idea to retaliate. And what are the rules?" Negan asked.

I thought that he was addressing his crowd. But after they had been silent for a few moments I realized that he was asking me. I didn't answer him. "I said that I would shut that shit down. And I did. Another one died. An Asian man." I heard a few more chuckles and my fists balled together. "So now Rain and Daryl are here and your friends... What were their names?" He asked me.

The smile was still planted on his face. I couldn't help it. I just couldn't tolerate it. I had to do something. He was not going to disrespect them like that. I reeled back and slapped Negan as hard as I could across the face. Loud gasps and muttering came from the crowd. "You know their names. Glenn Rhee. And Abraham Ford," I snarled. My teeth were pressed so tightly together that I thought that they would break.

Negan laughed at my hit, wiping over his face where I had just hit him. A small red mark was forming. "And that is why I brought you back with me! We're going to take the grand tour. Back to work! And if you see Rain around, feel free to say hello." The men and women made to move before Negan held up his hand, stopping them. "One last thing. She is not eligible in the Pussy Pond," he told them.

A few groans were thrown in the crowd and some men shot whistles towards me as Negan grabbed me by the arm to pull me away from the area. "What the hell was that?" I snarled at him.

"That? You might thank me for that," Negan told me with a laugh. "My rules are that when someone does something good they get rewarded. Free vegetables, a day off of work, or a trip to the Pussy Pond. Pick any woman you like. Just as long as she's not mine and she says yes," he told me.

A lump formed in my throat as we walked down a hallway. "You may have morals but that doesn't make you a good man. How do you know that the women say yes? And who the hell are your wives? That's despicable. Real men have one wife. One woman that they choose to love forever. My husband? He only has me. Rick? He only had Lori. He has Michonne now because he's moved on. Glenn?" A lump formed in my throat. "He had Maggie. It's the way that it works."

"Ain't my fault you kids don't know how to have fun," Negan told me with a laugh. He grabbed onto my arm and led me back down the staircase. We passed a few familiar faces, people from the clearing. I shook my head and passed them. "Let's go meet my wives."

I didn't give him an answer but it didn't seem like he wanted one. He just walked the two of us down a few different hallways and up the stairs. I was pretty sure that his wives lived on the tenth floor. I was trying to make sure that I could keep a mental map of this place. When the time came that I went to escape this place I had to know where to go. I just needed to know where Daryl was. And I needed to know when they changed guards. Or when the halls were empty. Right now there were tons of people walking everywhere. With a mental count going I sighed. I was well over thirty people by the time that we came to a room with some chatter going on inside.

The door was closed and two men were standing guard. They were unarmed but seemed strong enough to be able to handle themselves. They both nodded to Negan before looking down towards me with amused looks. Negan cleared his throat and their eyes shot away from me. They stepped to the side so that Negan and I could walk into the room. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I looked at them. They had nothing to complain about. Not if this was the way that they had all lived since the beginning.

The room was beautifully furnished. My apartment hadn't been half this nice. All of the furnishings were dark and couches and chairs were laid out everywhere. They even had a refrigerator and small place for food set out. My mouth watered at the sight of the cold water bottles. I was starving and dying of thirst but I wasn't going to say anything. These people were not going to help me. Although one particularly soft couch looked like a nice place to pass out right about now.

Each one of them was wearing some type of a little black dress. They were the types of dresses that I would wear when I went out to a dive bar to drink away the week and pick up a man to make me forget about everything. As I stared at a black woman sitting in the corner I nearly snorted. I was pretty sure that I'd owned that dress. They were all clean too. Their hair, face, and body. They were clean and hairless. Even living in Alexandria I was still frequently dirty or sweaty. I certainly never wore clothes like them. Hell, they were even wearing heels and makeup. I couldn't even remember the last time that I'd looked like they all did. They had been talking softly with each other but they all froze when Negan walked in. They were terrified of him. They each looked over at me with plain surprise written over their faces.

Negan took a step forward and I noticed that all of the women backed off slightly. None of them were smiling the way that he was. "Good afternoon, ladies," Negan greeted. A chorus of 'hello's' followed. "This is Rain. Come on, don't be shy," Negan goaded me forward. "She's new here. One day she might be here with you."

"I will not!" I snarled. Every head whipped to me in shock.

Negan walked over to me and placed a large hand on my shoulder. "She hasn't learned the way that we operate here yet." Even though he was speaking to them he was looking at me. "But she will. She'll learn that you don't get to choose what happens to you in this world. You take what you're given," he warned me.

My teeth grit together. "That's why these whores are in here together. I will not ever be a part of this. If you think that you can group me with any of these cowards you're dead wrong."

A dangerous flash shot through Negan's eyes. I didn't like the way that it was a mix of playfulness and an attitude that told me that Negan did not like being told off. "Don't speak to my wives like that. You'll be one. I guarantee you that Daryl will never live up to what I could do you-" I cut Negan off with another hit. But this one was not a slap. It was a hard punch. His head snapped to the side and he stumbled back a step. His wives let out a few harsh screams.

One girl with long blonde hair similar to my own ran after him. She grabbed his hands and he gently pushed her away from him. "Are you alright?" She asked him. I rolled my eyes. She had done something. She was helping him out of guilt, not genuine care.

Negan pretended like he hadn't even heard her. He brushed past her and grabbed me by the arm, leaning his face down to mine. I didn't back away from him, wanting to prove that I was as tough as I liked to think that I was. "I hope you know that every time that you hit me it just turns me on ten times more," he told me with a grin. "Now come on, lets meet the girls," he told me.

My feet stumbled over each other as he led me to a girl that was sitting on a couch. She looked more than a little bothered by the sight of me. She looked terrified as Negan stood behind me. We were standing in front of a red-headed woman that looked like she was about to hit me. She had a stern face that made a small snarl cross over my face. She was a little older than me. She looked like she was either in her late twenties or early thirties. Like the other women she was in a black dress that hung tight on her frame.

"I'm Frankie," the woman greeted.

"I don't care," I snapped back. Negan laughed and hit me roughly on the back. I coughed slightly and shook my head. "Rain," I bit out in between my tightened jaws.

She stood and stared at me. Frankie was tall. She was far taller than me. Of course most of the women in here were taller than me. Carl was even taller than me by now. "You came here with your husband" Frankie said. I wasn't sure if she was asking me or stating the fact.

"Taken," I answered shortly.

"Do yourself a favor," Frankie said as she moved towards me, "and do what he says. Listen to him. If he wants you to come here just let him bring you here. Life with him really isn't that bad. He'll take care of you. You'll never have to do a thing. And your husband... he'll leave him be. He won't ever let the two of you be alone together again but you'll be alright. So will he. It's better than being kept in the cells, denying him, and getting killed anyways," Frankie tried to tell me. I could see Negan watching us in the background.

Despite everything that had happened over the last two days I let out a bitter laugh. Anyone that hadn't been looking over at us before was now. They all looked shocked that I had dared to laugh. "That's the difference between us. You're weak. You all are. There's nothing wrong with that. The world is always going to need weak people. But I am not weak. My husband is not weak. We're getting out of here. We're going to come back. And I will not stop until you are all dead. That's my promise to you."

My rant was stopped when Negan grabbed me around the waist and pulled me away from Frankie slightly. He probably thought that I was about to hit her. I was going to hit him if he didn't let me go. "I think that's enough of the two of you. Here. Lets try another one," Negan said as he shoved me towards another woman.

She was just like Frankie. She was a little older than the other girls. She seemed to be just a tad older than Frankie. She looked like she was somewhere in between twenty-eight and thirty-one. She was a little heavier set than the other women. I was slightly surprised that he had taken her on. Maybe it was because she looked a little tougher than the other women. He didn't seem to be the type to tolerate weakness. Not that I really blamed him for that. She had dark brown hair that was tied up in a complicated knot on the back of her head.

The woman jumped off of her spot on the couch. To the untrained eye she probably looked like she could snap me in half. But judging by the way that she walked she was not. Her steps were uneven and she was a little unsteady. They weren't measured and came down in heavy stomps. Even in heels I was a near-silent walker. It came from being a hunter. "Tanya," she introduced, sticking her hand out.

I knew that Negan would want me to shake her hand; it was exactly why I didn't. "You know my name," I told her.

She stared at me like she would like nothing more than to throw me out of the window. Not that it would work in her favor. I'd kill her before she could get anywhere near me. "She's right. If you want any chance of a good life in here you should be with him. He's been good to me. He's been good to all of us."

Scoffing loudly, I shook my head at her and denied the water bottle that she tried to hand to me. "You people just don't get it. I'm not going to stay here. I'm getting out of here. I don't know when and I don't know how but I'm not staying here. I'm leaving. This is not my home. If you were smarter you'd realize that it isn't yours either," I told her.

"If you were smarter you'd realize that there's no way out of here," Tanya told me.

We both glared darkly at each other. For a few minutes we said nothing. I stood in my blood splattered clothes and she tugged of her nice dress. I knew that she was showing off to me slightly. Her eyes dropped down to my legs and she seemed to finally notice the blood that was coating my legs. A small snort came from out of her nose and I tightened my fists at my side.

A hand wrapped around my arms and dragged me away slightly. Tanya's eyes widened slightly and she backed away from me. She clearly wanted nothing to do with me as long as I was with Negan. It was the one thing that I could thank him for. "Come on, Friendly." My heart gave a small twinge as I remembered that Merle had called Rick Officer Friendly when they had first met.

Negan walked me to the other end of the room. I was standing in front of a small girl. She seemed to be hiding in the back of the room. I knew that if she could she would be curled in on herself. She was the same girl that had checked to see if he was alright when I had hit him. Her hair was hanging in front of her hair as Negan motioned me to go speak with her. She had bright green eyes that held a tinge of red in them. She had been crying a few hours beforehand. What for? She was very young. She was either my age or possibly a tiny bit younger. I couldn't tell.

She looked up at me and gave me a weak smile. "My name is Amber. Hi, Rain." I didn't say anything back to her. She was extremely soft-spoken. "You know, I had a boyfriend here too. His name is Mark. He's still here. But I came here to be with Negan. It isn't that bad. Mark and my mother work and I get to live in here. We all have good lives," she explained.

They had ruined my life. I was going to ruin theirs. "Negan," I chirped, not looking away from Amber. Negan walked up behind me. Even though I wasn't looking at him I knew that he was curious. "What's your policy on your wives cheating on you?" I asked.

The look in Amber's eyes told me that I wasn't making a wrong guess. She was guilty because she had gone back to Mark. Idiot. She wasn't smart enough to get away with a lie like that. "It's my one rule," Negan responded. He didn't sound the slightest bit amused.

"You might want to repeat it to them. I hope he was worth it," I snarled at her.

She let out a soft sob. Tears began to roll down her face. I risked a look back at Negan and saw that he was somewhere in between angry and amused. Frankie and Tanya walked over to me with angry stares. Tanya dropped down next to Amber and began to console her. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Frankie snapped at me as she advanced on me.

"What are you going to do to me, bitch? You really think that you'll win in a fight against me? You won't. This is just the start of what me and my people do to you all. That was for Glenn and Abraham. There will be more. You think you're all indestructible because you're under his protection. I'll give you a hint. It makes you even worse. You can't defend yourselves. And when the day comes that I remove his fat head from his body, I'll make sure I come after you next," I snarled at the women.

Negan's hand fell over my shoulder. "Nice speech, Rain. Although I must disagree with the removing my fat head. I've always thought that I was rather proportionate. "We're going to have a chat later," Negan warned Amber as he walked us towards the door.

There were a few other women in the room that were dressed the same as Amber, Frankie, and Tanya. Negan didn't bother introducing me to them. It seemed that the three other women were his favorites. Or maybe he wanted to be out of here before he couldn't resist asking Amber about what had happened between her and Mark. Either way it didn't bother me. I didn't want to speak to them. I hated that they were feeling sorry for themselves. They had nothing to be upset about. Negan might have been a terrible man but he was kind enough to them. They hadn't fought the way that I had. They didn't know the pain of living out there.

Before we could leave the room Negan turned back to the women. He scanned over the room. "Where the hell is Sherry?" He asked. Sherry. Sherry. I'd heard that name before.

"Carson. She wasn't feeling well," a black woman explained.

Negan sighed but nodded anyways. I supposed Carson was something like a doctor. Maybe not. "Another day then. I will be back here later. We have a conversation to have," Negan told Amber. "Come on, Rain," Negan said as he motioned me out of the door. It shut gently behind us. I didn't hear the voices even after it had shut. "Don't worry. I would never make you live in there with them. You're better than that. Aren't you?" He asked.

I knew that Negan was baiting me but I responded anyways. I'd lost most of the restraint that I had. "They're pathetic. I'm better than them. I'm better than all of them," I told him.

The statement wasn't proud. It was the truth. "This is why I like you," Negan told me with a laugh. We passed a large group of Saviors that were playing cards. I was purposeful in smacking the cards out of one Savior's hand that was bluffing. His friends all laughed and thanked me. Negan laughed as well before pushing me on. "How far would you go to save your husband?" He asked suddenly.

I stopped for a moment. Was he serious? It certainly wasn't the question that I had been expecting him to ask. "I'd do anything to save him," I told Negan after a moment. He nodded at me and pushed me on.

He smiled and led me down a corridor that had less traffic than the others that we had been walking down did. "Would you let me burn your face off?" I nodded after a beat. "Come into bed with me?" Another beat passed but I nodded. "Let me cut off each one of your fingers and toes? Never let you see him again? Blind you? Force you to live chained to that fence? Kill you?" He asked. Each time I gave him a little nod.

Not that I would particularly want him to do any of those things but if it meant that Daryl would live I would be willing to let him do any and all of those things. I loved Daryl. I would go to the end of the earth for him. He would do the exact same thing for me. "All of them. Anything else that you could think of," I told him honestly.

I knew that Negan didn't believe me and I didn't care. He could believe me or not. But Daryl knew that I was telling the truth. And it wasn't just him. I would go through that for any of my group. They would all do the same for me. We were family. We did those kinds of things for each other. "Why do you love him that much?" Negan asked me.

How did I respond to that? I didn't even know how to respond to that. "Why do you care?" I snapped at him.

"Tell me," Negan said, like he honestly cared about my answer. "I really don't think that you're in any position to be arguing with me." I hated that he was right about that. He held one thing over my head. Daryl. "Come on, Rain. You said that you'd do anything to save him. Did a conversation with me not fall under 'anything'?" He asked me.

Negan certainly knew how to use someone's words against them. "Did you ever have anyone that you loved more than anyone else? Someone that meant the world to you? Someone that you believe is better than you in every way?" I asked him.

"No," he answered almost immediately. I wasn't surprised.

Of course he didn't. "I didn't think so. I didn't either. I had no clue what it was like to love someone. For all of my life I never knew love. My parents hated me. My sister never even knew that she had me. When I moved out and went to live with my Uncle Philip I knew that he didn't really love me either. He just had some semblance of a conscience. So he kept me." Negan looked somewhat bothered by my story. I wasn't sure why. "After that I went to prison. One man there cared for me. Didn't love me. But he did protect me. My father killed him after the world turned," I told him.

Negan looked curious. "What was his name?" He asked me.

I couldn't understand for the life of me what if had to do with anything. But I answered anyways. "Axel." A little pang shot through my chest at remembering my late friend. "He was a prisoner in the prison that we stayed at before coming to Virginia. There were four others. The first three died quick. One died rescuing me from my father. Axel died during one of my father's attacks on the prison."

I stopped speaking after that. The story of the prisoners drained me. Or maybe it was the fact that I hadn't slept in two days. Perhaps it was even that I had just watched two of my friends die. "Keep going," Negan said, startling me.

He was talking about both the story and the fact that I had stopped walking. I started walking slowly once more. "I went to college after prison. Had to get through high school and do a few things first to get myself into a good enough college but I got it done. I had no friends at school. I didn't talk to anyone. Got a job at a local gun store. I hated everyone there. I hated the customers. I hated the people that I had classes with. I hated my neighbors in my shitty little apartment. I hated everyone."

"Until?" Negan asked.

"Until I met the people that I'm with now."

"That you were with."

"That I am with," I snarled the correction. Negan smirked. "I met Glenn and Daryl first. They attacked me in a grocery store in Atlanta that I was hiding out in. I'll make the long story short. I hated them at first. I hated Daryl most of all. But I opened up to them. I grew to love them all. They became my family. Daryl more than any of them. He was just like me. We just got each other. And then I realized one day that I couldn't lose him."

"When did that day come?" He asked me.

When had that day come? I wasn't sure. The first time that I could remember being nervous for him was when he had walked into the tent during the hunt of Sophia. Before we had even met the Greene's. It seemed forever ago. It was only a few years. "I don't know. I just knew that I couldn't lose him. I knew that I would be willing to do anything to make sure that he lived. His life, it's worth so much more than mine is."

That seemed to throw Negan. He was staring at me curiously. It was the one time that I'd seen him look serious. Not angry and not amused. "Why's that?" He finally asked me.

"I made my mistakes in life. When I was in prison I reverted to the lowest of things to keep me going. Drugs. Everything that you could imagine. I just needed it to try and block out what was happening to me every day. Daryl, as low as he got, never reverted to anything like that. Cigarettes was the worst that he got," I told him.

Negan had a code. I was pretty sure that drugs were against his code. They had been against my code too. That was, until they were the only thing to block out what was happening to me. "Let me ask you something." I didn't say anything so Negan took it as a sign to continue. "Do you think that I would do what those men did to you in prison?" He asked.

A few beats went by. I knew the answer. Negan was not the type of man to lay an unwanted hand on a woman. He had made that clear the first time that we had spoken. "No," I finally answered.

"No?" Negan questioned. He looked surprised at my answer.

"No."

"Why not?" He asked.

"You said it yourself. You don't lay unwanted hands on women. You know that I would never want your hands on me. I hate you, don't ever get that wrong, you are the most disgusting person that I've ever met." He gave a small smile. "You deserve to burn for everything that you've done. You deserve so much more than one person can get. I think all of these things but I do not think that you would ever assault me like that."

"Come with me," Negan told me. I nodded and followed him. We walked down a hallways that was almost empty. There were only three people in this hallway. There was one at the end that was armed. Another man was on the other end. He was also armed. There was one person standing in front of a sole door. He was unarmed. "I told you that I had a wife before all this?" Negan asked. I nodded. He walked to the door and the man in front pushed it open. "This is my room. Could be yours too. Just saying," he said when I scowled at him.

As we walked in I took a look around. If I thought that the room that Negan's wives lived in was nice I knew nothing. Right in front of the door was a large plush couch. It, like everything else in the room, was black. The paint was even black. There was a table separating it from another couch. Behind the couches were a few shelves. None of the pictures were of family or anything like that. They were all of his kills. My stomach roiled. There were two windows that overlooked the fence. Walkers were all around but I couldn't hear them. Black window curtains were pulled back. On the other side of the room was a large black bed that was covered in extremely soft looking sheets. All silk. Beyond that was a large area with a black area rug. It looked like he had designed a bar for himself. The room was enormous.

He was watching me look around. "What about your wives?" I asked him, remembering his earlier comment about letting me live in here.

"I'd get rid of them all for you," he told me. It probably should have sounded sweet but it made my skin crawl. "Just a joke. But not really, because Rain, you are super-hot. So was my wife," he said. "Take a look."

He opened a drawer and I watched as he pulled out a photo. It was in a small photo frame with the words Lucille written across the top. Lucille. Lucille was his wife. My hands shook as I took the photo. It was only a picture of her. No one else was in it. She did look startlingly like me. She had long blonde hair that was just the slightest bit darker than mine. Her eyes were the same dark brown. I could see the slight shade of amber in them too. Just like mine. She had the same stature and even the same smile. It almost pained me to look at it. To know that he was human once too. He had a wife that he loved and he lost her. I couldn't blame him for losing it. I would lose it if I lost Daryl.

"You look just like her," Negan said. I almost dropped the frame he had startled me so badly. I'd never heard him sound quite so vulnerable. "The minute that Dwight told me about you I knew that I had to meet you. When Simon brought you into the RV and I saw you for the first time... I swore that I was looking at her." His voice began to change back to the amused tone that I had grown used to. "But then I talked to you. See my wife, she was extraordinarily friendly. Never made an enemy. She wasn't like you. You're like me."

Any pity that I'd had for him went flying out the window. "I am not like you!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. The only reason that I was going to kill his friends was because he had started it.

He smirked at me and shook his head. "You are. One day you'll see it. Get cleaned up," he told me. I cocked my head at him. I didn't have any spare clothes to put myself into and I certainly wasn't getting changed in front of him. "You can sleep in here tonight. I'll have some of my men clean up a room for you tomorrow. You can think over my offer of permanent residency," he said.

I didn't like the sound of that. And I most certainly was not going to be sleeping anywhere near him. Not tonight and not ever. "What does that mean?" I asked him.

He shook his head and walked towards me. He still kept a tiny bit of distance between the two of us. "You're a smart girl. I think that you'll be able to figure it out," he said, giving me a moment to think it over.

"You want me to be one of your wives?" I asked, praying that I was wrong.

He laughed and clapped his hands together. "There it is! I knew you were smart. I'll appreciate that. My wives, they're super-hot but they are dumb as bricks." Had I not just watched him murder Glenn and Abraham I might have smirked at the comment. But I kept an even stare. "Might be nice to have someone that I can have a real conversation with. Although, I'm not sure how much talking we'll get done," he said with a wink.

My jaw tightened and my fists bunched at my sides. I had to resist not hitting him again. "You're wives are weak and you're fucked if you think that I'll ever stoop so low as to marry you. I have a husband. And I am not ever going to give up on him or on getting out of here," I snarled at him.

"The only way that you'll get out of here is working as a corpse on that fence," he told me with a dark undertone to his voice. It made me shrink back slightly. Negan was somewhat friendly with me but there was no doubt in my mind that he wouldn't kill me if I got out of hand. "But we don't have to talk about that. Get cleaned up. Shower is in there. Should be some clothes in there that'll fit you. You're about their sizes."

I didn't like the thought of wearing their clothing but it was better than my blood splattered clothing. Although I didn't want them to touch it. I felt like I had to bury these clothes. Since I couldn't actually bury Abraham or Glenn. "Where are you going to be staying?" I asked him. He had offered to let me have the bed. I wanted to make sure that he didn't think that we would be in it together.

I would rather stay in bed with a walker than with Negan. "In here," Negan told me as if it was the stupidest question that he'd ever heard. "This is my room, of course," he told me.

A little snort escaped me and I turned back to the door. "I'll take a cell," I insisted.

"Still don't trust me?" Negan asked. I didn't bother answering. He knew the answer. "No, of course not. Not after I bashed your friends' brains in." My hand tightened on the doorknob and I turned back to Negan. He was smiling at me. He was sitting on one of his couches with his feet kicked up on the glass table. "Relax, I'll take the couch for the night. I can control myself. It's Lucille that can't," he told me with a grin.

Something about his tone of voice told me that I didn't have a choice about where I wanted to stay. I figured that the door was probably locked and guards would be outside to usher me back in even if I tried to leave. My skin was still crawling from the Lucille comment. And my mind was reeling that he had named his barb-wire covered baseball bat after his late wife. I shook my head and turned towards the bathroom. Not that I wanted to accept anything that he was going to offer me. But it was either some peace and quiet or sit and be forced to have a drink with the man.

So I chose the bathroom. Thankfully it had a lock on the inside. I checked the room up and down for any way out. There was no window and the only air conditioning vent that was in there was barely big enough to get my foot through. He was smarter than I wanted to give him credit for. I was not getting out of here. So I groaned and dipped into the shower. It was huge. Most of the bathroom was a deep grey and all tile. I sighed and turned the water on. It rushed out in heated waves and I pulled off my clothes. Dropping them to the floor I took a step inside the stall.

There were both masculine and feminine products in the shower stall. Mostly feminine. I assumed that his wives all had their own things that they liked. The first thing that I did was rather childish. After using someone's shampoo and conditioner I dumped the rest of it down the drain. All of it. At least ten bottles. After that I ran some body wash over me. The blood that had been coating my legs came off and I let out a few sobs. Tears began to form in my eyes and leak out as I emptied the rest of the bottles.

The Saviors probably had plenty of these things but I was going to do everything in my power to inconvenience them. Once I had washed myself off I slipped slightly on the product-covered floor. I hit the ground roughly and cried out softly. I heard Negan call in but I ignored him. I merely curled in on myself and began to cry heavily. Tears were mixing in with the water I pulled my legs up to my chest and dropped my head in them. I must have stayed like that for nearly half an hour before I lifted my head up.

I was beyond the point of dehydration. As I sat on the ground and my head began to spin I realized that it had been either two or three days since I'd had anything to drink. I had been refusing it. I knew that the bathroom water was probably well water but I took it anyways. They wouldn't see me doing this. I tilted my head back and took drink after drink of the shower water. As I had been expecting, it was disgusting. Well water, definitely. But it was better than nothing. So I drank for a few minutes until I was sure that I was going to puke it up.

Once I made sure that I wasn't going to throw the water back up I stood weakly and shut the water off, wiping the last stray tears from my eyes. My chest was still heaving slightly. I wrung my hair out and grabbed a towel, throwing it around myself. There was a set of pajamas on the counter that I picked up. No underwear though. I grimaced and grabbed my dirty bra. I could live without the underwear. I was not letting Negan see me without a bra. The pajamas were somewhat normal. The pants were blue and white striped that went down to my ankles. Or they should have. Seeing as I was so short they trailed past my feet a little bit. The shirt was the same coloring and about three-quarter sleeved. It took me a moment to realize what it was. A baseball shirt.

If I was a little more daring and a little less intelligent I would have not bothered to put it on. But for tonight I could swallow my pride. So I pulled the shirt on and took the towel off of my hair. I wrung it out once more and fluffed it around my head. I was not using their brushes. I did use the brand-new toothbrush that was sitting out. Once I had brushed my teeth and gone to the bathroom and washed my hands for an unnecessarily long time I could think of nothing else to stall with.

So I walked out of the room. I had been hoping that Negan would be asleep. But it was still early. Judging by the clock on his windowsill it was only nine. But I'd been up for two days straight. I was exhausted. He was reading a book and didn't even bother glancing up at me. I didn't want to go to the bed but it was farther from him than the couch was. So I laid down in the bed, as far from him as I could get. His bed here was even softer than the one that Daryl and I shared back in Alexandria. I closed my eyes and tried to beat back the images of Glenn and Abraham's bloodied bodies.

The light turned out a moment later but a lamp near where Negan was sitting remained on. "Sweet dreams, Rain," I heard Negan say just before I drifted off. Even then I could hear the laugh in his voice.

Since that first night three days had passed that I had been in the Sanctuary. It was not becoming a home to me at all. Even by the third day that I'd been on Hershel's farm after I'd been shot, the prison after I'd nearly died, or Alexandria after we'd nearly killed Aaron, I had already been feeling at home. I was sure that I hated the Sanctuary even more than the day that I'd gotten here. Maybe it was because they actually seemed to trust me. Or maybe it was because they seemed to like me. It was definitely because I was forced to spend so much of my time with Negan.

He had actually stuck to his word and been respectful that first night. When I had woken in the morning he was over on the couch, already awake. Although he seemed to have woken up just minutes before me. He was still tired. He had the same look in his eyes that Daryl did when he first woke up. I hated it. He hadn't even gotten up from the couch that night. He had left me alone and let me sleep.

That had been the only night that I'd spent in Negan's apartment. The next night he had brought me to my own apartment. It wasn't far from Negan's, just two doors down. It was close to a replica. The only difference was that the color was different. Instead of all black it was all purple. I had told Negan my favorite color. He had decorated my apartment in that color. I wasn't sure what it meant. Maybe it was supposed to be endearing. It creeped me out. There were also no windows. He was smart not to give me any.

There was a bathroom that I liked. Negan had been good about giving me anything that I could need. He had also stocked my bar with food, water, and any alcohol that I could have wanted. I tried to use it as rarely as possible. I didn't want anything that they gave me. I only ate and drank enough to keep me alive. He had also filled up my drawers with clothing. I assumed that they were from his wives. I noticed that there were no black dresses like they wore. The clothes all looked like things that the Saviors would wear. Currently I was in a grey button down t-shirt with tight grey jeans and a black leather jacket over the top. The boots were the only things that were mine.

My ring too. I had somehow managed to hide it these past few days. Once I'd been given my own apartment I'd spent some time hollowing a book out by hand while Negan was too busy to keep me company. Something about going to terrorize someone or another. The book had not been easy to hollow out but I'd done it. I hid the ring in there. Thankfully no one had even noticed that I'd been going without the ring. They were all too busy making sure that I was 'adjusting to Savior life.'

The days here were horrible and monotonous. Everyone seemed to think that I was going to be a Savior at some point or another. And every time that I tried to argue that I wasn't one of them Negan would pop up and insist that I was just being stubborn. He was absolutely no help. And no one dared speak to me in the wrong way when he was around. It was the one good thing about being with Negan for most of the day. I had learned to deal with and ignore him. I still didn't know how to do it with the other Saviors. I just snapped and yelled at them. I'd even managed to hit a few. Negan always laughed and made sure that none of them hit me back.

My morning would start with a wake-up call from Negan. He would take me on a walk around the compound and I would learn more about him than I cared to. He would also make me tell him about myself. I liked to try and steer the conversations towards school or something like that. I hated talking about myself. He would also introduce me to more Saviors. I didn't remember any of their names but I did keep track of how many I was meeting. I hated that my count was already well over sixty. And I had only been here for three days. By late morning Negan would have some other chore to do. Whether it was being with one of his wives or actually doing something.

I would then be sent to either Fat Joey or Simon. I saw Dwight from time to time but I knew that he had pretty much been solely taking care of Daryl. Whatever that meant. Fat Joey or Simon would take me to get something for lunch. Since I wasn't on the point system they let me eat for free. It wasn't really free. I was a prisoner. I guessed that it was my payment. Negan had told me that I would continue to be treated as a 'distinguished prisoner' until I agreed to marry him. I would be one until I got out of here. My afternoons were usually filled with staring at one of the men awkwardly for a few hours.

At that point I would be almost grateful for Negan to come back and take over my care again. He would take me on a walk through the compound again. We would sit and have a drink, almost like old friends. I would try and ask about Daryl or if I could go see him. My answer was always the same. 'If you marry me.' He knew that I would never say yes. So I would sulk and he would try to get me to watch a movie or something else stupid. Last night he had taken me out towards the fence and forced me to hit one of the walkers with Lucille. I had refused. He had cut one of his slave workers throats for my insubordination. He had told me to be grateful that it wasn't Daryl.

It was now the morning of my fourth day at the Sanctuary and I was preparing myself for another boring day. Negan had told me last night that he might give me another chance with Lucille tonight. I sorely hoped that he meant on either Simon or Dwight. Something must have come up though. He hadn't come to bother me yet. He loved to spend his mornings trying to get me to crack. So where was he? My impatience had begun to border on paranoia.

As much as I had been trying to forget about it I couldn't stop thinking that I hadn't seen my husband since we had walked into the compound. The last time I had seen Daryl was when we were being pulled from the trucks. He had been taken. I was pretty sure that Negan had him down in one of the cells. But I had no clue what had been happening to him since. No one had given me any indication. I didn't even know if he was alive or not. I shook my head at that thought. He was alive. He had to be. I just needed to talk to him. I needed to see him.

The door opened and I groaned. Here he is. But when I looked up I saw that it was Dwight. I hadn't seen him much since I'd been here. "Come on, Rain. Let's go see your husband," Dwight told me as he opened the door for me.

My jaw nearly dropped. "You're serious?" I asked. I had to make sure that this wasn't just some cruel joke.

Dwight nodded. "Absolutely. Negan thought that the two of you should get a moment to see each other." I somehow doubted that he meant that. "Just so that you both know that we mean to negotiate your lives here honestly." I wasn't really sure what he meant by that but I nodded anyways. If he was going to bring me to see Daryl I wouldn't argue.

We walked down a few hallways that I had never been in before. It was darker down here and harder to navigate. We were also in the lower levels. It creeped me out being down here. I guess that it made sense that he was making Daryl live down here. A loud song was being played over the pipes and I grimaced. It was horrible. "Who the hell is blaring that awful song?" I shouted to Dwight over the music.

We're on Easy Street  
And it feels so sweet  
'Cause the world is but a treat  
When you're on Easy Street  
And we're breaking out the good champagne  
I'm sittin' pretty on a gravy train  
And when we sing, every sweet refrain repeats  
Right here on Easy Street

It stopped and I let out a breath of relief. That was terrible. I couldn't believe that someone down here really liked this song. I'd never heard it before and I never wanted to hear it again. Especially with how loud it had been. "Did you know that it's your husband's favorite?" Dwight asked me with a grin.

There was no way that Daryl would ever like a song like this. "Daryl likes country music." Dwight remained still but I jumped pathetically when the song came on again just as loud as it had the first time, startling me.

We're on Easy Street  
And it feels so sweet  
'Cause the world is but a treat  
When you're on Easy Street  
And we're breaking out the good champagne  
I'm sittin' pretty on a gravy train  
And when we sing, every sweet refrain repeats  
Right here on Easy Street

"Jesus Christ that's loud," I complained. Dwight smirked at me and produced a tiny sandwich. I sniffed and recoiled slightly as we walked over to a thick metal door. The sandwich smelled like the same type of food that I had once fed my dog. Dwight threw the door open and I saw a figure grab the sandwich. It took me a moment to realize that it was Daryl. "Daryl..." I muttered.

He looked horrible. Worse than I had ever seen him. Even worse than the day that Andrea had shot him after he'd been stabbed by his own arrow. His face was blistered and drenched in sweat. I understood why. It was blazing hot in here. His eyes had dark circles under them. I understood why as the song began to blare once more and Daryl twitched. They were playing it to keep him awake. It was torture. He was completely naked and curled in on himself in the corner. He looked like death. And Dwight was only here to feed him a sandwich made out of dog food. At least he was alive. Not well, but he was alive.

I immediately felt bad for the way that I had been acting. I was being treated like a queen compared to him. I went to walk over to Daryl and kneel down next to him. "Rain," Daryl muttered.

His voice was barely there. He probably hadn't spoken since I had last seen him. Just before I reached Daryl, Dwight grabbed my arm and yanked me back. I stumbled as the door to Daryl's cell was shut once more. Dwight smirked and turned to walk away. I followed him, resisting shoving his head into the brick wall. "So it's not enough that you treat him like a dog, but you have to play that shit for him too?" I snarled as I reached him. He wore a wicked smirk. And Daryl's vest. "What the hell is wrong with you people? You're leaving him in there, naked, starving; the only thing that you let him eat is dog food for Christ's sake! Not to mention that song that blares every few minutes that makes it impossible to sleep."

Dwight stopped short and made me run into him slightly. I dropped back slightly, surprised by the angry look on his face. "Would you rather he do it to you?" He asked me.

"Yes," I answered without hesitation.

He stared at me for a moment. He looked completely shocked by my choice. He shook his head at me. "You're lying," he told me.

I shook my head at him. "I'm not," I insisted.

Dwight took a step closer to me. A few Saviors that were milling around stopped to watch us. "Why would you put yourself through all of that when you have the best life that you could ask for out here? Negan asked you to consider being one of his wives. He'd let Daryl go. At least, he'd let him off of his chains. You'd never have to fight for anything, never do anything again. It would be an easy life," he told me.

He was telling me the exact same things that Negan's wives had told me. I liked that they had all fooled themselves into thinking that. "That what you told yourself when he took Sherry from you?" I asked him. I had remembered the other day that she was Dwight's wife. Or at least, she had been. She was Negan's now. I saw Dwight's eye twitch. "That you were doing what was best for her? Giving her an easy life."

Instead of looking confused he now looked angry as he took another step towards me. "You don't know shit about what happened between us," Dwight snarled at me.

"You're right. I don't. So let me take a guess. You were too much of a chicken shit to stand up to him and tell him that Sherry was your wife. You got sick of it one day and ran. Right into us. Negan caught you. He took Sherry from you again and this time you let him. Because you love her, right? Wrong. Because you're a coward. A real man would never bow. He would never let someone else lay a hand on his wife, the way that Negan does on Sherry. I hope he makes you watch. I hope you have to watch her with another man. With him. God, I hope that that's only the beginning of what he does to you," I told him.

"Shut the hell up!" Dwight snarled at me. I took a step towards him so that our chests were touching. Dwight was bent over me, his fist hitting the side of the stone wall beside my head. After dealing with Negan for a few days a fake-out punch didn't scare me.

"Why? Because I'm right?" I asked him.

This time I was sure that Dwight really was going to hit me. Before he got the chance a high-pitched whistle rang out through the hall. Every other Savior that had been standing around went scattering to go back their work. Negan walked through the hallway with Lucille swinging over his shoulder. "Take a step back, Dwight. Will you? Can't damage the face," Negan said while grinning at me. Dwight begrudgingly nodded and took a step away from me. "Come here, sweetheart," Negan said to me.

"I'm not your sweetheart," I snarled under my breath. I walked over to Negan anyways.

As I walked over to him he threw an arm over my shoulder. I tried to toss it off of me but his grip only tightened on me. "No. You don't have a sweet bone in your body. And that's why you are fifty times hotter than any of my wives." I recoiled in disgust. "Come with me. Dwight, go get Daryl. Bring him to Carson," Negan ordered Dwight.

Dwight nodded and turned to walk back to Daryl's cell. Negan led me the opposite direction. We turned out of the hallway before Dwight could open the door to Daryl's cell. "Who's Carson?" I asked Negan.

"Doctor. Gotta get that shoulder looked at." I was slightly surprised that they were going to actually look at Daryl's shoulder. I had been slightly worried that they were going to let it get infected and he was going to lose it. "How the hell am I gonna have him work for me if his shoulder's all fucked up?" Negan asked me with a grin.

I rolled my eyes. Daryl was not going to work for Negan. Not for long. I was going to figure out some way to get us out of here. "Maybe you should have thought about that before Dwight shot him," I sneered at Negan. I hadn't really meant for him to hear me but he did. He smiled and brought me to a stop at the end of another hallway. He pointed down it.

"Last door on the right. Head in there," Negan told me. I nodded and watched as he turned and walked the other way.

After I was sure that he was gone I turned and walked down the hallway. I thought about knocking before remembering that they never knocked when they wanted to come into my room. So I walked in and saw that there was already a slight crowd. Sherry was sitting on the chair while the doctor, Carson I assumed, was checking over something. Dwight was standing near the door with Daryl at his side. Daryl was wearing clothes now. He was wearing a horrible beige track suit type of clothing. It reminded me of the shirt that I had once stolen from him. His shirt had a large A painted on it. He looked slightly surprised to see me.

I wanted to grab him and hug him but I knew that I needed to keep my distance and bide my time for now. "Carson," Dwight called out. The doctor didn't even turned around.

"We were just finishing up," Carson said.

"Chop-chop," Dwight said. I rolled my eyes.

"Hi, D," Sherry told the man that had once been her husband. I rolled my eyes. I had never seen two people that were clearly in love speak to each other in such a formal matter.

After a moment's pause he nodded at her. "Hey," he said awkwardly.

Sherry turned away from her ex-husband to face me. She gave me somewhat of a pained face. I saw the scar on her arm from where my throwing knife had once skimmed her. I wished that I had taken her whole arm off. "Rain, right?" She asked me. After a moment I nodded. "I hear that you might be joining us soon. It's not as bad as it seems. He'll treat you well. And he can protect you," she told me.

Everyone seemed to think that I would be best off with Negan but I never would. Not even if he killed Daryl. "Never. I don't need his damned protection. I want him dead. End of story," I sneered.

She seemed to know that she was not getting through to him. So she turned and looked at him. I wanted to tear her head off. I didn't want any of them even looking at him. "Daryl, right?" She asked him.

For once I was glad for Dwight. "Don't talk to him," he told her.

His eyes shot down and I followed them. Sherry was holding a pregnancy test. I wondered if that was what her friends had meant when they had told Negan that she wasn't feeling well. Maybe if she was pregnant he would leave me the hell alone. "It's negative," she told him after a beat.

Damn it. I couldn't tell if Dwight looked pleased or sad about the news. "Well, maybe next time," he told her awkwardly. As the pair talked I snuck a glance over to Daryl. He had moved a step closer to me. His fingers just barely brushed mine and I fought back tears. I wanted desperately to tell him that we were going to get out of this.

"Sorry," Carson said, startling the air between both or our broken couples. We both stared at him. Dwight walked over and pushed me back from Daryl slightly. I noticed my husband tense at Dwight's hands on me. "Still getting used to being my own assistant," he said, shooting a pointed look over to Daryl.

Maybe we had killed his assistant during our attack on the outpost. Good. "Whatever they say just do it," Sherry told Daryl before turning towards me. "That goes for you too. It'll be easier," she advised.

Dwight stood in between her and the rest of our small group. "I said don't talk to him. Her either, until we figure out what team she's playing for," Dwight said, as if I wasn't in the room.

My anger got the best of me. "You people must be fucking stupid. You should know that I'm not playing for your team, or whatever the hell you want to say. I am not on your side. I'm here as a captive. And when I get out, because I will, you're the first one I'm coming after," I said, pointing to Dwight first. "Then Negan. Then your whore of a wife."

Sherry didn't look annoyed by my comment, more hurt. Probably because she knew that I was right and was well within my rights to kill her when I could. "If you're going to fight, please leave. I have someone that I need to attend to and I can't have him being distracted by two bickering Saviors," Carson said, aiming the comment to Dwight and myself.

Why was it that everyone was insisting that I was a Savior? I was not and I never was going to be. "I'm not a damn Savior! That's my husband," I snapped, pointing over to Daryl. Screw this, I'm talking to him. "Daryl-" I tried to speak to him before I was cut off.

Dwight stepped in between the two of us. "You don't get to talk to him unless one of the two of you gives in," Dwight told me. I had to resist grabbing the gun out of his holster and shooting him with it.

"Oh... So you're..." Carson said, looking over at me. I glared at him and gave him a short nod. He blushed softly and looked away from me, motioning over to Daryl. "Okay, let's take a look." Daryl walked over and sat down on the bench that Sherry had just been on. She left the room silently. Carson pulled down the shirt and I looked at the slowly closing wound. Daryl looked up at me but before we could make any kind of contact Dwight stepped in front of me. I growled and shoved him roughly. "It'll get better- if you let it. Negan will take care of you. Trust me," Carson reassured my husband.

The door opened once more and I watched as Negan walked in. Daryl was glaring at him softly. Although he looked away when Negan glanced towards him. I didn't. He let out a little chuckle and took a step forward. "Dwighty boy. I need to talk to my associate for a minute. Go about your business," Negan said. Daryl and I turned to leave before we were stopped. "Except for you two. You, stand right there. Sit."

We followed his order and waited in the hallway a moment as Negan and Dwight spoke. Fat Joey was standing with his gun pointed down at Daryl. There was an efficiency apartment with its door open right in front of us. I knew that they were using it as bait. I didn't dare to look over at Daryl with Negan here. I trusted that Dwight wouldn't kill Daryl without Negan here. I did not trust Negan to leave Daryl be. They talked for a while before Negan motioned for us to stand. Dwight grabbed Daryl and yanked him behind us. Negan gently grabbed me around the back. He was smirking as I shook gently. I hated that Daryl was watching us like this. I could tell that he was tense as we walked towards the doors of the Sanctuary and out through the back. There were a few Saviors around but most of them seemed to be prisoners, dressed in the same garb that Daryl was in.

Negan was swinging Lucille as he released me. The walkers that were attached to the fence were growling and trying to reach the people that were walking around them. Daryl was pushed forward a step. "Coming," a man shouted as he just barely ducked out of the way of a walker.

The walker was about to grab the man and I watched as Dwight grabbed the crossbow that had once been Daryl's and held it up. He aimed slowly. "C- Oh!" He jumped back as the bolt released and said through the walker's head that had gotten free of its restraints. Dwight turned back and waved the crossbow in Daryl's face. "You know, I'm getting the hang of this thing. That's you, asshole. Unless you're smart. Your choice. You could be like them or me. Or them," he warned.

We walked back into the Sanctuary and I noticed that Daryl was fighting a little more now. I knew that he wanted Dwight's hands off of him. My feet tripped over themselves as we walked back through the cells that Daryl was being kept in. I wanted to take his place more than anything. He looked awful. He looked like he needed to rest. The door to his cell squeaked open and Daryl was thrown in. "Make it easy on yourself," Dwight said.

Daryl stared up at Dwight angrily. He gave a quick glance over to me before looking back at Dwight. "I ain't ever gonna kneel," he said. I knew that he meant it to all of us. To Dwight, as a way of saying that he was better than him. To Negan, as a warning. And to me, as a promise.

Dwight snorted and shook his head. "Yeah, I said that, too."

But how well had that worked out for him? Not well at all. The point was that Daryl and I were stronger than Dwight and Sherry were. We weren't going to kneel. Ever. "Yeah, I know," Daryl said softly.

"See," Dwight said with a sigh as he ran his hands through his hair, "that's the thing, man. You don't. But you're gonna." He slammed the door to Daryl's cell shut and I jumped slightly as the song began to blast through the speakers once more. Daryl was silent in the cell for a moment before he began to bang and beat against the door, desperately searching for a way out.

Tears built up in my eyes as I held back the urge to go and unlock the door to his cell. Negan walked over to us and laughed loudly. "He is going ape-shit! You ever seen him like that before?" Negan asked us.

His eyes lingered on me longer than Dwight. I glared down at the floor. I would talk all damn day with him. But I was not going to talk to him about Daryl before he had met us. He didn't deserve to hear those memories. They were mine. "Yep," Dwight finally said when he realized that I wouldn't speak.

"And you? You are hustling," Negan said.

Dwight couldn't have been that much of a fool to not realize that Negan was baiting him. "It's working. It's working slow, but, hey, man, some people are harder to break than others," Dwight said.

After he said it I wondered if he realized what he had said. Dwight hadn't taken much to be broken. Although I supposed a hot iron to the face would make quite the number of people kneel. "Yeah. He's close," Negan responded.

I had to repress a snort. Daryl was not close. I wasn't close. We were stronger than he thought that we were. "Yeah, he is," Dwight responded softly.

Negan changed the air in the hallway quickly with one of his laughs. "Since you're doing such an awesome job, you want to have a little blast from the past with you-know-who?" Negan asked seriously. Dwight looked shocked and I rolled my eyes. He didn't really mean that he was going to let him be with Sherry. It was a cruel joke. Proving my point, Negan laughed. "I'm kidding, man. Lighten up. Pick whoever you want, as long as she says yes." My fingers twitched. These women didn't really have a choice. They knew that they had to say yes. "Oh, crap. Are you okay down there? Your penis? I mean, that guy, he, uh clomped on it," Negan teased.

"Eugene," I snarled under my breath. It had been one of the best things that I'd ever seen him do.

Negan turned back to me with an utterly shocked face. It seemed that he might have forgotten that I was here. "What the hell did you just say?" He asked me as he took a step towards me.

"His name. It's Eugene," I told him.

"Bless you," Negan teased before turning back to Dwight with a wicked grin. "Or is it pckww?" He asked, making a deflating motion with his finger. I somehow doubted that he had one at all. "Down for the count?" He asked with a chuckle.

Dwight somehow managed to keep a straight face. He even gave the tiniest of grins back to Negan. "I'm fine. But I'm gonna pass. Man, I'm cool," Dwight insisted.

This did not please Negan. I assumed that he was not used to people telling him no. "Huh. Are you cool, though, Dwight? I mean, I just said that it was happy hour at the Pussy Bar and Dwight eats for free, and you're telling me no? Is that cool?" He asked Dwight. He took a step forward, turning on the intimidation method.

It was easy to see that Dwight wanted to take a step back, but to his credit he didn't. He stood and shook his head at Negan. "I haven't finished the job. I-I haven't earned it yet," he stuttered over his own words.

"Right? The hell you talking about? You earn what you take," Negan snarled at his man. He calmed down long enough to turn his head back towards me. He looked much calmer as he faced me. "Rain, sweetheart. Let Joey take you back to my place. I'd like to have a chat with you," he told me. I groaned under my breath. The last thing that I wanted was to have a conversation with Negan.

But that wasn't my choice. Negan let out a high-pitched whistle and Joey came from around a corner quickly. He had clearly heard the order as he wrapped a hand around my arm. I shoved him away from me and walked ahead. Behind me I could hear Negan laughing. We walked slowly through the halls together. Men and women still stared every time that they saw me. They all knew who I was. They all knew that I was considered Negan's property. So although they looked at me all damned day, no one ever spoke to me.

It was almost like they were as afraid of me as they were of him. We walked into the hallway that held Negan's room and Joey held the door open to me. I walked in and sat down on the couch, expecting Joey to leave. He merely stood at the door, grinning at me. A minute went by that I stared at my feet before turning to Joey. "Take a fucking picture. It'll last longer."

Joey smirked at me and walked forward. I stood and walked over to the bookcase that Negan had. I knew that he wanted a chance to say something to me but he also knew that anything that he could say to me would be repeated to Negan. He had to watch his words. "Trying to do anything that you can not to think about them?" Joey asked me.

"Trying to find a book that will tell me how to get you to shut up," I snapped back. I hated listening to Joey. He was only brave when someone was around to protect him. My head spun for a second and I shook it away. I was starting to get to the point again where I knew that I would have to eat soon.

Joey did not take the hint that I wanted him to leave. He walked up to me but kept a good few feet between us. "You know it was your fault that the Asian guy died." My entire body tensed but I didn't turn back to him. I would not give him that satisfaction. "Negan was prepared to bash in your husband's brains up until you begged him to let Daryl go. So he did. Just because you asked. He still had to take a life though. So he took his. You were saying that his wife was pregnant. How do you feel that you're the reason that kid will grow up without a father? That you're the reason that poor girl doesn't have a husband anymore? Bet you feel like shit," Joey teased.

My hands were shaking as I grabbed a book tight in them. I was sure that if I didn't I would strangle him. "You know, the day is going to come that I get out of here. And when I do, you're the first person that I'm coming after," I told him.

"You aren't the first person to say that to me," Joey said.

This time when I turned back to him I stood at my full height. It wasn't much but Joey seemed to know that he had pushed me a little too far. He took a weak step backwards. "I'm the first person to mean it. Get out," I snarled at him.

To my surprise, Joey listened. He backed out of the room with a pleased smirk on his face. He walked towards the door and swung it closed. Even though it didn't lock from the outside I knew that there were guards all over the place. I wasn't getting out of here anytime soon. Not without Negan. So I sighed and leaned into the couch, opening the book that I had. The Picture of Dorian Grey. I was near the end of the book when the door opened once more. I knew by the footfalls that it was Negan. He walked over to me and leaned over the back of the couch. I was hyper-aware that my shirt was low-cut and he was probably looking down it.

"Good book. Have you read it before?" Negan asked me.

"Yes," I answered softly.

"Do you like it?"

"Yes. I particularly like the part where he dies at the end. It goes to show that even a man who thinks he has everything can lose it all at the drop of a dime. It goes to show that no one is immortal. We can't beat death. The time comes when we all have to embrace it. Are you afraid to die?" I asked Negan.

He smirked at me and walked around to the front of the couch. I dropped the book onto the coffee table and accepted his hand to help me stand up. "No. And I know that you aren't either. Come on, let's go see your husband," Negan told me.

It must have been early in the afternoon judging by the light that was coming in through the windows. It was hard to keep track of time while I was here. Even though there were clocks everywhere I tried not to look at them. They just made me more and more discouraged, the longer that I took to get out of here the worse that I felt. We walked past the hall that Daryl was being kept in and began to make our way through a hall I'd never seen before. "What? Where is he? The cell is back that way," I said, motioning behind us.

Negan smiled down at me as we walked through the unfamiliar hallway. "He went on a little walk." A walk? There was no way that they were going to let him go on a walk unless someone was with him. Or unless he had knelt. And I knew that he hadn't. "We're going to go... redirect him," Negan said to me. The tone of his voice told me that this wasn't good.

We walked through the halls, most of which I noticed were empty. It wasn't like the Sanctuary normally was. Normally there were dozens of Saviors wandering everywhere. Right now it was empty. And the few that were wandering around were looking at me with a happy face. I didn't like it. Something was happening. Something that they knew was going to get to me. We walked through the hall that would take us to the back entrance of the Sanctuary, out by the fence, and walked through. I stared at a large group of men that were standing in a circle.

A painful twist of my gut told me that it was Daryl standing in the center. Negan walked us forward and let out a high-pitched whistle. The circle broke apart slightly so that Negan and I could walk into the center. He gave a soft chuckle and sighed at the sight of Daryl, who looked furious. "Are we pissing our pants yet?" Negan asked Daryl. My fingers twitched at the memory of Negan saying the same thing to my group five days ago. "Who are you?" Negan asked.

I thought that he was speaking to Daryl but he swung Lucille over his shoulder, pointing it to a man that was standing directly behind him. "Negan," the man answered loyally.

"Who are you?" Negan repeated, asking the man standing next to the one that had just spoken.

"Negan," he said.

Negan swung the bat once more to a man that was standing behind Daryl. "Who are you?" He asked.

"Negan."

Not once did Daryl break eye contact from Negan. He glared at the older man the entire time. "Negan," the leader said with a soft chuckle. "You see that? I am everywhere. And this was your shot to prove to me that that fundamental fact was sinking in, and you failed." I realized that Negan must have left Daryl's cell open to see if he would stay out of fear or run with hope. He had clearly run. "Which sucks, because your life was about to get so much cooler. Am I right? Damn right," he said with another chuckle as all of his men nodded.

"Now, Dwight gave you some options." Dwight was not here right now, curiously enough. "I don't think you get it yet. So I'm gonna break it down for you. You get three choices. One, you wind up on the spike and you work for me as a dead man. Two, you get out of your cell, you work for points, but you're gonna wish you were dead. Or three, you work for me, you get yourself a brand-new pair of shoes, and you live like a king! Choice seems pretty obvious. You should know, there is no door number four. You lose her either way," Negan said, motioning back to me. "This is it. This is the only way." Daryl didn't respond.

Negan let out a little laugh. "Screw it," he said. He raised up Lucille and brought her down in a heavy motion towards Daryl's head. I gasped loudly and took a step forward. Negan let Lucille hang over Daryl's head. Daryl hadn't flinched in the slightest and Negan was grinning. "Wow! You don't scare easy. Neither of you do. Unless it's when I'm threatening the other one. Cute. I love that." Negan smirked and wrapped an arm around my waist. I tried to pull away but I couldn't. His grip was too tight. He was smiling down at me as he pressed a kiss in my hair. I noticed Daryl twitch at the action. Negan grinned once more.

He knew that the one thing that would get reactions from Daryl would be with me. "But Lucille... Well, it kind of pisses her off. She finds it to be disrespectful. Lucky for you, she's not feeling too thirsty today. But I am." My hands shook gently as Negan ran Lucille's barbs over my pant legs. I could see Daryl shaking with anger. "So I'm gonna go get me a drink!" Negan shouted happily. I jumped as he pulled Lucille away from me and threw her back over his shoulder. He let out a whistle and pulled us from the circle.

The circle closed and I watched in horror as Daryl jumped forward, punching the first Savior. They fell heavily and another was hit by Daryl a moment later. They only let him get in two hits before they closed on him. "No! Daryl!" I shouted. I tried to run back but Negan's grip on me was too tight. Daryl was a good fighter but there were too many of them. "Get the hell off of him! Fuck off! Get away from him!" I screamed as I saw that their hands were coming up bloody.

I fought against Negan but couldn't get away, no matter how hard I tried. Negan dragged me back into the building before turning me to face him. Tears were building in the corner of my eyes. "Oh Rain, I haven't finished with you yet. Come on. They won't kill him." I tried not to show how relieved I was. "I think. They better not. I'd be pissed, I have plans for him. You too. Let's go," he snapped at me before leading me through the compound once more. He led me back to my room.

We walked up to the doorway and one of the guards opened it for me. I walked inside and turned to the doorway. Negan looked like he was about to make his way inside but I couldn't. I had dealt with him enough for one day. So I grabbed the heavy metal door and slammed it shut in his face. I could hear the men on the other side of the door asking if they wanted him to open it and force me out but Negan denied them. He knocked on the door for a few minutes, trying everything to get me out. He tried threatening Daryl, he tried threatening me, he tried being nice, he tried apologizing to me, and he tried offering me food. I denied it all in silence.

After nearly an hour Negan left and I laid down on my bed. I was sick of having to speak with anyone else. I wanted out of this hellhole. I wanted Daryl to be alright. I wished that I was here by myself. I threw a glass that was on my bedside table at the wall as hard as I could. It shattered against the wall and I cringed at the loud crash. There were a few laughs from outside the door. I dropped into the bed, not bothering to get changed into my pajamas, and let out a few soft sobs. I fell asleep from exhaustion with tears in my eyes.

The next morning a hand was on my shoulder. I threw it off of me in a panic and saw that it was Negan. He looked slightly surprised at me. He grinned down at me and motioned me out of the bed. "Come on, Rain. We have things to do today," he told me. I nodded at him and stood from the bed. My head was pounding as I walked through the halls.

We headed through the halls towards the cells that Daryl was being kept in. Negan walked me into the same efficiency apartment that I had seen yesterday and shut the door behind me. He walked us over to the couch and let me sit on the one across from me. He handed me a water but I shook my head at him. I didn't want anything like that. I didn't want any water or food that he could offer to me. A moment later he tried to offer me a small sandwich. I shook my head and watched as Negan ate it.

"How much have you eaten since you've been here?" Negan asked me. I ignored him. Barely anything was the answer. But I didn't want to tell him. I didn't want to say a damn word to him. "Come on, Rain. Tell me. How much have you eaten?" He asked.

After a beat I shook my head. "Not much. I've had about one bottle of water. I have one of those little sandwiches that are in the refrigerator every other day. I have a handful of crackers on the off days," I told him.

"That's it?" He asked. I nodded. "You're starving yourself. You need to eat. You aren't going to feel any better about anything if you're dying from either starvation or dehydration. You need to do something. Eat something. Drink something. Why aren't you eating?" I didn't answer. "You feel guilty because you're being treated so much better than Daryl is." He was right but I didn't want to say anything. "He knows that there's only one thing that he needs to say and he gets treated just as well as you do. Perhaps you can talk him into it."

"How? You won't even let me speak to him," I bit out.

"You're right. So we just wait and see. Do you think he'd kneel if it meant saving your life? Would he do as much to save you as you would for him?" Negan was smiling, hoping that I would say something. "They say that one person always loves more in the relationship. Which one are you?"

I whipped my head back and glared at him. "I'm the one who actually managed to find someone that loves me no matter what. Do you think that Lucille would love you if she saw you right now? No. She'd be disgusted by the man that she used to love. You should be glad that she's dead. Watching her walk away would have been ever harder," I sneered at him.

He stood to approach me but he never got the chance to walk all the way over to me. The door opened and Dwight walked in. Daryl was standing behind him. "Step in," Dwight told Daryl.

Negan took a step back from me and looked over at Daryl with a chuckle. My heart sank. His face was completely swollen and bruised from the hits that he'd taken last night. I wanted to run after him and check to see if he was alright. "Ahh. Jesus. You look awful. Don't you worry. We'll have Carson fix you all up. You thirsty?" Negan asked. Daryl never responded. He grabbed a water bottle and handed it over to Daryl. "Here." Daryl didn't take it. "Ah, hell, I forgot. Your mouth is all puffed up like a baboon's ass. Need a straw? D, give him a straw," Negan ordered.

Dwight listened to the order and ran for a straw. He grabbed one and slipped it into the water bottle. Daryl still didn't take it. "What's wrong with you? See that guy? He hustles. I like hustle. But believe it or not, things weren't always cool between us. See, D here - he worked for points, him and his super-hot wife and her super-hot sister. But, see, sis - she needed meds." I remembered grabbing the cooler and seeing the insulin. "And that shit is hard to scavenge, so it cost more. Sis fell behind on points, so I asked her to marry me. Told her I would take care of her in sickness and in health, blah blah blah, because I am a stand-up guy. She tells me that she's gonna think about it. Next thing you know, I'm dealing with an orange situation.

"Dwighty boy here stole all the medication and took off with his super-hot wife and my super-hot maybe soon-to-be fiance. Negan was holding Lucille and he tapped her against the ground a few times. "So I had to send my guys after him. Because I can't let something like that stand. There are rules. Cost me an arm and a leg going after him. And you know what- Dwighty boy?" Negan laughed and I saw that Dwight was staring down at the ground uncomfortably. He must have hated this story. Hearing how he had failed.

"He still got away. But here's the thing. D - he saw the light. He manned up. He came back. He asked for my forgiveness. I like that. Made me take notice. But Lucille... Well you know how she is. She is a stickler for the rules. So, Dwight he begged me not to kill Sherry, which I thought was kind of cute, so I was just gonna kill him. But then Sherry says that she will marry me if I let Dwight live, which, if you think about it, that's a pretty screwed-up deal, 'cause I was gonna marry her sister until she wound up dead, but Sherry is super-hot. Anyways, it was a start. But it wasn't enough. So Dwight he got the iron. And then I married his super-hot wife. Ex-wife. Just like one day very soon, Rain will be your ex-wife," Negan promised Daryl.

My husband's eyes twitched and his fists curled. He was about to take a step forward so I stepped in. I was not going to watch Daryl get even more injured. "No I won't," I snapped at Negan.

He turned back to me, staring at me curiously. It was almost like he had forgotten that I was standing here. "I wasn't aware that you had a say in any of this." I scoffed and folded my arms over my chest. "Sweetheart, there are plenty of things that you can use that mouth for. Arguing with me is not one of them," he told me with a wink.

That time I was almost sure that Daryl was going to step forward. "Tell me the story. Don't talk to her," Daryl growled.

Amusement sank into Negan's face. He grinned and took another step towards Daryl. I had a feeling that he liked watching Daryl try to fight for me. He probably wasn't used to seeing people stand up to him like we did. Especially not like I did. "How sweet. He still cares for her. A hell of a lot more of a man than you were Dwighty," Negan told Dwight with a laugh. I saw his eye twitch slightly but he said nothing. He was a coward. They all were. And they were never going to change.

After a moment Negan nodded and began to speak once more. "Anyways, back to the story. And then after all that, he still got on board. And now look at him. Pow! One of my top guys. And we are totally cool. The point being, I think you can be that guy. I think you are ready to be that guy. You look around here. This? Well it can all be yours," Negan said, motioning around to the room. "She can't," Negan said, throwing his thumb back to me. "But this can. All you got to do is answer one simple question. Who are you?" He asked with a laugh. We stood in silence for a while before Negan tried again. "What, does the cat got your tongue? You're just overwhelmed by the awesomeness of this? I'm gonna ask you one more time. Who are you?" Negan asked.

Daryl was still silent. I was mildly afraid that Negan was going to do something to Daryl because of how quiet he was being. I thought that Negan was getting ready to use Lucille again by the time that my husband finally spoke. "Daryl," my husband answered.

My heart swelled slightly. He was not going to kneel to Negan for as long as he lived. He never would. Thank God. "Oh," Negan muttered, clearly upset by Daryl's answer.

Dwight did not like the answer either. He advanced on Daryl. "This is the only-" Dwight began to yell before Negan cut him off.

"Hey. Sst, sst, sst. It's cool, D. He made his choice," Negan said. Dwight backed off, even though it looked like he wanted to hit Daryl. "Ain't my problem if he made a dumbass choice." Negan swiped his hand to the side and Dwight grabbed onto Daryl, dragging him back to the cell. After a moment of watching them leave I turned back to Negan. He had a drink in hand and was watching me with a pleased smile. "Your husband, he's gonna get himself killed if he keeps it up. What about you, Rain? Made the right choice yet?" He asked me.

I knew what he was asking me. He was asking me whether or not I had made the choice to marry him. I never would. Daryl was my husband. Negan was nothing more than a monster. I snarled at him under my breath and turned to leave the room. Negan laughed under his breath as I stormed away from his room. For once no one followed me back. They all just let me leave. They were watching with pleased smiles, probably glad that I was still having a miserable time. I knew that most of them hated me. It made sense. I had killed their friends.

For a while I walked through the halls, getting lost twice. But finally I made my way back into the hallway that I knew my room was in. I walked into the room, brushing past the guards. They were all standing and smiling at me. I walked into the room and slammed the door shut behind me. They were all chuckling softly as I walked in. My feet halted in their tracks as I stared up at the walls and nearly dropped to the ground right there. What the hell was all of this?

The typically grey walls were covered in what looked like Polaroids. I walked up closer to the walls to see what they were. Every square inch of the walls were covered in the pictures. Who the hell had taken all of the time do this? My heart slammed against my rib cage when I realized just what the pictures were. They were all duplicates of each other. There were only two pictures. Each one was alternating with the other one. They were pictures of Glenn and Abraham's bloodied bodies. The heads were zoomed in on. They were covering my entire room and my eyes began to water, the tears leaking out of my eyes. My hands were gripping at the picture of Glenn's body that I was holding.

Panicking at the sight I let out a soft sob and tore the picture from the wall roughly. It fell to the ground, still leaving well over three hundred of the pictures up on the walls. I needed to get them down. My heart was racing and my tears were pouring down my face as I ripped picture after picture down. My nails were gripping at the steel walls as I pulled the pictures down in masses. I was sobbing loudly and throwing them to the ground, trying to rip all of the pieces apart. I threw them to the ground, barely able to see the red streaks that were being left on the walls from my bloody nails. I had torn off about three quarters of the pictures when my legs gave out.

Collapsing to the ground I began to cry loudly. I backed myself up against the steel wall and let my head fall into my knees. Tears were soaking the jeans that I was wearing and my hair was falling limply in front of me. As I ran my hands through my hair it left red streaks. My nails had peeled up slightly from when I was tearing at the walls. A picture of Glenn and Abraham's bodies was laying in front of me and I kicked it away, sobbing pathetically. Some saliva dropped into my lap as the tears continued to fall. He was going to win. Negan was going to break me. And it had only been five days here. I could only imagine what it was going to be like if I was stuck here for the rest of my life.

Daryl's P.O.V.

Dwight walked me down the hallway without another word. He seemed somewhat angry that I hadn't called myself Negan before. But I couldn't. Not with Rain here. I could never bow to him. Not as long as she was still in my life. I had one thing left to fight for. My head was pounding at the light, seeing that the cell was pitch black, my face was aching from the beating that I'd gotten yesterday, I was starving from eating nothing other than dog food, and I was dehydrated. I couldn't have taken the water earlier. That was what he wanted me to do.

My hands were shaking as I walked back towards the cell that they had locked me in so frequently over the past few days. I wasn't even sure how many days that I had been here. I was sure that Rain knew. But I had been kept in the dark cell with no set schedule to be taken out. I'd been trying to sleep but I couldn't close my eyes without thinking about Glenn or Abraham. He had killed them. He had killed them both. And Glenn had been my fault. If I hadn't lost my temper and hit him Glenn would still be here. Maggie would still have her husband. Their kid would still have its father. It made my chest constrict every time that I thought of them. I would never get to make some type of stupid comment to Glenn again. I would never get to watch Abraham make the entire group laugh again. I would never see them again.

Worst of it all was that I had no clue what was happening to Rain right now. Negan had made it obvious enough that he intended to make her one of his wives. But that was over my dead body. He was never going to lay a hand on her. Not while I had anything to do about it. She was my wife. She was not his. I was not going to let him touch her. I was the only one that got to touch her. I had fucked up in getting us caught here. It should have been me that was killed. Not Glenn. But I was still alive and I was going to get out of here. I was going to get Rain out of here. If it was the last thing that I did. I would never stop proving to her how much I loved her. Or just how much I would do for her.

We walked through the hall that I was being kept in and Dwight opened the cell door, throwing me in. I hit the ground and grunted slightly. I was in pain from the day before. Not that I wanted anyone to know that. Especially not Rain. She didn't need to feel any guiltier. "You're gonna wind up in that room or hanging on the fence!" Dwight sneered at me.

He was clearly angry that I had chosen not to say Negan's name instead of my own. But I couldn't. I had someone that I had to think about first. Before Dwight could turn and leave I spoke out to him. "I get why you did it. Why you took it. You were thinking about someone else. That's why I can't," I told him. He had Sherry and he had done for her what he thought was the best. But I had Rain. And I was doing for her what I knew was the best. I was getting us out of here. I was getting my wife back.


	57. Service

The night before I had slept on the floor. After destroying most of the walls in the room that I had been assigned I had collapsed on the floor. Whether it was from the exhaustion or overwhelming depression I wasn't quite sure yet. These last few days had me wondering how anyone in the previous world thought that they were depressed. With everything that I had been through in my old life I still hadn't been depressed. Angry and cold to the world, yes, but depressed, no. This was the first bought of depression I'd ever experienced.

And that was after everything that had happened to me through my entire life, watching my husband be taken away from me and treated like less than a human, watch two of my friends be slaughtered like animals, be forced to leave my home and family, and have a man pine for me that I would like to tear his head off. A man that treated me like one day I would be his wife. Despite the fact that I had a perfectly good husband mere yards away, albeit I was not allowed to speak to him. With each passing day I felt less and less hope for what was to come. But I knew that I couldn't give up. Not yet. I was stronger than Negan. I would just have to show him that.

So I stood from my spot on the ground, trying to blink away the blurring pain that was in my head, and walked to the bathroom. I had to disinfect my hands. My nails were pulled up slightly and bloodied from my episode last night. I knew that there was blood on the walls too. My eyes were bright red from crying and slightly puffy. The minute that Negan saw me I knew that he was going to comment on it. I ran some water through my hair, washing out the bits of blood that were caked in from running my fingers through it.

Once I was done with that I went to cleaning up the pictures that were still strewn all over the room. I intended to spend the day in here today. For just one day I wanted to be left alone. For just one day I wanted them to let me mind my own business. And I was not going to spend the day in here with those pictures everywhere. So I began to clean them up, working as fast as possible. I did not want to have to look at those pictures for longer than I had to. They all went into the small wastebasket in the bathroom. Once they were in the basket I thought about cleaning the blood off the wall. I decided not to. Someone would come in and clean it up eventually.

The first day that I had been in here I had destroyed the first cabinet they'd given me. The next afternoon it had been cleaned and replaced with a new one. I dropped onto my bed and stared at the ceiling. It would be a good time to sleep. Or maybe eat. I'd barely eaten over the last week. Even before I'd left Alexandria and been taken here. That had been an extra day or two without eating much. I had lost a bit of weight since being here. It was mostly because I was starving myself. My hipbones and ribs were protruding slightly. I knew that I was going to have to start eating a little more if I wanted to keep up my strength to be able to eventually break out of here.

I was about to give in and eat something when a knock came at the door. I ignored it. But of course the door swung open anyways to reveal my least favorite person on the planet. Negan was dressed similarly to the day that I had first met him and I stared at him with a blank face. He was grinning at me. I guessed that he was here to take me on another walk. "Rise and shine, Rain!" He howled at me.

Today was not the day. After what he had done to me last night, after what he'd had his men do to Daryl, I'd about had my fill of Negan. "What the hell do you want?" I snarled at him.

As per usual, he merely grinned. "Now what way is that to talk to me, darling?" He asked me. He was goading me. I had learned enough about Negan to know when he wanted an answer and when he wanted silence. "Oh, I see. You didn't like my present last night," he said, motioning around at the walls. My teeth ground together. "I thought that you might. Don't people like memorials and shit like that?" He said.

He was giving me a look of fake sincerity and it made my blood boil in my veins. He was not going to get away with treating me, or my deceased family, like this. "Get the fuck out," I said, slightly louder than I'd meant to.

Just as expected, Negan did not take it well. He took a few steps forward towards the bed. "Well excuse the fucking shit out of me. I thought that you were the one that followed orders here. See, I like you Rain. I like you a lot. It's the reason that your brains aren't splattered all over this fucking wall. Trust me, if anyone else spoke to me the way that you do they'd end up like carrot top and short-round." My hands gave a small twinge. Especially since short-round was what Daryl had once called Glenn. "Now that will not stop me from bashing your pretty little head in if I see fit, is that clear?" He asked me with a dangerously low voice. I nodded, knowing he was not to be pushed more right now. His chipper smile returned. "Good! Then we can get to it! We're going on a field trip today," he told me.

Well that couldn't have been good. "Where?" I asked curiously. He might be going to another community. That was good. If I could sneak away for a minute I could tell them about Alexandria. They could help.

I began to form my mental escape plan in my head, all beginning with the potential groups that I might be meeting. "Get changed," Negan said, tossing a bundle of clothes down to me. "Then we'll talk about it." He stood and stared at me. I stood and waited for him to leave. "Come on, darling. Ain't got all day!" He shouted impatiently.

My hands laid themselves on my hips and Negan gave me look that was like a father waiting for his teenage daughter to get ready. "Get out," I snarled at him. He was not going to watch me get changed. "If I'm going to get changed, get out."

Negan gave a grin and stepped back to the door. He didn't leave though. He just leaned up against the door and gave a suggestive smile. "Don't worry. I won't tell Daryl if you won't," he said. The grin on his face told me that getting changed with him in the room was not an option. I snarled under my breath. It took me a moment to gather up the courage but I finally slipped my t-shirt over my head. Negan let out a whistle and I grit my teeth. "Damn. Daryl is one lucky man. Well... was. Now I am." My head snapped back to Negan and he held up his hands in defeat. "Sorry, sorry. Go ahead," he said.

This time it surprised me that he stayed silent. I turned my back on Negan and noticed that he had gone eerily quiet. I knew that he was looking over the scars on my back. They all did when they saw them. Even if it wasn't the first time. He had brought me a change of underwear too - surprisingly conservative - but I refused to change into them with him here. So I settled for the other clothes. He had brought me a white tank top that was a little too small in a few areas. It rode up over the bottom of my stomach and was tight on my chest. I threw over my body anyways. The jeans were white and torn on the knees. I pulled on my boots and grabbed the leather jacket that he was holding out for me.

He gave me a once over as I pulled my hair up into a ponytail. His eyes lingered on my chest blatantly. He was not one to hide what he wanted. And I was sick of the staring. "Can we leave?" I snapped at him.

Negan grinned at me and shook his head. "Pushy, pushy. Come on then. We're going to meet everyone," he told me. I grinned and walked out of my room with him, letting the guards slam the door behind us.

We walked through the halls together and I noticed that quite a few people seemed to be gearing up to leave. My eyes narrowed. What the hell were all of these people getting ready for? It looked like they were just about ready to go to war. We walked out to the open field with the trucks and I saw that they were all ready to head out. There must have been at least thirty people out here. Maybe more. I even saw Daryl on the other end of the fence. I tried to move towards him but Negan grabbed my arm, stopping me.

I looked at my husband closely and I scowled. He looked even worse than he had the last time that I'd seen him. I just wanted to go and hug him. Kiss him. Touch him. Speak to him. Anything. I just wanted to be near him. "Where are we going with all of these people?" I asked Negan.

He grinned down at me and motioned me to the same truck that we had come to the Sanctuary in. I supposed that I was at least grateful that I was getting out of here for a while. "Your old home," Negan said.

My heart nearly stopped. The first thing that occurred to me was that they were bringing another fight to my family. They couldn't do that. We weren't in the slightest prepared. But maybe they were collecting their supplies. But it hadn't been a week. "My home? Why?" Negan only grinned. "You gave them a week to get all of their supplies together! It's only been five days! That's not what you agreed on," I snarled at him.

He looked down at me and wagged a finger in my face. "Wrong," he sang. I rolled my eyes and stood with my hands on my hips. "I told Rick that we would be there in a week. He never agreed to anything. For all I know he wanted me to show up after five days," Negan told me innocently.

It was a load of horse-shit but I wasn't going to tell him that. Not because I was afraid of what he would do to me. He wouldn't do anything. But Daryl was standing there and I didn't want anything to happen to him because I couldn't keep my big fat mouth shut. "Why are you bringing me? And Daryl?" I asked.

The only thing that I could think was that he wanted to show us off. To show the life that we could have if we listened to him or the life that we would be forced to have if we didn't kneel. "Someone's gotta know where the hell to go." Oh. I felt extremely stupid now. "What's this place called?" Negan asked me after a beat.

He motioned me to the truck and I walked over. He held the door open for me and I jumped in, nearly falling to the ground. I hadn't eaten or drank anything in almost two days. "Alexandria," I answered. Negan slammed the door and walked to the other side.

"Alexandria. It sounds like a damned dream," he said. He wasn't wrong. It sounded much nicer than the Sanctuary. It sounded so rough. "Roll out!" Negan shouted out of the window of the truck. He cranked the engine and we began to rumble down the road. We were at the first fork when Negan stopped the truck and turned to me. I remained silent. "Come on darling, where am I going? And you better be giving me the right damn directions. Daryl is giving them in the other truck. Whichever one of you lies first gets the iron," he promised.

Somehow I doubted that he would actually iron my face. But I did not doubt that he would do it to Daryl. So I nodded and motioned to the right. We began to drive and make the long trip back to Alexandria. It wasn't a horrible drive. It took just under an hour. But I knew this route well enough. In fact I was sure that Daryl and I had passed through these woods on a few hunts. I was shocked that we had never seen this place before. The car ride itself was rather pleasant. As pleasant as a ride with Negan could be.

He mostly left me alone for the ride. There were a few passing comments about Asian food places that we passed and each one got me closer and closer to flinging myself from the truck, to my certain death. But the doors were locked and I had something to prove. So I closed my ears and continued to automatically give directions. There were indeed about thirty people that were with us. Even though we had more people in Alexandria I knew that the Saviors would win a fight. They were better trained.

The only positive was that we were going to be going to my home. I would see my family. The walls began to rise in the distance and I had to supress a smile. Even though we weren't here for a good thing we were back. They would at least know that Daryl and I were alive. The houses began to rise ever the gates and Negan let out a high-pitched whistle. "Whoo. This is a nice place you got yourself here. I'm impressed darling. You gonna take me on a tour through your house?" He asked me. I ignored him.

Instead I motioned for him to circle around and come to a stop on the edge of the breaks. "Stop on the outside of the gates," I warned him. He nodded but continued to make a slow approach. The engines of the other trucks, cars, and motorcycles were roaring behind us. "They won't let you through without coming up to the gate. They'll move the fabric curtain to see who you are," I said, motioning to the gates.

"Yes ma'am," he said. The air brakes began to hiss as all of the cars came to a stop. Negan hopped out of the truck and motioned for me to do the same. I jumped out and was pulled ahead by him a moment later. He began to whistle brightly as he swung Lucille over his shoulder and approach the gate. "Dun-dun-dun-dun," he hummed to me before swinging Lucille off of his shoulder and banging her against the gates. I jumped at the sudden noise. "Little pig, little pig, let me in!" Negan yelled in a sing-song voice. The gate was still for a moment before it rattled and slid open to reveal Spencer. "Well?" Negan asked when Spencer said nothing.

He shifted awkwardly on his feet as he stared at Negan. "Um, who are you?" Spencer asked before turning to me. His eyes widened. "Rain. Are you alright?" He asked me.

I opened my mouth to tell him that I was fine when Negan spoke over me. "Huh-uh. She's mine. I talk to her. Not you." Spencer looked very put-off by the warning. "And you better be jokin'. Negan, Lucille," he said, motioning to the baseball bat. "I know I had to make a pretty strong first impression," he snarled. Rick began to walk up from a distance. His eyes briefly traveled over Negan before landing on me. He looked panicked at the sight of me. "Well, hello, there. Do not make me have to ask," Negan warned.

By now we had all learned that Negan was not joking. He meant that he wanted those gates opened. Rick motioned for Spencer to step back and he slid the gate open. Negan stepped through, pulling me with him. "You said a week. You're early," Rick said.

The gate creaked as the Saviors began to flood in behind us. Many came and passed us by, heading for the people that were standing around. Many of them looked terrified at the sight of the Saviors. For once I didn't blame them. I noticed Dwight head for Rosita and my jaws tightened. "I missed you. So did Rain. We just had to come back! She wouldn't stop begging and crying," Negan laughed. Rick was giving me an absolutely pathetic look. I turned to glare at Negan. He smiled and flicked me on the nose. I backed off with a swat to his hands. "There's that little stank-eye I love so much," Negan teased.

A walker began to growl in the background and we all turned to look. A walker was hobbling towards the open gates. Negan laughed and motioned for Rick to walk with him. "Oh, Rick, come on out here. Watch this. Calling it!" He shouted. A moment later he swung Lucille towards the walker and cracked it over the head. I squeezed my eyes shut to try and block out the thoughts that it was either Glenn or Abraham. The walker fell to the ground heavily and Negan turned back to us. "Ha ha ha! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

"All right, everybody. Let's get started. Big day," Negan grinned. The Saviors began to move off. Although many still hung around to watch Negan terrorize Rick. "Hey, Rick, you see that, what I just did? That is some service! I mean, we almost get turned away at the gate. 'Who is that guy, anyway?' Do I get mad? Do I throw a fit? Do I bash some ginger's dome in?" My hands gave a small twitch. I noticed the corner of Rick's eye do the same. "Nope. I just take care of one of these dead pricks that could've killed one of y'all. Service. Hold this," Negan ordered, handing Rick Lucille.

After a moment of staring at the baseball bat like it was poison Rick grabbed it. He was holding Lucille like he wanted to throw her through Negan's skull. I would have egged him on. But we were outnumbered. Negan walked into Alexandria with me at his side as the gates were closed behind us. "Hot diggity dog! This place is magnificent! An embarrassment of riches, as they say. Yes, sir, I do believe you are gonna have plenty to offer up," Negan laughed as he brought us towards what was now Spencer's house.

Before we could pass Rick I noticed that he turned back to Daryl, who still looked terrible after his ordeal with the Saviors the other day. His face had only gone down in swelling a tiny bit. "Daryl, hey -" Rick started before he was cut off.

"No," Negan snapped sternly. Rick looked over at him with a sad stare. "Nope. He's the help. You don't look at him, you don't talk to him, and I don't make you chop anything off of him," Negan told Rick.

Rick let out a few breaths before turning over the face me. "Rain. Are you -" He began to ask before being once more cut off.

"What the fuck did I just say?" Negan snapped. Rick recoiled from me quickly. I knew that he didn't want to risk mine or Daryl's safety. "You say anything to her without my permission and I chop something off of Daryl and feed it to her. Isn't that right, sweetheart?" Negan asked me with a smirk. "I like to watch that mouth work," he told me.

He winked softly and came to stand a little bit closer. I shoved him away roughly. "Get away from me," I snapped.

The Alexandrian's all gasped softly. I turned back to see Miranda, Reagan, Moira, and their friends standing together. The friends that I had once attacked. They looked horrified. I scowled at them for a moment before turning back to face Negan. "She's slowly learning to love me," he told Rick. "Same goes for everyone. Right?" He asked, referring to the fact that no one was to speak to Daryl or myself. No one responded. Negan exhaled sharply. "A lot of suspense there. I don't think she even knew how much. All right, let's get this show on the road. See what kind of goodies you got in the cupboard."

Negan's hands writhed together as he went to walk through Alexandria. Rick stepped in front of him and shook his head. "We put aside half the supplies," he told Negan.

I knew enough to know that Negan was not going to take what they had set aside from him. I knew that Negan was going to take whatever he wanted. Especially if it meant something to us. "No, Rick. No. You don't decide what we take. I do. Arat," Negan said, turning back to a woman that I had seen a few times before. She was about as unpleasant as she looked.

And for whatever reason, she hated me. I had a feeling that it was because she had a thing for Negan. But she was his right-hand woman. Not his wife. He didn't want anything to do with her in that regard. "You heard the man. Move out!" She shouted.

With her shout the Saviors began to move through Alexandria and into the houses. I could tell that the residents were getting jumpy, having the Saviors paw through their things. They were walking back and forth past people and I rolled my eyes. They were going to take everything that we had. "They're just gonna search the houses a bit, keep the process movin'," Negan told Rick.

He had almost made it sound like it was an option. But Rick and I both knew that it was not. It was a statement. So Rick sighed and nodded his consent. "All right," he said after a moment. He was standing like Lucille weight a thousand pounds.

"You gonna show me around or not? Well?" Negan snarled. Rick stared at him for a moment before leading him off. We walked through the front half of Alexandria and I watched as Saviors began to pour out of the houses with armfuls of things. We were walking past Moira's house when she came out with a can of soda. She looked at me with a sad gaze before turning away. He took it from her. "You see this? This is the kind of thing that just tickles my balls. A little cooperation and everything is pleasant as punch. You see, we really are reasonable people once you get to know us. Honest. Ohh. Man." He popped the tab and and downed the entire thing. "Ahh!" He dropped the empty can on the street. "Damn, I love this place!"

My fists bundled. I loved this place too but I had been taken from here. I wanted to come back. This was my home. The Sanctuary never would be. No matter what Negan did or said. "Negan," a Savior called. We both turned back and saw one of the Saviors walking up with a video camera. I knew immediately what it was. The one that Deana had used to interview us. "Somethin' you might wanna see," the man said.

He handed Negan over the video camera and he took it. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? I got my fingers crossed for a little freaky-deaky," he teased as he popped open the back piece to watch the video. I couldn't help but wonder whose interview was on.

Negan hit the button and I watched as it rewound to the beginning of the video. It was Rick. He looked so different, dirty with the full beard and half-starved. He had his hands folded and he was staring into the camera. "-know me. I've killed people. I don't even know how many by now," he said into the camera. He looked about as thrilled during his interview as I had.

"Jee-hee-sus!" Negan laughed.

"But I know why they're all dead," he continued.

He continued to speak on the camera but Negan turned back to Rick. "Is that you, Rick, underneath all that man-bush?" Negan teased. Rick said nothing, merely glared at the man.

"They're dead so my family, all those people out there, can be alive," Rick continued. His video ended after that.

"Shee-it. I would not have fucked with that guy." Negan hit the pause button on the camera and it gave a soft beep. "But that's not you anymore is it?" Rick did not respond to the question. "Nope. I really gotta shave this shit. Keep clicking," Negan ordered the Savior holding the camera. "See if we can find something else fun on that."

The camera beeped back to life and I nearly slapped a hand over my mouth. It was my interview. I looked tired and pissed. My hair was extremely long but washed. I had just come out of the shower. My clothes were clean but I still looked like I belonged outside of the walls. I was gazing around the room. "Hello Rain. Take a seat please. I'm going to record this for future generations to see. They should know how we started to build our world back up. So let's start simple. Tell me your name and a bit about yourself," Deana said from off camera.

I stared at the camera awkwardly. I noticed Negan watching the video with a pleased grin. "Uh my name is Rain and I'm twenty-four years old. I think. Maybe I'm still twenty-three. I'm not really sure what else you want me to say," I told her.

"Tell me what your family was like before the outbreak. I want to learn a little bit about you. And not the you that this world created, the you that lived in the old world." I cringed at the memory that I had not appreciated her wanting to know about my life before the outbreak.

"There's no difference. I grew up as an only child with my mother and father. I was born in Georgia and lived for a few years there then we moved to Florida. After that we moved back to South Georgia and I spent most of my life there. My sister was born when I was a little older. Her name was Penny. I never really knew her. I left home at fourteen after my mother died and lived with my uncle for two years. That's really all there is to know," I told her the bare bones of my story.

Negan's eyebrow raised. I couldn't remember whether I had told him about my sister before. "And what about your father and sister? Did you ever find out what became of them?" Deana asked.

"I found my sister but she was a walker by the time that I got to her. My father died, I watched him die. He was shot in the head after he had been stabbed in the heart." My hands twitched at the memory of his death. I wished that it was Negan in his place.

The camera was silent for a moment before Deana spoke again. "I'm very sorry to hear that," she said softly. I slammed my hands down onto the table and stood quickly. Even Negan gave a small jump. Of course he hadn't been expecting me to do it. Deana hadn't been expecting me to do it either. That day I hadn't been expecting to do it. It had been sudden.

"Don't be. He deserved it. I don't know why you want us here. You want to know what happened to me? What really happened to me? My father abused me and blamed my mother's death on me. He hated me. During all of this he found me. He attacked my friends and tried to kill my husband. He let one of his men rape me. He tried to kill me so I tried to kill him. I came close. I wish it had been me to kill him. I've killed so many people that I can't even count anymore. I don't care. None of us do. We're cold. We do what we need to survive. These are the type of people that you invited into your place."

At the time I had never imagined that I was going to meet someone even harder than us. But Negan wasn't really hard. He liked to laugh. He almost wasn't serious enough. Deana was once more silent. "Well I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am to hear about your father. That's something that no one deserves. But I see the way that your group acts. You all know what you're doing. I've seen that. And I see the way that you look at each other. You all care so much about each other. And I saw the way that your husband attacked my son for laying a hand on you. You are the types of people that we can use here," she said.

Negan's mouth turned up in a smirk at the mention of Daryl jumping to my rescue after Aidan had tried to touch me when we first came here. I stood with my hands on my hips in the video. "So are we done here?" I asked her.

"Just one last thing. It seems like Daryl does not want to be here. Do you know anything about that?" She asked.

Curiosity sank into Negan's eyes. I guess he thought that we had always been happy to be here. He thought that we had always loved this place and they had always loved us. "He's had as hard of a life as I have. Leave him be, he's so used to being out there in the wild. And we've had a lot of losses recently. Some were very close to him. He's having a hard time with this. We all are. It will take us a while to get used to this," I said.

"I understand that. Trust me, you aren't the only ones who have suffered losses. I know we look like we've had it easy here and we take it all for granted, but we've had our fair share of losses. Thank you for your time, Rain. It's getting late. Feel free to go to your houses and get a good rest for the night."

On the camera I turned to leave. But after a moment I looked back at her. "Deana? I don't think that you're all bad people. Hell I think that Aaron and Eric are two of the best people that I've met in a while. But I don't think you all really understand what it's like out there. I do think that your group takes advantage of this place, and I do think that you are all weak. And that will get you killed."

I turned to leave on the video and Negan clicked the camera off. He closed the viewing screen and held it tightly in his hands. "Well one of these days we have got to have a damn chat about that. You were quite the bad-ass!" Negan shouted at me. I umped slightly. "Hell, you all were. What happened?" Negan asked with a laugh. No one responded. "Arat!" Negan shouted. The woman shoved past me to stand next to Negan. He handed her the camera. "Take this back to the truck," he ordered her.

"Yes sir," she agreed before turning on her heels and marching back to the truck. Not without 'accidentally' stepping on my feet in the process. I was tempted to trip her but I didn't want Negan taking it out on Rick or someone else here.

We were all in an awkward silence for a moment but Negan did not seem bothered. He grinned and turned back to Rick. "Whatever happened to that sick girl?" Negan asked. Maggie. What had happened to her? I hadn't seen her since we'd been here. Was the baby okay? "That seemed like a hell of a stressful night for her. The way she was carrying on, she was married to number two, right?" Negan asked. Rick's blank face had turned to a hard glare. "Careful. Careful how you're lookin' at me, Rick. Widows, especially ones that look like that," he said as he exhaled sharply, "they are special. I love 'em. Right after their husbands go, they are just empty side. "But usually not for long," he added.

"Shut the hell up!" I shouted, unable to hold it in any longer.

Daryl had been passing by with an armful of things and he stopped short to stare at me. Negan turned back and grinned at the sight of Daryl, who turned away. "Watch your mouth or I might just make you a widow," he warned me. I shut my mouth immediately. He chuckled suggestively at his earlier comment and turned back to Rick. "Ahh. Where is she? I would love to see her," he said.

The last thing that I wanted was Negan to see her. She never should have to see him again. "Do you care to pay your respects?" Father Gabriel asked. I jumped slightly, having not seen him before. He was wearing his priest's collar and grinning at Negan.

To his credit he never once looked away from Negan, who looked genuinely confused at the sight of him. We all had been too. "Ho-ly crap!" Negan yelled, looking Gabriel up and down. "You are creepy as shit, sneaking up on me, wearin' that collar with that freaky-ass smile," he said.

Once more to Gabriel's credit, his smile never faltered. "My apologies. I'm Father Gabriel," he said.

He did not hold out his hand to shake but he did nod at Negan. The man in question chuckled softly. "She didn't make it?" He asked. What? It hit me like a freight train. Gabriel had asked if we wanted to pay our respects. Maggie is dead. She can't be. Tears started to rise to my eyes. I had lost Glenn. I couldn't lose her too. "Damn tragedy. That's what this is," Negan said.

He actually sounded somewhat reproachful but I couldn't tolerate it. I had to know for a fact. I had to know what had happened. "Maggie's dead?" I asked Gabriel softly. I noticed that Daryl stopped short at my words before he was shoved forward by another Savior.

Gabriel nodded slowly at me. "She has Jesus watching over her," he told me. The first of my tears rose to my eyes and threatened to fall when I realized what he had just said. It would explain why he was smiling and why Rick didn't look too heartbroken. And not just because they wanted to try and look strong for Negan. It also explained why Sasha was nowhere to be found. Maggie and Sasha were in Hilltop.

They must have gone there to get medical help after the incident in the clearing. After all, Maggie had looked like she was about to die. That's where they were. And Jesus, our friend, was watching over her. Despite being thrilled that Maggie was still alive I kept on a sad face with tears in the corners of my eyes to distract Negan. But I was smirking on the inside. Gabriel had come a long way. When Negan turned away for a moment I threw Gabriel a quick wink, letting him know that I had understood his message.

Negan though completely missed the hidden meaning. We walked over to our graveyard and stared at 'Maggie's.' Thank God it was actually empty. She was out there, still alive. Negan let out a deep breath. "Well, this must really suck for you guys. Number one? That was on me. No choice there. Lessons had to be learned. But number two? That didn't need to happen." I hated having to listen to Negan degrade Glenn and Abraham even in death, but this wasn't the moment to make a move. Daryl walked by us once more. "Daryl, there, he forced my hand. Probably put her right on her back, huh? Damn. I was gonna ask her to come back with me." My eye twitched. He was not going to bring her back with us. He had me. He didn't need to ruin her life too. "Don't get jealous," Negan told me.

My stomach roiled in disgust. "I'm not jealous. I hate you." He didn't seem to believe that I was telling the truth. "Are you fucking deaf? Or just a moron?" I asked him.

It seemed to surprise everyone that I spoke to Negan that way. He moved towards me and grinned. "You know they say an angry roll in the sack is the best," he told me with a wink. His arm went around my waist and I squirmed. "Oh, I know what you're thinkin'. How could I have a shot, guy that just bashed her husband's head in?" He chuckled as he spoke. I knew that it was partially a warning to me. "You'd be surprised. Boy, people, they -" Negan was cut off by a gunshot sounding in the distance and glass shattering.

Negan's grip on me dropped and I noticed everyone go into a sudden defensive mode. Negan turned an angry glare on Rick but he paid it no mind. He started to run after the noise, as did myself and Negan. As per usual, I was the fastest. It meant that I arrived at the infirmary first. My heart was pumping as I ducked into the cramped infirmary. Carl was in there, holding a gun up to a Savior that had a handful of medicine. "Put some back or the next one goes in you," Carl warned the Savior.

I had seen the man before. He was one of the guards that frequently stood at my door. I didn't know his name though. The Savior chuckled at Carl. "Kid what do you think happens next?" The Savior asked Carl.

"You die," he snapped.

Just before the Savior could respond or I could step in Rick and Negan arrived at the house. Negan stood in the background but Rick walked up. He was holding his hands up, attempting to get Carl to put the gun down. "Carl, Carl, put it down," Rick warned his son.

"No," Carl said. He was still holding up the gun at the man's face. "He's taking all of our medicine. They said only half our stuff," Carl sneered at his father, even though his eyes never left the Savior.

Rick took another step towards Carl. But it was me that spoke first. "Carl, please put it down." He seemed to notice me for the first time. His eyes jumped over to me and bulged in his skull. He looked horrified at the sight of me. "You'll be able to find more. Remember that Apothecary that Rosita went to with Denise and Daryl and I?" I asked him. He nodded after a moment. "Go back to that one. We didn't empty it. Ask Rosita about it. She'll know where. Just put the gun down," I begged him softly.

Carl dropped the gun and took a good look at me. He began to approach me. "Rain. What are they doing -" Carl started asking before Negan interrupted him.

"Why the hell does everyone think that they can go talking to you?" Negan asked Carl. He took a step backwards as Negan slipped a knife out of his sheath that was hanging from his hip. He placed it against my cheek and I shivered. The knife was sharp. If I moved half an inch I would slice off a chunk of skin. One of his hands was on my lower back, holding me still. "I would hate to carve up this pretty little face," he said.

One of his hands traced down my face and I grimaced. I watched as Rick took a step forward with his hands up, like he was praying Negan to take a step back from me. "Please," Rick pleaded. Negan lowered the knife slightly and grinned at Rick. "We won't speak to her. None of us. He wasn't there earlier. He just didn't know. Please put the knife down. Don't hurt her," he begged.

Negan grinned and dropped the knife suddenly. He slipped it back in his sheath and grabbed me around the shoulders, pressing a kiss to the corner of my head. I wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face. "Of course. Rick, you really think that I would go hurting one of my future wives?" He asked. Rick said nothing. Negan turned back to Carl and grinned. "Oh-ho. Really, kid?" He asked.

Carl dropped the gun as he turned to stare at Negan. I noticed a far too curious for my liking look in Negan's eyes as he looked the young boy up and down. "And you should go. Before you find out how dangerous we all are," he warned Negan.

Negan laughed and took a step forward towards Carl. Carl raised the gun up once more. "Well, pardon me, young man. Excuse the shit out of my goddamn French, but did you just threaten me?" He asked. Carl didn't respond. "Look, I get threatening Davey here, but I can't have it. Not him, not me," Negan told Carl.

Dave. That was his name. He was on my Shit List now too. Of course no one would ever be higher on it than Negan. "Carl, just put it down," Rick told his son once more.

Negan turned around and batted a hand at Rick. "Don't be rude, Rick. We are having a conversation here." He turned back to face Carl. "Now, boy, where were we? Oh, yeah. Your giant, man-sized balls. No threatening us. Listen, I like you, so I don't want to go hard proving a point here. You don't want that. I said half your shit, and half is what I say it is. I'm serious. Do you want me to prove how serious? Again?" My breath caught in my throat as he glanced out the window. Almost all of my friends and family were out there. Daryl was out there.

Negan let the room fall into silence for a moment. The only thing that could be heard were his sighs and a sharp exhale. He finally turned away from Carl to look at Rick. "You know, Rick, this whole thing reminds me that you have a lot of guns." My heart sank. We had barely any food. It was the guns that we relied on to keep us safe. We were lucky to have as many as we did. "There's all the guns you took from my outpost when you wasted all my people with a shit-ton of your own guns, and I'm bettin' there's even more, which adds up to an absolute ass-load of guns, and as this little emotional outburst just made crystal clear I can't allow that. They're all mine now. So tell me, Rick - where are my guns?" Negan asked.

I groaned under my breath. We needed those guns. They were the one thing that we had. And with the stupid registry that we had of them there was no way that we could hide anything. The only guns that I knew would be safe were the ones that were already in the Sanctuary. Maybe one day I could go on a walk and try to find them. After today I knew that we would be left with none. Negan walked with Rick and I towards the armory. He had about half of the Saviors come with us, more than likely to empty it out. Daryl was among those to come with us.

We stopped in front of Olivia's house and I watched as Rick punched in the security code. The doors began to roll open immediately afterwards. The garage was empty with the exception of Olivia and the remaining food that we had. It wasn't much. Everything else that we had was inside the house. She stood and stared at us, her clipboard in hand. "I figured you were coming," she said.

Rick was not in the mood for any pleasantries. "Show him where the guns are, Olivia," Rick ordered.

She nodded and motioned behind her. "The armory's inside," she told him.

Negan motioned for his men to walk past. They were looking through the racks of food but they hadn't walked into the house yet. Negan walked up to Olivia and I noticed that she was absolutely terrified to be near him. "You run the show in here?" He asked her.

She shook her head at him. "I- I just keep track of it all, the rations, the guns," she said, stumbling over her own words with the nerves.

Negan nodded, looking somewhat impressed by our system. "Good. Smart. Don't let me stop you. Take her out, boys. Show 'em the goods," he said. Olivia walked all of the Saviors into the house. Daryl was at the back of the group. As he walked by me I burned to reach out and grab him. He was right there. I knew that he felt the same way. "Wait, wait, wait," Negan said, stopping Rick as he made a move to walk past me. "While they're at it, I just want to point out to you that I'm not taking a scrap of your food. Slim pickin's in here. And I can't be the only one to notice that you got a fat lady in charge of keeping track of rations, can I?" God. Once upon a time I thought the same thing. "Either way, you starve to death, I don't get shit, so for now, you get to keep all the food. How 'bout that?" Negan asked Rick.

Rick stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. "What do you want me to say?" He asked Negan.

I saw that Negan was about to open his mouth and say something to Rick but I stepped in first. "Leave him be," I snapped at my captor.

He turned to look at me with the roll of his eyes. "Would you be quiet? Next time I bring you somewhere with me I'm gonna have you doing something that keeps your mouth a hell of a lot busier!" He shouted. Daryl walked out with his first armload of guns. I saw him grit his teeth at Negan's words. "I don't know, Rick. How about a thank you? You think that might be in order? Or is that too much to ask?" Negan shouted, trying to intimidate Rick. He chuckled and grinned, returning to his normally calm demeanor. "Oh. I know we started off on the wrong foot, but what can I say? You forced my hand, Rick. But it's like I've been tryin' to tell you - I'm a very reasonable man as long as you cooperate, so let me ask you a question, Rick. Are you cooperating?" He asked.

"What's it look like?" Rick snarled.

"Oh-ho-ho. I know what it looks like. But what I really want to know is if we're gonna find all the guns back there or if maybe you got a few just waitin' for their moment just like my Lucille," he said. It was what I had been afraid of. I was hoping that no one was hiding the guns but I wasn't sure. It wasn't like it was something that we hadn't done before.

Rick shrugged his shoulders. "They're all in there, to the best of my knowledge," he told Negan.

"Mm. I am countin' on that, Rick. You know what today is, Rick? Today is a banner day. Yes, it is. I think this little arrangement we have is gonna work out just fine. Hold up," Negan said as Daryl walked past. He stopped and let Negan grab a rifle off of the top of his armload. "Let's see if you've been taking care of my guns," he said. Daryl continued to walk. Negan grabbed the rifle and cocked it before aiming it at a window. I scowled and watched as Negan took aim. A moment later the gun went off with a loud bang and the window shattered. Negan laughed. "Feels good. Sounds good! Oh, I do believe Lucille's gettin' a little jealous. Well, ho-ly smokes!" Negan shouted. I turned back to see Daryl walking out with the RPG. "Look at this! It was you guys that took out Little Timmy and the Dick Brigade?" He asked.

He grabbed the RPG from Daryl and I watched as he looked it over. This time Daryl didn't leave. He just looked down at the ground while Negan played with the weapon. "Would you like to know which ones of us did it?" I asked after a moment.

He stared at me like I was a little child that he thought he had to humor. "Sure, since you seem so damn hell-bent on talking today. Where is all this chatter when I want to get to know you better?" Negan asked me with a grin.

I disregarded his comment. If I was with him long enough he was eventually going to realize that the longer I knew someone the harder it was for me to keep my mouth shut. "It was me," I began. Negan smirked. "Sasha. Abraham. Daryl," I continued.

He grinned at me and took a step towards me. He was dangling the RPG from his hand lackadaisically. It unnerved me as he came to stand almost against my chest. I could feel how tense Daryl was from here. "See how that worked out. One of you is dead, one is my worker, and the other is going to be my wife," he grinned. I hated that he wasn't wrong. "Was it worth it?" He asked.

The air in the Alexandria streets had gone still. The residents were watching and so were the Saviors. But I was not going to bow down to him. "I'll tell you when I watch the life leave your eyes," I snarled at him.

On my side I could hear Arat sneer at me. Negan was the only person that laughed. "Oh I do love listening to you," he told me brightly. It caught me off guard when he grabbed me tight around the waist and brought me flush against him.

I was about to shout at him to let me go when he pressed his mouth to my own. It was so harsh that my neck strained at the pressure. His lips were soft because he always was using Chapstick. I saw him using it all of the time. He tasted like spearmint. It was so different from Daryl. I hated it. One of his hands was on the back of my head and I fought back against him to get away as he kissed me. He was trying to separate my lips apart to push his tongue in. My husband was watching this. When Negan finally released me I saw that Daryl was about to make a move. That was pushing him about as far as he could go.

Negan turned to my husband with a grin, knowing that what he had just done had bothered him more than anything else he could do. "Do you have something to say to me, Daryl?" He asked. Daryl said nothing but didn't back down from Negan's stare. I reached my hand up to slap Negan, or maybe punch him, but I never got the chance. He caught my arm before I could hit him and twisted it backwards at a painful angle. I just barely managed to not make a noise of pain. Negan pulled me into him. "Now I like you a lot. But if you hit me one more God damn time the first person I use this on will be you," he said, pointing to the RPG. "Are we clear? You will let me do whatever the hell I want. Do we have an understanding?" He asked me.

My head dropped in defeat. I wanted to think that I was tougher than anyone or anything but without a weapon I knew that Negan would be able to kill me. "Yes," I said softly.

Negan grinned and moved so close that his mouth was almost on mine once more. "Yes, what?" He asked me.

"Yes, Negan," I responded through grit teeth.

He smiled at me and released me. I immediately took two large steps backwards, desperately trying to avoid Daryl's gaze. "I'll take it. But in the future you should know that it's 'Yes, my love.' Can you do that?" He asked me. I merely glared at him, done playing his games. He laughed and turned back to Rick. Saviors and Alexandrian's alike began to get back to work. "Wow, Rick. Gettin' in your last licks. Ooh, man, I'm gonna have some fun with this," he said, motioning down to the RPG.

If Rick was going to say something he never got the chance. Olivia's pleading voice began to cut through the tense air. Arat was dragging her out of her house by the arm. "Please, I-I don't know for - " she was pleading.

"Arat, we don't do that unless they do somethin' to deserve it," Negan called to his worker.

She nodded and I noticed that she was holding a clipboard. The same one that Olivia could almost never be seen without. "Yeah, we went through the inventory. Guns in the armory, guns they had around the walls, they're short." What the hell? How were we short? We always kept a good eye on the guns. "Glock 9 and a .22 Bobcat." I immediately tensed. I knew who used the Bobcat. Spencer.

Thankfully no one noticed my movement. I didn't want to sell out Spencer without knowing the whole truth behind the missing guns. Negan turned to Rick with a sigh. "Is that true?" He asked.

Rick shrugged his shoulders. "We had some people leave town. Those guns probably went with them," he explained. There were a few people missing. Maggie and Sasha. Although I assumed that they hadn't even bothered coming back to Alexandria. They probably hadn't seen each other since that night. But I also noticed that Rosita and Spencer weren't here, they'd left when we'd come. Michonne was missing too. I hadn't seen her since I'd been here. I wasn't sure if I'd seen Merle or not either.

Negan nodded and moved over towards Olivia. She was shaking and appeared to be on the verge of tears. "So Olivia sucks at her job. Is that what you're sayin'?" He asked Rick.

Rick shook his head and stepped towards Negan. Olivia was standing at his side and she looked like she might fall apart at any given moment. I wondered how she would do if she were in my spot back in the Sanctuary. "No. No, I'm not sayin' that," Rick insisted.

Arat handing over the clipboard to Negan. He had since passed on the RPG to another Savior to grab. He was now flipping through the papers and looking over them. He turned towards Olivia. "There should be a full accounting here, right? Top to bottom. Am I right?: He asked her.

"No." Negan gave her an odd look and she jumped nervously. "I mean, yes. The inventory is correct," she said quickly.

"Good. But not so good, too. You see, what's in here isn't in there. You're two handguns short." He turned his gaze over to Rick and I shivered nervously. We had to fix this. Negan was going to kill Olivia if we did nothing. "Do you know where they are?" He asked Rick.

I noticed that Rick was trying to stay calm. Despite the calm exterior though I knew that he was panicking on the inside. He was not going to risk getting anyone else killed. Not after Glenn and Abraham. "No," Rick said slowly.

"I -" Negan cut himself off with a sigh. "That's disappointing, Rick." For a moment I thought that he was going to grab Lucille back from Rick and whack Olivia over the head with it. "I thought that we had an understanding. But this - well, this shows that someone's not on board, and I can't have that. I don't enjoy killing women," he said. I heard Olivia give a soft sob. "Men - I can waste them all the live long. But at the end of the day, Olivia, my dear, this was your responsibility," he told her.

Negan slipped out the knife once more. He wasn't holding it to her throat yet but I knew that the threat to her was just as real, if not more real, than the threat he had given me earlier. "Look, we can work this out," Rick began to plead with Negan.

Negan nodded at Rick and for a moment I thought that he was going to agree to let them go about and try to find the missing guns. "Oh, yes, we can. And I'm going to - right now," Negan said as he took a step towards Olivia. He held the knife up to her face and I noticed as a few of the Saviors held guns towards her. She let out a soft whimper at the threat of her life. "This was your job, and you screwed up. Keeping track of guns?" Negan snarled at her louder than before. She let out another soft whimper. "That shit is life and death."

Just as I thought that he was going to actually kill her I took a step forward. "Stop!" I shouted. Negan turned from Olivia to look at me with a grin. He had known that someone would stop it. "Stop. This place was my home once." I hated having to say that it was once my home. It still was. But I had to play along with Negan right now. "I know where someone could hide the guns and I know who uses each one. Let me help look for them. I can help them find them. I'll bring them back to you. I swear. Give me half an hour," I pleaded.

He stared at me for a moment before nodding. "Fifteen minutes," he gave me. I let out a breath and Olivia mouthed a thank you to me. I nodded at her. "Rick you had better be damn glad that I brought Rain here. She's such a sweetheart. Now be a dear and find my guns? Our guns. I might give you one if you're good," he told me. I nodded at him without argument. If he was going to give me a gun I wouldn't fight. "Don't get too friendly with them now!" Negan shouted as I walked away. I turned to him as he walked towards me. "They aren't your family anymore. I am," he said before turning away from me. "Dave!" He shouted. Dave turned back to look at me. "Go with them. Make sure that they don't get too homey."

He nodded and began walking with us. We were heading towards the church where we normally held the meetings. We walked towards the church and I watched as Dave followed us with his rifle out. Rick walked over to Gabriel. "Gather everyone and bring them to the church," he instructed Gabriel. He nodded and turned towards the main area of Alexandria. As we walked Rick turned towards me. "How is he treating you? Are you alright?" Rick asked me.

I was about to open my mouth and respond to him when Dave cut me off. "Hey!" Dave shouted. We all turned back to him as we walked into the church. "What did Negan just say? Do not get too friendly with each other," he snarled at me.

Negan knew things to hold over my head. I knew how to hold my tongue when I was around him. But I was not going to let Dave push me around the same way that Negan did. "The way that you got too friendly with Tanya?" I asked him. Dave's face went a stark white as he stared at me. He clearly hadn't thought that I'd noticed. "I'm no idiot, Dave. I see things. I see the way that you look at her. I have Negan's ear and I will tell him that. Now shut up and let me speak to them," I told him.

He knew that I wasn't kidding. If he did something to piss me off I would turn around and tell Negan that Dave was pining after one of his wives. I might enjoy watching him get the iron. I hadn't seen Negan use it yet. But I knew that he did. It wasn't just Dwight that was walking around the compound with half of his face burned off. "He has no proof," Dave finally snapped.

I knew that he was just grasping at straws now. I had given myself the upper hand in the argument. We walked into the church and left the doors open behind us. Rick and I stood at the alter in the front of the church. Dave followed and stood in the aisle. "Willing to risk it?" I asked him.

He stared at me for a moment, trying to give me a challenging face. I knew that he was wondering whether or not I would do it. "Make it fast," he finally said. I grinned softly at him. I knew that I had won. "No touching each other," Dave snapped.

It was better than nothing and I would take it. Rick turned to me with a smile. "Resourceful as ever," he told me softly.

I grinned and forced myself not to reach out and hug him. He was right here and I couldn't even touch him. I hated it. The only thing that was worse was that I couldn't touch Daryl. "Thanks. I'm alright. Negan doesn't treat me too bad. A few horrible jokes and pranks here and there but nothing too bad. He feeds me and makes sure that I have water. Books. Television. Crap to keep me occupied. He lets me walk around on my own sometimes. He's with me most of the time. I have my own room and bathroom. He hasn't... touched me. Other than a few kisses on the forehead or cheek, just the one of the mouth that you saw, and one or two slaps on the ass. Nothing that I can't handle. It's Daryl I'm worried about."

Rick gave me a look that said to go on but I never got the chance. Before I could open my mouth and tell him about what had been happening to myself Dave cut over me. "No talking about Daryl. Just about you," he snapped.

Despite wanting to argue with him I knew that I had gotten lucky enough. He didn't even have to let me speak to them. I wasn't going to push it. "I'm alright, Rick. I'll live. We'll all live," I told him. He nodded at me with a smile. He must have known though that I was horribly depressed being there. But we were all trying to be strong. "How are things back here?" I asked after a beat.

Rick gave a small shrug but smiled anyways. We were both trying to make the other feel better by making things out to be less terrible than they really were. "Things could be better. It's been getting hard getting over both Glenn and Abraham. But we're slowly working past it. We aren't used to serving someone yet but we'll grow into it. We just have to get used to it. Tara and Heath aren't back yet." My God. I'd almost forgotten about them. "They should be tomorrow or maybe the day after. We miss you. We miss you both," Rick told me.

I wanted to reach out for his hands but I didn't. Instead I opened my mouth to tell him that I missed him more than anything else. Before I got the chance a familiar rough southern accent drawled out to me. "He said it, Princess."

Turning back I saw that Merle was standing in the aisle just in front of Dave. He had his hands crossed over his chest. His bayonet attachment had been taken off. I assumed that one of the Saviors had probably taken it. "Merle..." I muttered softly. I turned from my spot and walked to head over to him with my arms open. It was my brother.

Before I got too close to Merle Dave aimed his gun over to Merle. I stopped dead in my tracks as Merle turned back and glared at Dave. I was glad that they hadn't taken Merle. I had a terrible feeling that he would be dead by now. "What did I say? No hugging or touching each other. Just talking. Negan doesn't like his property being touched," he said.

Merle's jaws tightened. Despite the fact that we were not blood related Merle was still my brother. He was my brother-in-law and even more than that. He really was like a brother and best friend to me. He did not enjoy hearing someone call his brother's wife another man's property. "You're right. How do you think that Negan will take it when you shoot the woman he's pining for?" I asked Dave.

Dave stared at me for a moment before sighing. After a moment he turned the gun over so that it was being aimed at Merle. I jumped slightly and motioned for Merle to take a seat in one of the pews. "Find the damn guns. Olivia's clock is running out," Dave warned.

I hated it but I knew that Dave was telling the truth. I didn't even know what was happening with Olivia. Rick motioned for me to stand with him at the altar. "Come on. We're having the meeting," Rick snarled at Dave.

We stood and watched as the Alexandrian's began to flood in through the doors. Within two minutes everyone was inside and sitting in the pews. Many of them shot me small, sympathetic smiles. A few tried to come up and hug me or ask if I was alright. But one point of the gun from Dave sent them running away. So none of them bothered to say anything to me. But most of them sent me small smiles. Aaron and Eric both looked thrilled to see me alive. Tobin gave me a small smile. Carl gave me another smile. Most everyone did. Except for the few people that had always hated me. The ones that I had threatened when I'd first been here. They almost looked pleased at the turn of events.

Once everyone had flooded in and all conversations had silenced themselves, Rick took a step forward. "I thought about hiding some of the guns. I did it before. Rain did it with me. I figured I could bury some out there. Maybe we don't touch them for years," he told everyone.

"Years?" Tobin asked. I had noticed that he had been a little off since Carol had mysteriously disappeared. She'd left a note evidently that she wanted to leave and didn't want to be followed. Morgan was missing too. No one thought that they were dead. There was no evidence that they were. Most people thought that Morgan was trying to talk her into coming home. I had heard it in a passing conversation earlier.

Distracting me from my thoughts, Rick spoke once more. "Yeah. That's right," Rick said.

Tobin did not rise from his seat but he did shift uncomfortably. "But what if the Saviors find those guns?" He asked. Not good. But we were already fucked. They had all of our guns. "What if we run into them when we have those guns on us?" He asked us.

It would be another thing that would not end well for us. We were supposed to be unarmed. And everything that we did find was supposed to go to Negan. "One of us dies. Maybe more than that. Maybe a lot more. Doesn't matter how many bullets we have. It isn't enough. They win. It's that black-and-white. Hiding a couple of guns isn't the answer, not anymore. We don't have to like it, but we need to give them over. A Glock 9 and a .22. That's what they're looking for. Who has it? Someone knows where they are or they know who does. If we don't find them, they're gonna kill Olivia. They'll do it. I don't want to see what happens to Rain or Daryl either if we don't cough them up," Rick said weakly.

I smiled at him and resisted placing my hand on his shoulder. "Why do they care?" Tobin snapped. "Two guns aren't a threat to them. But those guns could help protect us from whatever else is out there." It didn't matter that they were only two guns that could barely do anything. It was a power play. Negan wanted to show us that he had complete control over everyone here.

"Do you have 'em?" Rick asked suspiciously.

Part of me knew that Tobin didn't have them. He wasn't that type of guy. But I wished that he did. I wanted to get these guns back to Negan so that no one was hurt. "Wish I did," Tobin said before dropping back into the pew.

Rick was silent for a moment. He took a few paces and ran his hands through his hair. Once he had he turned back to the group of Alexandrian's in the pews. "Most of you weren't there. You didn't have to watch." I noticed the people that had been there flinch. "But you can look away now when someone else dies, or you can help solve this. We give them what they want, and we live in peace," Rick said.

His resolve was dying. I could see it. He wanted to fight but he couldn't find it in himself to stand up and do something. It broke my heart. Rick was so strong. I'd never seen him this weak before. Not even when my father had come back and killed Hershel. Aaron's hushed voice towards Eric made me look over to them. "Don't. Now is not the time."

He had his arms wrapped around Eric. The man in question responded with another hushed tone. "It is." When he turned back to Rick his voice was on a normal level. "Say we find the guns. How are we gonna get out of this, Rick? Someone has to do something. Rain is out there. She saved my life once. We have to save hers," Eric said, looking over at me.

I gave him a soft smile and I grinned back at him. I had saved his life once. It meant the world to me that they were all going to stand with them, no matter what happened. "I - I know. I've known her longer than almost everyone sitting in here. Daryl too. I want them back. They are my family. Not his. I love them both like they are my blood." Rick gave me a quick glance and I smiled at him. "But we have to do this his way to keep them safe. There is no way out of this. Let me put this to all of you as clearly as I can. I'm not in charge anymore. Negan is. Now, who has the guns?" He asked.

The room was silent until Eugene spoke up. "Not everyone's here," he said. We all looked around and I noticed what he was talking about. There were only two people here that were gone that should have been here. Spencer and Rosita.

Rosita would not have taken the guns. She was tough and could be extremely hard-headed she would not take the guns and risk someone's life for them. That meant that there was only one person left. "There's one person that always uses that Bobcat. I taught him how to use it. Spencer," I said, interrupting tense silence.

All eyes turned towards me. After answering a few questions where everyone was making sure that it was Spencer that used the Bobcat we all went off to look through both his and Rosita's house. I wanted to trust them both but I knew that right now we had to be cautious. We had to make sure that we knew if everyone was telling the truth. I knew that most of the people in here wouldn't dare take the gun. But Spencer had apparently been extremely angry since his family had died. It had only gotten worse when Negan had taken over Alexandria. So Eugene, Tobin, Carl, and Enid went to go check on Rosita's house.

That left Father Gabriel, Merle, Rick, and myself to go through Spencer's house. The house that had once been Deana's. I hadn't been in here since my interview. It hadn't changed. We were nearing the end of our time limit when Gabriel spoke up. "Nothing. Still. I just I feel like I know this is going to work out," he said.

I wanted to think about that. I wanted to hope that he was telling the truth. But I couldn't. After everything that I had been through at the Sanctuary, Daryl too, and everything that had happened to those of them back here at Alexandria, it seemed like we didn't have any hope. "How?" Rick asked him.

"We'll find the guns. We'll get through today. Then we'll find a way to go forward, how to beat this," Gabriel told us.

I smiled at him and nodded. We were going to get out of this. There was no way that we were going to be stuck under Negan's thumb forever. That wasn't in us anymore. We might be able to tolerate it for a little while but not for long. "There is no beating this," Rick said.

He was not going to get away with doing this. Negan was not going to keep us under his rule forever. He had Rick beaten down for now. But it wouldn't be that way forever. He would come back stronger than he ever had been. I knew that he would. He had to. "Yes, there is, somehow. I have faith in us. I have faith in you. I especially have faith in you. Things change. You're my friend. It wasn't always that way." I remembered the days that Gabriel had thought that we were too dangerous to interact with. "Where's Michonne? Could she possibly have -" Gabriel was asking until Rick cut him off.

"She doesn't have anything they're lookin' for." I figured that she wouldn't. Michonne used her katana most of the time and the rare times that she didn't it was always a rifle. She didn't use handguns. She didn't have the best of aim with them. "What you did with the graves, it was quick thinkin'. Thank you," Rick told Gabriel. He had dug a grave for Maggie that hadn't really been hers.

Gabriel smiled at Rick and nodded. "It was nice digging a grave I knew would stay empty," he told us.

The front door of the house swung open and I watched as everyone walked in. Aaron was the only one that actually came in. Since we had first met him Aaron had grown somewhat of a backbone. He was much stronger than he was when I had first met him. Less friendly too. But it was a good thing. And he was still in love with Eric. I was glad to see the both of them happy and healthy. "No luck?" Aaron asked us.

He sent me a bright smile which I returned. More than anything I wanted to be able to go and touch him. But I knew that Dave would not appreciate that. "We searched the house, Rosita's. There's nothing," Rick said softly.

We had to find those guns. Olivia was going to die if we couldn't find them. "So what do we do now?" Aaron asked.

Unfortunately there was nothing to do. Unless someone came forward and said that they knew where the guns were there was nothing that anyone could do. We needed to know where they were or Olivia was as good as dead. I knew that Negan would be trying to break her right now. That could be worse than death. I knew. "If they were anywhere, they'd be here. Spencer's done this kind of thing before," Rick said.

He wasn't exactly wrong. I liked Spencer well enough but I knew that he had his own issues. Hell, he still blamed us for what had happened with his mother, father, and brother. "We keep looking. Maybe today works out. I'll check the garage," Gabriel said.

We all nodded. Gabriel turned to head out into the garage. I was praying silently that we found it. We didn't need someone else to die at Negan's hand. Especially not when we could stop it. "I'll look in Deanna's office again," Rick said. We all nodded and dispersed once more. I stuck with Rick. We walked around the room until I noticed Rick stop at a floor vent. He stared down at it and I nodded. There was definitely a chance that they could have been hidden in there. They weren't extremely large guns.

Rick gave a soft sigh and I helped him pull up the vent cover. It took a moment but it finally budged. And there they were. Both Rick and I let out a sigh as we pulled the guns out of their hiding spot. We stared at the hole for a moment. It wasn't just the guns that were in there. Some food was also stock-piled in there. I scowled at the sight. They were starving themselves to try and make sure that everyone could eat. But here Spencer was with plenty of food for himself. Underneath was a bottle of liquor too. He had himself a whole little set-up. I wouldn't have been surprised if there were more things hidden throughout the rest of the house. But those weren't what we were here for.

So Rick pushed everything except for the guns into the hole once more. We sealed up the air vent with the silent agreement that he would speak to Spencer later. I watched as Dave smirked down at us. He motioned to Arat to go get Negan and let him know that we had found the guns. Rick let me lead the way out of the house. I walked out and watched as Rick closed the door behind us. Once we were out on the street I saw that most of the Alexandria residents were standing around and watching us curiously.

As we walked up to the front gate Dave pulled away from us. Rick walked a little way away from me to make sure that we didn't get into trouble. Merle was braver. He came to walk beside me. He did keep a little more distance than normal though. "How's Daryl? How are you?" He asked me.

Smiling down at my feet I tried to make it look like we were simply walking, not having a conversation. "I'm fine. Negan is horrible but he's treated me actually pretty well. Daryl... He's not so good." Merle's face fell slightly at the information. "But he's alive. Negan will keep him alive. He knows that it's the only reason that I'm being somewhat cooperative," I told Merle.

He opened his mouth to say something else but Arat shouted out before we could say anything else. "Hey! Do you want to get him killed?" She snapped at me. I snarled under my breath but walked away from Merle anyways when she raised her gun. Her name was the truest thing I'd ever heard. A rat. That was exactly what she was. Sometimes she was worse than he was.

I stood near Arat and watched as Dave stopped Enid. He was holding something bright green and waving it in her face. I cocked my head to the side. What were those? The closer that I looked I finally realized what they were. They were the balloons that Glenn had released to show Enid that he was safe. My heart gave a painful twinge at the fact that she had kept them. He had been like a father to her. "Balloons?" Dave asked her with a laugh. "You going to a party, little girl?" He taunted her.

I knew that it was hurting her to have him holding them. It hurt for me to watch him with them. Those were Glenn's. They were Enid's. They were ours. Not theirs. "Can I keep them, please? It's just -" She cut herself off. There were tears in her eyes that I could tell she was trying to prevent from falling. "Let me keep them," she continued after a moment.

Dave nodded and leaned over her. He was holding the deflated balloons just out of her grip. "Say please again, little girl," Dave told her.

"Leave her be, Dave!" I shouted.

He turned back to me with a dark scowl. The only reason that he didn't snap back at me was because I held Tanya over him. Enid looked over at me and sighed deeply. She nodded at me. This was the first time that I had seen her in a long damn time. "It's alright," she told me. I nodded weakly. I wanted to do something. I felt so powerless. "Please," she repeated to Dave.

"Yeah. One more time," he said as he chuckled lasciviously. It made my skin crawl, the way that he was looking and speaking to her.

"Please," Enid snapped sharply.

Dave nodded at her and went to hand her the balloons. Just before she could grab them he snapped them out of her reach. "Be careful, little girl. They'll be gone soon," he told her. He ran the balloons slowly down her face and I scowled. Just before she could grab them he tossed them to the ground. The Saviors all laughed and walked away from her. I turned back just soon enough to see Enid bend down to pick them up. She threw me a weak smile before Arat shoved me ahead of her.

Grunting under my breath and scowling at her I continued to walk to the front gate. Negan was standing with Olivia near the gates. Rick was holding Lucille and walking up with me. "What you got for me, Rick?" Negan asked as we walked up to him. Rick showed him the two guns and Negan breathed in deeply before letting out a little laugh. "Good job, darling," he told me. I nodded absentmindedly. "Well, would you look at that? They were here after all. Funny how a little, 'Holy shit! Somebody's gonna die!' lights a fire under everybody's ass!" He shouted. Olivia let out a little whimper at his sudden movement. "So, tell me, Rick - which one of your fine folks almost cost Olivia the rest of her days?" He asked.

Despite the fact that Spencer had almost gotten Olivia killed I knew that Rick was not going to sell him out. Not until he got a chance to speak to Spencer for himself. "It doesn't matter anymore," Rick said.

Negan shook his head. "No, it matters. See, you need to get everybody on board. Everybody. Or we just go right back to square one," Negan warned. I watched as Saviors began to load the trucks up. Their engines were on and idling. I watched as beds were dragged from the houses. I scowled softly. They had no reason to be taking the beds other than to show us that they were in charge, I knew that the they didn't need the mattresses. "Hell of a place you got here, Rick," Negan said.

We all stared as Michonne walked over the ridge. She was carrying a deer on her back that was slung over her shoulders. Negan was giving her a curious grin. Rick looked more than a little concerned at the sight of her. Especially since she was also carrying a rifle that was slung over her shoulder. "Give me a second," Rick said as he began to walk over to his girlfriend.

"No," Negan immediately snapped.

Rick gave an impatient stare. "Please, can you just give me a second?" Negan stared at Rick for a moment before nodding. I watched as Rick went over to go speak to Michonne away from the prying ears of the Saviors. The trucks were gearing up to leave.

Startling me from my thoughts, Negan laid a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him curiously. He had wanted me to be quiet and I finally was being. It figured that now would be the time that he actually wanted me to start speaking. "Actually, before we leave I'd like you and Daryl to show me your house," Negan said, motioning back to where Daryl was standing silently.

"Why?" I snapped.

He grinned at me and motioned for Daryl to come a little closer. I knew that it was to show me just how close I was to Daryl, but how I could never actually have him. "Because I want to see how the two of you lived before I found you. I like to imagine that you ate berries and squirrels and lived in your tree house," he said with a laugh. Most of the Saviors laughed along with him. I saw Daryl and Merle both visibly twitch. "See how much more civilized life is with me?" He asked me.

I decided not to play into his little game of trying to get a rise out of me in front of his people. "There's nothing in the house but furniture, some food, and clothing," I told him honestly. There was nothing of any worth.

He stared at me and shook his head. "I'll decide that," he told me.

I rolled my eyes but nodded anyways. I knew that there was no way that I was getting out of this one. We both turned as Rick walked up to us. He was trying to give Negan a reassuring face. It came across as more like a grimace. "I thought she was scavenging. She was hunting," Rick said, referring to Michonne. He motioned to the rifle in his hands. The one that Michonne had been using. "This one never came inside. We kept it near the line," he told Negan.

The man in question grabbed the rifle and looked it over. He nodded and handed it off to Arat. I sighed deeply and watched as Arat loaded it into the truck with the rest of Alexandria's things. "Look at this. This is something to build a relationship on. Good for you, Rick. This is readin' the room and gettin' the message. I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again. You, sir, are special. Now that you know we can follow your rules -" he was ranting until Rick raised his hands. Negan rolled his eyes and asked unctuously, "Yes?"

He stepped forward and motioned to both Daryl and I. My heart picked up pace. "I'd like to ask you if Daryl and Rain can stay," Rick said. I smiled down at him. They cared. They were going to do anything possible to see if we could stay.

Negan stared at Rick and shook his head. My heart sank faster than it ever had before. Not that I had been expecting him to say that we could say. "Not happenin'. You know what? I don't know. Rain most certainly is not leaving. She is mine." My teeth grit together. I was only my own. Maybe every once in a while I was Daryl's too. Negan turned to Daryl. "But maybe Daryl can plead his case. Maybe Daryl can sway me. Daryl?" He asked.

I stared at Daryl, who hung his head towards the ground, he didn't want to look at anyone. Come on Daryl, say something. Don't come back with me. Be safe. But I knew that it was what he was doing. We both knew that it was a trap. After a few moments of silence Negan laughed. "Well, you tried." Daryl looked like he was in physical pain. "Now what you got to do is get over that tall wall of yours and try harder out there. Earn for me. Because we're coming back soon, and when we do, you better have something interesting for us, or Lucille, she's gonna have her way. I want you to hear that again. If you don't have something interesting for us somebody's gonna die. And no more magic guns. Arat, grab that deer," Negan snapped. She went to take the deer from Michonne. "It's getting late. Get ready to go! Daryl, Rain, come with me," Negan said.

We both joined up with Negan, knowing that we didn't have any other choice. Dwight gave me a nasty grin as I walked past him. I wanting nothing more than to bash his teeth in. Negan walked with me on one side of him and Daryl on the other. I watched as Spencer and Rosita drove back through the gates and I grimaced as I saw them unload Daryl's motorcycle. The one that he had worked so hard to build. We walked through Alexandria, although there weren't many people lingering around. Pretty much everyone was up by the front gates watching as the Saviors got ready to leave with all of our things. I turned the corner and motioned to my house.

Negan smiled as we walked through the front door. I almost wanted to collapse. The house had coated itself in a thin layer of dust since I'd last been here. I saw two pictures that sat on the kitchen counter. They were the only two that we had down here. One was of Maggie and Glenn smiling at each other, the other was of Daryl and I laughing. Negan grinned at them before motioning to me. "Show me to your room," he ordered.

I nodded at him and walked us up the stairs to our bedroom. For a moment I almost debated taking him to Maggie and Glenn's room to avoid what was in ours. But I decided against it. So I opened the door and let him walk in, praying that he would let us leave. "This is it," I told him.

The sheets were still ruffled from the last time that we had slept in the bed and the empty wine bottle was still on the floor. Daryl's face nearly made me cry. This was his home. This was our home. We should have been happy to be back here. Not in pain. As expected, Negan walked over to the dresser and mirror, looking over the pictures that were all over the place. "Now what the hell was this about not having anything in here? I happen to see lots of pictures. Aw, look how cute. I love that shit. Tell me, who are these people?" He asked.

They were all from the Polaroid camera that we had found back at the prison. Glenn had found the camera first and from there it had just been passed along. We must have gotten well over a thousand pictures from the damn thing before we'd lost it. No one knew where it had gone after the walker invasion at Alexandria a few months after we'd gotten here. But it didn't matter. We had gotten quite a few good memories from it. Daryl and I only had a fraction of the pictures that were actually taken of it. Everyone had at least a few. They were on Daryl and I's mirror to remind us that friends and family would fall, but they would always remain in your mind and heart.

I looked over the pictures with a protective stare. These were my memories. I didn't want to have to share those with him. But I knew that his question of who the people were was not an option. "Bob and Sasha. Her late boyfriend," I started, pointing at a picture of us in the prison. They were on each side of me, each one of us was smiling brightly. Bob was holding bunny ears up behind my head. "Tyreese. Sasha's late brother," I continued, almost smiling at the picture. It was taken from a distance. Tyreese was chasing me through the field in the prison after I had told Karen an embarrassing story about him that Sasha had told me beforehand. Glenn had taken it.

The next one made me smile softly. "Hershel. Late father of Maggie." It was a picture of Hershel stitching up my leg after Lizzie had stabbed me back at the prison. He was smiling at me like I was his daughter. "Rosita." She had taken that picture. We were both making stupid faces at the camera after a long day of being on watch on the road before we had come back across Beth. "Gabriel." It was a picture of us in Alexandria. We were both simply smiling at the camera pressed shoulder-to-shoulder

The next picture hurt slightly to look at. "Rick. Judith. Carl." We were all sitting together. It was one of the few pictures that Daryl was in too. We were all on the staircase outside of Rick's house and grinning at each other. Daryl and Rick were laughing as Michonne and I teased Carl. I couldn't remember for the life of me what we were laughing at him for. We looked like a real family. "Morgan." It was a picture of us in the gazebo out in the courtyard. He was teaching me how to use his staff. "Carol." It was a picture of the two of us teasing Daryl. We were all laughing. "Merle." Like Carol's, it was the two of us laughing at Daryl's expense. "Maggie." The two of us were laughing at each other with our heads buried in each other's back at the prison. You could see Glenn and Daryl in the background smiling. "Michonne." It was the only picture that we had that I wasn't in. It was of her and Daryl horsing around in the prison yard. "Eugene." We were in the RV and I was bent over a book that he was explaining to me.

Despite the situation I nearly laughed at the next picture. "Noah." He had been taken from us far too soon. It was a picture of me stacking coasters on his forehead as he slept. I'd gotten seven before he'd woken up and ruined my game. "Beth. Maggie's late half-sister." It was a picture of the two of us smiling at each other from the perch in the prison. "Aaron and Eric." It was a picture of the couple with both Daryl and I. We were sitting at their dinner table in a toast. I was pretty sure that Tobin had taken it. "Heath and Tara." We were staring cross-eyed at the camera.

The last two physically hurt to look at and Negan knew it. I could feel him stiffen next to me and I saw the smile spread over his features. Daryl stiffened as well. Although there was anything but a smile on his face. "Glenn. Abraham." They were in two separate pictures but they were almost identical. The picture with Glenn was in the prison. We were standing up in a guard tower. I knew that I had just been making fun of him. I had kissed him on the cheek to make up for it. The one with Abraham was similar. We were in Alexandria and I was laughing against his cheek. He had said one of my favorite one-liners. 'Mother-dick.' I'd laughed so hard and kissed him, begging him never to change.

My eyes watered as we stared at the pictures. Daryl wasn't even able to look at them. I knew that he still felt like he was at fault for what had happened to Glenn. "And what about this one?" Negan asked.

I turned to see that he was holding up the only picture that we had up here of just Daryl and I. We were up in one of the prison guard towers together. The picture had been taken from a distance. Merle had given me the picture when we'd gotten to Alexandria. He had taken it one afternoon when we were on guard duty, thinking that we might like it. He was right. Daryl had me pressed against the bars while we were locked in a kiss. Even from the distance you could tell that we were smiling. "What the hell does it look like?" I snapped at Negan.

He grinned at me before splitting the photo down the middle. I jumped as he continued to split the photo into a million pieces. It was my favorite picture of the two of us. It was one of my favorite memories. "Confetti. Let's go home," he cheered. We walked out of the house after that. I could see that Daryl wanted to come comfort me but we both knew what defying Negan would get us. As we walked out of the house I let my hair fall down over my back. I had hidden my wedding ring in my pulled up hair so that Negan couldn't get to it. He was walking ahead of us and never saw as the ring hit the carpet. Daryl was smart enough to see me drop the ring and he kicked it under the couch for safe-keeping.

We gave each other a quick nod before walking out of the house and turning back to the gates. As we came up I watched Arat toss the deer into the back of her truck. "Man, I love a gal that buys me dinner and doesn't expect me to put out," he said with a laugh. "I'll take that. So, nobody died. And you know what I think? I think you and I, we've refined our understanding. Let me ask you something, Rick. Do you want me to go?" He asked.

I knew that Rick didn't want Negan to take us with him but this was the wrong time for us to fight about it. So he nodded. "I think that'd be good," Rick snarled under his breath.

Negan nodded and leaned into Rick. "Then just say those two magical words," he said.

The air was tense for a moment and I thought that Rick might try something with Lucille, which he was still holding. "Thank you," Rick finally managed to barely get out between grit teeth.

Negan laughed and shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous. Thank you," he said, pointing to Rick. A walker began to growl in the distance and I looked back to see one approaching. "Another one. You need our help. Davey, hand me that candlestick over there." Dave grabbed a candlestick that I was pretty sure Deanna had once owned. He held it tightly in his hands. "You know what I think, Rick? I think we're both gonna come out of this winners. Watch my form!" He yelled before walking over to the walker.

It began to growl and limp weakly over to Negan but it never got the chance to get close. He stepped in front with the walker growling and raised the candlestick. I watched as he swung it back and smacked the walker across the head. There was a loud splat and I watched as brain matter went flying across the pavement. Negan grinned and dropped the candlestick. "Ah. Yep. Win-win. You should clean that up for me for next time. Let's move out!" He yelled. Saviors began to pile into the trucks and I watched as Daryl was thrown into an open-air truck. "Oh, wait," Negan said as he turned back to Rick with a laugh. "How careless of me. You didn't think I was gonna leave Lucille, did ya? I mean, after what she did, why would you want 'er? Thank you for being so accommodating, friend. In case you haven't caught on I just slipped my dick down your throat, and you thanked me for it," Negan said with a laugh.

My hands twitched slightly at the sight of Rick standing there and taking it. He was so much better than that. Negan began to walk back to the truck that we were sharing and I stared after my old family. They were all staring back at me. It didn't last long. Guns were trained on them at the sight of us staring at each other and their gazes dropped. My heart gave a soft twinge at the feeling of being utterly alone. Negan smirked at me as he climbed into the truck. "Get in the damn truck!" Arat shouted at me.

"Arat! We do not speak to our friends like that," Negan reprimanded her. "Come on," he told me. I nodded and climbed back into the truck, in the passenger seat. Negan hopped into the driver's side as the door was slammed in my face. He started the truck and it roared to life. "See that? They didn't even want you back. But I want you, Rain. Don't you see how good you have it here? We actually care about you. They don't give a damn. They only really begged for Daryl. After him, they didn't even bother with you," he told me.

I knew that he was doing it to get a rise out of me but I couldn't help it. "Fuck you," I snarled at him. Negan smirked at me and leaned back in his seat, satisfied that he had gotten the answer that he wanted. I watched from the rear-view mirror as we began to drive away from my home.

I briefly made eye contact with Rick before the hill became too high and I could no longer see. I let out a soft sigh and leaned against the window, fighting back tears as we traveled back to the Sanctuary. With each passing day it felt like there was less and less of a chance that I was ever going to be able to get back to Alexandria and back to my family.


	58. Giving In

Currently I was sprawled out in the bed that had been designated mine. It was probably mid-morning by now but I refused to get up until Negan came to take me, as he normally did in the morning. Another knock came at the door and I rolled my eyes. Someone had been trying to get my attention for the last five or six minutes. I'd been ignoring it for as long as possible but it was starting to get annoying. I'd been hoping that the person would leave but it had become obvious that they were determined to speak to me.

Standing weakly, having drained a large chunk of a bottle of expensive vodka as a gift from Negan the night before, I walked over to the door. Thankfully I wasn't really hungover. Just tired. I opened the door and glared when I saw that it was Fat Joey. Or as I just liked to call him, 'Fat-ass.' He was staring at me impatiently. "What?" I snapped with a bored expression.

Fat Joey shifted and motioned out into the hallway. "Negan has requested an audience with you," he told me.

Of course. Negan had requested me to come visit him a few mornings. Normally it was to tease me about doing something with his morning wood. More than once I'd threatened to shove him out of his large windows. "Yeah? Too damn bad. Tell him if he wants me to come and get me himself," I told Joey, moving to walk back into my room.

As I was about to slam the door in his face Joey made a move and caught the door. I rolled my eyes and stared at him. "He said that you would say that. He also said that he has the iron heated up and ready to go," he told me with a deep smirk. I knew what he meant. The iron that they had used to iron the side of Dwight's face. I snorted under my breath. Negan wouldn't use it on me. He liked looking at my face. Joey grinned at me. "Not for you, darling. Nah, you're too pretty. For Daryl," he told me.

My heart jumped into my throat but I kept on an even face. I let out a little sigh and nodded, debating on going to change my clothes but deciding not to. I was still in my pajamas that Negan had insisted on seeing me in. They were just plain black stretch pants but the top that I was wearing was a cropped white shirt that showed off the silver ring that I had through my stomach. Negan was more than a little thrilled to see that I had a piercing there. Apparently it only made me more 'super-hot.'

I twisted my hair up into a messy bun and walked to where Joey was standing in front of me, blocking the doorway with his body. "Move," I snarled at Joey. The man in question moved out of my way and began to make the move to lead me to Negan's room. I ripped my arm away and shoved Joey away from me slightly. "I know where his damn room is! I don't need a fucking babysitter," I hissed.

I thought that Joey might walk with me anyways but he simply muttered a few curses before turning and walking the other way. Lately Negan had been letting me walk around more on my own - so long as the Saviors kept a close eye on me and ensured that I didn't speak to Daryl or any of the other prisoners. As I walked through the two halls that separated my apartment from Negan's I realized that many of the Saviors were watching me closely. The women were all glaring at me - as per usual - and the men were all giving me appreciative looks. It unnerved me slightly. I was seriously outnumbered here. But if there was one thing that I had to be grateful to Negan for it was the fact that he kept them too afraid to walk over and try something with me. They all knew that in Negan's eyes I was his property.

Not that I was alright with being considered his property but it was better than some other things that could happen to me. Since our visit to Alexandria another six or so days had passed here at the Sanctuary and Negan hadn't left since. One group had gone to the Hilltop for their weekly delivery either yesterday or maybe this morning. I'd overheard them talking about it through my door. Judging by the sound of it Gregory said that there were presents for them. Bottles of liquor apparently. I was glad that they had found the liquor rather than Sasha and Maggie, both of whom I believed were still hiding out there.

They hadn't yet gone back to Alexandria. I assumed that they would either go back today or tomorrow. Negan didn't like waiting the entire week that our groups were supposed to get. We were currently closing in on almost two full weeks that I had been at the Sanctuary. Over the past few days I had mostly seen only Negan and Dwight. In passing I had seen Dave, Joey, and Dwight, Negan's wives, and of course, Negan himself. Most of the other Saviors were still nameless faces. I had only seen Daryl a few times in passing over the last few days and each time hurt more than the last, especially since I would never speak to him. He would barely be allowed to look at me before he was shouted at to get back to work. The last time that I had actually been able to speak to him was the day that Dwight had captured us with Rosita.

Turning down the hallway that held Negan's room, after taking my sweet time, I came to stand in front of his door. As usual there were a few guards in front of the door. My bare feet skidded on the metal walkway slightly but I managed to keep my balance. The men that were guarding his door - Dwight and Dave among them - were staring at me. I glared and let my hands rest on my hips. "Well? Move. Apparently His Holy Highness wants to speak to me," I snarled under my breath.

It wasn't so much that I believed that all of these people were awful I just hated looking at them day after day. Some of them were probably halfway decent. But I'd kill them all given the chance. Dwight smirked at me and made sure that he was standing directly in front of the door. He liked to try and piss me off on a daily basis. "You're in a chipper mood this morning," he told me with a grin.

"Move," I snapped at him, not wanting to deal with his attitude after having recently woken up.

He smirked at me and stepped to the side so that I could walk in. For once they were allowing me to actually walk in. Grabbing the handle of the door I swung it open without bothering to knock. When it was just him he never bothered to knock on my door either. The door shut behind me and I saw that Negan was lying in bed with his hands crossed underneath his head. There was a large lump around his thighs and I watched in disgust as a female figure - one of his wives - shot up from underneath the sheets and stared at me.

Looking away in disgust, easily recognizing what they were doing, I snarled under my breath. "God." Maybe that was why they had been grinning at me as I walked into the room. "What the hell do you want?" I asked him.

Negan smirked and sat up slightly. The woman still had the sheets pulled around her. "Out, darling," he told her. She nodded and stood to make her way out of the room. She looked a little ashamed at the fact that I wasn't looking away from her. She grabbed a black dress and slid it on over her form, walking quickly out of the room. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't the first time that I'd seen a naked woman.

Negan was still grinning as he yawned and stretched in the bed. He stood a moment later and let the sheets fall from around him. I realized stupidly that he was also naked. "Jesus," I muttered, looking away from him in disgust.

If I was being completely honest he didn't have a terrible body. But Daryl's was better. Daryl was better. And from the brief look that I'd gotten down south, Daryl was definitely better. "What's the matter? Never seen a guy like this before?" Negan asked as he walked up to me. He came so close that our chests were almost pressed together. "Did Daryl not please you?" He asked me. He still hadn't bothered to get changed. I knew that he was doing it to try and get to me. "Bed's still warm, what do you say?" He said, motioning back to the bed.

Rolling my eyes at him I shook my head with a slight snarl. "I say get the hell over yourself. Call your fucking whore back here if you want that," I told him, motioning back to the door that one of his wives had just run out of. Negan laughed, still not bothering to take a step away from me. "What? What did you call me over here for?" I asked, wanting to leave him as soon as possible.

Negan grinned at me and stepped forward, placing a hand on my hip. I backed away quickly. He laughed and let his eyes wander over my body. "Asked you here to ask you a question," he said.

That much I had already managed to piece together. I stood with my hip cocked out to the side and a stern glare on my face. "And you seriously couldn't have walked the thirty feet between our apartments?" I asked him with the roll of my eyes. I figured that he just wanted to assert his dominance and get a kick out of me seeing him in this state of undress.

Somehow Negan still managed to make a joke out of it. "Would you like to go back to your room? Maybe it'll get you a little more in the mood," he said, rolling his hips slightly as he said it. I rolled my eyes and looked away from him. "What's the matter? Do I make you uncomfortable?" He asked, taking another step towards me. I still kept my mouth shut and said nothing. "Someone's not in a good mood this morning." I rolled my eyes as he mirrored the same thing that Dwight had said. Of course I wasn't in a good mood. "You on your period?" He asked me.

"Do you ever shut up?" I snarled at him. Whether or not I was on my period would have been none of his business anyways.

"There it is! See? All you gotta do is say something. I'm sure we've got a chocolate bar or something around here," he told me. I rolled my eyes and leaned back against the dresser that he had near the door. Thankfully he began to clothe himself. Although a chocolate bar really did sound good right about now. I couldn't even remember the last time that I'd had chocolate. Far too long. "Now I called you in here because I wanted to ask you a question that very few people ever get." Well that doesn't sound good. "I wanted to ask you to be my wife."

Had I just heard him right? I couldn't help it. I barked out a loud laugh, louder than I'd laughed since I'd been taken here. Negan looked over at me with a curious grin. "Are you that fucking full of yourself that you think that I would actually marry you? I could spend a whole day on the reasons why someone shouldn't marry you. See, I understand you. As horrifying as that thought may be," I added, more for my own sake than his. "You need consent for you to lay a hand on a woman. So you do this - you intimidate them into saying yes. It gives you the illusion of consent even though you don't truly have it," I told him.

Negan laughed and nodded. He was buckling his belt and reaching for a shirt to put on. "You're a damn smart girl, Rain. But those women in there know that they don't have to be. I don't want someone that isn't willing," he told me.

Once more I let out a little snort. "None of them want to be there. They're only there because they're afraid of what you'll do to them or their families if they say no. Or maybe it's because of the protection that you offer. I don't know but I can tell you that none of them are there because they genuinely have feelings for you." If Negan was offended by anything that I had said he didn't show it. I smirked at him and twirled a strand of hair that had fallen out of the bun that my hair was in. "The only person in here that might actually really be willing is Arat."

Negan's head shot up as he pulled the shirt over his shoulders. He had a small grin on his face as he shook his head and threw his leather jacket on over his shoulders. "She just ain't my type," he told me.

I watched as he walked across the room and grabbed his boots, sitting on the couch and tying them up. "But I am?" I asked.

He yanked to knot the boots before standing and walking over to me. "You are more than my type." I shivered in repulsion. He was everything but my type. "See my girls in there are beautiful. They'd make good housewives. Decent cooks, be there to take care of the family, please the ever-loving shit out of me when I get home, and never talk back. But they are not you. I don't think I've ever met someone like you." Was that a good thing or bad thing? "You're clearly smart. Tell me, you're smart, aren't you?" He asked me.

Was I smart? I knew that I was smart. I always had the best grades of anyone that I knew and I also took some of the hardest classes of anyone that I knew. I was just one of those people that everything came to naturally. I never needed to study. But that didn't mean that I ran around gloating about it. "I don't need to stroke myself to feel intelligent," I snapped at him.

Negan grinned and took a step towards me. Here we go again. "You could always stroke me instead," he told me with a wicked grin.

Once more I rolled my eyes and slipped out from underneath his arms that were on either side of me. He didn't bother to chase after me. He merely watched as I strode across the room and took a seat on the couch. "Three advanced calculus classes, two advanced physics classes, thermodynamics and theory courses," I told him. It would take us forever to go over every class that I'd taken.

He grinned and walked up to me, clearly pleased with what I had just told him. It was different then the blank stare and quip back of 'nerd' that Daryl would give me when I talked about school. I almost gave a bitter smile thinking about it. "Just what I thought. Smart, damn hot, and lethal. A fucking badass if I do say so myself. You are all of my favorite things. And you got a damn nice rack on you." I grunted and yanked my shirt slightly higher on my chest. Of course that only left my midriff bare. I wasn't going to win either way. "Let me say, you are probably the only one of your friends that actually manages to pull off the whole Lara Croft mixed with a stripper vibe," he said.

Did he really just compare me to a fictional video game character and a stripper? He seemed to know that he had gotten to me as he smirked and went to sit on the couch across from me. "Excuse me?" I asked him.

Negan grinned at me and walked around me, smiling. "It's a compliment. Take it." Sure as hell didn't sound like a compliment. "You should also take my other offer." My eyebrows cocked as I waited for him to explain to me what that meant. Probably nothing good. "Become my wife. Join the others." Definitely not good.

My lips curled into a snarl as I stared at him darkly. I would never betray my husband. "You don't have wives," I snapped at him, hoping to steer the conversation away from the topic of me becoming his wife. "You have concubines. Don't know what that means?" Negan didn't answer me, he merely grinned. "I'll explain. It's a woman that lives with a man but has a lower social standing to him. More often they're used for sexual misdeeds. A concubine is almost like a mistress. You don't have wives. And I do not intend to be one of your whores," I snarled.

He sat back down on the seat across from me. He was leaning forward as he poured himself a glass of whiskey. He offered me one but I shook my head. "Like I said; smart." I shrugged my shoulders. I knew that I was smart. As Daryl had once said, I didn't need my head shrunk. "And I like watching that mouth move. Of course I'd rather you use it for something else," he said, giving his lap a pointed stare. I recoiled in disgust. "Think about it, Rain. You stay here and live with me and you get everything you need. I'll even let Daryl off of his leash. He won't even have to work for points. He can be a free man. He'll be a valued solider," he told me.

Some part of the offer was tempting. I could see why Dwight and Sherry had taken it. Daryl would be safe. He would be a valued man of Negan. But I couldn't do it. Because I would be loosing too much. "But he won't have me. And that's why you're getting a big, fat, fucking no," I told him.

Negan laughed and leaned back in his chair. "Well that would be a big, fat, fucking mistake on your part," he told me and I rolled my eyes. "You have until tonight to give me a better answer." He was not getting a different answer. "In the meantime, let's go for a little walk," he said as he stood, offering me his hand. I groaned softly and swatted his hand away. I had really been hoping to get away without having to go on our daily walk. They drove me nuts. He never shut up while we were walking.

We walked out of the building, Negan with his hand on my back. I wanted nothing more than to shove him over the railing but I was smart enough to know that Negan was stronger than me. If we got into a shoving match he would be the one to win. We walked through the halls and out to the fence. I cringed at the sudden intrusion of sunlight, used to the bright and artificial lights on the inside of the Sanctuary. It had been a few days since I had been outside. I hadn't been outside for an extended period of time since the visit to Alexandria.

Trucks were lined around the entrance to the Sanctuary and I walked along the edges of the fence with Negan. Saviors were running back and forth, unloading armfuls of junk. Some of the things looked useful, other things looked like they had just been taken for the hell of it. Negan and I were standing slightly off to the side and I watched as more and more things were taken from the trucks. One was still yet to be opened. Just beyond the edges of the fence I could see Daryl taking care of the walkers that were on the spikes. Of course I never got long looks at him. Every time I would meet eyes with him Negan would redirect my attention towards himself.

The trucks were all being moved back and forth as the supplies from Hilltop were unloaded. A small breath escaped me as I realized that neither Maggie nor Sasha had been captured. Negan clapped his hands together and I turned back to him curiously. "Okay, boys, let's get this haul unloaded and inside. I want to get back in there and unload a little myself," he said with a small grin, looking back over at me.

I groaned in disgust and shoved him away from me. He only laughed and pulled me back into him. "Negan, need to talk to you about redirect," a Savior said, walking up to two of us.

Negan didn't look angry but the smile that he had on was false. I knew that smile. That smile was something that told me that he was about to go haywire. I wanted to be far away when that happened. The Savior was clearly afraid too. "What about the redirect?" Negan asked.

"It got screwed up. We're on it now, but it's a mess out there," he responded.

Negan ran a hand over his face. "And whose job was that?" He asked.

The Savior never got a chance to answer. Another Savior, George, opened the last of the trucks that were coming from Hilltop. It seemed to have a few less things than the other trucks. "A pack and a tent," George said as he grabbed a cardboard box that appeared to have about six or so bottles of liquor in it. As George went to pick the box up the bottom fell out, causing the bottles to fall and smash open against the hard ground. Glass went flying everywhere. "Aw, damn. I thought they packed this up tight," he said.

Once more Negan smiled and motioned the Saviors away from the mess. Two others walked over to begin cleaning the mess up. "Ah, no worries. Plenty more where this came from. Right?" He asked with another laugh. I realized that he was holding a bottle of liquor.

Negan took a step back towards where we had been standing and I watched as the two other Saviors began to unload the truck. I watched with a bored yawn. As one of the men moved a large box that was stacked near the back I saw a figure move and I glanced up just in time to see the gun raise. I dropped down to the ground as round after round shot off. The figure that was holding the gun was small. The two Saviors that had been unloading the truck both dropped to the ground, dead.

"Son of a bitch!" A man in the back yelled as he ran up with his gun pointed to the figure in the truck.

Negan was laughing as he stood, offering me his hand. I took it and watched as Saviors began to line up in front of the truck to eliminate the new threat. "What the hell?" Another man asked.

"Stay back!" The figure with the gun yelled. My heart must have dropped into my stomach. I knew that voice. It was Carl. I shoved Negan off of me to walk past him and see Carl standing at the edge of the truck. He had his rifle aimed towards the remaining men. "Drop your weapons. I only want Negan. He killed my friends. No one else needs to die," he said.

My heart was twisting painfully. For Abraham and Glenn, Carl had come out here and risked being killed. He had come such a long way from the little boy hiding behind his mother's legs. But that didn't mean that he still didn't have people looking out for him. "Carl!" I shouted. He looked over at me with a wide eye. "What the hell? Get away from him!" I told the young boy.

We had lost so much. Rick had lost so much. He didn't need to lose his son too. "Rain," Carl muttered. He went to walk over to me but before he could Negan stepped in between us. Carl was still standing on the edge of the truck as he whistled and looked up towards Carl with a grin on his face. Lucille was swinging lazily over his shoulder.

Carl still looked like he wanted to make a move over here at any given minute. "Nah-ah-ah. Not today, kid. She's still mine." I rolled my eyes but came to stand next to Negan, ensuring that no harm would come to Carl. As much as I appreciated seeing him and having him do all of this just for our fallen friends, I was concerned that he may have just sacrificed himself. "Damn. You are adorable. Did you pick that gun 'cause it looks cool? You totally did, right?" Carl said nothing. "Kid, I ain't gonna lie you scare the shit outta me," Negan told him.

No one said anything as Negan and Carl had a stare-down. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Dwight come forward and yank Carl roughly from the truck. I jumped slightly and stared in horror as the pair fell to the pavement. He grunted as he held Carl in place. "Kid!" Dwight shouted.

I wasn't quite sure if he was trying to get Carl to stop fighting or if he was trying to alert Negan to something. But the panic had settled into my veins as I realized that Dwight was going to try and attack Carl. "Get the fuck off of him!" I shouted. I went to move forward but Negan held out a hand to stop me. "Do something!" I sneered at the leader.

He nodded at me and walked up to where Dwight was pinning Carl down. "Dwight. Back off," he said. Immediately Dwight stood up and walked away from Carl. Negan walked over to Carl and stared at the younger boy with an amused smile. "Is that any way to treat our new guest? Come on, kid. I will show you around," he said, giving his hand to Carl.

The young boy didn't bother taking Negan's hand. He simply looked over to me with a concerned stare. He was still seated on the asphalt. I assumed that the fall from the truck had probably hurt. "Rain, are you alright?" He asked me.

I opened my mouth but shut it once more. Negan had a strict rule about not letting anyone speak to me that wasn't a trusted Savior and vice versa. So I looked over and stared at Negan when he said nothing about not speaking to me. "What?" I asked him. He stared curiously at me. "Not going to say something about how I can't speak to him?" I asked.

He grinned at me for a moment before shaking his head. "I think I'll let you speak to the little serial killer here. Just as long as you don't touch him and he doesn't touch you. I do not like my things being touched," he said with a pointed stare over to where Daryl was standing behind the fence. He was gripping the chain links and watching the conversation between the three of us carefully.

"I'm fine, Carl," I said, looking back at the younger boy. I had to resist the urge to try and help him up. "Are you alright? How the hell did you get here? And does Rick know that you're gone?" I asked quickly, the questions piling up.

Carl grinned at me and shook his head. "You really think that Dad would have let me come out here if he'd known?" Carl asked me. I smiled and shook my head. For a moment I almost thought that I saw the little boy that I had taught to do a cartwheel on the Greene farm. "No, he's out beyond the walls right now I think. Scavenging." I snarled at the grin on Negan's face. "Where's Daryl?" Carl asked after a beat, aiming the question at Negan.

Negan shook his head. "No, no. We do not talk about Daryl. He's the help," he told Carl, who glared darkly at Negan. I gave a quick glance over to Daryl, who was staring at Carl. He knew that I could handle myself. In reality he knew that Carl could handle himself too. But he was still just a kid. It was easy to forget. The walkers on the fence growled at the large group of people staring at the conversation. "You know, you do the same damn stink-eye as your dad, except it's only half as good 'cause well, you know, you're missing an eye," he said with a laugh.

My jaw tightened as I saw a brief flash of hurt shoot through Carl's eye. I knew that despite taking the loss of his eye rather well it still hurt him that he had lost it. "You're such a prick," I snapped at Negan, knowing that Carl wouldn't.

As his head rotated on his shoulders to look at me he gave me a sleazy grin. I knew that I wouldn't like my answer. "I can give you a good prick if you'd like," he told me. I rolled my eyes and scoffed, looking away from him. Negan only grinned at me for a moment before turning to Carl and offering him his hand. Carl merely glared at the outstretched hand. "Really? You're really not gonna take my hand? 'Cause you're lucky you even still have a hand." Carl and I both twitched at the memory of the clearing. "Same as your boy Daryl over here, now that I think about it. How's the job going, Daryl? Hot enough for you? Yeah, it'd be tough with one arm," he laughed.

Daryl looked absolutely furious as he fought off the walkers that were advancing on him. I knew that it was a mix of everything. His own misery with being here, the jibes constantly thrown towards him, the guilt over Glenn, Negan's advances towards me, and Carl's sudden appearance here. Negan's laugh brought me back into reality as Carl grabbed Negan's hand and let him help him up. "Ah, smart kid. Now come with me." Negan nodded for me to follow them as he aimed his head back towards Dwight. "Dwighty-boy, why don't you grab Daryl, take him to the kitchen, do a little grub prep." Dwight nodded and snatched Daryl around the shoulders, dragging him away. "New plan, boys. Let's burn the dead, unload the truck later. Damn, I am not gonna have time to screw any of my wives today. I mean, maybe one. Or two," he said with a nasty grin.

It didn't take a smart man to realize that he had directed the last comment at both Dwight and Daryl. Dwight said nothing but I noticed Daryl stiffen and fight against Dwight for a moment. "I am not your wife!" I snapped at Negan.

Carl looked confused by the entire exchange. Of course he - along with everyone else in Alexandria - were reasonably unaware of Negan's love for women. "You will be," he told me. I grit my teeth. "Come on. You too, darling," Negan said, walking Carl and I towards the Sanctuary.

My feet moved on their own accord as we walked up to the Sanctuary. The moment we walked in I saw Carl looking in every direction. He was probably trying to do what I had been doing since I'd been here. Trying to remember as much about this place and its layout as I could. As we walked through the Sanctuary I noticed all of the Saviors stopping to stare confusedly at Carl. A few that had been in the clearing seemed to recognize him but most seemed lost as to why a young man was walking with both Negan and myself. It was the one time that they seemed like they could have cared less about me. We were walking towards the perch, Carl on one side of Negan and myself on the other.

We hit the bottom of the flight of stairs and Negan nodded to follow him. Negan and Carl walked up the stairs together. I trailed just a tiny bit. "What are you gonna do to me?" Carl asked after a moment.

Negan whipped around fast enough to startle both Carl and myself. "Number one, do not shatter my image of you. You're a badass. You're not scared of shit. Don't be scared of me. It's a disappointment. Be like Rain here," he said, motioning back at me. I scowled. "Not scared of shit. Especially not of me," he said with a laugh.

He was right about that. I wasn't scared of him. Although he was definitely the scariest of the people that we had met in this new world. It hadn't stopped me from giving him a few good hits to the face. "Nothing to be scared of," I mumbled as we walked onto the catwalk.

Carl and I fell into step with Negan. He turned to me and placed his finger over my lips. I backed away in disgust. "Shh," he hissed at me with a smile. I wanted to boil my lips. "Number two you really want me to ruin the surprise? Screw you, kid. Seriously. Screw you," he snarled. I rolled my eyes as we walked to the edge of the perch. Negan leaned against the rail, myself following suit. Carl stood back a tiny bit. "Check this out," he told Carl with a small grin before turning back to the perch.

One high-pitched whistle later and the Saviors were all on their knees. They were looking down at the ground until Negan began to speak. "The Saviors have gone out into the world and fought the dead and come back with some really good stuff. Some of that stuff can be yours if you work hard and play by the rules. Today, everybody gets fresh vegetables at dinner. No points needed," he called out. There was a loud round of applause from the kneeling Saviors. I rolled my eyes. If they would just start a garden it would be easy. I supposed that they were getting the fresh fruit and vegetables from Alexandria and Hilltop.

The men and women down on their knees still hadn't bothered to stand. They were kneeling as Negan turned back to Carl and myself. "You see that? Respect. Cool, huh?" Carl said nothing. "They still on their knees?" He asked. Once more we didn't bother responding. He grinned and threw his head back over his shoulder. "As you were!" He shouted.

The large grouping of people stood immediately and went back to whatever it was that they had been doing. Negan said nothing more to them and they didn't bother sending us a second glance. They were chattering softly about the vegetables and dinner. Negan motioned for us to start walking once more and I followed him through the hallways. Carl looked completely lost - and to be completely honest, I kind of was too. This place was so huge. I was starting to figure it out but every time that I thought that I got a new part of the building down something else seemed to contradict it. It also didn't help that the people were constantly moving. It made it hard to mark boundaries.

Although I did know that we were heading towards Negan's wives room. I hadn't been there since just after I'd arrived here almost two weeks ago. They certainly didn't seem to like me. Negan pushed open the door and grinned at his wives. "Ladies. Don't mind the kid." They looked up for a moment to go back to what they were doing. Carl seemed stunned at the sight of them. Negan grinned at his reaction. "I know. Every woman where you're from dresses like they do the books at an auto shop. Like I said, only one that makes it work," Negan told me. I scoffed at him. "You're gonna want to look at their titties. It's cool. I won't mind. They won't mind. Knock yourself out. You can even look at Rain's," he said.

Carl looked absolutely sickened by the thought. I snarled at Negan and shoved Carl behind me slightly. "You fucking deranged pervert, I've known him since he was twelve," I snapped at him. The women were all looking at us now.

Of course right now I was seriously under-dressed. The women were all in their dresses, Negan was in his typical garb, and everyone else was wearing typical clothes to walk around in. I was the only one that was in my pajamas. "Doesn't change the fact that he's still a teenage boy," he told me. Perhaps he was right but I'd known Carl for so long that I doubted he could ever look at me without feeling awkward. "Come with me," Negan said, pulling me towards where Sherry was standing. "Can I talk to you for a minute, dear wife? Make yourself comfortable, kid," he threw the comment back to Carl. Carl continued to stand awkwardly in the doorway. "What happened with Amber and Mark?" He asked Sherry.

My heart skipped a beat. I had almost forgotten about revealing to Negan that Amber was guilty about something. He hadn't brought it up with me since I'd said something here. Perhaps he'd needed solid proof. Or maybe he'd forgotten about it. Maybe he was hoping that something like this would happen so that he would have someone to show off to. Didn't matter. The women were all standing and sitting awkwardly with the exception of Sherry and Amber. Amber was on the verge of tears and Sherry was giving Negan a challenging glare.

He was still waiting for her to say something when Sherry finally spoke. I was slightly surprised at her words. "What we talk about when you're not here is none of your business," Sherry snapped at him. I'd never heard her speak with something akin to a backbone. She had more of a backbone against him then Dwight did. Of course, Negan would actually hurt Dwight. He wouldn't do a damn thing to her.

"I hope you're happy," a voice sneered from behind me. I turned back to see that it was Frankie - Negan's red-headed wife. She was glaring at me with a nasty look. Negan and Sherry had stopped speaking to watch us.

She was probably trying to look threatening towards me but I wanted to do nothing more than laugh. After everything that we had been through, a little girl with an attitude problem was not something that I was scared of. "I'm fucking thrilled. The only thing that would make this even better is if he'd actually hurt one of you," I told her.

She opened her mouth to say something else to me but she never got the chance. Negan stepped in between the two of us and motioned for Frankie to take a step away from me. He was giving her a friendly grin. For a moment I almost wondered if she liked him. Although it seemed that Arat was the only person here that genuinely might have liked him. "Ladies. Take a step back, love, will you?" He asked Frankie. She nodded and backed away, going to sit with a few of Negan's other wives that were all surrounding Amber.

Negan's attention was finally moved back to Sherry. "Fair play. You want to know what I heard? I heard that Mark skipped out on redirect duty to be with Amber. I need to know if it's true." Sherry said nothing. "Ah. There are rules for a reason. Nothing matters if you're dead. You, my dear, are here because you get that," he told her.

Under my breath I snorted at them. The only reason that she was here was because Daryl had been a moron and chosen to go back to them. Also because my aim was slightly off that day. It did give me great pleasure to see that she had a small scar on her arm from where my knife had given her a good nick. Sherry finally sighed and shook her head. "She made a mistake. Go easy on her," she told Negan.

I was slightly surprised that they had admitted it rather than tried to lie their way out of it. Probably because things would be even worse if they tried lying to him. "Calm the hell down. I ever hit one of you? No," he answered himself.

"You should," I snarled under my breath.

Sherry turned to look at me and Negan watched from behind the two of us. "Just because we're different than you doesn't mean that we're bad," she told me. I snorted loudly and shook my head. She seemed to know that she wouldn't get through to me as she turned over to look back at Negan. "But I know you. There's worse," she told him softly.

Negan looked mildly impressed by the way that Sherry was speaking to. He liked seeing people that still feared him but were willing to speak their minds. "Well, look at you!" He howled at her with a small laugh. "To be continued." He turned from her and walked over to where Amber was sitting. She had her head buried in her hands and looked to be on the verge of tears. I followed and watched at a safe distance. "Amber, baby. You know I don't want anyone here that doesn't want to be here, right?" He asked her.

The way that he was speaking to her was almost lovingly. He stroked the hair back from her face but she still didn't bother looking up at him. "Mm-hmm," she mumbled. I assumed that she wasn't able to say much else.

Negan grinned at her and nodded. For a brief moment I wondered if she'd ever seen him when he was using Lucille on someone. I wished that they all did. It was only the beginning of everything that they deserved. "Oh. So if you want to leave and go back to Mark you can." My eyebrow raised. He did not seriously mean that. Did he? "But what can't you do?" He asked her.

Her answer was given just loud enough so that I could hear her. "Cheat on you." I felt a little sick at her answer. All of the other women in the room had silenced themselves to watch what was going on.

Negan smiled at her and clapped his hands together. She jumped slightly. "That is exactly right. You can't cheat on me. There's plenty of other gals who would love to take your place, and there's a few job openings that I can think of. You want to go back to Mark and your mom?" Bile rose in my stomach. Her mother was here too. She had to watch her daughter do this. "Hell, I'll put you all on the same job."

"No," she immediately answered. It was then that I realized what he meant. Earlier he had been forced to put down a few of the walkers that were on his fence. He meant to kill them and put them on the fence where they could work for him in death. It was what he had given Daryl as one of his options. "I I'll stay. I'm - I'm sorry," she said, stumbling over her words.

She looked like she was about to cry. Negan disregarded the sudden onset of emotion. "You know what that means, right?" He asked her. It hit me like a freight train. He was going to let Mark live, but he was going to give him the iron.

Amber's eyes were watering to the point that I was sure that she was about to cry. The tears were on the verge of falling. "Ye-Yes. I love you, Negan," she mumbled under her breath.

The first of her tears actually slipped out at her words. It astounded me how two people could be so different. The two of us were about the same age but we were completely different. I guess it showed something about how parenting could affect personalities. "Oh, of course you do, darlin'." He leaned in and gave her a slow kiss before breaking away from her. He wiped a tear out of her eyes with his gloved hand. "I don't know why you're crying. It's all gonna work out aces for you," he told her with a chuckle.

He stood and walked away from her. I noticed Frankie, Tanya, and a few of the other women walk over to go comfort her. I rolled my eyes. If there was anyone here that deserved comfort it was Daryl and I. And speaking of the Devil I watched as Daryl and Dwight walked into the room. Daryl was carrying a tray full of fruit and vegetables and cheese. I knew that they were doing it to try and hurt him. There was no way that they were going to let him eat any of the food. He still looked awful. The swelling from the hits of the Saviors had gone down drastically but he was still sweating and his skin looked terrible. Probably from the lack of cool air and food. And bathing. I could smell him from here.

He was staring at me before Negan stepped in between the two of us. I grit my teeth and glared up at him. "If there are other women willing to take her place why don't you ask one of them? Why are you so hellbent to get me?" I asked him.

Negan shrugged his shoulders and walked around me so that I stopped with my back to Daryl. I could see Carl watching the two of us closely. "Because they're boring." The vast majority of his wives looked up at him with a slight scorn on their faces. Or maybe that was normal. He looked over at them and smiled. "Super-hot but boring. You are not boring at all. And you're super hot. And I'd be willing to bet that you're a hell of a riot in bed," he told me with a little wink.

Daryl tensed. I could hear the tray crack at his sudden movement. Carl looked somewhere in between pissed and sick. "You think that you're tough shit acting like that in front of him?" I asked, motioning over to where Carl was, having not moved since we walked in. "In front of all of them?" This time I motioned around to his wives, other Saviors, and Daryl.

Negan grinned at me. "I think that I'm telling the truth. You'll say yes, Rain. I can promise you that." I rolled my eyes at him. That was a damn lie. I was not going to ever say yes to him. "Will you get Carson for me?" Negan asked Dwight.

"Yeah," he said before turning on his heels and running to go get the doctor.

We were just about ready to leave when Amber's voice called out through the thick air. Her voice was laden with tears. I turned to her and glared darkly, wondering what the hell it was that she wanted to say to me. It was clear that she wanted to speak to me. I was the one that she was looking at. "Why would you have said anything in the first place?" She asked me.

Negan was watching curiously and I thought that he might say something. But my temper got the better of me. I wanted to say something that I had been itching to say since I had gotten here and seen how pathetic these women were. "Why have I been shot more times than I can remember? Why did my father beat me into submission? Why have I nearly died countless times since the world went to shit? Why did I spend hours bargaining with your husband to take my life rather than my friends just to watch him butcher them in front of me?" She - and most of his other wives - cringed at that one. "Why have I watched my husband be treated like an animal? Because sometimes life just sucks. Because sometimes shit happens and you don't get a damn say in what happens. You reap what you sow. You did this to yourself. Grow up," I snarled at her.

Frankie stood to walk over to me but I grabbed her by the strap of her dress and shoved her backwards. She stumbled and hit the ground. Negan was watching with a wide grin on his face. He turned around the room and mouthed 'ouch'. He had his hands folded over his chest. Frankie didn't dare move to walk back over to me with Negan watching. "And you thought that I was going to be hard on her. Rain, come here," he said and I walked with him. We stood while he spoke to Sherry once more. "Did you see that? Wasn't hard on her, even though I am very hard in general," he told her with a sleazy grin.

She snarled at him. "You're an asshole," she snapped.

He grinned at her and nodded. I wanted to tell her that he was so much more than an asshole. "I know. But the messed-up thing is, you like me anyway." He kissed her briefly before moving backwards. "You know the truth, just like me," he told her before laughing and turning back to where Carl was. "Carl, will you grab this tray for me?" He asked, motioning to the tray that Daryl was still holding.

Carl grabbed the tray slowly and I noticed the two of them exchange a long look. It was like they were silently asking if the other was okay. I knew that they would deny it even if they weren't. "Why do you got him here?" Daryl snarled at Negan.

His voice was still scratchy. He clearly hadn't spoken much since he had been here. My heart was pounding as I stared at Daryl. Negan laughed and held his hand up. "Whoa!" He yelled. Daryl continued to glare at Negan. "What we talk about when you're not here is none of your business." He grinned at Daryl, repeating the same words that Sherry had just told him. We both scowled at him. "Do not make me put this toothpick through the only eye he has." Daryl's jaw clenched as he motioned back to where Dwight was still waiting to leave. "You go with Dwight. He'll get you a mop. Dwighty boy fire up that furnace. I'll be down in a few. Time for a little deja vu." I could see Dwight twitch slightly. The iron must have brought back bad memories for him. It only made me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. "Come on, kid."

It was obvious that he meant me too as we all turned to leave. Negan was walking with Carl and I out of the room. Carl was still standing while holding the tray that Daryl had been with before. I could see him and Dwight walking down the hall. Dwight seemed to be lost in his own little world. I was sure that he was busy thinking about his time with the iron. Daryl glanced back quickly to see me staring at him. I gave him a small smile before Dwight turned back and saw that we were staring at each other. Dwight snarled under his breath and grabbed Daryl around the shoulders. He shoved Daryl forward and I snarled under my breath as he threw me one more smile.

I couldn't stare any longer as we rounded a corner. I was pretty sure that we were headed to Negan's room. "Are all of those women actually your wives?" Carl asked. It was such an innocent question that any normal fifteen year old would ask. Sometimes I liked to think that Carl was really my age. He almost always seemed like it. But sometimes his inner child came out.

Negan nodded at him as we walked into the bedroom. "Yeah. Always wanted to screw a whole bunch of different women. I mean, why settle for just one? Why follow the same old rules? Why not make life better?" I ground my teeth together when I remembered that Negan once had a wife. I wanted to wonder what she would have thought of him. "Rain will be one too, soon enough," Negan added, distracting my attention. Carl looked immediately furious with his words. "Speaking of - sit. Let's get started," Negan said.

Carl took a seat in the spot that I would normally take whenever I was forced to be in here. I took a seat on the other couch next to Negan, swatting away his hand as he tried to lay it on my thigh. Negan laughed softly. "Started on what?" Carl asked.

My heart was thumping loudly in my ears. Whatever Negan wanted to get started on I was sure that it wasn't good. I wanted to go downstairs and watch someone else have a terrible day. Someone to remind me that I could have had it worse. That even Daryl could have had it worse. "I want to get to know you a little better, Carl," Negan said.

"Why?" Carl snapped.

Negan looked over at him and shook his head. "Work it out. You're smart. In fact, I'm gonna tell you just how smart you are, in case you don't already know. See, I'd expect a kid your age to be moping around, not doing a damn thing, except crying about missing the prom." I hated to admit it but he wasn't really wrong. As much as I hated him he was actually pretty smart about things like that. "But you - you go on a mission. You find me, you kill two of my men, and you're smart enough to know that I'm not gonna let this slide," he told Carl.

My heart skipped a beat as I realized what he meant. He was going to do something to Carl. Negan stood with a gun in hand. He was pointing it at Carl. No. He was not going to kill Carl. There was no way that I was going to lose one more family member. "Get away from him!" I shouted, standing and moving to place myself in between Negan and his gun and Carl.

Negan grinned at me but didn't bother dropping the gun. "You treat him like he's your own son. It's cute," he told me with a laugh before shoving me off to the side and pointing the gun at Negan once more. He laughed before dropping the gun and placing it back in his pants. "Ah, I can't - I can't do it." My breath escaped me and I noticed that even Carl looked relieved. "It's like talking to a birthday present. You got to take that crap off your face. I want to see what Grandma got me," he told Carl with a smile.

He was not going to make Carl take the wrapping off of his eye. I hadn't even seen it. The only thing that I had seen was the blood-soaked bandages that Denise had used to try and fix his eye with. He wasn't wearing the eye-patch that I had found him. Today he was only wearing a white bandage over his eye. "Do not make him do that," I snarled at Negan.

He turned back to me and pulled his gun. For a moment I thought that he was going to shoot me. But he shook his head and aimed it over at Carl. "Do not make me do this!" He shouted. I immediately silenced myself and watched as Negan slipped the gun back into its holster.

"No," Carl said, drawing Negan's attention from myself and back to him.

"Two men!" Negan immediately shouted. I recoiled slightly but Carl managed to stand tall. Sit tall... Whatever. "Two men. Punishment. Do you really want to piss me off?" Negan asked with a small smile. Despite the fact that he clearly liked Carl I knew that he wouldn't hesitate to kill Carl if he really had to. I was sure that it was the same situation that I was in. It was why I could only push him so far.

Carl sighed before reaching around to the back of the wrappings, where they were tied. But I couldn't watch him give in to this asshole. "Carl -" I started weakly.

He looked up at me and smiled. "It's alright, Rain," he told me softly.

I nodded and looked at him with an assuring nod. He began to unwrap the coverings that had been over his face for so long. "Almost there," Negan giggled almost childishly as the wrapping was about to fall off. Carl aimed his head down to the floor as the wrapping finally fell off of his face and onto the floor. His long hair was still hanging in front of his face, keeping the eye out of sight. Negan leaned forward in an attempt to better see the injury. "Get that hair out of your face. Let me see," he said.

Carl glanced up at him for a moment before moving the hair out of his face just enough so that the wound was fully visible. I had once seen the wound on my father's eye. It was nothing like the one that Carl had. My father's was clean, something akin to a small X over where his eye had been stabbed. Carl's was horrific. The entire eye was covered in a bloody mess. It extended completely over his eye, where the bullet had hit. No part of the eye had skin over it. It was all bloody tissue. The skin was also wrinkled where the skin started around the wound on his face. With just the one look at it I knew that his eye would never grow back to look like a normal one.

Even my father's hadn't been awful to look at. Carl's was. But I managed to maintain a still face. If Carl had been so hellbent on not showing anyone I knew that it must have been bad. Negan did not have the courtesy to remain silent as I had. "Christ!" He howled, making me jump slightly. "That is disgusting. No wonder you cover that up. Have you seen it? I mean, have you looked in the mirror? That is gross as hell. I can see your socket," he laughed. My fists were balling next to me. "I want to touch it," he said, leaning forward.

Smacking him roughly on the shoulder, I shoved him back into his seat. "Grow up, you asshole!" I shouted at him. Carl's head was hanging back to the ground. Despite being as tough as he was, he was still a child who was being teased by a fully-grown adult.

Negan ignored me and leaned back over to Carl. "Oh, come on. Can I touch it?" He asked once more. Carl let out a little sob and I realized with a slight pang of hurt that he had started crying. I couldn't even remember the last time that I'd seen Carl cry, save the incident in the clearing. I wasn't sure that I counted that, since we had all cried. Negan let out a little sigh at the realization that his words had actually hurt Carl.

"Nice job, asshole," I sneered at Negan, who looked somewhat shocked at the turn of events. Ignoring the potential consequences, and figuring that Negan didn't have it in him right now to hurt either one of us, I got up and walked over to Carl. Only adding to my surprise, Negan let me.

I came to stand right in front of Carl and dropped between his knees. His head was aimed over towards me and I saw the tears forming in his eye. It was a painful reminder of the time that I had seen him cry over Sophia's body. It was hard to remember that it really wasn't that long ago. I brought Carl into me and began wiping the tears from his remaining eye. One of his hands was gripping my knee tightly. For a brief- utterly heart wrenching - moment I felt like his mother. For a brief moment I almost didn't mind it. Lori was gone and I had sworn to her that I would protect them both. I wondered what she was thinking right now if she really could see us. Was she thanking me? Or was she wishing that I had never laid eyes on her son?

"Hey, it's alright. Ignore him. Shh... It's alright," I told him softly, brushing another stray tear from his eye. "Come here," I said softly, bringing Carl in to a tight hug. I couldn't even begin to describe how good it felt to touch a member of my family again. The boy that I had come to think of as something akin to a son.

Negan began to speak again but I didn't release Carl. "Damn. Holy hell, kid. Look I just It's easy to forget that you're just a kid." He almost sounded pained as he spoke to Carl. I couldn't help but to wonder if he actually felt bad for what he had said to Carl. The young boy sniffled into my shoulder for a moment and I tightened my grip around his chest. His arms were shaking against my legs. "And I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything. I -" he cut himself off with a sigh, "I was just screwing around."

Finally Carl raised his head from my shoulder and I let my arms fall from around him. He looked at me for a moment before nodding. I almost gave a bitter smile. He was as strong as his father. "It's alright. I'm fine, Rain," he told me and I nodded. I came up from my kneeling position and walked away from Carl, taking my place back at Negan's side. "Just forget it," Carl snapped at Negan, once more adopting a bitter attitude.

Negan looked like he was searching for something else to say but before he could a knock came at the door. Negan let out a sigh before glancing up and calling out, "Come in."

Carl didn't bother looking up but I did. Fat Joey walked into the room and looked a little more than embarrassed to be barging in on the meeting. I cocked my head at the man. He was holding Lucille. I had never seen him hand anyone other than Rick and myself, Lucille. "I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but, uh you left Lucille out by the truck," he said.

Ah. That's why he has her. It. Whatever. "Seriously?" Negan asked. I couldn't tell if he was being facetious or not. "I never do that. I guess a kid firing a machine gun is a little bit of a distraction." Fat Joey looked nervous and embarrassed. "All jokes aside, you look rad as hell. I wouldn't cover that shit up. It may not be a hit with the ladies, but I swear to you, no one is gonna screw with you looking like that. No, sir," Negan directed back at Carl, who only scowled. Fat Joey tried to get a look but one warning glance from myself and he looked back over at Negan. "Fat Joseph, did you carry her all the way up here for me?" Negan asked.

The man in question nodded. "Yes, sir," he answered respectfully.

My eyebrows raised. Negan had been quiet and gentle long enough. I knew that he was going to have to get back to his nasty personality eventually. He couldn't show weakness for too long. Just like when he had shown me the picture of Lucille. "Were you gentle? Were you kind? Uh - Did you treat her like a lady?" He asked Joey.

The look on Joey's face told me that he scented the danger too. "Mm, yes. Yes, sir," he said carefully.

"Did you pet her little pussy like a lady?" He asked with a chuckle. Negan laughed as Joey's face fell. He was probably wondering what to say. Carl looked shocked at the word choice and I had to fight running over and covering his ears. He was fifteen but that didn't mean that I wanted him hearing things like that. God, I was turning into his mother. I felt just like Lori had back at the CDC when she hadn't wanted Carl to have a glass of wine with dinner. "I'm just screwing around, man. A baseball bat doesn't have a pussy," he chuckled loudly. Even Joey began to awkwardly laugh after a moment. Negan's face fell back to seriousness in the blink of an eye. "Get the hell out." Joey jumped into action, turning quickly - leaving Lucille behind - and running out of the room, closing the door behind himself.

Negan turned back to Carl. "Now, you see? That's what I'm talking about. Men breaking each other's balls. This is the shit your dad's supposed to be teaching you." My teeth grit together as Negan sighed. That was the old world. Not this one. "What do you like to do for fun? You like music?" He asked. Both Carl and I raised our eyebrows. "I want you to sing me a song."

My jaw nearly dropped. Of all of the batshit insane things that he had asked me to do and all of the crude things that he had suggested, none were as strange as asking a kid to sing him a song. It seemed that Carl shared my thoughts. "What?" He asked dumbly.

Negan nodded with a grin. "Yeah. You mowed down two of my men with a machine gun. I want something in return for that." The only thing that he could think that he wanted for losing two of his friends was a song? He had to be joking. Although I guessed that it was better than killing the young boy. "Sing me a song," Negan demanded.

"I-I-I can't think of any," Carl stuttered.

This was mortifying. Carl was not going to do a damn thing for Negan. Especially not something like this. He was not going to give in to Negan just because Negan was a little child who liked to mess with people's psyche. "You're disgusting," I snarled at Negan, who smiled at me. "Carl do not do what he says," I told the younger boy, who suddenly looked afraid.

Negan looked slightly angry, something that I had become unaccustomed to seeing. He was almost always chipper around me. "You want him to lose that other eye? I'll take it, I promise you." I decided to stay silent. I believed that Negan would hurt him if prompted. Negan stood from his couch and hovered over Carl. "And that is bullshit! What'd your mom used to sing you?" I noticed Carl twitch. "What'd your dad play in the car?" Another twitch. "Start singing," Negan growled.

Lucille was hanging limply from Negan's hands as he walked around the room. I knew that it was to intimidate Carl. He nodded at the older man and took in a few deep breaths. "Okay, okay. Okay," he said. I knew that he was searching for any possible song to sing to Negan. I didn't blame him. My mind had gone blank without suggestions. "Uh - You are my sunshine -" Carl started before stopping.

He looked up to Negan as if to ask if he really wanted him to continue singing. His voice was shaking as he looked towards the ground. "Go on," Negan prompted when Carl silenced himself.

Carl nodded and his voice began to shake weakly as he continued singing. "My only sunshine. You make me happy. When skies are gray -" Carl stopped singing when Negan swung Lucille from over his shoulder in a downward motion. It reminded me of when he hit both Glenn and Abraham. I had to blink away the memory of Negan desecrating their bodies.

Negan grunted as he swung the bat once more. However before he could do it again he turned back. He seemed to have finally realized that Carl was no longer singing. "Do not let me distract you, young man," Negan warned.

"Stop!" I howled.

Every time that Negan swung Lucille down to the floor I saw that Carl flinched slightly. I knew that he - just like myself - was remembering Glenn and Abraham's bloodied bodies, the sobs of our group, and the guilt that we were all still alive. The guilt that Maggie was without a husband and father to her child. It was the worst of all. "You'll never know -" Negan grunted as he swung Lucille again, "dear. How much I love you. So -" Another swing of Lucille. "Please don't take my -" Another swing. "Sunshine away," Carl weakly finished as Negan delivered one final imaginary blow.

Negan turned back with a small grin. Carl looked like he was on the verge of crying once more. "That's pretty good. Lucille loves being sung to. It's about the only thing she loves more than bashing in brains." I twitched slightly and Negan looked over at me with a grin. "Weird, huh? Did your mother sing that to you? Where is she now?" Once more I twitched. I had sworn to protect him. Rick. Judith. All of them, to Lori in her dying moments. I had done anything but. Carl let out a small sniffle. "Damn. Dead, huh? You see it happen?" He asked.

Once more Carl sniffled and my hands twitched. He was so cruel and so careless about death. Death's that actually affected people. "Go to hell. Do you even know what a conscience is? His mother died giving birth to his sibling. A cesarean section. I did it," I told him, hoping to save Carl the trouble of having to remember the bloody death of his mother.

"Damn," Negan laughed, looking somewhat impressed. "And you forgave her for that? For killing your mom? That is fucked up!" Negan hooted.

"The only thing that she did that day is save my baby sister," Carl defended. I smiled softly, blinking back the tears. I had once wondered if Carl ever blamed me for killing his mother. At least now I knew that the only thing that he took from that day was the fact that I had saved Judith. "I shot her before it could," Carl said, referring to Negan's earlier question about his mother's death.

An odd flash of something akin to respect shot through Negan's eyes. "Damn, no wonder you're a little serial killer in the making." He grinned as Carl and I both glared. "That was an example of breaking balls, by the way." That was not an example of breaking balls. That was torture. "Come on, kid. Get up. It should be ready," Negan said, motioning for me to stand as well.

Carl's face went from pained to confused. "What should be ready?" He asked.

The grin on Negan's face made a chill shoot up my spine. It was no longer the man that wanted me to marry him. It was no longer the man that had lost his wife to some vile disease before the outbreak. This was the man that had killed Glenn and Abraham in cold blood in the clearing two weeks ago. This was the man that I knew to be afraid of. "The iron," Negan answered simply.

My heart skipped a beat. I knew what he was talking about. Carl looked completely lost and I had no desire at all to explain to him what Negan was talking about. So I walked with him out of the room. Negan had told me enough to tell me that the iron was something that he used on men to show them that he really is merciful. Apparently when someone did something unforgivable - like running away or trying to get with one of his wives - they would get the iron to one side of their face. No one ever died from it but many passed out from the pain. Their doctor - Carson - always made sure that the men would live after being ironed.

As far as I knew, Dwight was the only person that I had met who had gotten his face ironed. I knew why. He had left and when he'd come back Negan had been ready to kill him. He'd only spared Dwight when Sherry - his new wife - had asked him to not kill Dwight. So he'd gotten the iron instead. I imagined that death was probably easier. Apparently a few people still tried to run off even after getting the iron. To show that Negan meant business he would hunt them down and kill them before putting them up on the fence as a walker. It only enforced the idea that someone here at the Sanctuary was going to work for Negan in some way. There was no way out of it.

It was easy to see that Mark was the next person that was going to be getting the iron. For whatever had happened with Amber. I wondered if they had actually been together or if it had been something as innocent as a stolen kiss. Perhaps I really didn't care though. I just knew that I was glad that it wasn't Daryl that would be getting the iron. There was no doubt in my mind that Negan wouldn't do it. Honestly I was somewhat surprised that he hadn't already. But I supposed on some sense it made perfect sense. That would only make Daryl mad. Not want to work for Negan. Breaking him through fear and torture was somewhat more effective. And it kept him whole - the only thing that mattered to me.

We walked through the last of the hallways and out into the main area. We walked over the perch and I glanced down to the main sitting area to see that almost every Savior was gathered around a man - Mark I assumed - who was tied down to a chair. The Saviors were well over a hundred. And that might not have been everyone. The guards had to still be out and there were probably some that weren't here. And that wasn't even to mention how many more were in the outposts, and I didn't know how many more of those there were. We were pathetically outnumbered.

The large furnace that was almost always out was roaring. I could see a poker hanging out with what I assumed was the iron attached to the end. Dwight was wearing a glove. It was cruel, to make him grab the iron that had once disfigured him. It almost made me smile. But I couldn't. That wasn't me. Cruelty wasn't in me. It couldn't be. Carl looked stunned as we walked through the main area of people. They parted the way for Negan, staring curiously at Carl, and giving me a mix of nasty sneers and appreciative grins. Negan's wives were all standing around the front. Sherry, Tanya, and Frankie were comforting a crying Amber. A woman that I assumed was Amber's mother was close by.

The women that were Negan's wives all gave me disgusted looks. I rolled my eyes and walked to stand next to Negan. The conversations that had been echoing through the area silenced as Negan began to clang Lucille against the ground. "Hold that for me," he said, handing Lucille over to a Savior. Negan then turned to call out to the Saviors. They all went into a kneeling position. "You know the deal. What's about to happen is gonna be hard to watch. I don't want to do it. I wish I could just ignore the rules and let it slide, but I can't. Why?" He asked.

"The rules keep us alive," they all responded. I noticed that Amber was barely able to open her mouth to speak the words. She looked over at me with tearful eyes but I kept a steely glare. She brought this on herself. This was not me. Negan would have found out anyways.

Negan stepped off to the side and I got my first good look at Mark. He was nothing remarkable. In fact, he was rather bland. And he looked petrified. He was crying softly. I rolled my eyes. He knew the consequences of his actions. This shouldn't have been anything surprising. Mark was very tall. He seemed to be a little over six feet. His hair was a dark brown, as were his eyes. He was almost as skinny as Amber was. He looked as weak as her too. There was a thin sheen of sweat over his face and for a moment I wondered if he was going to actually pass out before his face was ironed.

"That is right," Negan said, startling me from my thoughts. I looked over and saw that Daryl was standing not far from us. He was holding a mop and being watched over by Dwight. "We survive. We provide security to others. We bring civilization back to this world. We are the Saviors. But we can't do that without rules. Rules are what make it all work. I know it's not easy. But there's always work. There is always a cost. Here, if you try to skirt it, if you try to cut that corner," he laughed as he motioned back towards the furnace, "then it is the iron for you. On your feet," he told his Saviors. They all finally moved to stand. "D," he chuckled.

I watched as Dwight grabbed the poker and pulled it out of the furnace. On the very end of the poker was an old wrought-iron was hanging off of the poker by the handle. He swung it over towards Negan, who had slipped on a thick glove to enable himself to hold it. Even from here I could feel the heat from the iron. Negan grabbed it by the handle and turned to look over at me. "You seem excited, would you like to do the honors?" He asked me with a laugh.

No. I was angry but I hadn't crossed that line yet. I was not Negan. I never could be. "No," I answered softly.

"Pity. I think you would have liked it," Negan told me with a grin. That's why I couldn't do it. "Mark I'm sorry. But it is what it is," Negan said. Mark began to cry softly as Negan raised the iron and slowly pressed it against Mark's face. Whispers were exchanged and I glanced back to see that Carl was watching the scene with wide eyes. I didn't bother cringing when Mark began to scream loudly. Negan left the iron pressed onto Mark's face for a few seconds before pulling the iron away. Some skin stuck to it. The other skin was boiled and bloody. He looked just like Dwight. Mark slumped forward limply. His chest was rising and falling. He wasn't dead. Just passed out.

"Ah, that wasn't so bad, now, was it?" Obviously Mark didn't respond. Negan glanced down and I saw a faintly yellow liquid pouring down Mark's leg. I gagged on my tongue. But it wasn't like I didn't see that one coming. "Jesus. He pissed himself. Clean that up," Negan snapped at Daryl. Daryl moved forward with the mop as men began to remove Mark from his binds. "Doc, I'm all done. Do your thing. Well, the pussy passed out. But it's settled, we're square. Everything is cool. Let Mark's face be a daily reminder to him and to everyone else that the rules matter. I hope that we all learned something today, because I don't ever want to have to do that again," Negan called out.

A few men began to drag Mark off with Carson to the office so that they would be able to save him from a nasty infection. The others turned to leave but before they could, Negan spoke once more. "Actually I don't think we're done with the iron," he said. Clearly this wasn't protocol as the men and women stopped with curious faces. My heart sped up, believing that it was for Carl. "Rain!" Negan called out.

What? He was really going to give me the iron? He constantly said things about my pretty face. His wives were smirking behind me. Although I noticed that Sherry still looked like she felt slightly bad and Amber was too busy crying to compute what was happening. Behind me I noticed both Carl and Daryl stiffen. I snorted softly at Negan, despite the fear bubbling in my chest. "You're serious?" I asked him with a bored tone.

Negan smiled and laughed at me. Asshole. He was just trying to scare me. "Of course not!" I rolled my eyes at his antics. "Not you, Daryl." My heart stopped. I was absolutely sure of it. "Bring him forward." Two men grabbed Daryl around the arms and shoved him forward, into the chair that Mark had just been evacuated from. Dwight was holding the iron on the poker but I could tell that it was still scalding. Daryl was fighting against the men as I stood stupidly, my jaw hanging open.

"No!" Carl yelled, startling me out of my trance.

"No! No!" I screamed, fighting against Simon's grip on my shoulders. Tears were building in my eyes. They couldn't do that. Not to Daryl. Not because of me. I knew what this was. Negan wanted me to say yes. This was his way of ensuing that I said yes. "Stop! Stop! Stop!" I shouted pathetically. Carl was struggling against Dave as we both fought to get to Negan, who had once more grabbed the iron. "Negan, stop! I - I have an answer! Stop!" I begged loudly.

A small grin crossed Negan's face as he held up his hand to stop his men. Tears were nearing the edge of my eyes. They were about to fall. My hands and jaws were shaking as I realized that Negan had won. Daryl looked up at me, looking absolutely horrified. "Rain, don't -" he begged with me. Tears were in his eyes as well.

He was going to continue speaking with Negan spoke over him. "Daryl! Do not interrupt her," he snapped at my husband. My husband. He would always be my husband. "Go ahead," Negan said softly.

You could have heard a pin drop. Carl was still fighting to get to me and Daryl was sitting in the chair, stunned into silence. Even Negan's wives no longer had a smile on their faces. They too looked stunned. All of the other men and women looked stunned. No one dared say a word or move a muscle. "Swear to me that you'll let him out of that chair, unharmed," I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. It still shook slightly. After a moment Negan nodded. "Say it," I demanded as harshly as I could.

I was not going to do this without the reassurance that Negan was going to let Daryl out of here, unharmed. Negan repeated the words to me with a teasing note in his voice. "I swear to you that I will let Daryl out of that chair, unharmed." He said the whole thing with his right hand raised.

"Let him up," I told the men that were holding him down. The men looked over at Negan, who nodded to them. They backed off and allowed Daryl to stand - which he did - but their hands were still on him, preventing him from moving towards me. I knew that he was fighting to move to stand before me. "I have an answer for you. Yes," I said weakly. Negan prodded me to continue speaking. I didn't once bother looking away from Daryl. My words were for him. They always would be. "I'll be your wife."

The words were spoken in nothing louder than a whisper. The first of my tears fell as I stared at my husband. My husband. A pain shot through my chest at Daryl's heartbroken face. "Rain -" he pleaded weakly.

"Well done!" Negan yelled. Applause was scattered through the room as Daryl looked at me, seemingly about to collapse. I wanted to run to him, to beg him to realize that I'd done this for him, to tell him that I would always love him. But I couldn't do any of those things. Not with the way that Negan stepped in front of me and wiped tears from my eyes. "Tears of joy," he teased. "Come here," he said.

Before I could ask him what he wanted, Negan moved into me and grabbed me along the small of my back. His hold only made me recoil. I wanted to hit him or run away but I couldn't. Like I had told Amber, I'd done this to myself. Another tear fell as Negan leaned down to kiss me. His lips were soft against mine as one hand came up and tangled in my hair. My body was shaking and my knees were weak. I was sure that I was going to collapse at any given moment. My eyes fluttered open and I saw that Daryl was staring after us. There was something in between a burning fury and absolute horror in his eyes as he watched. Another tear fell.

Negan finally broke away from me and I wiped the tears from my eyes. These people didn't deserve to see me cry. Negan was grinning as he threw a glance over our shoulders to a staring Daryl. His jaws were ground together so tightly that I thought that his teeth might shatter. "Say goodbye to your ex-wife, Daryl. Now, what do you say?" He asked me.

This time I couldn't control the quivering of my voice. "I love you, Negan," I told him softly.

The twitch that Daryl made was easily visible to me. "Hell yeah you do. And don't you worry, I love you too," he told me before moving in and kissing me one last time. "Move on," he snapped at his men. They all turned to leave and I watched as Dwight forced Daryl to go back and clean up the mess. It was the one time that I saw Daryl fight back. He threw Dwight's hand off of his shoulder and shoved him backwards. A hit to the back of the head sent him back to work. I sobbed softly as Negan shoved me forward gently. "Some crazy shit, huh? You probably think I'm a lunatic," Negan said to Carl. "Come on. Let's go figure out what to do with you."

We began to walk through the compound once more. Despite the fact that I was forced to look forward while we walked I knew that Daryl's eyes were on me the entire time. "We'll get you out of this," Carl said as we walked at a distance behind Negan.

Turning to him, I shook my head. Carl was just a kid. He shouldn't have seen any of this. And it wasn't his job to take care of me. He was the kid. It should be my job to take care of him. I smiled down at Carl and brushed the hair out of his uninjured eye. "You're not the adult. I am. Don't worry about it. I can handle myself," I told him softly.

He smiled a sad smile at me and grabbed my hand, walking with me hand in hand. "You don't have to. I'm coming back for you." A tear slipped out and I resisted grabbing Carl into a hug. Too many Saviors were watching. I dropped my hand from his and smiled. "You and Daryl belong together," he said, just loud enough for Negan to hear.

Although if I knew Negan, he was smiling. "Thank you, Carl," I told him softly.

As we walked through the compound I could feel the tense air surrounding me. The urge to say something was taking over me but there was nothing that I could say. I could shout expletives at the top of my lungs or cry. But I couldn't think to do anything else. "You know..." Carl said and I looked over at him. "I had my first kiss yesterday." A small smile fell over my lips. "I'm sorry... This is the wrong time to tell you that," he said after a beat, feeling guilty.

"No," I said, shaking my head at him. "I'm glad that you did. I need something to smile about," I told him. I was glad that Carl had found some happiness. He deserved it all. "Was it Enid?" I asked softly.

She was the only girl Carl's age that I could remember him being with. At one time I had thought that it might have been Sophia. But that was too late. "Yeah," Carl said with a fond smile. "And I'll tell you all about it when you get back to Alexandria." I gave a small smile. I wanted to hear all about it. "You're going to get out of here and that asshole isn't going to lay a hand on you," he told me.

More than anything I wanted to run my hand through his hair. But as we walked through the hallway to Negan's room I knew that the guards would never let me. So I smiled and shook my head. "Don't use language like that," I told him.

He laughed softly and nodded at me. "Yes, Mom," he told me. I smiled weakly as we walked into Negan's room. I took a seat on the couch next to Negan, who had a hand held possessively on my knee. Probably to show Carl just how much control he had. Over everything. "Can I wrap up my face now?" Carl asked Negan.

I had almost forgotten that he wasn't wearing the wrap. "No, you absolutely cannot," Negan told him.

Carl stood up quickly with a nasty look on his face. "Why the hell not?" He snapped loudly.

I cringed slightly at Carl's words. The last thing that I wanted was for Negan to change his mind and hurt Carl. Negan laughed and looked up at Carl with a grin. "Look at this badass. You can't because I'm not done with you. And I like looking at your disgusting, rad-ass, badass eye, so it's staying out. What? You got something to say?" He asked when Carl grit his teeth.

"Why haven't you killed me?" He asked. My heart gave a small skip. I couldn't have Carl dead. Not with everything else that had happened to Rick recently. "Or my dad or Daryl? Or Rain?" He asked.

Negan grinned and motioned around him. "Daryl is gonna make a good soldier for me. You see, he thinks he's holding it together but you saw it. Especially after I kissed my wife." Carl twitched and I thought that he might make a move on Negan for a minute. "Your dad? He's already getting me great stuff. Rain. Because she's gonna be more fun to break." Negan threw his head back towards his bed and I swallowed harshly. Fury shot through Carl's eye. He was a kid but he knew what Negan was talking about. "You, on the other hand... Well, we shall see. It's more productive to break you. More fun, too. You thinking that's stupid?" He asked Carl.

Carl shrugged at the older man. "I'm thinking we're different."

"Mm. You're a smart kid. What do you think I should do? You know I can't let you go." He had to let Carl go. I couldn't bare to see him hurt. "So, do I kill you? Iron your face? Chop off your arm? Tell me. What do you think?" He asked Carl.

Carl motioned backwards to one of the large windows in the room. "I think you should jump out the window to save me the trouble of killing you," Carl snapped. I almost smiled in pride.

Negan laughed loudly and grinned. "Oh! Now, there is the kid that impressed the hell out of me," he said. The sick part of it was that he really did seem impressed by Carl's stroke of anger. It made me slightly afraid for Carl.

The young boy snarled and took a step forward. "No one is going to let you get away with what you're doing to her," Carl said to Negan, motioning to where I was sitting. I smiled softly at him. "What you've done to all of us. I think you're not saying what you're gonna do to me because you're not going to do anything. If you knew us, if you knew anything, you would kill us. But you can't," he told Negan.

I almost wanted to smack him and tell him to not dare say something like that to Negan, who might actually take Carl up on that. "Hoo. Maybe you're right. Maybe I can't." Negan clapped his hands together and smiled before coming to a stand, motioning me to stand with him. "Let's go for a ride, kid," Negan said before leading us from the room.

As we walked out to the outside of the Sanctuary and Negan motioned for Carl to jump into the passenger seat of the truck that he had driven me around in I gave Carl a reassuring nod. He would be alright. Walkers from beyond the fence were growling and I saw that Daryl was walking around near us. "Where are you taking him?" I snarled at Negan.

He looked at me with a small smile. "Don't worry, my dear wife. I am taking him back home. So you don't have to worry. I'll be back soon."

I wanted to snap back that I didn't give a damn what happened to him but I knew that all that would earn me would be something happening to Daryl after I had given my last card to make sure that he remained intact. Negan hopped into the truck and called back. "Daryl!" Daryl stopped and walked over to Negan's truck with a nasty glare. "You seem worried, so I'm taking the kid home," he told Daryl.

Daryl took a step closer to the truck. I noticed Dwight lingering in the background. "If you lay a hand on my wife or do anything to him -" Daryl snarled before being cut off by Negan.

"Dwight!" Negan called out. His bitch was at Daryl's side in a second. "Daryl needs a time-out. And get it through your head. Rain is my wife, not yours." Daryl's fists balled as Dwight dragged him away from the area. "Put him back in his box for a while." Negan held up a hand to stop Dwight, who still had a good grip on Daryl. "And you - you I will deal with personally when I get back," Negan told me. Daryl was shaking with anger as Negan leaned out of the truck and kissed me roughly. As I turned to walk away, avoiding Daryl's eyes, I dug my nails into my palms. It was so hard that they began to bleed. Negan's hands slapped my ass roughly and I cringed, knowing that he had done it for Daryl to see. "Joseph! Bring her to my - our room. Get ready," Negan teased.

The truck peeled out of the drive and I snarled at Joey to keep his hands off of me. Joey nodded but still pushed me to go back to Negan's room. As I walked into the Sanctuary I saw Daryl continuously throwing back glances at me. I mouthed I'm sorry to him. He looked back at me with a sad stare. He mouthed back I'll save you. Tears built in my eyes as Joey opened the door for Negan's room and walked me inside. As the door closed once more and another Savior took over guard duty I walked to the far corner of the room and dropped to the ground, the tears now fully flowing. I had lost. Negan had won. I was his and there was nothing that I could do. My head dropped into my knees that were pulled to my chest as I prepared to lose to Negan for one last time.


	59. Rise Up

My head was still buried in my knees nearly half an hour later. The Saviors outside of the apartment had gone silent some time ago. I almost couldn't believe it. They were always talking and making annoying noises outside the apartments. Especially when they knew that I was steaming by myself. I saw a pair of red shoes at my feet and I groaned. How the hell had one of them gotten in here without my knowing? I looked up to snap at the Savior to get the hell out of the apartment when I caught the gaze of the man that was standing in front of me.

It was one of the first men that I had meant in the new world. He was standing here, just the way that I had seen him the first time that I had seen him. He was in a white button-down shirt with a blue t-shirt sticking out underneath it. His jeans were riding low on his hips and the same red tennis shoes that I had always seen him with. There was also a red baseball cap on his head - the one that Lori had once broken eggs in. The only thing was that he looked older - the same that he had when I'd last seen him. But this time he was whole.

He was giving me a bright smile that I had seen a million times before. My heart felt like it was either no longer beating or beating out of my chest. I stared up at him as my mouth dropped open. A small tear fell as I glanced at him. He dropped in front of me and smiled. "Hey there, stranger," he teased.

My head slowly raised from my lap. "Glenn..." I mumbled softly.

My heart was pumping heavily in my chest. He was here. He was back. Was he really back? He couldn't be. He was dead. I had watched him die. Glenn smiled at me. "Don't look so shocked. This isn't the first time that you've seen me before," he teased as he leaned down in front of me.

Maybe. He was right. I had seen him a million times before. But I hadn't seen him once since his head had been bludgeoned by Negan. There was no way that he could be here now. "You're dead," I whispered to myself.

Glenn gave a small shrug as he sat in front of me and crossed his legs. "Maybe." So he was dead. This wasn't some miracle. He really was gone. I was just going insane. Not that it surprised me. I should have known that he wasn't really here. "Doesn't mean I can't come see you," he told me.

I nodded and watched as he pulled his hat off and ran his fingers through his hair. I glanced up at Glenn and stared out the window for a moment before looking back over at him. "What about Maggie? Have you seen her?" I asked Glenn.

He looked over at me and let out a little sigh. I knew immediately that it meant that he hadn't been to see her. "Maggie doesn't need to be seeing me. She needs to mourn and move on. She's been doing that," he said and I nodded. It was probably for the best. She needed to remember Glenn, but she also needed to be strong and move on. Learn to fight for him in death. "I'm proud of her." I was proud of her too. "Plus I thought that you might need the comfort more," he told me.

It reminded me of after Sophia had died. Glenn had come to comfort me rather than going to Maggie to comfort her for her fallen family members. "Glenn, I'm sorry. For everything. For everything that happened in the clearing. If I hadn't said anything then maybe -" I rambled until he held up a hand to stop me.

"Maybe, what?" Glenn interrupted. I stared at him curiously. Maybe a lot of things. "It would have been Daryl?" I twitched slightly at the thought that it had been so close to being him. "Would you have been any better if that had happened?" No. "I don't blame you, Rain. I don't blame Daryl either. The only person responsible for what happened out there is Negan. You understand that?" He asked me.

It was good to hear that he wasn't blaming us. Even if this was just in my head. It was better than nothing. "At fault or not, that shouldn't have happened. You should still be here. Maggie should have her husband. You should have gotten to be a father," I said, my voice cracking weakly. "We should have been able to fight this war with you."

Glenn shook his head at me and shook his head. "A lot of things should have happened, Rain. You know what should have happened?" He asked me and I shook my head. So many things should have happened that hadn't. "I should have met Maggie in the supermarket and been embarrassed that she was more forward than me. Hershel should have watched his daughter get married. Beth should have been her sister's Maid of Honor. You should have been a bridesmaid.

"Rick should have been able to solve things with Lori. They should have been able to raise Carl and Judith together. Carl should still have two eyes. Our friends should still be alive. Negan and the Saviors should be dead. You and Daryl should have met at that gun store you worked at. You should have gotten married with all of us at your sides. You should be able to have a family. Not be so afraid that you'll either end up like your parents or be put out of fighting for a few months," Glenn told me.

Tears were on the edge of my eyes and I shook my head. I wanted that. I wanted that more than anything else. "Lots of things should happen. It just so happens that we haven't gotten any of that. This is the way that the world is. We have to deal with these things. But we should have never had to deal with losing you," I told him softly.

He once more smiled at me and sat with his arms crossed over his knees. "You know, I agree with that. I miss the days of making fun of you and waking you up without warning." I snorted slightly, remembering the few days that I had accidentally kicked him in the face because he'd startled me. "I'll always miss the sarcastic comments and watching you embarrassing Daryl." Once I got him back I would never stop. "I'll miss watching you and Maggie act like sisters that were separated at birth." She was my sister. "I'll miss watching you grow into a more amazing person every day," Glenn told me.

It made my chest twist with the realization that none of those things would ever be the same. Because Glenn would never be around again. "I wasn't the only one that went through a big personality change. You and Maggie always brought out the best in each other," I told him with a smile.

They never seemed as happy as when they were together. "And you and Daryl bring out the best in each other," Glenn told me.

I smiled slightly and nodded. We did bring out the best in each other. But we also did stupid things to try and save each other. "I'll miss you, Glenn," I said softly.

"I'll miss you too. Just know that I'm always watching," he told me. I could never describe it accurately, but it was like a weight being lifted off of me when he said it. It was like he wasn't really dead. "It's like Hershel said to you once. You've got people up here rooting for you. And I'm not alone up here. I've got people with me," he said, motioning behind himself.

I turned back to see a man step out of the back of the room. It was a head of red hair that I was so familiar with. I smiled at the sight of him as the towering man walked to stand next to Glenn. I stood and watched as the Asian man stood with me. "Hey, darlin'," Abraham said softly.

He was smiling at me like he knew the ending of a good joke that I had never heard before. "Hi, Abraham," I said to the older man. "You always had the best one liners. I think that I could use a good joke right about now," I told him with a small smile.

Abraham grinned and motioned behind himself to the other man. "Gotta come up here for another one and I do not expect to see your tough ass up here for many years. You hear me?" He asked. I laughed softly and nodded. I didn't want to be there for years to come. Not unless Daryl went first. Abraham smiled at me and leaned back against the bed frame. "You're a good kid, Rain," Abraham added.

Despite the fact that we talked all of the time and it seemed like we were people that were the same age, I knew that Abraham was about two or three decades or so older than me. "You need to know that I tried to fight for you. I tried to fight for you both. I wanted to make it me. I wanted him to take my life and let you both live. You both deserved it. Abraham, you just had Sasha. The two of you deserved to be together. And Glenn, you had Maggie. And your child. You both had so much going for you," I told him softly.

They both looked at me with pain in their eyes. I knew that people knew that I had tried to bargain my life for theirs, and I knew that it hurt them to think about. "And so do you," Abraham said. I glanced over at him and sighed. "You're that little ray of sun in this shithole of a world." This time I laughed. "You should know that he didn't kill us, either of us because of you." I raised my eyebrow.

The only reason that he had killed them was because he knew that it had hurt me. "He killed me because I stood up to him. I refused to look away. He couldn't have someone fighting against him. When Daryl attacked him, he didn't leave him be because you begged him to save his life. He taunted Rosita because he knew that someone would fight against him. Daryl. He knew that he would do something that would lead to Negan getting to kill someone else. And that was Glenn. Because he was what would hurt the most. Because since Daryl was alive, Negan still had a bargaining chip with you. And vice versa. He killed the two people that would make the biggest impact, he captured the two people that have always refused to bow, and he broke the one man that never has been."

Abraham was right on all accounts and I knew it. But that didn't change everything that had happened. It didn't change that they were dead and we were Negan's servants. "So you've seen everything that he's done. What do we do to stop it?" I asked him desperately.

The grin on Abraham's face told me that he might not have had a plan but he did have some words. And those were good enough. "There might be nothing that you can do. But these are not the Georgian assholes that I know and love." I giggled softly and nodded. "You are tough. Every one of you. And that's why you're going to get off your ass, go out there, and rise up," he told me.

He was right. We were stronger than that. We were stronger than what Negan had given us credit for. And he was right. This was not the end of us. We were going to get up and rise up. But the first thing that I had to do was get the hell out of here. "But before you do, I think that there are some people that want to say hello," Glenn told me.

I raised my eyebrows, curious as to what he was talking about. Who in their right minds actually wanted to speak to me? "What do you mean?" I asked him slowly.

Another figure popped out from behind Abraham and I turned to glance at them. It was a woman. A woman that appeared to be about my age. And the longer that I looked at her the more that I realized that I had known her. Once, a long time ago. "Hey, Rain," she called out.

Stupidly, I stared at her. It had to have been about three years since I last saw her. Maybe two, maybe two and a half. I could never be quite sure. I just knew that it had been a long time since I'd seen her. "Amy," I breathed out. "My God. I haven't seen you in years," I told the young girl.

I hadn't spoken to her much when she had been alive. It was one of many regrets that I had. I should have gotten to know her better. She should have gotten to live. Amy shrugged. "I know. But I figured that I should come and say hello. I just wanted to tell you that I love watching you," she said with a little laugh.

She had always been reasonably friendly. She had always laughed and smiled. Perhaps it was better that she was gone now. "I'm sorry about what happened to you," I said softly. She was still standing and smiling at me as she shook her head. "You should have gotten more time to spend with Andrea. And you were so young. You deserved something better than what you got," I told her.

She shook her head and walked towards me. I noticed that she didn't touch me. No one did. Although they did all get close. "It's not just me. We all deserved something more." I nodded. She was right about that. "And it's alright. I'm with Andrea now. Our parents too," she told me.

A small smile crossed my face. I was never a fan of Andrea but that didn't mean that I wasn't happy that she was with her sister now. They always deserved to be together. "Good. You deserve it." Another figure stepped out and I smiled at the middle-aged man that stepped out. "Jim," I greeted softly.

He looked the same as the last time that I had seen him. But he seemed to have gained some weight. He also looked a hell of a lot happier. "Hello, Rain. Good to see you again," he told me.

I smiled, glad that the man had at least been reunited with his family. No one would be smiling like that if they were alone. "You too. I know that I didn't know you for that long but I wanted to say that I hope that you're with your family now. You were a good man. You deserve to be with your wife and boys," I told him with a smile.

Jim nodded at me and I smiled softly. "I am with them again. And it's the best blessing that I could have had." He was a good man. He deserved to spend eternity with his family. We all did. "I never wanted to fight in this world. And I wasn't the only one," he said.

Raising my eyebrows I turned back and glanced at the woman that stepped from the shadows. I smiled at the older woman, who stopped right in front of me. She raised her hand like she might have brushed my hair back, but she dropped it at the last moment. "Do you see what I meant now?" Jacqui asked me softly. "I didn't want to fight in this world. There were people that were designed for this world. You were designed for this world. Daryl was designed for this world. I wasn't. I made my choice and I was at peace with that choice," she told me.

Slowly I nodded at her. She was right. She wasn't built for this world. And at least she had died at her own insistence in her own time. It was a gift that very few of us got. "In a way I'm glad you did it. This world is hard. It's tough. I'm glad that you never got to see any of the real horrors in it," I told her.

Jacqui sighed at me and took a step forward. "Honey, I'm just sorry that you had to see it," she told me.

I shook my head at her. I'd never had good luck. I never would. "Hi, Rain," a soft voice called. I turned back to see a little girl that I had never thought that I would see before. She was smiling as she shuffled her feet together. I felt like I might vomit at the sight of her. I took a step forward to approach her but stopped myself at the last moment.

She was still smiling at me. "Sophia! Oh my God," I said as I walked up to her, dropping on my knees in front of her. She smiled down at me. "Sophia, I'm so sorry about leaving you. I'm sorry that I didn't keep you with me. I'm sorry that we didn't keep looking. We might have been able to find you. We might have been able to save you," I said softly.

She was one of the few deaths that I had never gotten over. She was one of the few that I would always feel guilty for. "I was never angry with you, Rain," Sophia said softly. I almost laughed at her words. I had always been afraid that she was angry with me when she had died. "Mr. Grimes was the most important person in the camp. You couldn't risk him getting overwhelmed. And you couldn't risk shooting them to draw more over to us. I was scared but I never once blamed you. What happened to me wasn't your fault," she said softly.

My eyes were watering slightly as I glanced at her. She was giving me a smile that I had never seen on her before. "For so long I blamed myself for your death," I told her softly.

She nodded at me. "I know you did. I know that you still do," Sophia said. I let out a little breath. She was right. I still blamed myself for her death. I still blamed myself for all of their deaths. "It's something that you need to hear. You aren't responsible for what's happened to me. To us. To any of us," she said as she motioned backwards.

Nodding at her, I still wiped my tears out of my eyes. "It doesn't change the fact that I'll always feel guilty. Carol lost her daughter because I wasn't fast enough. She should have been able to watch after you. She should have seen you grow up without being with Ed," I told her softly.

I wasn't a hundred percent sure if Sophia had liked Ed or not. But she had always seemed slightly unnerved whenever her father had been around. I assumed that she didn't care for him. "Don't worry. He isn't anywhere around here," she told me and I nodded happily. Ed shouldn't be anywhere near her. "He wasn't my Dad. But she is my Mom. And I've seen the way that you looked after my Mom afterwards. Thank you," she said softly.

I would look after Carol until the day that we died. She was my friend. She was almost like a mother to me. "Of course. Carol is one of my best friends. One day she'll see you again. But I'm going to make sure that it isn't for a long time," I told her.

Sophia smiled at me and nodded as she moved away. A man was directly behind her and I smiled brightly when I saw her. "You always were a good girl," Dale said with a small smile.

"Dale," I said as I smiled at the older man. He looked exactly the same as the last time that I had seen him. The stupid fishing hat on his head and the same watch secured firmly to his wrist. As he smiled down at me I felt my heart sink. "What do you think of me now?" I asked him softly.

"Everything," he said to me softly. I glanced down at the ground. He shouldn't think anything of me. "I told you once that you were my new family. And I meant it. You were the girl that I considered my daughter," he told me. I smiled softly and shook my head. He was like my father. The one that I should have had. "I always knew that you were strong. I knew that you would make it in this world," he said.

He was right. I was strong enough to know that I would be able to make it in this world. I just wished that he would have been able to make it too. "You once said that we were losing our humanity. Come on, Dale. Look at us now," I said with a humorless laugh.

We had lost our humanity long ago. We had just been fooling ourselves. "Yes. There isn't much humanity left in the world. I see that now. But I've been watching you all. And you've kept the humanity that I knew you all had. Even in situations like this you haven't lost your humanity." I laughed softly. "You're tough. You always were. But you have never been cruel. And you've never once done something that I wasn't proud of. You've had so many things happen to you but you've never resorted to being like them," Dale said.

I wished that it was true. I wanted to believe him. I hated thinking that we had become cruel. But was what Dale was saying the truth? Had we still kept a portion of our humanity? It hadn't felt like we had. "I wish that you were here. I miss our talks. I miss having someone tell me what to do," I told Dale softly.

Dale smiled at me and walked up to stand in front of me, keeping a tiny bit of distance. "Well then let me have one last chat with you. This is not you. This is not Rain. The Rain that I know always stands up and fights for what's right. She never lays down and lets someone walk all over her. She gets up and fights. And I know that that's what you are going to do. You deserve to get back to your husband," he told me with a small smile.

Chuckling to myself, I smiled gently. Dale had always thought that we would be good together. I wondered if he still thought that. "So you've seen that," I said softly.

The people that were standing around us were all laughing softly to themselves. Dale grinned and nodded at me. "Of course. Might I say that I was right," he said. I laughed under my breath and nodded. "I knew that the two of you belonged together. I'm so happy for you. The two of you make a nice couple. I remember seeing the two of you the first time together. Shouting at each other like I've never seen before." I snorted under my breath. "But I saw the two of you warming up to each other over time. And then things just progressed. And now you love each other more than anyone else I've ever seen," he told me softly.

I somehow couldn't believe that. There were other people that loved each other. We weren't the only ones. "Yeah. I love him. I love him like I never thought that I could love anyone else. And I can't stand seeing him like this. I can't stand being here, being away from him. I want him back," I said pathetically.

Dale smiled at me and nodded. "And you'll get him back. Rain, have a family with him." I let out a little breath. Everyone wanted us to have a family. I did too. But this was the wrong time. "Irma could never have children. It was the one thing that I regretted. But then I met you. Andrea too. And the two of you were the girls that I always wanted. Trust me when I say that you won't regret having them," he told me.

"When this is all over I will." A bright smile fell over Dale's face, everyone else's too. "I've been thinking about it a lot. And I want them. Daryl and I, we both deserve the family that we never got," I said softly.

Dale gave a small smile and nodded. "You do. The two of you most of all."

Honestly we weren't the ones that deserved it most of all. Glenn and Maggie were the ones that deserved it. They were about halfway there. I just wished that Glenn could have gotten to be a father too. "Are you with Irma?" I asked Dale after a beat. I was hoping that he was.

Dale gave me a small smile that told me that they were back together. "Yes. And I'm glad to be back with her," Dale told me. I smiled brightly. I wished that I could have met her.

Before Dale could say anything back to me I heard another voice call out. "They're all right, you know." I turned back to see a boy that I hadn't seen in a long time. Jimmy. "Your husband terrified me when I first met him. He terrified me up until the moment that I died," he said. I laughed softly. I could still see Daryl telling Jimmy that people in hell wanted slurpees. "But I knew that he loved you. It was why I went after you," Jimmy said.

I had never known that it was the reason that he came after me. It only helped make me realize that it really was my fault that he had died. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have come after us. You might have lived if you hadn't. Or maybe you would have at least lived a little longer," I said softly.

Jimmy smiled at me and shook his head. "Don't be sorry. I knew what I was risking when I went out there after you three. When I was bitten I knew that I had risked my own life to be out there. I'm not upset about what I did," he told me. That didn't change the fact that I still felt bad.

Before I could say anything else, Patricia stepped out of the shadows. I was sure that I had never spoken to the woman before, but it didn't change the fact that she smiled at me. "We all knew what we were risking that night. I was bitten but Beth got away. I'm glad that I got to save her. Even if it wasn't that long," she said.

A little twinge went through my chest at the memory of Beth's body in Daryl's arms. The sight of Maggie losing her last family member. "We've all risked our lives for others at one time or another," another voice called.

The two stepped out of the way so that I could see the new person. I smiled softly. I hadn't seen him in a long time. I had even had to hear about his death from someone else. "T-Dog, I've missed you," I told the black man with a smile.

He grinned back at me, tipping the small hat that he was wearing towards me. T-Dog let out a small laugh that I hadn't heard in a damn long time. "Missed you too, girl. Glad to see that you and Daryl finally managed to work things out," he told me with a little wink.

Once more I laughed. He had known us when we were together but that wasn't to say that we hadn't still bickered at the time. "But look at where we've landed ourselves," I said, motioning around to the large apartment. "We're both captives of a raging lunatic. Daryl is being treated like an animal. And I've had to bargain myself away just to make sure that he didn't get his face ironed," I said bitterly.

T-Dog glanced at me and laughed. "Rain you're one of the toughest people that I've ever met," he told me and I rolled my eyes. Maybe I was sick of being tough. "Inside and out. I know that you can figure this out. This is not the end. Dickhead out there isn't going to lay a hand on you. I believe that," he told me.

Despite the fact that this was a serious situation, I laughed. In a way T-Dog reminded me slightly of Abraham. I wished that they would have gotten a chance to meet. "I seriously hope you're right. Even if there was no Daryl, I just... I couldn't," I said weakly, thinking about what had happened out in the clearing, and what would happen to me if Negan came back. "Not after what he did out there," I said softly.

Abraham and Glenn both nodded at me with proud smiles. They knew that we were going to do something for what Negan had done to them. We just hadn't gotten around to it yet. That wasn't to say that we wouldn't though. "You always have been the one to give up everything to protect others," another voice called out.

I turned back to see a smiling woman. She looked happier than I had seen her in the near year I had known her. Part of me wondered if it was because she was seeing me in this situation. She had every right to hate me. "Good to see you again, Lori. About Rick..." I trailed off.

She must have seen him with Michonne. Even though she and Rick had been on bad terms when she had died I couldn't help but to wonder if it burned, seeing her husband happy with someone else. Or if it hurt, watching Carl treat Michonne like a second mother. Or if watching Rick and Michonne raise Judith together made her angry. I would have wanted to say that if I died, I wanted Daryl to continue having a good life. I really did. But I wasn't sure if I would be able to watch him fall in love with another woman. It would hurt too much.

Lori merely smiled at me. "He deserves to be happy. I always wanted him to be happy," Lori said softly. "With me - he just wasn't happy anymore." I supposed that was the one difference between us. Daryl was still happy with me. We would always be happy with each other. At least I thought that he was still happy with me. "I made a mistake with Shane. Something that I couldn't reverse. And he had every right to hate me the way that he did," Lori said.

I shook my head at her. Rick didn't hate her. He had only been hurt and angry. "He didn't hate you. After everything happened he was devastated. For a while he couldn't even look at me because he thought that I had done it," I told her.

It hurt to remember that Rick had once blamed me. But I was glad that he had been able to make it past what had happened with her. "It wasn't you. I asked you to do what you did. And because of you my daughter has made it out in the world. Rick is happy. And Carl - he's alive. He's still my brave little boy," she said, her voice breaking.

It reminded me that she had watched Carl lose his eye. She had been forced to watch her baby boy injured like that, and she had almost had to watch him lose an arm. She had been forced to watch him sing for a wicked man and I had been useless in stopping it. "I'm sorry, Lori. Before you died I swore to you that I would protect them. I've done anything but," I told her.

Her eyebrows knitted together. "How do you mean?" She asked me.

"Judith is currently in Alexandria with Negan headed towards her. Carl lost his eye. Carl came here to try and kill Negan. He nearly lost his hand. He could have lost his life here just so that he could pay Negan back. And Rick... Tell me, Lori. Have you ever seen Rick the way that he is?" I asked her.

He was broken. All because I hadn't been able to change things. "How are you at fault for any of this?" She asked me. I took a deep breath and shook my head. I wasn't sure. But I still felt at fault. "Judith is being watched over while you're indisposed. What happened to Carl wasn't your fault. You were being held captive while it happened. And this man Negan is the one responsible for everything that happened to Rick," she told me.

She wasn't wrong. But it was one of the things about myself. I always felt guilty. "That's what I keep trying to tell myself," I told her. Lori stepped to the side and I glanced over to see Oscar. I smiled softly at him. "Hi, Oscar. I didn't know that you were in Woodbury to come rescue me until after it was all over. I wanted to thank you for it," I told him softly.

He had risked his life for a woman he'd barely known. It made him one of the best men that I had ever known. "Of course. You were half of the reason that we made it out of that cafeteria in the first place. I know a good egg when I see one. And that's you," he told me.

I smiled softly. I was anything but a good egg. "You were a good man too. Maybe you made some mistakes. But we all do," I told him. The only difference between us was that he had gotten caught making his mistake. "You didn't get the ending that you deserved," I told him.

Oscar scoffed and shook his head. "Did any of us?" He asked as he motioned around us. I smiled and shook my head. One day I was sure that I would get the ending that I didn't deserve too. "Don't worry girl, I'm with my old lady now. Got a lot to make up to her," he told me.

I nodded and watched as he stepped to the side. Another figure took his place and I stared at her for a long time. I had an idea of who she was. The only problem was that I had never seen her before. Not really. I'd seen her in photos and in person as an infant. I'd also seen her as a walker. But I had never once seen her in person. Not that she could remember, anyways. I stared at her and smiled. She looked just like I remembered. She was in a white dress that hit her knees and flowed away from her figure. Her brown hair was tied with a white ribbon and she was grinning softly. The only way that someone could tell that we were related was by her eyes.

She was very much the image of our father, while I was the image of our mother. I wasn't sure which was worse. "Penny... Penny, right?" I asked, not wanting to feel foolish.

The young girl smiled and took a step forward. "Yeah, Rain. It's me. You know I never knew about you. Dad never told me that I had a sister out there somewhere," she told me. I growled under my breath. "I did see a picture of you once. It was just of you. I asked Dad about it and he told me that it was just the photo that came with the frame. But it was hidden in the bottom of the dresser drawer. I always wondered if there was something more to it," she told me and I gulped deeply.

Was it even worth, even in the afterlife to tell her who she was? "Yeah. I'm your sister. But I had to leave, Penny. You understand that?" I asked her. She nodded. "He was dangerous. He would have either killed me or I would have killed him. I couldn't be there anymore. I'm sorry for leaving you. But he always loved you so much. I never thought that you were in any danger," I told her honestly.

She smiled at me and shook her head. "I wasn't. He never laid a hand on me." I would have been lying if I'd said a little pang of jealousy went through me at that moment. "There were a few yelling and screaming matches but he never laid a hand on me. He was a good father. I'm sorry for what he did to you," she told me with a said stare.

Giving her a bitter smile, I shook my head. She had nothing to apologize for. "Don't be. What he did to me... there was plenty of bad. But there was some good too," I told her honestly. "It got me out of the house and it made me tougher. It's the reason that I was allowed to survive in this world. It's why I met my husband," I said with a bitter smile.

Daryl. No matter what, he would always be worth it. I could go through everything and he would always be worth it. "I've seen him," Penny said, bringing me back to the real world. "I like him," she said softly.

I giggled under my breath. Never had anything sounded more like it came from a twelve year old. "I like him too," I said softly.

Penny smiled at me and for a second I saw our father. She almost looked like him. A better version of him. "I hope that you never lose him," I told her. I nearly sobbed. She was right. I never wanted to leave him. I wanted to see him every second of every minute of every day of every year. "And one day I hope that I can actually meet you," she told me with a small smile.

I smiled back at her. "I hope that one day I can meet you too," I told her honestly. And I knew that one day I would. It was just a matter of time. Another figure stepped forward and I smiled at the man. "Axel," I greeted softly. "Good to see you again. There was one thing that I never got to say to you. And that is thank you. You saved my life. I should have said something when you were alive," I said softly.

It was one of the many things that I regretted. "I always knew. I always knew that you thanked me for what had happened," he told me and I let out a little sob. He should have known exactly what I felt. "And I did it because I knew there was a good girl deep down. I knew that you were just a kid who got too far in over her head. I saw it before. I knew exactly what it did to you. And I couldn't watch it happen to you," he told me.

He was so much more than the the drunk that offered to let me stay in his cell. He seriously was the man that had saved my damn life. "You saved my life back in the prison," I told him softly.

Axel smiled at me and walked forward. "No. You saved your own life." I scoffed softly to myself. He was the only reason that I had been alright in prison. "I only gave you the tools and the motivation to get up and do something. I'm glad that you took them. And I'm glad to see what's happened to you," he said.

A small scowl fell on my face as I glanced around me. "All of this?"

Once more Axel smiled and shook his head. "No. Not that. Everything else," he said and I raised my eyebrows. "You fell in love with a good man that cares more for you than I've ever seen. You've made the best friends that someone could ask for. And you got a family exactly like the one that you deserved. You're a good girl, Rain," Axel told me.

I smiled softly and nodded. He was right. Plenty of good things had happened. But that wasn't to say that they really did outweigh the bad. "And you're a good man, Axel. I wish that more people would have gotten to see it," I told him. He grinned at me before stepped off to the side. As he did I let out a little breath. She had not been someone that I had been expecting to see. "Hello, Andrea," I greeted.

A little way in the background Amy was smiling at her sister. "Hi, Rain. I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for everything," she said. We had made our peace at the end of her life but we hadn't exactly had time to sort things out. "I should have believed you about your father. I should have believed you and killed him when I had the chance. A lot of things could have been different," she told me.

Shaking my head at her, I took a step towards her, still not touching anyone. "That's the whole thing. We can look back and see a million things that we wish that we could have changed. I wish that I could go back and have left home earlier. I wish that I would have never walked down that street that the homeless man was on. I wish a lot of things. But I just can't change them. So I have to accept the fact that things happen and we can't change them," I told her.

And it was the truth. There was no use being upset over something that had already happened. The only thing that we could do was stand up and change our ending. "There are still things that you deserve. And I hope that you get them all," Andrea told me.

"I do too. And for what it's worth I'm sorry about what happened between you and my father. I wish that things would have worked out for you. I wish that you would have never seen him. You would have been able to see him for what he really was," I told her honestly.

There were lots of ways that Andrea could have met her end. But I had always hoped that no one else would meet their ends by my father. "You warned me. I decided not to listen to you. It was my fault and I dealt with the cost. But it's alright. I've learned that it was a mistake. A mistake that you'll never make. Because you're smarter and stronger," she told me.

Grinning at her, I nodded. "Well I'm glad that you've finally realized that." A few of the people standing around chuckled softly as Andrea walked over to join Amy. Another figure came into view and I smiled at them. "Hey, Zach."

He stepped forward and leaned back against the dresser. I could see why Beth had fallen for him. He was a good guy, smart and brave, and he was a good-looking boy too. "Hey, Rain. So I finally know what it was that you were doing before the outbreak. You were a damn student. I never would have guessed that," he told me.

Everyone standing in the small room laughed. I merely shrugged my shoulders. "Trust me, I knew that. I mean you had some close ones. But stripper?" I asked. Everyone gave a quick turn to Zach. I noticed that Dale narrowed his eyes. "If the walker hadn't gotten to you, I would have," I teased.

"I think that the walker would have been a better choice. There's one person in the world that I never want to get into a fight with, and that's you," he told me.

Smiling slightly, I nodded. "I'm sorry about what happened to you," I told him. He had deserved to grow old and try things out with Beth. They had both deserved so much more. "I wanted things to work out with you. I wanted things to work out with you and Beth," I told him, avoiding the stare of Jimmy.

I wasn't exactly sure how things were working out in the afterlife but I knew that I didn't want to offend either of them. "I did too. But it's alright. I got to meet you guys. I was never too close to my family. You were my new ones," he said and I smiled. It was so similar to what Dale had once told me. "Even if it wasn't that long."

No matter how long he had been there, he was a part of our family. They all were. "We were glad to have you there too," I told him. He stepped to the side and my jaw nearly dropped. Here he was, in one piece. No longer missing a leg and clean shaven. He looked like he had when I'd first met him. And just like always, his eyes were smiling. "Hershel! My God. I'm so -" I ranted before being cut off.

Hershel held up his hand and motioned for me to stop speaking. "Don't do that to yourself. Don't be sorry for what happened. Your father has nothing to do with you. He was a monster and you were much better. You still are. I'm glad to see you like this," he told me with a small smile.

I imagined that he meant that he was glad to see what had happened in between Daryl and I, along with the rest of the groups relationships. Not necessarily the predicament that we were currently in. "I'm glad to see you too. I just wish that you didn't have to see me like this," I told him honestly.

"I've seen a lot of bad things happen to you, Rain," he told me. I grimaced slightly and nodded. I had always thought that I'd had the worst luck of anyone that I knew. "I've seen things happen to you that would have killed anyone else. But you've been so strong through it all. And you found yourself a good man that loves you. I'm very happy for you," he told me with a small smile.

"I wish that you would have gotten more time with your girls," I said.

Hershel smiled at me and shook his head. "I got lots of time with my girls," he told me. My eyebrows furrowed. He hadn't really gotten that long. "I got twenty-four years with Maggie. I got eighteen with Beth. I got to watch them grow up and laugh with them. I got to love them more than anything else. It's you that I wish had gotten more time," he said.

Smiling at him, I shook my head. "We don't get time anymore. That's why we have to do things fast. And it's alright with me. I know that I don't have time. It's why I want to make things work as fast as possible," I told him.

This was not the type of work that we got to take our time. We had to rush things and make sure that everything happened quickly and efficiently. "I'll tell you one thing, Rain. The best thing that ever happened to me was having my girls. They were the light of my life," he told me.

What he wanted really wasn't that hard to understand. I smiled softly and shook my head. "I think you all might want me to have kids more than I do," I told them.

Each person laughed softly and nodded. "You'd make a good mother," another voice called out.

Turning back I saw that it was Bob. I didn't care what had happened towards the end of his life between the two of us. He was my friend. He always would be. "I used to think that I wouldn't. Recently I've been thinking that maybe I could be a good one," I told him honestly. "But the first thing that I have to do is get out of this place," I added.

"You will. If there's one thing that I know about you, it's that you're strong. It's that you've got people looking out for you. I'm glad to see that you're still going strong," he told me.

I smiled slightly and nodded. I would be strong until the day that I died. Because I had to be. "You were a good man, Bob. I always thought that you were a good man. A strong man. You had some problems, but we all do. I don't think I know anyone in this new world that isn't a little fucked up," I said. Both Hershel and Dale scowled at the sudden profanity. "We all have our issues. We just have to learn a way to get past them. Some of us are more screwed up than others," I teased.

He grinned at me but before he got the chance to say anything else, another voice spoke out. This one was soft and feminine. "And do you count yourself as more screwed up or less screwed up?" Beth asked me.

She was smiling brightly and I grinned up at her. She came to stand next to her father and I watched as he wrapped her arm around her. "Definitely more. You would be less," I said.

Beth shook her head at me. "I don't think so. I think that you're one of the least screwed up people I know." I snorted under my breath. I was seriously screwed up. "You're strong, you're brave, and you're beautiful. Thank you for watching out for Maggie," she told me.

My heart gave a little twinge as I remembered that I still wasn't sure exactly what had happened to her. I needed to know what had happened. One way or another. "Of course. I hope that I've done you proud taking care of her. I'm trying to work things out and I want to get back to her. When you died, it left only Maggie. And I knew that I had to do anything to ensure that the Greene's weren't dead," I told her.

She smiled at me. "And we aren't. Maggie is still down there. And you're going to get back to her. She still has one more sister to pick on," she told me.

And it was the truth. Maggie and I were sisters. We just had to get back to each other. "I hope that you get to see her again one day," I told Beth honestly.

Once more she smiled at me and nodded. "I will. Just not anytime soon," she said and I nodded.

One day I wanted to be reunited with Beth and the rest of our fallen friends. I wanted Maggie to be able to see her father and sister. But those days hadn't come just yet. "Just the same that one day I'll see Sasha again," I heard Tyreese say.

I turned back and nodded at him. Tyreese was one of the many people that deserved to see their loved ones once more. "I hope that you do get to see her. But I still hope that it's a long ways away," I said.

Tyreese nodded once more. "I do too," Tyreese said. "Sasha has lost so many things in her life. She lost me, Bob, and Abraham." I gave a quick glance over at Bob and Abraham and noticed that they both gave little twitches. "She deserves some happiness in her life. You all deserve some good in your lives," he told me.

That was the truth but it didn't mean that we actually were going to get any good. That wasn't the type of world that we lived in anymore. "I hope that some good is coming," I said softly.

Tyreese gave me a smile that told me that he knew something that I didn't. "You know, believe it or not, I think a lot of good is coming to you," he told me.

I opened my mouth to say something back but before I got the chance, Noah popped up next to him. I smiled and gave the boy a little wave. "He's right. Someone can only go through so much bad before they have to get to the good. You're a strong girl. You're a good girl. You spared my life after I had attacked you," he told me. I shrugged my shoulders. He had only been trying to get by. I understood that. "You've done a lot of good. There's something good on your way. You just have to find it," he told me.

"Well I'm sure that you'll see if it does come."

The boy stepped out of the way and I watched as Deanna took his place. "Something good has to be coming to you. You've all deserved it. You took my weak little community and made it into something strong. You've gotten the best of Alexandria to come together," she told me.

I scoffed under my breath and motioned around me. We had done nothing except destroy everything that she had worked so hard to create. "Do you see what's happened? We accidentally got both you and Reg killed. We accidentally destroyed Alexandria and raised a bunch of warriors. The rest of them hate us. And look at this. Look at what we've done. Alexandria is a slave to another group. And we're losing the war," I told her.

Deanna shrugged her shoulders. "For now," she said softly. "I've had faith in you from the moment I laid eyes on you. I knew that you were exactly the type of person that I needed here. And I'm glad that you decided to stay here. I like seeing you all. I like watching you," she told me with a smile.

A nasty glare took over my face as I shook my head. "Do you enjoy seeing all of this?" I asked her with a humorless laugh.

Deanna stared at me for a moment before shaking her head. "No. But do you know what I'll enjoy later?" She asked me. I said nothing. "I'll enjoy watching you all rise up and change things. I'll enjoy watching you take your place in the world. Above Negan," she said proudly.

Once more I laughed. We were so far underneath Negan that I wasn't sure that we would ever be able to come back above him. "She's right, Rain," Denise said. I turned over to her and blushed slightly. I had said some terrible things to her before she had died. "You're a strong girl and we all know that you can beat him. I know that you can beat him. I've seen you beat people like him before. Do you know that you can beat him?" She asked me.

For a moment I just stared at her. Did I know that I could beat him? I wasn't sure. I wanted to think that I could but I knew that I might not be able to. "I don't know," I admitted.

She smiled at me and shook her head. "I do," Denise said.

Beth stepped forward once more and I stared at her. "Rain, one day we'll see you again. I can't wait to see you again," she told me and I smiled at her. I couldn't wait to see her either. She was my friend. I deserved to see her again. "But just do me a favor. Make sure that it isn't any time soon," she said.

We all laughed and I smiled at her. "Okay."

This time it was Glenn that stepped forward. "Hey Rain?" He called out to me. I nodded. "Do me a favor. Have a family with Daryl." I smiled and nodded at him. "Even though I only saw four months with Maggie, they were the happiest four months that we had. You won't regret it," he told me.

The more that I'd been thinking about it, the more that I realized that I really did want a family. It was the one thing that I wanted. "Trust me, I want to. Being here has just made me want one even more," I told him honestly. Everyone smiled at my admission - Dale the most. "But I have to get out of here first," I said, interrupting the happy air.

Abraham was the last person to step forward. He was giving me a grin that was so much like the one that I had seen so many times before. "Then what are you waiting for, Missy? Get off of your ass and go to war," he told me.

Once more I smiled as I took a step forward and reached out to Glenn. He had just touched me when a sudden pain shot through my forehead and I jumped awake. I was sitting on the floor with nothing and no one around me. The friends and family members that I had lost so long ago were nowhere to be seen. I was simply on the floor with my back against the door. My heart was pumping as I realized - feeling slightly foolish - that the friends that had visited me were only in a dream. Nothing that I had seen was real. They were all gone and I was never seeing them again. But that didn't change the fact that I felt slightly better now.

Something that they had said had helped me. It had helped give me the confidence that I needed to stand up and fight. This was enough. I was getting out of here and taking Daryl with me. We were going to go back to Alexandria and - with the help of Hilltop - we were going to put an end to Negan's reign of terror. No more of this. If the dream had done one thing, it was show me that sitting here and moping was going to do nothing. They were right. Abraham was right. It was time to get off of my ass and go to war.

Jumping off of my spot on the floor I dashed over to the wall. This was Negan's apartment. There had to be something in here that I could use as a weapon. If I wanted to make this work, the one thing that I had to do was get out of here before Negan got back. He was the only person in here that I wouldn't be able to sneak past. The Saviors outside of the door were still talking and laughing with each other as I glanced around the room, trying desperately to find something.

No matter where I looked, there was nothing that I could use to help my case. Negan was smart enough to ensure that nothing left behind could be used as a weapon. His damn bookcase had nothing other than a few hard covered books that might hurt to get hit with. But it wasn't enough for me to kill someone with. To Negan's credit, the liquor cabinet had been emptied. There was no way that I would be able to break a bottle and use the glass. That had been what I was thinking to do.

Underneath the bed there was literally nothing. It was clean, albeit a little dusty. There was nothing actually on the bed and I didn't even want to think about everything that was in the bedside drawers. Nothing that I could have used to injure someone. In the bathroom there was no razors or anything sharp. I could break the mirror but that would make too much noise. I would attract the Saviors that were outside. Heading back into the living area I realized that the couches were metal undersides. I couldn't break anything off of them. There was nothing that would be useful.

Desperate to find something to fight with I even looked through the sink to see if there were any dirty dishes that I could break - there weren't - and I looked for any weak point in the metal walls. If I could break open a piece of the wall I could get a loose pipe and use that as a weapon. But like everything else, it was completely sound. The longer that I tried to find something to work the less hope I had. It was getting to the point that I had searched everywhere. Anything that I could try and use I would have to break and that would make too much noise.

And then I remembered. When Negan would occasionally trim his beard he would use a handheld mirror. Jumping up, I ran back into the bathroom and dug through the drawers. It was buried all the way in the back of the bottom drawer, but it would work. I brought it back out and crushed it under my foot, hoping that it would bend. It didn't. I groaned under my breath. I needed to break the damn mirror. But the plastic was too strong. I would have to hit it.

Deciding that this was going to be my only option to save myself, I walked over to the wall and smashed the mirror against it. The plastic cracked slightly but didn't give way. I hit it again and watched as it began to completely crack. This might actually work. "Hey!" A voice called, stopping me in my tracks. "What are you doing in there?"

I merely hit the mirror again. If I could be fast enough I could break this and kill them when they came in to check on me. "Pretending that this wall is your head! Leave me be!" I snarled.

Outside I could hear the conversation continue. "Should we stop her?" Another Savior asked.

The first one waited a moment before answering. "Nah, leave her alone. She ain't getting out of there and there's nothing in there that she can use," he said, effectively ending the conversation.

"That's what you think," I muttered to myself.

For a few minutes I continued to fight with the mirror. After about five it finally broke. I smiled and squealed lightly to myself as the mirror broke in half. I grabbed the larger and sharper edge to myself and tossed the other half on the floor. I didn't give a damn about leaving this place a mess. Taking the sharp edge I began to strike it against the bed, watching as it slowly sharpened. It wasn't nearly good enough and I had a bad feeling that it might not work well but I knew that it was now or never. I had to get out of this place.

So I stood and walked over to the dresser. I tried to find something to wear but it was either going to be my stupid pajamas or one of the dresses that Negan's wives wore. I figured that at least pants would be easier. Even if they were slightly too long. So I slammed the dresser once more and walked to the door. I gripped the glass in my hands tightly, knowing that I was making myself bleed, and waited until I heard nothing. I could take one at a time, I couldn't take both of them. Not with this pathetic little weapon.

As I reached to open the door a small knock came. I jumped in surprise and nearly dropped the glass. Thankfully I managed to recover as I reached behind my back and placed it there. Once I was sure that whoever was on the other side couldn't see it, I reached over and opened the door. As I prepared to throw the glass into the Savior's throat, hopefully severing the vocal chords, I nearly dropped to the floor instead.

"Jesus Christ," I muttered.

The man on the other side of the door simply smiled at me. "Just Jesus will do," he teased. I sighed and let my grip on the glass loosen as I jumped forward and launched myself into Jesus's arms. He caught me and smiled, tightening his hold on me. I wasn't sure how he had made it here, but I didn't care. Someone was here. "Hey, it's alright. You're okay. Come on, we need to leave," he said, breaking the hug. "They'll be sending more guards in a few minutes."

I glanced out the door and noticed that the two guards from before were on the ground. I couldn't tell if they were dead or just passed out. Dead would have been safer. Jesus grabbed me by the hand and began to pull me out. "Wait! I'm not leaving without Daryl," I told him stubbornly.

"Don't worry. I've ensured that he'll be getting out of here too. He's gotta go through the lower levels which have more of them but he'll be out," he told me. I found myself unable to move. He had to be here. I needed him to get out of here. "Please," Jesus practically begged. "Once upon a time you trusted me. I'm asking you to trust me again. Can you do that?" He asked me.

I stood there for a moment before nodding weakly. "Yes," I finally said.

Jesus smiled at me and grabbed me. "Good. Let's go," he said, grabbing my arm once more. Before he actually could though, he stopped. I stared at him and watched as he pulled out one of my throwing knives. How the hell had he gotten these? "Oh, and I thought that you might like one of these back," he said, handing it over.

Smiling slightly, I grabbed the knife out of his hand. The other half of the mirror dropped from my hand. "I didn't even know that you had these. Thank you. Come on," I told him.

Before we could run through the tunnels, I grabbed Jesus's hand and stopped him. Leaning down to the two men I slit their throats, just to make sure. Jesus nodded at me and motioned for me to run again. Now that we were out here we were going to have to be careful speaking. Jesus led me through tunnels that went through the back of the compound and I walked with him. We passed a few Saviors - each time Jesus shoved me into a room nearby. Thankfully none of them saw us as we ran. We made it nearly to the end of the compound before a Savior stepped out.

He saw us and stopped short. Both Jesus and I froze, debating on whether running away or fighting with him would be a better choice. The man - one that I had seen before - stepped towards us and reached for his gun. Before he could I ran over and grabbed his gun forcing it to the floor. He opened his mouth to scream but before he could make any noise I reached my knife up and thrust it into his mouth. He gasped but I knew that it was too late. He would choke on his own blood. He dropped to the ground, his eyes rolling back in his head.

Knowing that it was a little childish, I reached the knife through the back of his throat and watched as his head separated from his body. It rolled away and I kicked it into another dark corridor. Jesus waited for me to grab the knife and join him once more. "You know him?" He asked me.

His name was Charlie or something like that. I just knew him because of all of the looks that he would give me as I was walking by him. I had always hated it. "Yeah," I told Jesus.

He nodded at me and grabbed my hand as we were forced from the building. Thankfully no one had seen us. As we ran I took in a deep breath. I was getting out of here. Somehow I was really going to manage to get out of here. We ran through the end of the halls and I grimaced as Jesus pushed open the door. We were dumped out on the edge of the fence and we ducked as we ran through the field. No one was watching us, thankfully as we ran out to the woods and dropped down, just beyond the edge of the woods. We were facing their motorcycle bay where Jesus seemed sure that Daryl would come out.

We knelt down and simply watched. I could only pray that he would be out soon. But as the minutes ticked by and we got close to the twenty minute mark since we had gotten out I found myself overly nervous for him. "How did you know to find us here?" I asked Jesus, trying to keep my mind off of him.

Jesus glanced over at me and smiled. "Enid came to Hilltop to check on Maggie," he told me. I smiled softly. I was glad that at least someone else had gone to check on her. "Carl followed her. They got here and Carl decided that he was going to come to the Sanctuary to kill Negan," he told me with a guilty look.

I shook my head. We could worry about what had happened to Carl later. For right now we needed to get out of here. "I know about that. He was here. Negan took him back," I said.

Jesus looked somewhat relieved. Not that I could blame him. Carl was still just a kid. We all had an innate instinct to protect him. Judith and Enid too. Maggie's baby one day too. Perhaps one day... even mine. "So he's safe?" Jesus asked.

Nodding at him, I let out a deep breath. I really wasn't sure if he was safe. I could only hope. And unfortunately he was with Negan. That meant that he was never safe. "For now," I said softly.

"Anyways, when he left I had promised Sasha that I would go to the Sanctuary and check out what was happening here. So that we knew what an attack would be like. I hopped into a supply truck that was leaving Hilltop. Carl was already in there. I told him to jump out a few miles away so we could check it out. He asked me to go first to show him. I can't believe that I fell for it," Jesus said with a little laugh. I almost laughed too. Carl had gotten very good at fooling people. I wondered if he had learned any of it from me. "He stayed and I suppose you know what happened from there. Anyways, I came up to the Sanctuary and saw Negan taking Carl. I saw you and Daryl too. I knew that I had to save you both."

He had been there. But where the hell was he? I supposed that it didn't really matter. "Thank you, Jesus. For everything. You made sure that Alexandria didn't starve. You helped us escape from here. You saved Daryl's life once before this. We owe you a lot," I told him honestly.

Jesus shook his head and smiled at me. "You owe me nothing. We get Daryl and then we are on the way. You've gone through enough. Don't need to be here any longer than you already have been," he told me and I nodded. As I shifted slightly my head spun and taking a breath in became suddenly difficult. I began to collapse as Jesus caught me. "Whoa, you alright?"

My breath was coming in short pants and I nodded as my vision stopped spotting. He had his arms around my waist to keep me upright. "Yeah... yeah. Just got a little winded," I said softly.

Jesus definitely looked concerned for my health. I wiped a little sweat off of my brow and shook my head, trying to clear the haze in my brain. "Rain, you look like you're about to be sick. Are you okay?" He asked me.

I nodded slowly at him. I had to be fine. Daryl was about to come out here and I needed to see him. "Yeah. I'm just nervous," I said weakly.

My stomach was roiling badly and I knew that I needed to do something soon. I probably needed either a bottle of water, something to eat, or a week long nap. "Are you sure? You were fine until right now. When is the last time that you ate?" Jesus asked me.

In all honesty I wasn't really sure when the last time was that I had eaten. "Uh, yesterday I think. I'm not really sure," I told him.

Jesus did not look happy to hear that. "We should get you to Carson once we get to the Hilltop. Just to be sure. You're getting a little pale," he told me, raising a hand to my forehead. I let him. I was never really one to know much about medical issues.

"Okay," I said, knowing that I should rather be safe than sorry. "I just need to make sure that he's alright," I said, looking out to the motorcycle loading bay.

A few men were walking around but most of them looked like they were ready to head back inside. And that was for the best. I was sure that Daryl didn't have his weapons on him. "He will be. Rain are you sure that you're alright?" Jesus asked me as I swayed once more.

Nodding at him lightly, I shook my head and forced myself to get over whatever the hell was wrong with me. "I'll be fine. I just feel weird. I don't think that I've ever felt something like this before," I said. This was probably some type of issue with me not eating or sleeping properly.

Jesus leaned over me and checked up on my head. "Have you been sleeping alright? And eating? I'd be willing to assume that you're probably pretty stressed out," he told me.

I nodded at him. He was right on all accounts. "All of the above. I'll be alright," I told him. I had to be alright. The only thing that mattered was making sure that Daryl was alright. I heard the door bang open and my heart skipped a beat when I saw Daryl come out of the building, wearing what I assumed were Dwight's clothes. I smiled weakly and jumped up. Any sickness I had been feeling had suddenly gone out of the window. "We need to get down there and help him. Come on! Before he lets every Savior around here know that Daryl and I are out," I said as I saw Fat Joey round the corner near where Daryl was lurking.

The door creaked as Daryl stepped completely out and I jumped down over the bushes. Jesus was right at my heels. I saw Joey glance up and stare at Daryl, completely shocked. "What the hell?" He asked. Daryl took a step forward. "Whoa. Whoa. It's cool, I swear. Buddy, you can walk right out that back gate there, and I won't say anything to anybody. I'm supposed to be there now, but, listen, I'm - I'm just trying to get by, just like you. Please," Joey said.

I knew, just the same as Daryl did, that Joey was more afraid of Negan than any of us. He would sell us out to him in a minute. Daryl seemed to notice that as he raised his pipe and launched himself after Joey, beating his skull in, similarly to the way that Negan had done with Abraham and Glenn. "Daryl," Jesus panted as we ran up. Daryl ignored the call of his name. "Daryl," Jesus repeated.

Finally Daryl ceased his assault on Joey's body and I watched as he tossed the pipe off to the side. He was breathing heavily as he stared down at Joey's body. "It ain't just about gettin' by here. It's about gettin' it all," he breathed out weakly, stumbling around slightly.

"Daryl," I breathed out. I couldn't believe it. He was here, in front of me.

He glanced up, somewhat shocked at hearing me. He stared at me with wide eyes, probably not believing that I was really here. Jesus was standing off to the side, smiling at us. "Rain. Come here," he said softly.

And that was it. Years began to fall as I rain up to him, dropping the knife that I was holding. He caught me as I dashed up to him and jumped into his arms. "Oh God!" I cried out. My legs locked around Daryl's waist and I sobbed softly into his shoulder. His hands were tight in my hair and on my back.

Tears were streaming down my face as Daryl gripped me so tight that I was sure that I would melt into him. "I love you. I love you," he said, stroking my hair back off of my face. "It's alright. We're okay. You're okay. You're okay. It's okay. I'm so sorry," he told me.

I shook my head at him. He had nothing to be sorry for. I was pretty sure that I was the only one that actually had something to be sorry for. "No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I just couldn't let him... I couldn't -" I sobbed weakly.

Daryl shook his head at me and pressed his lips against mine. "Don't. It's okay. I know. I love you," he told me softly. We pressed against each other as we kissed deeply, and like it was the last time that we would ever be able to kiss each other. Because there was always a chance that it would be.

Our kiss felt like it only lasted a moment when I heard Jesus's voice, shattering our heartbreaking reunion. "As sweet as this moment is, we don't know how many more of them are around," he said. And he was right. I dropped off of his waist and grabbed his hand. "Come on! Run now, kiss later," he said.

Daryl broke towards the bike and dragged the two of us behind him. "I got the key. Let's go," he said. It was awkward as we all clambered on. I was directly behind Daryl and Jesus was perched precariously behind me. He had a tight grip on my waist and thighs but I shook it off. He wasn't trying to be strange, I knew that we just needed to make sure that he wasn't going to fall off.

The bike revved quickly and we all turned slightly once we leaned down the road. We were already going well over fifty miles an hour as we all revved down the road towards Hilltop. As we drove down the road I threw one last glance over my shoulder at the Sanctuary. I would never be back here. If I ever came back here it would be to remove Negan's fat fucking head from his body. Ahead of me I could feel Daryl shaking and his heart beating heavily. I had grabbed onto him tightly with my hands winding over his chest.

One of his hands was still on the handlebars but the other had settled on top of my hand. Now that we were back together I never wanted to let go of him. He was everything to me. I wasn't even sure how I had managed to pass two weeks without touching him or barely seeing him. I couldn't believe that we had managed to make it out of there. And the farther down the road we had made it the less I believed it. We had actually managed to get out of the Sanctuary. I had thought that we would be there forever. I let out a little chuckle as we sped back through a more familiar piece of land. We were getting close to Hilltop.

My stomach roiled once more and I felt a little flash of heat travel over my forehead. I definitely didn't feel good. Things weren't right. Something was definitely wrong with me. I was glad that they had Carson back at the Hilltop. I needed someone to look at me. I was sure that it wasn't dehydration. I had made sure to drink enough that I wouldn't have any serious issues. And I wasn't starving. I really wasn't hungry at all. Stress, it was the only thing that made sense. There was one other thing too, but it couldn't be. It wouldn't.

I watched as the walls of Hilltop rose in the distance and I smiled slightly. We pulled up and I watched as Jesus called for Kal to open the gates. This time there was no hesitation at all and when he saw us he actually smiled at us. I wasn't sure about Daryl but I gave him a small smile back. It wasn't him that I was angry with. I was going to kill Gregory though. Somehow this was his fault. The gates shut behind us and I smiled as Daryl drove the bike around the back. We were allowed off of it and we all smiled at each other as we walked over into the main area.

Jesus motioned us backwards to a trailer. I was confident that there were more trailers then there had been the last time that I was here. "Maggie and Sasha are in the trailer in the back. You two go and get changed. Take a shower. I'm sure that you need it," he told us.

Daryl nodded and I smiled. "Thank you. We'll be out soon," I told him before turning from the man. As I turned back I saw a very familiar face wearing a white long sleeved shirt and a baseball cap. So similar to the one her husband had once worn. "Mags?" I asked weakly.

The smile on her face was brighter than I had seen since long before Glenn had died. Probably since she had found out that she was pregnant. "Rain?" She asked, just as weakly as I had. I nodded at her and dropped Daryl's hand. At her side were Sasha and Enid. "Rain!" She shouted.

"Oh God!" I yelled out, darting to meet her halfway. Her arms wrapped around me and I fell into her. Our legs couldn't take the pressure of the two of us together. We fell to the ground, still in each other's arms. "Maggie - Maggie I'm so sorry. For everything that happened out in the clearing. I'm sorry about -" I told her softly.

Tears were steadily flowing down my face. She shook her head at me and held her hand up. "Don't. It wasn't you. It was him," she told me. I nodded at her, knowing that I probably looked ridiculous. "Are you alright?" She asked for a minute.

It was me that should be asking her if she was alright. I nodded at her, laughing softly. She was here. Daryl was here. We were all together. "I'll live. I'm fine, I'm fine," I told her.

She nodded, looking over me. She was already a mother. She continuously looked me over for any wounds. I smiled and pushed her hands away from me. "Did that bastard lay a hand on you?" She asked fiercely.

My stomach caught and for a moment I was sure that I would empty the little food that I had in my stomach. I shook my head at her. "A few. Nothing that I couldn't handle. What about you? Are you alright? What happened?" I asked. Briefly I laid my hand on her stomach.

She couldn't have lost her baby. She had to be a mother. She had to have one last piece of Glenn with her. He still needed to be a father. "It's called Abruptio Placentae," she told me and I raised my brows. I had never heard of something like that. "It's a separation of the placenta from the uterus, but the baby is fine." I let out a deep breath at her words. Thank God. "Carson advised me to rest and remain at Hilltop for the rest of the pregnancy."

That wasn't surprising. If there had been an issue that early on in the pregnancy someone was going to have to be there to watch out for her. Just in case. "But the baby is alright?" I asked her, wanting to make sure.

She nodded and smiled at me. I knew that she was just as happy about the baby being alright as I was. "The baby is alright," she confirmed for me. I smiled brightly.

She was still going to be a mother. Everything that she deserved. "Good. Thank God. I'm glad that you're alright, that the baby is alright, and that you're alright too, Sasha," I said, turning to the other girl. I stood, making sure to offer Maggie a hand up. Once she was up I walked over to Sasha and wrapped my arms around her. Once I had let go of her I turned to Enid. "And Enid, don't worry. Carl is alive," I told her, giving the girl a little hug and wink. She blushed softly. I hadn't exactly made it a secret that I knew that they were together.

Once I had let go of her I walked back over to Daryl. He had already hugged Sasha and given Enid a little nod. I was sure that they hadn't exchanged many words. He only had Maggie left to deal with. "Maggie," he said, walking over to her. "About everything that happened out there -"

Like when I had tried to apologize, she walked over to Daryl and shook her head at him. "Don't you dare. It is not your fault. What happened out there was neither of your faults. You are both my family. I won't dare blame you for what happened," she said as she wrapped him in a tight hug. "The only person that is to blame is Negan," she said as she let go of him, tracing a hand over the side of his face.

He nodded at her and I turned back to see Jesus walking up to our small group. "Listen, the two of you need to go shower. Maggie, you should have some clothes that will still fit Rain," he said and she nodded. "And Daryl, I have a few things for you to wear. We'll leave you be," he said.

The others nodded and Daryl wrapped his hands around my waist, leading me over to the trailer. It was the one that Maggie and Sasha - now Enid as well - were living in for the time being. I had a feeling that Enid would come back to Alexandria because of what had happened with Carl, but Maggie had to stay here. And Sasha probably wanted to stay with her. They had something to bond over. Daryl and I walked into the trailer and I smiled as we walked straight back to the bathroom.

It wasn't large. It was just larger than the one in the RV that I used during long trips. Thankfully we weren't too extremely large people. We smiled at each other and I walked towards him. I grabbed the button-down shirt that he was wearing and tore the buttons, giggling as they flew across the bathroom. He smirked and shrugged out of it. We easily shed his grey shirt underneath as well. Only a moment later he had my shirt over my head and our pants joined. Daryl looked over at me and I smirked as he shed his underwear.

"I missed seeing that," I teased as he hopped into the shower. He turned back to me as the water started flowing over him. Immediately dirt began to clear off of him.

He glanced back at me and grabbed my arm, pulling me into the shower with him. I laughed and knocked into him. He closed the shower curtain behind us and pushed me back into the cold wall. "Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" He asked me.

I smiled and leaned into him. "Then say it," I muttered under my breath. We kissed briefly and as our tongues mixed I bounced away from him. I hadn't thought that they were feeding him. "Have you been eating peanut butter?" I asked.

Daryl laughed and pressed me back against the shower wall once more. It was freezing and I shivered slightly. "How about I show you?" He asked me darkly.

Just as I was about to tell him that I wanted it more than anything I heard a call from outside of the bathroom. "I have the clothes!" Maggie shouted to us.

Pushing Daryl off of me slightly, I walked out of the shower and nodded back at Daryl. "Be right back," I told him. He nodded and started washing out his hair. I wrapped a towel around myself and popped out of the room, closing the door behind me. Maggie was standing with the clothes in hand and smiling at me. "Thanks," I said as I grabbed the clothes. Maggie turned to leave but before she could I stopped her. "Mags? I need to go to Carson after we see everyone," I told her.

She looked at me with a concerned face and nodded. "Yeah, you didn't look too good," she told me. I glanced in a mirror and scowled at myself. My face was slightly pale. "Are you feeling alright?" She asked.

I definitely could have been feeling worse but it wasn't the worst that I felt. In fact, I probably felt the best that I had in weeks. "Not really. But - will you come with me?" I asked her softly.

I had been thinking about it the entire way back. I needed someone with me. But just in case, I didn't want it to be Daryl. I had to be able to tell him - if it was the case - on my own. "Of course," Maggie said immediately. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at me. "Are you alright?" She asked me.

My hands were shaking slightly and my eyes were watering. This was the wrong time for all of this. But I knew well enough to know that there was never a good time. "I don't know, Mags. I just - I need you there. Not Daryl. Not yet. Just in case," I told her softly.

I had to make sure that Daryl couldn't hear the conversation. Maggie seemed to have finally understood what I was getting at. "Rain..." She muttered softly.

She was probably as freaked out as I was. "I don't know. Just... Don't say anything to anyone," I told her. If this was really happening I would tell them, but I wasn't ready for anyone to be panicking. At least not now. We already had one person to panic over. "Not yet," I told her softly.

She nodded at me and brought me in for a hug. "Of course. Take a shower. I'll see you after. We can get some food out here for the two of you too," she told me. I thanked her and walked back into the bathroom, dropping the clothes on the counter. I giggled softly when I saw what she had left us.

As I walked back into the bathroom I smiled and dropped the towel from around my waist. Daryl stared at me and motioned into the shower stall. "Come here," he said. I nodded and walked into him. He grabbed me around the waist and pushed me against the shower stall. Our mouths wrapped together and we laughed as he grabbed me from underneath my thighs. He leaned away from me and spoke against my lips. "God, I love you."

I smiled and leaned into his neck, pressing a soft kiss. "I love you too. And I always will," I told him. I leaned back against the shower stall, my legs wrapped around his waist to keep me upright, and brushed his hair back over his face. "It's why I did what I did in there. I don't regret it. We could have stayed in there and he... could have done what he was going to do, but it doesn't matter. The only thing that I wanted was to make sure that you were alright," I told him honestly.

Negan could have done whatever he wanted to me. The only thing that mattered to me was that he was okay. "You can't do that. Stop doing that. I love you. But don't risk your life for me. No one ever has meant to me what you mean to me. You're my world. I can't lose you," he told me softly.

I knew that Daryl wasn't the type of guy to say things like that. But the panic over nearly using each other, and the panic over him thinking that Negan would take me as his own, it had brought all of this to surface. "And I can't lose you either. Daryl... I can't. I don't know what I'd do without you. I need you," I told him weakly.

A tear slipped out of my eyes and Daryl brushed it away with his thumb. "You're not going to lose me. Never. Okay?" He asked me. I nodded slowly. "I'll always be here for you. With you. I never thought that someone would mean so much to me. I never thought that I would be so afraid to lose someone," he said.

I shook my head and brushed the hair off of his face once more. "You aren't going to lose me either. I love you, I could never leave you. You're my husband, but you're also my best friend," I said with a small smile. He was every important person to me. "You're the one person that I can't live without."

And it was the truth. I would never be able to live without him. He was the one person that I couldn't imagine losing. "You won't ever live without me," Daryl whispered.

I smiled and leaned into him, pressing a small kiss on his lips. As he backed away I took a deep breath. I had to know. "Daryl. I need to ask you something," I said. He nodded for me to continue. "Do you want a kid?" I asked. We had had this conversation a million times before but I needed a final answer.

Daryl looked slightly thrown by the question. I sucked in a breath. "I used to not know. I used to think that it wasn't something that I needed. But I've been thinking about it. And I think that I've realized that I do want one. I want to be a father, I want to get to see you be a mother," he told me.

I smiled once more and nodded at him. I wanted to see him be a father. To get to have the family that had been ripped away from him. "Then we're going to have a kid," I said.

He grinned at me but the smile fell fast. "Is now the best time though?" He asked me.

It was the one question that had been plaguing me for months. "There's never going to be a good time. I think that we just have to take the leap of faith and give it a try. But not right this second," I teased. Just in case I leaned over to the clothes and pulled out the little gold wrapped package on top. Daryl laughed loudly. Maggie really was the best. "Thank Maggie," I told him.

We laughed once more as Daryl unwrapped the package. Despite the fact that I wanted a family with Daryl it didn't stop the fear. What about what had happened with Lori? I had never really even been to the doctor for things like that. I never had needed to. I wasn't sure if I could have complications or not. And Maggie, she had come so close to losing the baby. Not to mention what had happened to Glenn. Maggie was essentially a single mother. Although I supposed she wasn't. She had all of us to help her. It really made no sense to think about. Not until I had my appointment with Carson.

Pushing back the bubble of fear I enjoyed being with my husband for the first time in weeks. Once we had both finished and washed off a final time we jumped out and changed. Daryl had on a grey button-down and a pair of black jeans. I had on one of Maggie's green cable-knit sweaters and a pair of her deep grey jeans. We were not the same shoe size though. Neither was Sasha. I was actually the same size as Enid but she didn't have any extra pairs. And my shoes were still in the Sanctuary. So it meant that I was barefoot for now.

As we walked out into the main room I brushed my hair back over my face and gave Daryl another kiss as we each downed a bottle of water. Jesus popped into the trailer and we both glanced up at him. "Rick and the others from Alexandria are here," he said.

Elation soared onto my face and Daryl's mirrored it. Although he was less obvious. I nodded to Jesus, who turned to leave, and grabbed onto Daryl's hand. I had been away from everyone else for too long. We both had. "Come on. I think it's time for us to say hello," I told him.

We walked out and stood behind the trailer for a moment, watching the reunion. Rick immediately shot over to Maggie as the two embraced tightly. "You're okay?" He asked her. He looked shocked to see her. Sasha and Enid were outside as well. It seemed that Carl, Michonne, Merle, Rosita, and Tara had all come as well. I smiled brightly at Tara. I hadn't seen her since the attack on the outpost.

It was also good to see my idiot brother-in-law. I could feel Daryl tense slightly at the sight of them. "I'm okay. The baby's okay - all of us," she told him with a smile.

Rick was shaking slightly as he laid a hand on the side of her face, like her father had once done to her. As I looked at Rick, I definitely saw bits of Hershel. He was no longer broken. He was ready to stand up and fight. "You were right right from the start. You told us to get ready to fight. I didn't listen, and I couldn't. I can now," he told her. She smiled and nodded.

I nudged Daryl lightly as we stepped out of the shadows. Everyone was still so busy with Rick and Maggie that they had yet to notice us. "Howdy, strangers," I called out.

All eyes turned back to us in shock and I smiled. Merle looked like he might tackle me from his spot. Rick looked like he had seen a ghost. And Carl looked absolutely thrilled. Probably because he knew what would have happened had I been forced to say. "Rain... Daryl... You're alright," Rick breathed out.

Nodding softly at him, I walked slowly for a moment before I no longer could. Rick had stopped staring at me like a ghost and was now grinning broadly at me. I laughed under my breath and ran up to him, leaping into his arms. He smiled and laughed, kissing me on the cheek. He released me after a moment and I gave Carl a hug, pulling the young boy into a bone-crushing hug that he easily responded to. Michonne was next and we each kissed the other's cheeks. I grabbed Rosita in a tight hug, knowing that she was still hurting. Tara and I laughed in each other's ears as we tightened our grips. She had to have known about Denise by now but this was only confirmation for me that she didn't blame me for it.

Once she let go of me I turned over to the last man. "Merle!" I shouted. He grinned at me and opened his arms, which I immediately launched into.

"Hey Princess," he said, spinning me around before dropping me.

We all turned to watch the heartfelt moment between Daryl and Rick. My husband reached out to Rick and I smiled as Rick wrapped Daryl in a tight hug. They really were brothers. Daryl buried his head in Rick's shoulder as Rick brought one hand up behind his head. They released each other after a moment and I watched as Daryl reunited with everyone else. The smiles on everyone's faces was something that I hadn't seen in weeks. It was something that I hadn't known that I had needed.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Daryl hand back Rick's Colt Python that Negan had taken when he'd brought us back. Rick stared at it for a moment before checking the chamber - empty of course - and tucking it into his pants. "Rick," I called out, shattering the tense air. It was a good kind of tense. He turned back to me and stared. "It's time to rise up."

He nodded at me after a moment and I saw a little hint of life in his eyes. We were no longer a weak little community that bowed down to the Saviors. We were Alexandria, and with the help of Hilltop we were going to put a stop to Negan's rule. As we all turned and headed up to the mansion to have a chat with Gregory I realized that for the first time in a long time - even with a looming war and a potentially problematic next few months for me - I was completely confident that we had the situation handled. We were not going to lose this. We would rise up and we would end this. Once and for all.


	60. The Kingdom

As we walked up the Barrington House I noticed that Jesus glanced over at one of the trailers near it. Harlan, the doctor here in Hilltop, was walking up to us. A few of the Hilltop members were walking back and forth. Each one of them looked startled, to say the least, to see us walking up to the one place where Gregory was hiding. We all were walking with purpose. It was time to end things with the Saviors, once and for all.

Out of the corner of my eyes I noticed Jesus yell out to Harlan. "Hey Harlan! We're going to go and have a chat with Gregory. Just - Maggie will look over this place once we leave. Let everyone know," he told the man.

He nodded at us as we walked. I gave Maggie a little smile. I was glad to see that she had gone on to do something good even with Glenn gone. She needed something to keep herself occupied. Harlan nodded at Jesus and the group continued walking. As I brushed by I stared curiously at Harlan. He looked an awful lot like Dr. Carson back in the Sanctuary. Was there a chance that they were brothers? Had something happened and had they been separated? Maybe the Saviors had taken one, in need of a doctor.

"Not a problem," Harlan finally said. I fell into step with Rick before being cut off by the doctor. I raised my brows and stared at him. "Rain, might I speak to you for a moment?" He asked.

My group all stopped and stared sideways at me. Damn it, Maggie. She was looking away from me. She had an extremely guilty face. "Just give me a second," I told them awkwardly before darting off and pulled Harlan with me. They couldn't overhear what Harlan wanted to talk to me about. Once we were far enough away I smiled at Harlan. "Dr. Carson, what's up?" I asked.

The guilt and obviousness was thick in my voice. "I thought that you wanted a second to get an appointment with me," Harlan said. I shifted and shook my head. "If something is wrong or if you really are -"

He couldn't say it. I didn't want to hear it. "You know, I'm sorry but we aren't going to do that right now. I have to get out of here for a little while. There are better things that I have to do. It was probably just some exhaustion or something like that. Dehydration and starvation. I didn't eat or sleep much in the Sanctuary. Sorry," I said before turning to walk away once more.

Harlan was faster than I gave him credit for. He caught me by the arm and shook his head at me. "Rain, this is important. You can run from this as long as you want but one day we're going to have to sit down and take a look at you. One way or another, you need to know," he told me.

And he was completely right. I did have to know. But this was the wrong time. I had said it before, that it was the wrong time, and it really was the wrong time. Not that there would ever be a right time. "Yeah. Yeah. I will. Just... Not right now. Thanks for your concern," I told him.

It looked like the last thing that Harlan wanted was to let me go. But he needed to let me go. The two of us both knew that. I would be ready to go soon. But that day wasn't yet. "Rain, please just let Jesus know when you're ready to get looked at. Alright?" Harlan asked me.

I gave him a small smile and patted him on the arm. "I will. Thank you for your concern, Harlan. But I'm fine. Really," I told him with a little smile before stalking off back to my group.

They were all looking at me with concerned stares. But none of them looked any more concerned than Daryl. He caught my arm the moment that I got up to him and pulled me into him tightly. After everything that had happened at the Sanctuary and in between Negan and ourselves I knew that the last thing that he wanted to do was let me go. And the last thing he wanted to see was a doctor that was clearly worried about me.

It was also the one reason that I couldn't find out. Not yet. I would just ignore it until - if - it got to the point that I could no longer ignore it. He already had one person to worry about. He couldn't have a second. I couldn't have a second. "What was that about?" Daryl asked me.

The rest of the group was watching me with nervous stares too. They were all concerned that something had happened to me in the Sanctuary. They weren't thinking about something that could have happened to me before I'd even seen Negan for the first time. I gave Daryl a small smile that I knew he wouldn't believe for half a second. He could always see right through me.

"Nothing," I said quickly. They were all still glaring at me. "I just got a little light-headed when Jesus got me out of the Sanctuary. Almost threw up. It's just because I really wasn't sleeping or eating or drinking while I was there. The stress too. I'll be fine," I told him with a smile.

He didn't seem to believe it but this was the wrong time to start anything. He merely grabbed me and nodded. A few of my other group members held on tightly to my arm, making sure that I was alright. "Take it easy for the next few days. You sure that you don't want him looking you over?" He asked me.

Yes. Because I don't know if I want to hear what might be wrong with me. "Yeah," I told him with a small smile. "If it continues I'll have him take a look at me. But for now I'm fine," I said. After a moment of staring at me they started walking towards the Barrington House once more. As we walked I twisted my fingers nervously. "Hey Jesus, you have another one of my knives?" I asked him.

Jesus glanced up at me for a moment before digging in his pocket. "Sure. Here," he said, handing me a spare knife. "You gonna kill him?" Jesus asked me. He didn't sound bothered by it either way.

Not that I figured that he would have been. No one in Hilltop seemed overly fond of Gregory. I spun the knife as we walked in through the front doors. "No. Just gonna have a friendly chat," I snarled under my breath.

Half of this was Gregory's fault. He had led us to believe that the outpost was the only thing that we needed to take care of. He was part of the reason that Glenn and Abraham were dead. So we stomped in through the front door and went straight to Gregory's office. Unlike the last time that we were here we didn't bother stopping to clean ourselves up or anything of the nature. We stormed straight into Gregory's office. He was sitting at his chair and looked up as we walked in.

He seemed like he was ready to shout at whoever had interrupted him until he realized that it was us. His face went as pale as a sheet. "Oh no, get them out of here, Jesus!" He snapped at our friend.

No one bothered to act on his order. I grabbed the knife tightly in my hand before walking up to Gregory and shoving him back into the chair as he attempted to stand. Placing the knife tightly against his throat I watched as he struggled. "You're going to hear us out, asshole. You owe us that much," I snarled at him.

"I owe you nothing!" Some part of Gregory was smart enough to know not to move. If he did there was a good chance that he was going to get a too-close shave.

Not that it would bother me one bit. It was the least that he would deserve. "Hear us out, or Hilltop will be looking for a new leader. Understand?" I asked him.

"Jesus!" Gregory snapped.

Jesus merely shrugged his shoulders and I smirked down at Gregory, pressing the knife in a little harder. He wasn't getting out of this one by begging. "Won't hurt to hear them out. Actually, it won't hurt me either way," Jesus told his leader. I smiled at him gratefully. "The choice is yours Gregory. Listen to them or die."

"Do something!" Gregory snapped once more.

Jesus shrugged his shoulders once more. It was the most nonchalant that I had ever seen the man. "Sorry. I'm outnumbered," he said softly.

The room was silent for a moment as Gregory seemed to think back and forth. It was just a conversation that we were asking for. "Fine. Fine," Gregory snarled, pushing me away roughly. Not that it did much. I turned back to Rick, who nodded at me to lean back. I did so and watched as Gregory straightened himself out once more. "What the hell do you want to talk about?" He asked.

Under my breath I laughed. His feathers were definitely ruffled. I turned back to Rick and nodded for him to take it over. "I think you've got it handled. Go ahead," he told me.

My eyebrows raised but as I looked over the rest of my group members they all nodded at me as well. Evidently I did have this covered. After a moment I nodded back at them and walked around to the other side of the desk. Gregory seemed to be leaning back slightly farther than he had been before. He was staring at me as I walked to stand in front of the desk, wondering what I should say. Finally I figured that I might as well just tell the story and I took a deep breath.

"We made you that deal months ago, that we would go and clear out the Saviors base. You didn't send us to their main camp. You sent us to an outpost. One of many. We cleared it but it didn't matter. We put ourselves on their radar because of that.

"Just a few weeks ago one of Negan's men killed a woman that was with us on a run. The next day Daryl and I went out hunting for him. Together with Rosita, Glenn, and Michonne, we were all captured. By Negan. Maggie had an issue with her pregnancy - as you damn well know. They were on their way here. The Saviors were blocking every path. They brought them into a clearing. Everyone that had come to try and get Maggie help and the others that I had been captured with.

"In the meantime I sat down and spoke with Negan. Nothing that I said made a difference. He was going to kill one of them by beating them to death. And so he did. He put them into a line-up and killed Abraham first. Glenn next. Has he killed anyone since then?" I asked my group members, steeling myself for the answer.

I knew that it wasn't going to be an answer that I liked. "Since then he's killed Olivia and Spencer as well," Rick finally said.

My stomach gave a little jolt. Why the hell had he killed Olivia and Spencer? God. Olivia. She hadn't done anything. She was kind. And poor Spencer, that was the rest of the Monroe family. At least he would be with his mother, father, and brother. After a moment I turned back to Gregory. "He took Daryl and I captive. Me to be his wife, Daryl to be treated like he was less than human," I told him.

And thus came the end of my story. I stared at Gregory and waited for him to say something. "That's all very unfortunate but I fail to see what that has to do with myself or the Hilltop. You're back, people die every day - now leave," he told me flippantly.

"No," I snapped quickly. "We have a deal for you. Negan rules over the Hilltop as well. He's cruel to your people too. Now that we're gone and back together, we have an advantage. We can gather our forces and turn to take down Negan and the Saviors. Alone, we can't do it. It won't work. We don't have enough people. But together, we can," I offered.

Gregory looked astonished that I had dared to say anything like that. But it was the truth. We were going to go to war with them but we needed the numbers. Alone, we didn't have them. There was a way that we were going to stand a fighting chance against them but it wasn't going to be without someone else's help. The Saviors had hundreds of fighters. Alexandria barely had seventy.

"No! No way in hell," Gregory snarled. He stood and began to pace behind his desk. "That was not the deal. You people swore you could take the Saviors out, and you failed. So any arrangement we had is now done - null and void. We aren't trade partners, we aren't friends, and we never met. Hmm? We don't know each other. I owe you nothing. In fact, you owe me for taking in the refugees, at great personal risk."

Oh please. I could only imagine that he had wanted to keep Maggie and Sasha here. Enid too. He must have been trying to push them out of here in the beginning. "Oh, you were very brave staying in here while Maggie and Sasha saved this place. Your courage was inspiring," Jesus told his leader.

Rick turned to Jesus and nodded. I gave a little smirk. Even almost four months pregnant and having just lost her husband Maggie was still braver than Gregory. But what the hell had happened to this place? "Hey, don't you work for me? Aren't we friends?" Gregory snapped at Jesus.

Instead of giving him a chance to answer and rise to the bait, Rick took a step forward, coming to stand next to me. "Gregory, we already started this," he said darkly.

This time it was me that didn't give Gregory a chance to speak. "You sent us to an outpost," I snarled at him. It was half of the reason that we were under their control. "This is as much your fault as it is ours. If we had known that there were still hundreds of Saviors out there we wouldn't have attacked and things wouldn't be this bad," I told him, motioning around us.

Things were terrible. The rule of the Saviors had gotten even worse since Alexandria had been put under their control. "And that is my fault, how?" Gregory asked me before turning over to Rick. "You offered to start the fight," Gregory added to him.

That was the truth. We had started the fight. And that was the same reason that we had to end it. We were the ones that had made it worse. And that was why we had to stand up and make it better. "We did. And we're gonna win," Rick told him.

I gave him a small smile. He was right. We were going to win. There was no chance that we could lose. We didn't have that in us anymore. "These are killers," Gregory stated.

Not a bad point, but then again, so were we. And if push came to shove, we could be just as cruel as the Saviors. "Is this how you want to live? Under their thumb, killing your people?" Rick asked Gregory.

This conversation was going nowhere and I could already see that Rick was going to need to be grasping at straws. Gregory wouldn't do this without assurance that we would win. Something that we couldn't give him. "S-Sometimes we don't get to choose what our life looks like. Sometimes, Ricky, you have to count the blessings you have," he said. I rolled my eyes as he once more got one of our names wrong.

"And what blessings do you have?" I spoke over Rick. "The people think that you're a coward. You're giving up all of your hard-earned supplies to the people that are brutally killing your people. You say that you're a leader - you call yourself their leader - act like one!" I shouted.

At least even when Rick had been at his lowest, he was still a leader. He was still willing to listen. And now he was owning up to his weakness and becoming a leader once more. Gregory was nothing more than a coward. "I am acting like one! By not leading them into a war that you can't win," he snapped at me.

It was the nastiest that I had ever heard him. I took a calming breath and moved towards Gregory. "We can win. If you stand up and fight with us. We can have the numbers if we get everyone behind us. We can train them if they're weak. We were once weak," I said, noticing a little snort come from someone in my group. "We learned. They can too."

Something sparked in Gregory's eyes and I thought that I might have made some headway. Maggie stepped forward and came to stand at my side. "How many people can we spare? How many people here can fight?" She asked him.

Suddenly the light in Gregory's eyes disappeared and he shook his head. "'We'?" He asked with a little scoff. "I don't even know how many people we have, Margaret." Another wrong name. "And does it even matter? I mean," he added in another scoff, "w-w-what are you gonna do? Start a platoon of sorghum farmers? 'Cause that's what we got. They grow things. They're not gonna want to fight," he said.

Not the truth. The people here wanted to be under Negan's thumb about as much as we did. Even with the risk, I knew that people would stand up and want to fight. If it meant that there was even a fighting chance that we might win. "You're wrong. When people have the chance to do the right thing, they usually step up. I mean, people just -" Tara had been saying before she was cut off.

"L-Let me stop you before you break into song, okay?" Gregory asked. He cleared his throat and I narrowed my eyes at him. Rude. "And, by the way, who would train all this cannon fodder?"

That was a nice way to speak about your group members. "I will," Sasha said, stepping forward.

"Give me a week," Rosita added.

Gregory groaned at us as I took a step forward. We might need a little more than a week. "We all know how to fight. We can have them proficient with every weapon and excelling with one within a month. Maybe three weeks if they're fast learners," I argued with Gregory.

He turned to me and shook his head. "Rhetorical, okay?" He told us in a sing-song voice. I snarled under my breath and shook my head. "I don't want to know," Gregory said, returning to a normal voice, "I never want to hear another word about any of it, ever."

This was useless. There was no way that we were going to get anything out of Gregory. He hated the thought of having to risk his place of safety. "Would we be better off without the Saviors, yes or no?" Rick asked.

Gregory shook his head and let out a little sigh. I knew that he knew that we would be better off without him. But would he be willing to risk his relative safety here? "Yeah. Sure. Okay," he finally admitted.

"So, what will you do to fix the problem?" Rick asked.

"I didn't say we had a problem," Gregory countered quickly.

"You did."

This was going nowhere fast. "You have a problem!" I snapped, drawing all attention in the room onto myself. "We all have a problem! This is one problem that we all have. If we stand up and fight together we can win and we'll never have to do this again. We all benefit from fighting together," I said softer.

The air in the room had turned extremely awkward. "You think that you won't lose anyone in this fight?" Gregory finally asked me.

My heart gave a painful jolt. Of course we were going to lose more people. Even more at the hands of Negan. But we had to do this. It meant losing no more people. At least to him. "I know that we will. But it doesn't matter. People will continue to die with Negan and the Saviors in control. And they'll die for no reason. At least if people die during this they will be dying for something worth it," I said softly.

Gregory merely shook his head and turned away from me. "And what happens outside of my purview is outside of my purview," he addressed towards Rick.

For the first time since walking into Barrington House, Daryl spoke up. "What the hell, man? You're either with us or you ain't. You're sitting over there talking out of both sides of your mouth," he said.

And he was completely right. Gregory stuttered for a moment. "I - I think I've made my position very clear. And I want to thank all of you for not being here today and not having this meeting with me or - or being seen on your way out. In other words, go out the back," he ordered.

My eyes narrowed and I spoke up before anyone else could. "You're a coward. This war is coming whether you like it or not. And you might be one person that no one will protect against the Saviors. Hide behind your walls. Right now, they're all that you have. Your people? They're not with you. They're with Maggie, Sasha, and Jesus. They're the real leaders in this place," I told him.

Gregory merely smiled at me and once more motioned me towards the back door. "Thank you for the insight, Sunny," he said. I narrowed my eyes at him. He knew my damn name. "I can see why Negan likes you so. The two of you are startlingly alike."

My vision went red. I was nothing like him. And I never would be. The rest of my group seemed to notice as they all tensed. "Why you!" I shouted before lunging after Gregory with my knife straightened out.

He was going to regret ever saying that. Gregory fell back in his chair as my group all stood and stared, debating on what to do. Most seemed like they didn't want to stop me. "No! Get her!" Rick shouted. I knew that he was still trying to play the diplomat.

"Stop!" I heard Daryl shout. Just before I could cut Gregory, Daryl caught me around the waist and threw me backwards. I noticed that his grip wasn't as tight on me as it could have been.

"Let her get him!" Merle shouted in the background.

Rick caught me around the arms as Jesus went to stand in front of me. "Enough! As much as Gregory would deserve it, this is the wrong time to be at each other's throats. And there are still people that rely on what Gregory says," he told me.

Despite wanting to continue fighting against them to kill Gregory, I dropped back. Jesus was right. There were people that relied on Gregory. So I turned back to him with a nasty snarl. "Count your blessings. If we lose this war because Hilltop refuses to join in, Negan and the Saviors will be the least of your worries," I promised him.

His face was as white as a sheet and he was dripping in sweat slightly. The group then turned to leave. I noticed that they all chose to keep me in the front, probably not trusting me to not turn around and kill him. It was the smart choice. I probably would have killed him. He was a dick that deserved to have been dead long ago. Jesus should have been running this place. He was a good and kind man that also knew when it was time to get down to business.

"Walking ballsack," Rosita growled as we walked out. I gave a tiny smile. It sounded like something that Abraham would have said. I wondered if that was where she learned it.

"Wanna knock that idiot's teeth out," Sasha added.

As we walked into the lobby of Barrington House I felt Merle walk up to my side. He had a small smile on his face. "I still say that they should have let you go for him. Could use seeing you in another little cat fight," he told me.

I couldn't help it. An ugly laugh escaped my mouth. "That wouldn't have been a little cat fight. If I got to him I promise that I wouldn't have stopped. I've had enough of people like him," I snarled under my breath.

"Yeah, well, we don't need him anyway," Daryl said as he walked up to my side.

It was probably because we had ears in Hilltop. We had Jesus, Maggie, and Sasha. They had all had time to bond with the residents. Maybe we could still get at least some of Hilltop on our side. "Yeah, that's right. 'Cause we have Maggie and Sasha and Jesus here," Rick said.

Our group came up the doors of Barrington House and swung them open. Perhaps it would be a good chance to go speak to some of the others here. "And Enid," Maggie added.

I glanced up to see that Enid was indeed standing on the porch. She was wearing a smile that I couldn't tell was because she was nervous or happy. And that was never a good thing. "Hey, um -" she awkwardly started.

"What's wrong?" Sasha asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing," Enid immediately said. "Just," she started before laughing, "come outside." That was odd. I had never known Enid to be much for laughter. Or joy. Or really anything like that.

We walked out of the Barrington House and stood on the porch. Down in the yard I noticed that there was a rather large group of Hilltop members. It seemed like there were at least ten people. Maybe fifteen. A good start if they were here to volunteer. "What's going on?" Maggie asked.

A middle-aged black woman - that reminded me very much of Jacqui - stepped forward. "Hey. So, if you don't remember, I'm Bertie. And I owe my life to you all, twice over. A bunch of us do. Enid says that you want Gregory to get us to fight the Saviors with you. Is that true?" Bertie asked.

"Yes," Maggie said.

Bertie looked around to our small group. After a moment she looked over back at Maggie. "Do you think we can win, that we really could beat them? Us?" She asked, motioning to her small group.

"I do."

Bertie let out a little sigh. "Well, Enid says you could show us the way. I'm ready," Bertie said. Damn. Props to Enid for being able to convince them. I would have never been able to do that at her age.

"Me too," a middle-aged man said.

"Yeah."

"Let's do this."

"Let's do it."

"I'm in."

One by one the members of their small group joined in on our fight. There weren't many of them. Maybe twelve tops. But that was still something. We would be able to get more. The problem was that most of them people that had joined our fight were middle-aged. Maybe we would be able to train them with guns or have them help as drivers; something of that sort. But there was no way that we would be able to send them in hand to hand. We would need younger fighters.

Still, this group was better than nothing. We thanked the small group and turned back to each other. "It's a start," Michonne said.

I nodded at her. "We'll get more," Sasha said.

"It still won't be enough," Rick told us.

He really was right. Even if we got the whole community behind us it still probably wouldn't be enough to take on the Saviors. "No, it won't," Rosita agreed.

I rolled my eyes at her. She had been nasty and hostile ever since Abraham had died. I knew that she was pissed and depressed, I was too. But that didn't give her the right to be acting the way that she was. She needed to manage to pull herself together. This was the wrong time for us to be at each other's throat and the last thing that we needed was to be negative. The one way that we were going to make this work was to keep up the hope.

"Doesn't matter," I interjected. "Negan lacks one thing that we have. The element of surprise. He doesn't know what we're planning. If we're careful, he never will. He thinks that we're all still weak from being under his rule," I told them.

This time it was Maggie that stepped in to my defense. "She's right. We have the high ground right now. We can't lose it. Although it really would help to have some more people," she said softly.

And she was completely right. We needed to get more people. Without people we weren't going to have a chance in hell to beat them. "Well, we find the right stuff, then maybe we don't need the numbers. Blow 'em up, burn 'em to the ground," Daryl said.

That was true. We could always go for a random attack. "You said there weren't just soldiers with the Saviors, that there were workers there. People didn't have a choice," Tara said, looking to Daryl and myself.

We both nodded at her. "That's true too. Daryl was kept mostly in a cell but I walked around plenty. Negan only fronts his strongest men. Most of the men and women at the outposts are strong. They'll be an issue. But in that main compound? Negan has his wives and their families, other families, plenty of people that can't defend themselves. We can win this. Between all of us we can," I said determinedly.

It was the truth. If we were careful we were going to be able to win. We would attack the outposts first. Then we could move to the main compound. "We gotta win," Daryl said, laying an arm over my shoulder.

Smiling softly, I leaned into him. "We need more hands, another group. Like Rain said, Negan has the outposts. And there are stronger people there. The geography, the distance works against us. We gotta get back. If they come looking for Daryl and Rain, we need to be there," Rick said.

A strange sick feeling sank into my stomach. He was right. Daryl and I had to be careful. Once Negan realized that Daryl and I were gone he was going to launch a search for us. "You don't have to get back. Not yet," Jesus said. We all turned back to him curiously. He held out two hand-held radios. "They're both theirs, long range. We can listen in, keep track of them," he said.

He handed one to myself and the other to Rick. "So, if we're not going back, what are we doing, then?" Michonne asked. Good point. I hadn't even thought about that.

Jesus wore a bright smile on his face. That didn't make me feel good. "I think it's time we introduced you to Ezekiel. King Ezekiel," he said.

King? Did I hear him right? Glancing around me, I saw that everyone else was giving the same blank stare. Yep, I definitely heard him right. "King?" Rick asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes. King Ezekiel," Jesus said.

And with that we all turned to leave the Hilltop. Everyone was coming with us with the exception of Maggie and Enid. They were going to take care of this place and look out for some new fighters while we went to speak with this new Kind Ezekiel. The man that I knew everyone was dying to meet. As we headed out towards the gate and towards a rather large truck - that looked like it belonged to the Saviors - our group began to hop into the truck. Before we left I turned back and walked over to Maggie.

She was watching us with a small smile. With one little motion from myself she stepped away from Enid and met me in the middle. "Hey Mags, take care of yourself while you're here. We'll see you again soon," I told her, bringing her into a tight hug.

Maggie leaned into my ear. "You be careful too. All of you. Rain, you need to get looked at sooner rather than later. If there's something that needs to be looked at you need to know," she told me.

I backed away and blushed softly. "I know. I know," I whispered to her. The last thing that I wanted was something to interrupt the plans to attack the Sanctuary. One day I would know. But that day wasn't today. "I'll get looked at soon, alright?" I promised her.

Maggie nodded at me and pressed a small kiss to my cheek. "Okay. I love you. Be careful out there," she told me.

"Love you too. We'll be back soon," I promised her before turning away and heading towards the truck. Most of our members were already piled inside. I hopped into the back seat and took a seat next to Daryl. He was staring down at his lap. "You alright?" I asked him.

I grabbed his hand tightly in my own and laid it in my lap. "Yeah. We need to get out there and find someone else to help us. Negan has too many people that are too well trained. We need more fighters," he told me.

Letting out a little sigh as we began to quickly rumble down the road I nodded at him. "Even the ones that we do manage to get from the Hilltop won't be enough," I said softly. Daryl still looked perturbed. I leaned over to him and pressed a small kiss against his chin, pushing his face to look towards me. "Hey, don't worry about this. We're going to get this worked out," I told him.

"And until then we bury our heads in the sand," Daryl said angrily.

I sighed at him and grabbed his hand. "We have to. You know that we do. Negan and the Saviors are going to be looking for us. And if they find us, things aren't going to go over well. You'll be killed. That can't happen," I told him, pressing a small kiss to his hand.

He looked over at me and kissed me softly on top of the head. The rest of our group turned to look away. They knew that Daryl and I had been apart for weeks. It was good to be back together. And they were respecting that. "It won't. I'll get to him first," Daryl snarled.

"We just have to give this some time. We aren't getting out of this without some back and forth. But until the time comes that we're actually ready to start this war, the two of us have to lay low. We're going to win this. We will. But it's going to take some time," I told him softly.

There were a few nods that were exchanged in the front of the truck. Daryl merely shook his head at me. "We're gonna be useless."

"That's not true," I argued. Despite the fact that it really did feel like it was the truth. "We're going to have to be in the background for the time being. For ours - and everyone else's safety. But that doesn't mean that we can't be useful in other regards," I told him. Daryl had nothing more to say. After a few minutes I sighed and turned to the front of the car. "Jesus. This man - this King Ezekiel - do you think that he'll be easily swayed?" I asked him.

He was driving us down a road. It was the one direction that we had never been in. It explained how we had never seen this place before. Jesus sighed and shook his head. "No. He'll listen to reason more than Gregory will but I don't doubt that it will be difficult to get him to join in on the fight," he said.

Listening to reason was better than nothing else. I understood that this was a hard thing to get behind. But listening would be more helpful then he could imagine. It might make a huge difference. "This is the guy that leads another one of these groups? King Ezekiel?" I asked.

Of course if he was a king it was the only thing that made sense. But why did they call him king? I supposed that the same could have been asked for why the residents of Woodbury had once called my father Governor. "Yes. They're the other group that the Hilltop has been working with. But they have a different type of relationship with the Saviors. Their agreement isn't nearly as dangerous as ours is. Only a select few amount of people know there," Jesus said.

My eyebrows - along with many of the others in the car - raised. They were able to keep an agreement with the Saviors non-violent? "How?" I asked.

"They wanted to keep it a secret. They wanted to protect their people," Jesus told me. I nodded at him. "The Saviors agreed to it," he said after a moment.

"Why?" I asked.

They had made our lives a living hell, they had tormented those of us who had been in the clearing, taken some of us hostage, and attacked our home. The Hilltop too. They were terrible to us in every way and sense of the word. They raided our homes and killed our people. So what was it that made this place so different? Why were they in a secret servitude? The last thing that I would have thought that Negan would be okay with was people that were under his control not knowing about him.

He was the theatrical type. "Because they have a strict set up. Negan demands what he wants from the Kingdom. They go out and get it within a set amount of time. As long as they don't screw up anything that Negan demands of, they never fight each other. If they do, someone dies," Jesus said.

The Kingdom? What the hell? I guessed that we'd get to that later. It was an interesting set-up. A tough one too. They had to find exactly what the Saviors wanted. But now I understood why the Saviors allowed for their agreement to be kept in secret. It was the one way that they were able to get exactly what they wanted and still pose themselves as a threat. One day, if the Kingdom ever stopped giving them what they wanted, they would come to light and attack them. Until then it was the best of both world.

And it also might manage to provide for a good place to stage an attack on the Saviors. Suddenly I found myself extremely excited to meet this King Ezekiel. "And these people have never noticed that some of theirs are dying?" I asked Jesus.

"They can always say that it was a walker attack," Jesus told me and I nodded. "It's not very many. Usually they have everything that they need. But some of their people still die. Negan and the Saviors still don't play nice with them. But they hate the Saviors too. They have a reason to fight against them," he said.

That was true. Even without a violent agreement with the Saviors, no one wanted to serve people that belittled them. And the people might be furious if they knew what all of their hard work was going to. But we would have to bring it up with King Ezekiel first before doing anything else. "But you think that they'd at least be willing to hear us out?" I asked.

Jesus let out a little sigh. "King Ezekiel is a strange man but he is fair." I was used to strange men. I had a friend named Jesus and now I was about to meet a man named King Ezekiel. "He'll definitely listen to you. There might be a chance that he'll even be willing to fight with us." A few of our group smiled. "But know that the Kingdom - while well-armed - are not fighters. They are training constantly though."

That didn't matter. We would be able to train them. We had done the same with our people once. Almost seventy of them. "How many people do they have?" I asked.

"A lot. Less than the Hilltop but most of the people in the Kingdom can fight," Jesus told me. I nodded. Hilltop had about half of the population that Negan seemed to have. He would always have the upper hand. But if everyone in the Kingdom could fight, that gave us a good advantage. "Even the kids are learning to defend themselves," he told us.

A small smile broke over my face. Good deal. Kids needed to learn to defend themselves these days, not what the elements on the periodic table were. "Even with Alexandria and the Kingdom we might not have enough people to help. Hilltop too. Like you said. Most of you aren't fighters. We didn't have nearly enough volunteers," I said softly.

While I was excited, I was also realistic. I knew that we were risking a lot in this fight. Rick sighed and nodded. "She's right. There are too many Saviors."

The outposts were going to be the big difference. If we could isolate them we might be able to make some headway. "But we still might stand a chance. Lots of the men under Negan's control hate him. They don't want to be working with him. Maybe there's a chance that some of them would turn on him," I said.

It was true. I couldn't imagine that there was lots of lost love between Negan and Dwight. "Maybe. But that's still blind faith. For now we can't rely on that," Rick said.

We drove on for a few more minutes before we stopped in the middle of a fork in the road. Off to the right of the car was a rather large wall that was lined with ivy. For a moment I thought that maybe there were either too many walkers in the road or maybe Jesus had forgotten which way to go. But it was neither. We had just stopped. One walker was against the ground and growling as Jesus shut the engine off. Rick and Jesus immediately jumped out, myself following. Daryl hung out near the window as the others just watched.

I took one of the throwing knives that was in my hand and tossed it at the walker. It hit and the walker fell to the side. Rick grabbed my knife and handed it back to me. "It's really called 'the Kingdom'?" Rick asked.

"Yeah. I didn't name it," Jesus said with a little laugh.

I grinned at him. "How much farther?" Rick asked. I wanted to know why the hell we had stopped.

Jesus motioned back to the wall and I nodded. Like Alexandria and Hilltop, the Kingdom had closed walls. "Well, technically, we're already here. I mean, we're always here, but here we are - at the Kingdom. Well, its outer edge," he said, once more motioning to the ivy-covered wall.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Daryl stood and popped up through the sunroof of the car. He - and the others that I could see through the windows - looked confused. "Hey, what the hell we waitin' on?" He shouted.

"Waiting for them," Jesus said, pointing backwards with a small smile.

If I had been shocked at the idea of the Kingdom before, I was even more shocked now. What the hell was with these people? I turned back to see two men on horseback. That wasn't exactly what was so strange. Gas was hard to come by these days and without someone that knew much about cars they were difficult to keep running. But these two men were wearing something akin to umpire uniforms that I supposed were designed to be worn like armor. They had weapons slung across their backs as the cantered down the road towards us.

Now each one of my group members were hovering outside of the truck. The horse that a Spanish man in his early thirties was sitting on blew out a puff of air. "Who dares to trespass on the sovereign land of the -" the man howled in what I assumed was supposed to be a regal accent before stopping himself. "Oh, shit. Jesus, is that you?" He called out in a typical northern accent.

I scoffed as the men approached on their horses. The middle-aged white man seemed much less friendly. Jesus raised his hand and waved. "Who are all these people, Paul?" The white man called out. He was the first person that I had ever heard call Jesus by his given name.

"Hi, Richard. Nice to see you," Jesus called out. He seemed amused by Richard's lack of persona.

"It's good to see you, too," Richard said before turning his gaze back onto us. It wasn't really a mean stare but it was scrutinizing. Although it was all of us against him and his friend. "Your friends, who are they?" He asked.

Jesus motioned backwards at our group. "This is Rick Grimes. He's the leader of a like-minded community. These are some of his people," he said, motioning to the rest of us. "We would like to request an audience with King Ezekiel."

Richard dismounted from his horse and walked over to us, gun in hand. By now Michonne and Daryl had joined Rick, Jesus, and I in the road. "Get out of the car," Richard ordered. The truck doors opened and the remainder of our group emerged. "You say they're a like-minded community. Like-minded how?" Richard asked.

"We live, we trade, we fight the dead. Sometimes others," Jesus said.

I figured that it was his not-so-subtle way of hinting that we as well served the Saviors. Richard nodded and motioned around to us. "Line up," he ordered.

My eyebrows knitted as Daryl took a step forward and shook his head. "Okay. This is a waste of time. Come on. Let's go," he snapped.

No one else bothered to walk back to the car. I grabbed Daryl's hand and forced him back into a line with us. Richard turned to my husband. "Maybe you're right. The King is a busy man. And it's a dangerous world. We don't usually allow a pack of strangers to waltz through our door," he said.

I nodded at him. I could understand that. The world was dangerous. And the Saviors had a funny habit of making people no longer trust each other. "We want to make the world less dangerous, and we are all here to show the King how serious we are about that," Michonne said.

"The car stays outside. You gotta hand over your guns," Richard said.

Rick nodded at him. "We only have two," he said. Rick handed over his Python and I watched, slipping my knife back into my sheath. It was the only weapon that I had on me right now. When I'd run from the Sanctuary I hadn't been able to grab my bow. It was still there.

One day I would be sure to get it back. Richard took the second from Carl before nodding to us. "Okay. Follow me," Richard said.

The Spanish man turned his horse and began up the road, leading our small pack. Richard and Jesus were behind him. Jesus was merely holding his horse by the reins as we walked. The rest of our group followed behind. Daryl was at my side with Merle right behind me. I was standing near Rick towards the front so that I could overhear the conversation that was happening between Jesus and Richard.

"Before we go in, you have a brain and a backbone, so I'm talking to you, not Gregory," Richard told Jesus. Ah, so he was as big of a fan of Gregory as we were. "Whatever you're trying to start here, another protection pact, a trade, none of it matters if we don't start dealing with the real problem - the Saviors."

"You know, Richard, I've never seen you smile. I think that's gonna change today," Jesus told him before walking forward and past Richard. I smiled softly. They reminded me of Daryl and Rick.

As we headed towards the entrance of The Kingdom Rick fell back slightly so that he was standing next to me. "Rain? I need you to do me a favor," he said and I nodded. "Talk to this King Ezekiel. I have a feeling that he's not going to want to help us. Not without some persuasion," he told me.

Threatening the man that we were trying to make a deal with was not going to be our wisest choice. "I don't think that hurting him is going to help us," I told Rick.

We were not Negan. That was the whole point that we were trying to make by being here. There was a difference between being hard when you needed to be and just being cruel. Rick shook his head at me. "I don't want you to hurt him. I want you to speak to him and make friends with him," he told me.

My eyebrows raised to my forehead. Perhaps we should have brought Maggie along if we wanted someone to make friends with King Ezekiel. I definitely was not the friendliest person that I knew. "I'm not so good at making friends," I said softly.

Rick shook his head at me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "That's what you think. But I know who you are. You made me like you, you made Merle like you, Daryl too, everyone else here. You're one of the most loved people here." I laughed under my breath. It wasn't my fault that they were bad judges of character. "Sometimes you need someone who's more than a leader to try and persuade a good person to do the right thing - the hard thing," Rick told me.

Was he telling me that this was a job that wasn't for the leader? Wasn't making new friends and new alliances something that a leader was supposed to do? And what did more than a leader mean? "More than a leader?" I asked him after a moment.

Rick looked over at me and nodded. "Simply a good person," he told me.

I shook my head at him and shifted on my feet. "I'm not a good person," I said softly. I couldn't be. Not when everyone was comparing me to Negan all the time.

"Yes you are," Rick snapped at me. "I see that. Everyone else sees that. And I need you to make sure that King Ezekiel sees that too. Can you at least try?" He asked me.

After a moment I let out a little breath. Could I try? Sure. I would give it the best try that I could. But I wasn't sure that it would really work. Although if it was something that Rick wanted me to do I supposed that I could suck it up and try. "I'll give it a shot," I told him after a beat of silence.

Rick smiled softly at me and nodded. "You'll succeed. I know that you will. It's who you are," he told me. A small smile spread over my face before I glanced forward.

My first impression of the Kingdom felt like I was walking back into high school after all of these years. And after a moment I realized why. That's what this place was. An old high school. I had once recommended that we try and find a school - before we had found the prison, that is. They were built in the courtyard. There were two large sections of gardens - and probably more that I couldn't see - with about five workers in each. In the back of the community were armored men running in a tight-knit group. Training. The whole place had an air of peacefulness.

The large iron gates closed behind us. This place was clearly more secure than Alexandria or Hilltop. Our entire group stood near one of the gardens and watched members walk back and forth, talking animatedly. They barely passed us a second glance as they walked by. I couldn't even begin to describe how much I appreciated it. I was sick of being stared at like I was the latest exhibit in the zoo. There were a good amount of women and children but it seemed to have mostly men.

Still, they were all holding weapons. Even the kids. "They have the numbers," Michonne said. Her hands were on her hips and she was looking around with a smile.

"But can they fight?" Rosita asked, ever the downer.

Jesus turned to us with a little smile. I figured that if they were training everyone, even the kids, they could probably fight. "Oh, they can fight," Jesus said.

"Maybe," Daryl said, looking around suspiciously. I nudged him roughly in the chest. We already had one downer. We didn't need two.

The group was silent for a moment until I realized that Rick's eyes were locked on a figure at a distance. I glanced out to see if I could tell what he was looking at so intently. But it was merely a group of training men. Tara began to walk off and I turned to see where she was going. "Morgan?" She asked with a smile. I turned back to see that he was indeed walking over to us.

I knew that he wasn't dead but that didn't mean that I wasn't thrilled to see him safely here. I cocked my head, curious as to how he had gotten here. He was looking over us with a smile. "Hey," he greeted us before wrapping his arms around Tara. My smile almost instantly fell. He didn't know about Glenn and Abraham. Spencer and Olivia too. Not if he had been here the entire time. "Hi," Morgan chirped to Sasha as he hugged her.

"Hey, Morgan. Good to see you again," I told him as he released Sasha and pulled me into a tight hug. I never wanted to let go of him but I knew that this was the wrong time to talk about what had happened.

"How do you know each other?" Richard asked.

"We go back to the start," Rick said.

Richard nodded at us. "Well, the King is ready to see you." He motioned for everyone to follow him and they did. It looked like we would all be heading right into the auditorium. Or what had once been the auditorium. I grimaced at the place and shook my head. High school had not been a fun time for me.

As the group began to walk into the building I noticed Rick stop and grab Morgan by the arm. Daryl and I stopped with them. "Did you find Carol?" Rick asked Morgan.

My heart dropped. "Carol's not in Alexandria?" I asked. Of course she wasn't. I hadn't seen her when Negan had brought us for the delivery. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen Carol in nearly three weeks.

Morgan shook his head at me. "She left right when you and Daryl went out looking for Dwight. Actually she probably left a few hours before you two did," he told me. I let out a deep breath. She didn't know what had happened then either. "And I did, yeah," Morgan told Rick.

"Where is she? Is she okay?" Daryl asked.

She was one of his best friends. I knew that he was afraid for her. "She was here, and then she left. You know, she wasn't too happy, me following her. She wanted to get away from us, from everyone. But when I found her, she was shot. It was just a graze. I got her back here. They got doctors. They're good," he told us.

Thank God. She was hurt but at least she was alright. Even if she wasn't here anymore. I had noticed that she wasn't doing well. If I hadn't gone to attack Dwight we might have been able to stop her and help her. We might have been able to never meet Negan and the Saviors. We might have never lost Glenn and Abraham. Spencer and Olivia might still be alive. A lot of things might have happened.

"Was it them?" Daryl asked about Carol being shot. I knew that he was asking about the Saviors.

"It was," he told us. I grimaced and nodded. "She had crossed with some of them, and one of them followed her, tried to kill her, but I stopped him. I killed him. I had to," Morgan said and I grabbed his hand. I knew that he took the no-killing rule to heart. "Carol was here. She got help. Now she's gone," he said softly.

There was nothing more to say after that. We merely walked into the auditorium and I grimaced at the change of light. There were skylights in the auditorium that offered some lighting but it was much darker than it was outside. As we walked into the room I suddenly realized why this place was called the Kingdom and why the man that ran it called himself King Ezekiel. I also briefly wondered if maybe this whole thing was a dream and I was still in the Sanctuary.

The men that were from the Kingdom were standing and sitting up on the stage. My group was stopped in the aisle. Two men were on the left side of King Ezekiel. One was a younger boy, probably in his older teenage years, with curly blonde hair. He was probably attempting to look serious but he only made me want to laugh. The other man was in his late twenties or early thirties with dark hair and a dark beard. He was wearing a red armor suit that looked like he belonged in Japan. They were both carrying spears.

But it wasn't them that I needed to be worried with. It was the man that was sitting in a throne-like chair in the center of the room. He was a black man in his late thirties or early forties with long peppered dreadlocks. He had a full - but neatly trimmed - beard of the same color. His eyes were dark but smiling. He wore thick fingerless gloves, a deep brown trench coat, a light blue shirt with yellow stars on it, and dark black boots. There were even a few feathers that were threaded into one of his dreads. In one hand he held a staff.

Still though, it wasn't any of those things that caught me off guard about King Ezekiel or the Kingdom. It was the fact that in King Ezekiel's right hand was a long chain. And attached to that chain, staring at us with dark eyes, was a mother-fucking tiger. The tiger was traipsing around the stage behind the throne as Richard walked up and stood on the far side of the stage.

The tiger walked around the back of the stage before taking a seat next to the throne on Ezekiel's right. As Jesus walked forward the rest of my group were frozen in their spots. I was at the front with Rick. "You see the tiger too, right?" I asked softly.

I noticed that Ezekiel's smiling eyes were on me but my eyes couldn't stray away from the tiger. "Yeah," Rick mumbled.

"Mm-hmm," Daryl hummed.

Merle let out something that sounded like it might have been a breath of relief. "Oh good. Thought that might've been from all the drugs," he told me.

Despite the fact that I normally would have laughed I couldn't bring myself to laugh at the moment. Not until someone explained to me why King Ezekiel had a pet tiger that was currently growling loudly. "Jesus!" King Ezekiel greeted loudly. His accent sounded almost Bahamian. "It pleases me to see you, old friend."

The man with the red suit of armor extended his hands with a wide smile. "It pleases him, indeed!" He announced loudly. He reminded me of an Oriental version of Santa Claus.

"Jerry," Ezekiel reprimanded before turning back to us. He was watching us though I knew that he was regarding Jesus. I was still locked onto the tiger. "Tell me, what news do you bring good King Ezekiel? Are these new allies you've brought me?" He asked.

Jesus took a step forward while our group stayed huddled together in the back of the theater. "Indeed, they are, Your Majesty. This is -" Jesus said before turning back. He seemed to finally realize that we hadn't been following him. "Oh, right. I forgot to mention that -" Jesus started awkwardly before being cut off by Rick.

"Yeah, a tiger," Rick said as if we were discussing Sunday brunch. Almost like the tiger knew that we were talking about it, it raised its head and let out a loud roar. A few of our group members took tentative steps back. I took one forward. Merle caught my arm to keep me from moving any closer.

"Dude's got a fucking tiger," I said in awe, unable to stop myself.

Rick sighed and came to stand beside me. "Way to make a good first impression."

The comments didn't seem to bother Ezekiel. The dark-skinned man merely laughed and nodded at me. Had I somehow already managed to make him like me? That would be ideal. "That I do," Ezekiel motioned.

I gave a long glance over the tiger, who was seemingly staring at me. Maybe it was as curious as me as I was about it. The tiger seemed to be on the smaller side and less aggressive than I would have been expecting. I also couldn't see any extremities that gave me any indication that it was a male. So I took a guess. "Can I pet her?" I asked Ezekiel.

Jerry and the younger boy that were standing on the stage laughed. Daryl nudged me roughly in the back. "Rain!" Merle snapped at me.

"What?" I asked as I turned back to my group members. They were all staring at me as if I'd grown a third arm. "Oh come on, that's so cool! I've seen some weird shit in the new world but this guy has a damn tiger as a pet and no one else wants to pet it?" I asked.

I knew that behind us Ezekiel was watching us with a small grin. "It's a tiger," Sasha pointed out dryly.

No shit, Sasha. I thought it was a fucking elephant. "And it's cool," I argued childishly.

Up on the stage three of the four Kingdom men were laughing. Richard still wore a straight face. I see what Jesus means about never smiling. "I appreciate your enthusiasm for my friend, Shiva, -" Ezekiel stopped when he realized that he didn't know my name.

"Rain."

He gave me a friendly smile. "- Rain, pretty name, but Shiva is sensitive around so many new faces. Perhaps if we meet again with less of your friends around," he told me. I nodded and walked forward into one of the pews near the front of the stage. Daryl came to stand next to me and Rick stood in the aisle just in front of us. Everyone else took pews behind the three of us. I noticed that most people were staying as far away from Shiva as they could.

The conversation had finally moved past Shiva as Jesus came to stand with Rick, who gave me a little smile. Despite not being the most traditional way to make friends, it seemed that Ezekiel was at least on his way to liking me. "This is Rick Grimes, the leader of Alexandria, and these are some of his people," Jesus introduced.

"I welcome you all to the Kingdom, good travelers. Now, what brings you to our fair land? Why do you seek an audience with the King?" He asked.

I had to turn my gaze towards the ground to prevent from laughing. This had to be an act. There was no way that someone was really like this. Of course, the guy did have a tiger. "Ezekiel - King Ezekiel. Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom - all three of our communities have something in common. We all serve the Saviors. Alexandria already fought them once, and we won." Ezekiel raised a brow. "We thought we took out the threat, but we didn't know then what we know now. We only beat one outpost. We've been told you have a deal with them, that you know them."

The smile that had been on Ezekiel's face since we had walked into the auditorium finally fell. "Then you know they rule through violence and fear," he stated, loud and clear.

His somewhat angry gaze then turned on Jesus. "Your Majesty, I only told them of the -"

"Our deal with the Saviors is not known among my people - for good cause. We made you a party to that secret when you told us of the Hilltop's own travails, but we did not expect you to share -"

"We can help each other," Rick interrupted.

"Don't interrupt the King," Jerry snapped.

Ezekiel motioned for his man to stand down. "We brought you into our confidence. Why did you break it?" Ezekiel asked Jesus.

Jesus took a step forward and motioned backwards towards us. "Because I want you to hear Rick's plans."

Ezekiel stared at us for a moment before nodding and looking over towards Rick. Maybe if he doesn't like what we say he'll let Shiva loose on us. "And what plans have you, Rick Grimes of Alexandria?" Ezekiel asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Rick took in a deep breath and I nodded at him. We might as well just rip the bandage off. No point in beating around the bush with this one. "We came to ask the Kingdom, to ask you, to join us in fighting the Saviors, fighting for freedom for all of us," he said.

Ezekiel shifted in the chair before finally nodding. I knew that he wasn't fond of what we were asking him. I didn't blame him. Going to war wasn't an appealing option. But staying under the control of the Saviors was even worse. At least for us it was. "What you are asking is very serious," Ezekiel finally said in a dark voice.

Our group nodded in solemn silence. "Several of our people - good people - were killed by the Saviors, brutally," Rick said.

I gave a painful twitch at the memory. Begging Negan to make it myself, telling him that I would marry him, watching him kill Abraham, slinging his blood onto my face, threatening to kill Daryl, taking Glenn's life instead, Maggie's pleas, Glenn's last words, being taken, and everything that had happened to us at the Sanctuary. I looked down to the ground with my eyes closed tightly. I was trying to forget everything. Most of all I was trying to forget the feel of Negan's hands on me and Glenn and Abraham's blood on me.

Once I opened my eyes I noticed that Ezekiel was watching me. He wasn't the only one. Morgan had a stunned look on his face as he looked over at us. "Who?" He asked in a soft voice.

"Abraham," Rosita answered in a mean snarl. I turned a heated glare on her. Morgan was just asking. He had done nothing wrong. "Glenn." A small twitch from me. "Spencer, Olivia. Eugene was taken," she said. My jaw nearly dropped. Daryl seemed surprised too. They had taken Eugene? "They took Daryl and Rain too. They both escaped. Every second that they're out here, they're a target. You gonna say you were right?" She snapped at Morgan.

No one needed to speak about myself and Daryl being taken. We were big kids that could manage ourselves. "Drop it. We're all upset. No need to be at each other's throats and blaming one another," I snapped at her.

Ezekiel was still watching me with a curious gaze. "No," Morgan said quietly. It somewhat diffused the tense air after my little outburst. "I'm - I'm just real sorry they're gone."

Clearly not wanting the conversation to get even worse, Rick turned back to Ezekiel. "Negan murdered Glenn and Abraham, beat them to death," he said. Once more I gave a little twitch and once more Ezekiel looked over at me.

"Terrorized the Hilltop, set loose walkers just to make a point," Sasha added. I turned back to her and cocked my eyebrow. They had set walkers loose in Hilltop? That must have been what Jesus was talking about when he said that Maggie and Sasha were brave in saving the community while Gregory had hidden.

"I used to think the deal was something we could live with. A lot of us did. But that's changing. So let's change the world, Your Majesty," Jesus said, in an attempt to sway Ezekiel onto our side.

Rick stepped forward once more. "I want to be honest about what we're asking. My people are strong, but there's not enough of us. We don't have guns - not enough, at least. Not a lot of weapons, period," Rick said.

For the first time since entering the Kingdom, Richard spoke. "We have people. And weapons. If we strike first, together, we can beat them. Your Majesty, no more waiting for things to get worse beyond what we can handle," Richard said, turning to Ezekiel. I couldn't read the man. "We set things right. The time is now."

Ezekiel let out a little sigh as we all stood in silence and waited. "Morgan, what say you?" Ezekiel finally asked.

"Me?" Morgan asked.

I raised an eyebrow. Morgan had presumably been here for almost three weeks. In that time he must have somehow earned Ezekiel's ear. That was a good thing. Or it might be. But Morgan was against having to kill someone. And I was sure that no matter what he still felt that way. "Speak," Ezekiel ordered my group member.

Morgan was standing off to the side of the stage and he shifted. "People will die. A lot of people, and not just the Saviors. It - If we can find another way, we have to. Maybe it's just about Negan. Just capturing him, holding him. Maybe I -"

That was not the solution. I had thought about that as well. Simply assassinating him. But the problem was that he wasn't the only one. If he died someone else would take his place. "Daryl and I lived there for a few weeks. Like Rosita said, we were taken and held prisoner. I can promise you that it isn't just about Negan. He's like a Hydra. Cut off one head and two more take its place. If we do something to him then all of the Saviors attack and get him back and we've only made things worse. We have to take them all out before -"

"The hour grows late," Ezekiel said, speaking over me. I sighed and watched as Shiva let out a deep growl. "Rick Grimes of Alexandria you have given the King much to ponder," Ezekiel said.

Before everyone could stand and break away from the meeting I noticed Rick take a step forward. Ezekiel stopped in his tracks. "Well, when I was a kid, uh, my mother told me a story. There was a road to a kingdom, and there was a rock in the road. And people would just avoid it, but horses would break their legs on it and die, wagon wheels would come off. People would lose the goods they'd be coming to sell. That's what happened to a little girl. The cask of beer her family brewed fell right off. It broke. Dirt soaked it all up, and it was gone. That was her family's last chance. They were hungry. They didn't have any money.

"She just sat there and cried, but she wondered why it was still there for it to hurt someone else. So she dug at that rock in the road with her hands till they bled, used everything she had to pull it out. It took hours. And then when she was gonna fill it up, she saw something in it. It was a bag of gold. All right. The king had put that rock in the road because he knew the person who dug it out, who did something, they deserved a reward. They deserved to have their life changed for the good. Forever."

I gave a soft smile at Rick. Negan was the rock in the road and we were going to be the little girl. Ezekiel stared at us all for a while before nodding. But I knew that it wasn't to affirm his position on the fight with the Saviors. "I invite you all to sup with us and stay till the morrow," Ezekiel said.

Rick shook his head at the leader and I groaned. I was starving. "Yeah, we need to get back home," he said.

My stomach turned painfully. Were Daryl and I even going to be able to go home? That was the first place that Negan would look for us. It might not be safe for us to even try to head back. "I shall deliver my decree in the morn," Ezekiel finally said. He stood and banged the staff that he was holding on the ground twice.

We watched as Ezekiel handed the chain to Shiva over to Jerry and Jerry disappeared through a back doorway. I assumed that Jerry was one of the few other people that Shiva trusted to be with. Ezekiel watched them go for as long as he could. He then turned and walked out of the same doorway. It must have either been his room or simply the place that they kept Shiva back there. Richard walked down the aisle and motioned for our group to follow him outside. We walked back out into the sun and took seats near something that had probably once been the outdoor cafe where students had eaten their lunches.

Our small group took seats near each other. Richard offered us all water as we waited. I was one of the few that accepted the offer. Daryl and I were sitting on a bench seat and I leaned my forehead against his shoulder. It was rather warm out in the courtyard and my head was pounding. This was simply too much. I knew that the planning for this war wouldn't be easy. But it seemed like with every passing hour it only became more complicated and made less sense to go to war with the Saviors.

The hours ticked by and we were eventually shown to two rooms for all of us to sleep in. Rick, Carl, Michonne, Tara, and Sasha would be in one room. Merle, Rosita, Jesus, Daryl, and I would be in another. We all took our spots next to each other, with the doors to the adjoining rooms open, and ate our dinners. It was nothing spectacular but it was the first time that we had eaten in a long time. I downed my meal quickly before being offered Daryl's leftovers - which I refused. He didn't seem to appreciate it. Eventually I caved and ate a tiny bit of his meat.

As Ezekiel had said, it was already late when we had decided to lay down. Most of the group went straight to sleep without another word. I knew that they didn't want to think about whether or not we would be going to war in the morning. I had a strange feeling that Ezekiel would take some convincing. Myself and Daryl didn't bother going to sleep. We stayed in the far corner of the room and spoke in hushed tones, so not to wake the others up. We spoke about everything and nothing. We talked about the Kingdom, how much we had missed each other, what might happen, and how cool it might be to have a pet tiger.

Finally the conversation took a turn. "Do you think that Ezekiel will say yes?" I asked Daryl.

"No," he answered quickly.

I let out a soft sigh. "Yeah. Me either. But I hold out hope that he might. I saw his face. He feels for us. He wants to do something. He's just scared. I understand that. He'd be risking a lot. This place is incredible," I said softly.

Daryl was silent for a little while as I laid on his chest. "Yeah. But he's still a king. He wants to call himself that he's gotta act like one. More than just having a damn tiger for a pet."

"I don't get you guys, the tiger thing is so cool!"

"This is what I meant about you being reckless," Daryl told me, teasingly flicking me against the nose. I chuckled softly and leaned over to give Daryl a soft kiss. "They got a lot of families here too. Still won't be enough people."

"No. But it's a start." The air was silent for a moment before I took in a deep breath. Maybe now was the right time to say something. "Daryl?" I called out softly. He hummed back at me. "What would you think about having a family?" I asked him.

He sat upright, gently knocking me off of his chest. "You know what I think. You know that I want one. Did you mean right now?" He asked. After a beat I nodded. "Rain... I want a family with you. I do. But this is the wrong time. We're about to go to war."

"It's never going to be the right time. There is no right time in this world anymore," I argued.

We were both silent for a moment before Daryl opened his mouth. He seemed to be putting the pieces together. Although I knew that the last thing that he wanted to do was take a guess at this. Especially if I really was wrong about the whole thing. "You trying to tell me something?" Daryl asked. I merely shrugged my shoulders. "What the hell does that mean?" He snapped.

"It means that I don't know. I don't know. I got a little light-headed out by the Sanctuary earlier. Nearly threw up. Jesus wanted Dr. Carson to take a look at me. It could just be dehydration. Starvation. Exhaustion. All sorts of things," I said softly.

He definitely was not happy with me. "You left without letting Carson take a look at you?" He asked me. I nodded at him. "When you might be...?" He asked while trailing off, unable to finish the thought. I nodded slowly at him. "Do you think that you are?" He asked.

Once more I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. It doesn't feel like it but I don't know."

Daryl's eyes hardened as he looked at me. "You're getting looked at. If we go back to Alexandria in the morning, Hilltop, or even if we stay here. You're getting looked at. You need to know. We need to know... I need to know."

"I know." We were silent for a moment as I stared up at the ceiling of the room. My heart was beating rapidly and I smiled as I realized that Daryl's hand was laying gently across my stomach. "What if I am?" I asked him after a moment of silence.

Daryl turned me to face him and I smiled awkwardly. "Nothing would make me happier," he told me. And I could tell that he was being completely honest. I pushed Daryl onto his back slightly and smiled into a kiss. He rolled the two of us over and I chuckled against his mouth. It had been far too long since we were like this. But he knew now. And I had my answer. No matter what, things were going to be okay. And that was all that I needed to know.

The next morning our groups were woken by Richard. He had come into the rooms with breakfast in hand. I noticed that Daryl was watching me eat my breakfast and he ever offered me parts of his eggs and bacon. I had rolled my eyes and been forced to remind him that I might not be. He might just trying to be getting me fat. He had thankfully laughed at my joke. It wasn't long after we'd had breakfast that our groups had been ushered outside to meet with Ezekiel once more. He had evidently been up late last night debating on what was the right thing to do. Our group shifted nervously as we walked out to meet with him.

I found myself standing in a garden near the tomatoes when a figure came to stand next to me. It was Ezekiel. Shiva was nowhere to be found. "I apologize for not bringing Shiva, she makes the people nervous," he told me.

I chuckled under my breath and nodded. "Perhaps another time. I'll hold you up to letting me pet her one day," I told Ezekiel with a friendly smile. He seemed like a nice enough man to me.

"One day I promise that you will. She seemed curious about you," Ezekiel noted.

I noticed that my group was watching us but they didn't make a move to walk over to us. After a moment of silence I tuned to Ezekiel. "I want to be candid with you about what happens in their home. The place that they call the Sanctuary. Negan has wives. He has prisoners too. He has the diluted sense of consent. He bullies these women into becoming his wives. He treated my husband like a piece of dirt. He left him naked in a cell, blasted music so loud that he couldn't sleep, fed him dog food, and treated him like a slave.

"He treated me like his wife. He gave me my own apartment. But that isn't to say that I had it easy there. He was constantly touching and kissing me without my consent. He made jabs about Glenn and Abraham every day. Forced me to spend time with him. Be with him like he was my friend. Hang my husband in my face. And even threaten to burn my husband's face with a hot iron if I didn't agree to marry him. So much more. Perhaps one day I'll tell you it all.

"I want you to know that I'm telling you this because I want you to know what you will one day deal with. Your deal with the Saviors won't always be like this. It won't always be peaceful. I promise you that. And when that day comes, that will be the kind of man that you're dealing with. We're used to men like that, and we were still beaten down. For weeks. But we're ready to rise up now. Will you be ready to rise up too? Or will you wait until it's too late and one day listen to some woman here repeat this same story to you? Knowing that you could have done something about it when we came to you?

"I won't fault you for your choice, King Ezekiel, I know that it's a hard one. But I ask that you think about it before you make a choice. Before you make a final choice. Give your people a chance to speak to you about it. Give me a chance to show you a plan. Just... even if you've already made up your mind. Take some more time. Think," I finally finished my rant, out of breath from the harsh memories.

Ezekiel hadn't once wavered through my speech. He finally nodded at me. "I will, Rain. You and your friends have given me much to think on." He then motioned for me to walk back over to my group. He motioned around us to where the residents of the Kingdom were all working and playing.

It was a nice but productive life that they were leading. People in the gazebos were working with staffs, much like I had once done with Morgan. People with spears were learning how to use and throw them. Probably to hunt. I smiled when I saw that kids were learning how to use bows. They were children's sizes but it was still something. There was a girl sitting on the edge of the targets that was rather good. I smiled and watched her for a few moments.

"This is life here. Every day. But it came at a cost. And I wanted more of this. I wanted to expand. To create more places like this. Men and women lost their limbs. Children lost their parents because I sent them into battle against the wasted when I did not need to," Ezekiel explained to us. I sighed. There was our no.

Rick took a step forward. "This is different."

"It isn't," Ezekiel argued.

"It is. The dead don't rule us. The world doesn't look like this outside your walls. People don't have it as good. Some people don't have it good at all," Rick told the leader of the Kingdom.

Ezekiel let out a little sigh and shook his head as he motioned around to the people in his community. "I have to worry about my people," he said.

I watched out of the corner of my eyes as Daryl took a step forward and glared down at Ezekiel. "You call yourself a damn king. You sure as hell don't act like one," he snarled.

Ezekiel walked up to Daryl with something akin to anger in his eyes. "All of this came at a cost. It was lives, arms, legs," he said. After a moment he turned to walk away from Daryl and back to Rick. "The peace we have with the Saviors is uneasy, but it is peace. I have to hold on to it. I have to try," he said. There was a collective sigh from my group. "Although the Kingdom cannot grant you the aid you desire, the King is sympathetic to your plight. I offer our friends Daryl and Rain asylum for as long as they require it. They will be safe here. The Saviors do not set foot inside our walls," he said.

Both Daryl and I turned to stare at him. Daryl glared while I gave a smile. As much as I wanted to go back home to Alexandria I knew that it wasn't an option. We would have to stay here. "How long do you think that's gonna last?" Daryl asked before turning and walking away.

He was first, followed by Merle. Sasha and Rosita went afterwards and a moment later so did Carl and Tara. Morgan followed a moment later. Rick, Jesus, Michonne, and Richard were the last two to walk away. I stood at Ezekiel's side for a moment before turning to him with a pleading look in my eyes. We still had time to fix this. He still had time to change his mind.

Before I turned to follow them I looked at Ezekiel. "I ask you to think about this. About what you're saying no to. I appreciate the offer of keeping Daryl and I safe. It will make a difference. But you could make more of a difference. Just - Don't say no so quickly. Think on it. You still have time," I said softly.

Not wanting to push my luck with the asylum, I ran off and joined up with Rick at the back of the group. He was looking over at Morgan. "You can change his mind, but you won't," he said.

"Then you can stay. We can talk," Morgan offered.

We didn't have time to stay and talk. We needed to take action. And Negan would soon discover that Daryl and I were gone. I was surprised that he hadn't already. But once he did find out I knew that he would be sending people to check on Alexandria to see if we had gone back there. And it would not look good if all of our people were gone when the Saviors got there.

"How many people do we have? To fight?" Richard asked. I raised my brow at him. Was he really willing to defy Ezekiel? "I'll go with you."

"We don't even have enough to take on one outpost face-to-face yet," Rick said.

I sighed and nodded at him. The last time that we were there had been dumb luck. And the fact that we'd had someone that knew how the building was laid out and a reason for them to be there. The situation had just been right. "So the Kingdom has to get involved, or the Saviors will always be in charge. It isn't about soldiers. We're making them stronger. The more food we give them, the more arms, the more everything, every day any of us give them something, they become harder and harder to beat," Richard said.

Once more I nodded. He was right. We all knew that. And of course Negan knew that too. We walked up to the gates and Daryl looked out to the men that were manning it. "All right, open it up. We're gone," Daryl shouted out.

He was clearly still delusional about going back home. The rest of our group began to walk out but I stayed back. Daryl attempted to leave as Rick laid a hand out to stop him. "You're not."

Daryl looked up at Rick and scoffed. "I'm not staying here. We aren't staying here."

"You have to. So does Rain. It's the smartest play. You know it is," Rick said with a sigh. He knew that Daryl hated this as much as he did. "Try to talk to Ezekiel. Rain, I already asked you to. We need to sway him. I know that you can. Or stare him into submission - Whatever it takes," Rick said when Daryl didn't respond. "We'll be back soon," he said, laying a hand on my shoulder.

Before he could leave I gave Rick a tight hug, following up with Merle. He merely patted his brother on the back before turning and leaving. "Good luck out there. Be safe," I told the group.

Jesus walked up and gave me a little hug as well that I smiled at. "You two as well. Be careful while you're here. Talk to Ezekiel. Get him on our side. You know that we have to. It's the only way that we're going to win," Rick told me.

I nodded and stood at Daryl's side as the group backed away and the doors were closed. Once more it was like we were walking away from them forever. But I knew that this was the safe play. I knew that this was the smartest thing to do. We stood near the gates for a moment before I looked at Daryl and patted him gently on the shoulder. If Rick wanted me to do something about Ezekiel, I would do something with all of the time that I had here. Starting now.

Daryl looked over at me with an eyebrow raised. "Wait here. I'll be right back," I told him. He stared at me but nodded. "Ezekiel!" I shouted, before he could walk away.

Darting up to him - as well as Richard and Jerry - I noticed that Daryl was slowly following. He seemed to be watching me closely. "It's either King or Your Majesty," Jerry told me.

It wasn't malicious but that didn't mean that I didn't turn a heated glare on Jerry. I could have sworn that I was speaking to Ezekiel. "Jerry, our friend Rain here is new. She doesn't know yet. No need to push," Ezekiel told Jerry before turning back to me. "What may the King do for you?" He asked.

"I'd like to speak with you," I told him.

Ezekiel nodded at me as he crossed his hands over the staff that he was holding. "Please, speak," he told me.

"In private. I want a conversation with you in private." Ezekiel looked stunned at my proposition. "It's important. Between having everyone out here and having to have a front, or not wanting your people to overhear you say something out of line, a conversation in front of them is censored. Join the fight against Negan or not, I want to speak to you. I want to get to know Ezekiel. Not the King, but the man."

It looked like Ezekiel was actually considering my request. But before he could say anything, Jerry once more stepped forward. "King Ezekiel never grants counsel alone," Jerry said.

Once more I turned a heated glare on him. He was not being useful to anyone right now. "Please, Jerry," Ezekiel said before turning back to me. "I will grant the request. On the condition that you do come alone, with no weapons. My men will stand outside the garden," he told me.

That was fine. It was better than anything else that I could have asked for. I nodded at the man. "It's a deal. Thank you," I said softly.

It looked like Ezekiel was going to say something else but before he could the radio - the one from the Saviors - that was attached to my hip gave a sharp squeal. I picked it out of my pocket and held it up so that everyone could hear. Had they found out that we were gone? Even Ezekiel and Jerry leaned forward to listen.

It was Negan. "For anyone out there who loved the obese bastard as much as I did, I just want to say a few words." Not us. They'd found Fat Joey. "Fat Joey was not the most badass son of a bitch, but he was loyal. He had a great sense of humor. In fact, we were just joking about oral sex with Lucille the other day. Things will not be the same now that he's dead. Without Fat Joey, Skinny Joey is just, "he broke himself off with a sigh, "Joey. So it's a goddamn tragedy. So, let's have a moment of silence."

The radio went silent afterwards when no one said anything else. Even when he was delivering a eulogy Negan managed to have a sense of humor and still put my nerves on edge. Ezekiel looked confused. "Daryl killed him when we were escaping," I said, knowing that he wouldn't.

Ezekiel gave a little nod of acknowledgement. "Well, Richard, please take our news friends to go and find them suitable rooms near each other. I'm sure they'd prefer it that way," he said.

I realized with a sudden stupidity that I had only ever said my husband to Ezekiel. Of course he wouldn't have wanted to assume Daryl. Especially since neither one of us were wearing rings and we hadn't kissed or done anything in front of these people. "No, no. We only need one room," I told Ezekiel.

The realization seemed to strike Ezekiel as he let out a little embarrassed laugh. "Pardon the King, I wasn't made aware of this," he said.

"That's alright. We're married."

Ezekiel nodded at me with a small smile, looking over Daryl, who in turn still looked pissed that he had been left behind. "Ah, I wasn't aware that you were the man to have her heart. A lucky man indeed," Ezekiel told Daryl.

He said nothing back but did place a hand over shoulder. "Thank you. I do have a ring but it's not currently with me. I had to hide it from Negan when we were in the Sanctuary. He took us back to our home once to take his collection of things. He made us show him our home. When we were there I dropped the ring and hid it under the couch. It should still be there. Not that you care," I said awkwardly.

He hadn't asked to hear about the boring story of how I'd hidden the ring. Ezekiel merely smiled at me. "I will always care about what you have to say to me. Any time that you want to speak with me I will be here to listen," he told me.

I gave a soft smile. I understood why Ezekiel didn't want to go to war. I could respect him. But Gregory, he was something completely different. He was a mere coward. "I do appreciate that. We both do. Anyways, we only need the one room," I said.

Ezekiel turned over to where Richard was standing. "Please bring them to a room, Richard. I will speak to you at another time, Rain," Ezekiel told me.

I nodded at him, not wanting to press my luck for one day. "Thank you, King Ezekiel."

The three of us turned to walk away before Daryl turned back to Ezekiel. "Wait!" The king seemed a little surprised that Daryl was speaking to him. "You got a doctor around here?" He asked.

A soft blush settled in over my face as I looked towards the ground. "We do. Not professionals but some very good. Are the two of you in need of assistance?" Ezekiel asked.

I stepped in before Daryl could say anything. "No. Not immediately. When I was escaping from the Sanctuary with Jesus I got a little light-headed and sick. I feel better now. I wasn't eating, drinking, or sleeping at the Sanctuary. And I imagine that my stress levels were high too."

Ezekiel looked over me for a moment before nodding. Even to someone that wasn't really one of his own he was concerned. It was nice to see. "To be safe we'll have one of our medical residents take a look at you," he told me.

"It doesn't have to be immediate," I said.

Daryl gave me a pointed glare. "Richard will show you where the medical tents are. Go whenever you feel the need," he told us.

"Thank you," I said. I went to turn before glancing back at the archery targets that the kids were working on. "One last thing. You got any spare bows? For someone my size?" I asked.

Richard was the one that answered this time. "Sure. You good with 'em?" He asked me.

A sly smile spread over my face. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that even Daryl and Morgan were grinning slightly. "I'm alright," I said softly.

Richard nodded at me before handing me a longbow. Nothing spectacular or nice, slightly too big for me too. It needed to be worked on and it seriously needed a new string that needed to be tightened, but it would work. "You can borrow mine. Show us," Richard said.

He shouted for a target to be cleared. The kids were sitting about fifteen feet away from the targets. I stood back away from the targets about forty feet. Everyone in the community watched as I asked for six arrows. Three targets. They wanted to see how good I was? I'd show them. From my spot I fired the first arrow into the dead center of the first target. Turning slightly the second arrow went into the dead center of the second, and so on with the third. I took my time on those shots. But it changed on my last three. As fast as I could I once more fired at the center of all three targets.

Each one of my arrows had split the arrows that were already in the center of the targets. The people that were standing around were all staring wide-eyed at the targets as I handed the bow back to Richard. "Holy shit," Jerry breathed out.

"That's your definition of alright?" Richard asked me.

Ezekiel, Morgan, and Daryl had watched my display with pride. "I can do much better," I told them all.

"Have a new bow made our found for, Rain, here," Ezekiel ordered loudly to his people. I turned to him and gave him a grateful nod.

Ezekiel hit his staff on the ground twice and I fell into line with Daryl behind Richard. The two of us headed straight to the same place that we had been last night. We went back to the room that Daryl and I had been with the others in. The blankets had all been folded once more. I supposed that at least we could make something like a real bed. I took a seat behind the desk in the corner of the room and stared at Richard. This had clearly once been an office of some sort.

They had long since torn the plaques off. "Here you are. Lunch will be served shortly - dinner later on too - but King Ezekiel has asked that we bring it to you. He doubts that the two of you want to dine with the rest of us out there. At least for a few days until you get comfortable," Richard told us.

"He would be correct," I said, knowing that Daryl wasn't going to be the one to speak. "Thank you, Richard," I said, letting him know that he could leave us be.

Richard nodded at me and turned to leave. "You're welcome. Morgan is just across the hall and I'm down at the end if you need anyone to speak to. Jerry is in the first room on the right," he told us.

"Thank you. Have a good night. Day. Whatever," I said stupidly.

We more than likely wouldn't see him again today so I supposed that they all applied. We had barely been in the room for a moment before Daryl began to unfold the blankets to make a bed on the ground. I walked over to try and help him. We had gotten the bottom layer of the bed done and were working on what we would use as the sheets when Daryl looked up at me.

"You already made plans to speak to him?" He asked me, referring to my plans to speak with Ezekiel alone.

I nodded at my husband. "Of course. I'm trying to do what Rick wanted us to do. Make friends with Ezekiel and try and convince him to join the fight against the Saviors. You know that we have to do it," I told him.

He let out a little sigh and nodded. "I know." We were silent for a moment before Daryl gave a little scoff. "But what the hell do we even say to a guy like that?" He asked after a moment.

"I've got an idea. But it involves speaking to him alone. He always has his guards, people that he rules over, with him. I want to know what Ezekiel's like when I get him away from everyone. I saw it in his eyes when I was telling him what happened to us. He's sensitive to this. He will break," I said confidently.

And I really did think that we were going to manage to make him bend on taking down the Saviors. But it would take time. I would have to get close to him. And I couldn't do that with Richard and Jerry constantly around. "You just think that you need to talk to him?" Daryl asked me.

"Yes. Maybe it won't happen today, or tomorrow, or next week. But in time I think that I can get Ezekiel to bend. It does mean that we have to be friends with him though," I told Daryl.

It was more of a warning than anything else. He had to be friends with this man. It was the one way that we were going to get the Kingdom to stand and rise up with us. "We should work through Morgan too. He seems to have his ear," Daryl told me.

I nodded. "For that we also need to work at Jerry and the kid. They both talk to him too. We know that we already have Richard on our side," I told Daryl.

Richard was going to be easy. He already wanted to go to war with the Saviors. Jerry would follow whatever Ezekiel wanted to do. But the kid seemed to have Ezekiel's ear as well. We would have to work on him. Or maybe I would. Daryl could be a little intimidating. "How long do you think that we'll be here for?" Daryl asked after a beat.

"However long as we need to be here. We can't go back out there. You know that it's too dangerous," I told Daryl as we finished the bed, grabbing his hand.

Once more the radio gave a little whine. I pulled it off of my hip and held it out. It was once more Negan. He sounded more panicked this time. "We got ourselves a red situation. I need a search party. See if Daryl ran home like the dumb animal that he is." My teeth ground together. "And Rain is gone too. Someone get my Goddamn wife back! Still gotta consummate the marriage," he said with a little laugh.

The radio went silent for a moment before it squealed again. "On it. Be there in time for lunch," Simon said. "Turn that sleepy little burg upside down," he said before the radio once more went dead.

I tossed it onto the ground and growled. That was the reason that we hadn't been able to go back with Rick and the others. "Asshole," I snarled at the radio.

"I'll kill him if he ever looks at you again," Daryl snapped.

"I know you will," I said before turning and walking over to Daryl. I grabbed his chin and forced him to look down at me. "Hey. They'll be fine. They're watching out for us back home. They have the other radio. They know what to do. We just have to stay here for a while. It won't be long. I promise," I told him softly.

I just prayed to God that it was the truth. "Rain," Daryl said. I hummed as I leaned back and sat down on the bed. It certainly wasn't as comfortable as the bed was back in Alexandria but it was better than the Sanctuary. "I need you to know something," he said.

I leaned up and nodded at him. "Okay."

Daryl got quiet for a moment before walking over to me and grabbing my hand, pulling me to sit almost on top of him. "I hope that you are..." he said, trailing off slowly.

A small smile spread over my face. "You gonna actually say it out loud?" I asked.

Since Maggie had bothered bringing it up to me I hadn't thought or actually said it. The word hadn't even crossed my mind. Because saying it would have made it all the more real. "Pregnant," Daryl said.

Something about the way that he said it made the idea all the more appealing. I laughed softly and brought him in for a kiss. And suddenly a strange thought hit me. "What if I'm not?" I asked.

"You still want a family?" Daryl asked me. After a moment I nodded at him. I really did want a family with him. "Then I think that it's time that we start trying for one. Glenn and Maggie weren't afraid even when they didn't know what the future had in store. We can't be afraid either," he told me.

A light blush filled my face. He was right. If Glenn and Maggie had been that brave, we could be too. No matter what. "I agree. For Glenn. You know, I think that a lot of our old group members wanted us to be able to have a family," I said.

"How do you know that?" Daryl asked me.

For the briefest of moments I thought that I saw the flash of a baseball hat, a hint of red hair, a dust of blonde hair, the ending of a prosthetic leg, and even the edge of a fishing hat. I gave a small smile at the corner of the room. "Just a hunch," I said softly.

"I like Rory," Daryl said suddenly, pulling me to lay underneath him.

My eyebrows rose as I smiled at him. I liked it too. And it sounded very much like something that Daryl would name. "As a girl's name or a boy?" I asked.

"Both."

"I like Alex. For both. Emily for a girl," I said. "Although I don't think that we're ever going to be able to have a kid with a normal name. Not with names like ours," I said with a small laugh.

Daryl laughed as well, giving me a deep kiss. "We'll go with whatever you like," he told me.

"Whatever we like," I corrected him. It wasn't just my kid. It was going to be his kid too. Our kid. A married woman that might be pregnant. "As long as it's not Negan, Dwight, or Simon, I don't think that we're going to have any problems. I love you," I told him.

Daryl nodded at me and pressed another kiss to my mouth. "I love you too. Always," he said softly.

A moment later he rolled on top of me - keeping his weight mostly off of my stomach. I wanted to laugh at him. That wasn't going to do anything. Even if I really was pregnant there was nothing bigger than a lima bean in there. At the absolute largest. But it didn't matter. As the two of us kissed each other deeply - and reminded ourselves that we really were a married couple - I laughed and pulled his shirt over his shoulders. Mine followed and all of the rest of our clothes not long after.

Maybe we were in the middle of a war, but for just one moment we deserved to forget and pretend that everything would be alright. Because one day everything would be alright. Because one day it would be Daryl and I, laughing and kissing each other, while our child ran around in the yard. Because that was what we deserved. And that was what we were going to get.


	61. A Revolution Begins

Sunlight began to stream in through the windows of the old office and I rolled over. My hands patted against the floor to see where Daryl was. Unfortunately I couldn't find him. At least not anywhere near where I was. After a few moments I sat upright and glanced over the rest of the makeshift bed. He wasn't anywhere there. And he wasn't anywhere else in the room either. Where the hell had he gone? He'd just been here last night. Hadn't he? Or was that all a dream? No. It couldn't be. He had to be here.

I jumped up from the bed, my heart pounding in my chest. He was here. He had to be. He was not still in the Sanctuary. He couldn't be. We had gotten out. I know that we did. "Daryl? Daryl?" I called as I began to walk through the room. There was no answer. "Daryl?" I called out once more, panic settling into my chest. "Daryl!" I shouted.

He had to still be here. There wasn't a chance that he wasn't here. He had to be. He wasn't still at the Sanctuary. I knew that we had gotten him out of there. I darted back and forth through the room to check and see where he was. Finally I broke through a closed door at the back of the room that I hadn't been through yet. It was clearly designed to be a bathroom for the students. This must have been a chemistry office considering that there was a chemical shower against the back wall. A curtain had been draped over it to provide some privacy for those that were staying in the Kingdom.

It was also where Daryl was standing. He looked shocked to see me. There was soap all over his body and there seemed to be some shampoo in his hair that he hadn't washed out yet. I let out a deep breath and leaned back against the bathroom counter. Sweat beaded on my back and began dripping down slowly. All that I could remember was not being able to see him in the Sanctuary. For a moment I thought that it wasn't over. I really thought that he was back there and I had been forced to leave without me.

Daryl wrapped a towel around his waist and moved to stand in front of me. He grabbed my hands and pulled me into him. I blinked back tears, trying not to cry. "Hey. Hey, you alright?" He asked me. I nodded weakly at him, trying to look away. "Come here," he said before wrapping me into his arms. My head went into the crook of his shoulders and I let out a soft sob.

They started softly but they became heavier quickly. It was moments like these that made me realize just how much I couldn't stand the thought of losing him. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I just - I don't know. I thought that you were... gone," I mumbled into his shoulder.

Daryl pushed my head up to force me to look at him. "I know. I know. But I'm not gone. I'm right here. I'm right here. I'm not leaving," he told me, pressing a small kiss against my mouth.

He started to pull away from me but I yanked him back to me. We stayed locked together for a moment before I released him once more. "All I could remember was you back at the Sanctuary. You and me being separated from each other for so long. I guess for a minute I thought that we were back there and you were... Not with me."

It was one of my biggest fears. Having to live the rest of my life without him. I couldn't do that. I wouldn't. "I'll always be here for you. You hear me? Always. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving you. I love you," he said.

He brushed the tears in my eyes away and I kissed the edge of his palm. "I love you too. Always."

We stood together for a moment before Daryl grabbed one of my hands and began tugging me backwards. I raised a brow as he led the two of us to the old chemical wash. Not exactly romantic, but it would work. My spare hand fell to the knot on Daryl's towel. "What do you say you come in here and take a shower?" He asked me with a teasing grin.

Stumbling after him, I let out a little laugh. Nothing made me happier than when I saw Daryl acting like this. Especially everything that had happened over the past few weeks. "I don't think that I've ever seen you as excited for a shower as you are whenever it involves me," I teased.

Daryl laughed at me and pulled me into him. We stumbled past the curtain and Daryl grabbed my shirt, pulling it over my shoulders and tossing it to the floor. I noticed that his eyes lingered on my stomach for a few moments. I glanced down as well. You could see the bottom of my ribs and hipbones. There really wasn't an ounce of fat on me. If there was a chance that I really was pregnant, I wouldn't be far along. Two weeks, maybe. There was nothing that we would be able to see for weeks to come.

Once his eyes left my stomach I popped off my bra and yanked my pants off, shoving them to the other end of the bathroom. "Are you ready to go to the doctor today?" Daryl asked as he turned the water on. It was ice cold but at least it was something. I shifted awkwardly at him, still unsure if I wanted to know or not. "You need to know," he said softly.

"I know. It's not just me that needs to know either. We both need to know," I told him. He needed to remember that if I was going to be a mother, it meant that he would be a father. "If I am pregnant, it's not just my baby. It's yours too," I told him softly.

Daryl nodded at me as he pulled the lever to start the wash. It was cold and didn't exactly seem like the cleanest of water but it was more than enough. I'd take a chemical shower over one of the nice ones in the Sanctuary any day. "Never expected to even think that I might be a father," Daryl said as the water fell over us.

I smiled at him and pressed a kiss against his chest. "Trust me. I never thought for a second that I might be a mother one day. But... No matter what's going on. Recently I've realized that the only think that mattered to me was a family with you. Things are going to happen. People are going to die. One day, we'll die too. But I want to make the best of my life while I have it. I want to have a child with you," I said to him softly.

Something about the situation felt like if I said it loudly, something bad would happen. Daryl grabbed my hand and pulled me directly under the stream. "I want one too, Rain. I do. No matter what comes up when you go and whatever you see today... I know that I want one. And we can try. For as long as it takes," he said.

"You want to know what I think?" I asked.

Daryl stared at me for a moment before nodding. "Sure. Since you're always right," he told me. There was a little twinkle in his eyes that I hadn't seen in a long time.

So I decided to enjoy the brief moment that we had. "Ah, you've taken so long to realize that. I'm so proud that you finally have," I told him with a gentle nudge.

He laughed once more before shoving me gently up against the wall. It was somehow warmer than the actual water. "Shut up," Daryl snapped at me.

We laughed for a moment before the conversation went back to what we had been speaking about before. "I think that I am. Not because I want to be. Even though I do. I just know. Because it's something that I want. I never get things that I want. But just this once. Just once, I think that I deserve to be get what I want. And this is one thing that I really want," I told him.

Daryl turned to me and grabbed my hands, walking me back under the stream of water. "If this is the one thing that we get that goes right in our lives, that's all that matters. A family with you," he told me. I pushed the hair off of Daryl's face and moved forward to give him a soft kiss.

"Really?" I asked him softly.

I knew that he wanted a family with me but I didn't know that he really wanted one that badly. Some part of me thought that he wanted a kid just because I did. But it was nice to know that he wanted one too. "Of course. No one ever made it worth having a family. Not until I met you. You're the only one that's ever going to mean more than anything to me," he said.

A small smile crossed over my face. This was really what it was like to have someone that loved me. It was something that I never thought that I would ever have. "And the same goes to you. I don't know what I'd ever do if I lost you."

Daryl shook his head at me as he picked out a little piece of wood from my hair. "You'd manage to move on and get over me," he said.

"No," I snapped quickly. Somehow Maggie had been able to do it, just because she knew that she had to be strong and bring down Negan. I wasn't sure that I would ever be able to get over Daryl if something were to happen to him. "No I wouldn't. Could you?" I asked him.

"No," he answered almost immediately.

I let out a little sigh and moved to wash the sweat off of my body. We had air conditioners in Alexandria, clearly they didn't have any in the Kingdom. "Perhaps that's one of our problems. We're always willing to give up our lives for each other. I don't think that we're ever going to be able to get over that part of ourselves," I said softly.

And it was the truth. We were never going to be able to not sacrifice ourselves for each other. We had the savior complex. And it was even worse because of our love for each other and everyone else in our family. "No. But now we have something different to fight for," Daryl said, giving my torso a pointed look.

"Yeah. We do," I smiled and pressed a small kiss against Daryl's clavicle.

He grabbed me by the waist and pushed me back against the wall. I shivered under the cold tile and laughed softly. Why was it that I was the only one that ever got pushed back against the cold tile in the shower? There was a knock at the door but Daryl and I ignored it. After being away from each other and treated the way that we were, we weren't ready to get away from each other quite yet. So we ignored the knock and I giggled softly as Daryl picked me up and pushed me back against the wall. Our lips met and I hummed against Daryl's mouth, feeling completely at ease for the first time in far too long.

We finally managed to hop out of the shower nearly an hour later. We weren't quite ready to leave each other and head out into the public yet. But alas, all good things must come to an end. Together we walked out of the bathroom and into the main room. Daryl put back on the clothes that he had gotten from Jesus back in the Hilltop. I slipped on some extra clothes that I'd managed to scavenge from around the area. There was a green tank top and a pair of light beige pants. They were some of the few things that fit me.

I grabbed my hair and wrapped it back up onto the back of my head and motioned to Daryl that I was ready to leave. As much as I would have loved to sit around and do nothing all day, I knew that there were things that we needed to take care of. We needed to know the truth about what was going on with me and we needed to work on getting Morgan and Ezekiel onto our side about the war. We needed to be able to figure out how to get everyone on board with killing the Saviors. We couldn't let them live for another few days. They had to be taken care of before we were ever going to be able to live in peace.

The two of us got ourselves together and walked out of the room. There were people walking back and forth all over the place. Some seemed to be sentries but most of them were farmers. We walked outside of the building and I squinted at the light. It was a little later in the day than I had been expecting. I had thought that it was still early morning. It was probably closer to ten.

As we walked over towards the gardens I narrowed my eyes. That doesn't bode well. Clearly the Kingdom members were gearing up and getting ready to meet with the Saviors. They were all dressed in their body guards and padding. They were all carrying weapons too. It was a few members whose names I didn't know, Ezekiel, Jerry, Morgan, Richard, and the kid, Benjamin - whose name I'd recently learned. They looked like they were gearing up for war. If only.

Giving a sharp nod, Daryl and I walked over to the small group. "Where are you all going?" I asked as I came to stand next to Ezekiel.

He turned to me and smiled. I noticed that Ezekiel didn't have Shiva anywhere near him. Actually, he rarely seemed to really have her around him. She probably unnerved everyone. "To meet with the Saviors," Ezekiel said, dropping his voice. "I would allow you to come, but seeing as you are in the precarious state with them that you are..."

He trailed off but I knew that he meant that I couldn't go with them because the Saviors wanted me back at the Sanctuary. "I understand. Best of luck. Be careful," I told him, making my words loud enough for the rest of the group to hear.

Enough people had lost their lives to the Saviors. No one else needed that to happen. "Thank you, Rain," Ezekiel said.

I glanced into the truck and sighed. There was a lot of perfectly good fruits, vegetables, and other foods that were going to the Saviors. All things that they didn't need. They were things that the Kingdom needed. "You don't bring Shiva out there with you?" I asked Ezekiel, trying to find a window to speak to him in private.

Ezekiel smiled and shook his head at me. "No. I did once, but it was a mistake," he told me. That must mean that she had attacked someone of the Saviors. I hope that she killed them. "She doesn't like them. And she makes the Saviors uneasy."

"All the more reason to bring her out there," I joked.

Thankfully Ezekiel laughed. I smiled back at him as he motioned me over to a small sitting area that was once where the students would eat their lunches. "Eat some breakfast while you're here. The apples are to die for," he told me, handing me one of the red fruits.

"Thank you," I said softly, grabbing the apple from him. As I bit into it I realized that it was just as good as Ezekiel said that it was. It was much better than the ones that we had in Alexandria. And they were ten times better than the ones that we'd had at the prison. We stood in silence for a moment before I looked over at Ezekiel once more. "Is there a doctor that I can go and see?" I asked.

Daryl was standing off to the side, speaking in hushed tones with Morgan. The conversation didn't seem to be going well. "Yes. Right through the main hallway in the school. Up there is the nurse's office that they used to use. We have our doctors set up in there," he told me and I nodded. He suddenly adopted a more serious look. "Are you alright?"

It was nice to have someone that barely knew me care so much for my well-being. "Yes," I said immediately, not wanting him to worry. "I - uh - I actually think that I might be pregnant," I said awkwardly.

A small smile fell over Ezekiel's face and I had a feeling that he must have loved kids in the old world. I almost wanted to ask if he had ever had any. But I didn't know him well enough to ask. "Is that so?" Ezekiel finally asked me. I nodded after a beat. He continued to smile. "Well then I wish you the best of luck. I believe that the two of you will make wonderful parents," he said.

"Thank you," I told him with a soft smile. Ezekiel was a good man. It was why I had faith that Ezekiel would eventually join the fight against Negan. "I'll let you know how it goes when you return," I said.

Ezekiel gave me a little nod, grabbing his staff that was leaning up against the edge of the truck. "I will hold you up to that. Would you like to have our conversation later tonight?" He offered.

And that's what I was banking on. "I would actually very much like that," I told him with the friendliest smile that I could muster.

Ezekiel nodded at me. "Good. The tomato gardens behind the theater is where I normally meet for private sessions," he said, motioning towards the building that we had first met him in the other day. "You can meet me back there an hour after sundown. I'll let Jerry know, if that is suitable for you?" He asked.

Anything would work for me. I would have met him on the moon if that was what it took to get him to join the war. "An hour after sundown works for me. Thank you," I said before turning away and grabbing onto Daryl. His conversation with Morgan didn't seem to have gone nearly as well as mine with Ezekiel had.

I thought about opening my mouth and asking Daryl what had been said between him and Morgan but I decided not to push the already tense air. It wasn't that we were mad at each other. We were only nervous about what was to come. Either way there were good and bad things that could happen. There wasn't really a clear-cut answer that we wanted. So we merely walked hand-in-hand towards the building that Ezekiel had pointed us to. It seemed to be one of the busier buildings with people milling around inside and outside.

The building was clearly the old front office that had held all of the student records, administration, and the nurse's office. It made sense. I wondered if they still had the records of the students. Or if maybe they were using it to keep tabs on the people that they had now. That would probably be the smartest thing to do.

As we walked further into the room I took a look around. There were a few kids and just three or four adults. Nothing too serious, it seemed like. They must have been saving their main doctor for any serious injuries. It seemed that mostly everyone in the office were only in for minor cuts and bruises. One little girl had a badly torn-up knee. Her mother was explaining that she'd been practicing and fallen. Apparently she hadn't been wearing the shin pads. The injuries were nothing compared to the ones that Alexandria had seen.

Daryl and I stood awkwardly in the center of the room before someone behind us cleared their throat. "May I help you?" the voice called.

The two of us turned back to see a woman in her early thirties. She had dark hair and dark eyes. Although she was wearing a friendly smile. "Ezekiel sent us. Is there a private doctor or something of the type that we can see? It's not urgent. We can wait if we need to," I told her.

My tone was much more professional than hers was. "Oh no, not to worry. King Ezekiel mentioned that you were on your way here. Come on back with me. I've kept my schedule clear for the two of you. You're the one that needs to be looked over?" she asked me. I nodded at her as we walked back into what I assumed was her private office. "Go ahead and sit up there. Husband, you can take a seat in that chair," she instructed.

"Thank you," I said. I hopped up onto the medical examination table and Daryl took a seat in the chair that was placed in the corner. He didn't stay there for long before standing and coming to my side.

The doctor didn't look bothered. In fact she was just smiling at us. "Not a problem. You got me out of treating a gnarly case of athlete's foot," she said and I couldn't help but to smile. She moved to stand in front of me and shake my hand. "My name is Sharon. Please, go ahead and sit down. You're our new friends from the other camp, Alexandria, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes. Rain and Daryl Dixon. Nice to meet you, Sharon," I told her as earnestly as possible. She smiled at me before turning over to Daryl. I was slightly surprised when he too shook Sharon's hand.

Perhaps he knew that this was one time that he had to be friendly. "Good to meet you both. I warn you ahead of time. I really wasn't a very good medical student my first time around in college. I was actually going to change my major. But I do remember a fair bit. I can get any basic medical care done," she warned us.

So they didn't have a real doctor, just like Alexandria. The Hilltop and Sanctuary were really the only ones that actually had doctors. "All we need is a pregnancy test," I told her.

It didn't take a genius to figure out how to use one of those. Some of the least intelligent girls I'd known in high school had even managed to figure out how to use them. "Oh," Sharon said, her face falling before breaking out back into a smile. "King Ezekiel didn't say what you were coming in for. Well, luckily for you we have a few of them laying around. Lots of married couples here. Congratulations," she rambled.

"You don't know yet," I told her dryly.

Not that I'd meant for it to come out that way. But I was trying not to get too excited before we knew the truth. Sharon merely gave me a small smile. "I have faith."

It was very similar to what Daryl had told me before. "Will the test tell us?" Daryl asked.

Sharon shrugged her shoulders at us. "It might. Do you have any idea how far along you would be if you are?" she asked us.

For a moment I thought back. It would have been right before we had been taken by the Saviors. "Two weeks. Maybe," I told her softly.

Sharon's eyes widened. "Wow. I'm honestly shocked that you would even be displaying symptoms that early on. But we'll give it a try anyways. If you are, I should be able to pick up on it. If I get a negative, in another week or so I'd like you to take another. Just in case. Sometimes early on things can get a little scrambled. Don't worry though," she said positively.

The last thing that I wanted was to get things scrambled. I wanted a straight answer, one way or another. But I was no fool. I knew that pregnancies weren't the easiest things to predict and deal with. "So what do we do?" I asked her.

Sharon smiled at me. "Never taken a pregnancy test before?"

I shook my head at her. Unlike many people that I had known, I was careful during my carefree college years. Kids had never been in my plans. "We weren't married before all of this happened. Actually, we didn't even know each other before all of this happened. We met not long after it started," I told her.

Once more Sharon smiled at me. "That's nice. It's not too often that we get to see things like that happening. I'm glad that the two of you are still together," she said. I let out a little breath. It hadn't been easy to keep the two of us together. But somehow we had managed to get lucky. "So let's go ahead and get this started. I know that it sounds stupid, but pee on the tip of the stick," she said, handing me a stick about the length of my hand.

My eyebrows shot to the top of my forehead. I had to pee on the stick? What the hell was that going to do? "What?" I asked her dumbly.

Sharon gave a soft chuckle, handing it over to me. "You have to pee on the tip of the stick. Your body makes certain chemicals that the stick can pick up. It will determine whether or not you are pregnant," she explained as simply as possible.

I nodded numbly, still confused at what peeing on the stick had to do with anything. At the other end of the bed, Daryl was laughing. I turned a heated glare on him. "Shut the hell up," I snapped at Daryl, delivering a small punch to his shoulder.

Daryl laughed and so did Sharon. "Oh yeah, you'll make good parents. Go ahead and take it into the bathroom. Bring it back out when you're done. It should take about two minutes to tell us," Sharon instructed.

I nodded at her and hopped from the table before leaving the room. The two of them began to talk softly back and forth about what was going to happen and what could be done. I did hear him say that even if we weren't pregnant we would try again. She handed him a bottle of prenatal vitamins, just in case. I walked into the bathroom where the lamp was burning and took care of my business before washing my hands and placing the plastic tip over the test. I headed back into the office and handed Sharon the stick. She was leaning over and staring at it as I took a seat back on the metal table, grasping Daryl's hand tightly.

Even now I could feel his hand shaking. I smiled and placed a small kiss on the base of his neck. He smiled down at me and tugged gently on my hair, placing a soft kiss against my temple. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sharon smiling at us. My eyes were locked onto the test and her face to see if I could get any indication as to what was happening. The two minutes seemed to be the longest two minutes of my life. I could tell that Daryl felt the same as his leg was bouncing up and down.

Finally - after what felt like hours - Sharon turned back to us. Both Daryl and I straightened up. "Congratulations," she began, and I could have sworn that my heart stopped, "the two of you are going to make wonderful parents."

And that time I was sure that my heart stopped. Daryl's hand loosened on my hand for a moment before tightening painfully. He was wearing a blank face. "Really?" I asked Sharon.

Tears were building in my eyes as Daryl wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "You're serious?" Daryl asked her.

She nodded before bringing the test over to us. "I am. Right here. Those two lines mean that you are." She showed us the two little lines that crossed over and said that we were. "Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Dixon."

"Oh my God," I breathed out weakly.

Daryl turned to look at me for a minute and I returned the stare. We were both laughing and smiling at the other. A tear leaked out of the corner of my eye and Daryl brushed it away, pulling me in for a hug. A near-hysterical laugh escaped my throat as Daryl brought me in for a kiss. He, too, seemed on the verge of tears. In the corner of the room I could see that Sharon was smiling brightly, clearly very happy for the two of us. Perhaps she didn't see this too often.

As the two of us stayed locked together in a tight hug I smiled to myself. We were really going to have a family. We were really going to be a real family. Something that I had never thought would ever happen. No part of me had ever thought that I would have a family. And I knew that Daryl felt the same way. I smiled to myself and laughed. I couldn't wait to tell everyone. Rick and Carl, Maggie, Carol, Merle. Everyone else. It would be nice to have another baby. Another child for Judith and Maggie and Glenn's child to grow up with.

After nearly five minutes Daryl and I righted ourselves and smiled at Sharon. To my surprise, it was Daryl that spoke first. "So can we see it?" he asked her. I hadn't even thought about that. I could actually see my child.

Sharon shook her head at us with a small smile. Did they not have the machine to do it? "If Rain is right about the two week thing, it's going to be too early. Give it a few more weeks and then come back to me. You can try afterwards," she said.

Oh. I didn't even think about that. "It too early to see anything?" Daryl asked.

Sharon nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately it is. You probably won't be able to see anything for a few more weeks," she told us. We both nodded at her and I made to stand up. "Now, I must warn the two of you. Sometimes tests this early on can give false positives. That test is old," she said, motioning to the test.

And suddenly it felt like the bubble that had formed around me had burst. It felt almost like I was still in the Sanctuary. I noticed that Daryl stiffened. "So you mean that I could still not be? No matter what the test says?" I asked her softly.

"Yes. It's uncommon but it can happen. And bear in mind the physicality of this world. It doesn't make for good development. We should know more in the next few weeks. I won't say to take it easy or anything of the sort, but watch what you're eating. Drink a lot of water and try to get as much sleep as possible. Even if this is a false positive, you're young and in shape. I wouldn't doubt that you couldn't get pregnant again," Sharon told me.

My hope was diminishing by the moment. That was this world for you. It played cruel jokes. "But I was feeling symptoms. Dizziness, sickness, exhaustion, and a few other things," I told her.

She shook her head at me. "Honestly I think that what you were feeling were symptoms of stress. The interesting thing is that your symptoms mirrored the same symptoms of pregnancy. Have you felt them since leaving?" she asked.

I took a moment before shaking my head. I'd felt perfectly fine since leaving the Sanctuary. "No," I answered softly.

Sharon smiled at me and walked forward to place her hand on my knee. "Well, not to worry. I'm sure that nothing is wrong. This is just something that everyone will have to be careful with over the next few weeks. And try not to get too paranoid over it. You'll only make yourself sick," she said.

"Thank you."

Sharon smiled at me and nodded. "Not a problem."

The three of us all stood together for a moment before I spoke up once more. I couldn't leave without knowing. "What exactly are my chances of this being a false positive?" I asked her.

She sighed softly. "Honestly, reasonably high." I felt a small pang of hurt shoot through my chest. "I don't want to give false hope. I want to be realistic. That test is expired. It has been for a long time. That can cause issues. There's also such a thing as a chemical pregnancy. It's a miscarriage that can be as early on as just a few weeks. Because of this some women never even know that they're pregnant. Do you remember the last time that you were menstruating?" she asked me.

Daryl didn't seem thrilled about the topic but he hadn't let go of my hand. I thought back and realized that I wasn't absolutely sure. "About... A week before everything happened. So maybe three weeks ago," I said.

But even that was a guess. I had never been very good about keeping track of that. "Definitely keep an eye out over the next week and a half. Don't give yourself a stroke over this. Keep calm. You're young and in good health. Even so, you still have time. Best of luck with everything. Come back to see me anytime," she said.

"Thank you," I told her before hopping off of the table and walking out of the room.

As we exited through the halls of the building I saw that Daryl was watching me with close eyes. "You are," he said. I hummed at him softly. "You are. I have faith."

I smiled at him and wrapped him in a tight hug. He pressed a small kiss to the top of my head as I let a hand travel underneath his shirt. "I love you," I said before leaning up to give him a kiss.

"I love you too. Do you want to get something to eat?" he asked me after a moment.

I smiled at him and shook my head. "We just had breakfast," I reasoned. Granted it had only been an apple, but it was more than I was used to. I hadn't eaten large meals in so long, I just wasn't used to it anymore.

"Well if you're hungry again or -"

"Calm down," I said with a soft laugh, grabbing his arm. "It's only two weeks. There's not going to be much of a difference in me for a few more weeks to come. Probably more like months," I said. And it was the truth. Maggie was almost five months pregnant the last time that I'd seen her and there was still barely a bump. "Although, if you can manage to find me a plate of chocolate chip cookies or a batch of brownies, I won't say no," I teased.

We both laughed as we walked over towards the garden. Pregnant or not, I would never turn down chocolate chip cookies. "I'll see what I can do," Daryl told me with a gentle nudge.

We made our way into the garden and I smiled as we walked hand-in-hand. It was something that we rarely did but I enjoyed it. It was something that almost made me feel like we were back in the old world. We walked past an older woman and I gave her a small smile. "Hello," she greeted. "Would you two like an apple?"

"Sure," Daryl said.

She handed us a small green apple and I took it. "Thank you," I said. Daryl was holding a knife and I held out my hand for it. "Give it." Daryl handed me the knife and I carefully split the apple down the middle, handing Daryl one half of it. I glanced up as I bit into the apple and saw the trucks pulling up on the other side of the pavilion. "Hey, look, they're back."

The older woman that was working in the garden glanced upwards. "Oh, they just went scouting. Usually they're not gone too long. An hour, an hour and a half tops," she commented.

"Funny. They didn't bring anything back," I said dryly.

The older woman glanced up at me and smiled. "Well there really aren't that many things left in the world. And they don't go out that far. Thankfully we have most of the things that we need, safe, inside our walls," she said.

"Right. Thanks for the apple," I said weakly before turning over to Daryl. He was staring after the truck with something akin to anger or irritation in his eyes. He certainly wasn't patient. "Should we go talk to them?" I asked him.

Daryl nodded at me. "Yeah." We walked over into the pavilion and walked around the porch. I glanced down at the ground where they had all come in. Jerry, Ezekiel, Richard, Morgan, another woman, and an older teenager were all with the group. I'd seen the kid before. Daryl and I walked straight up to Morgan. "Hey. Where'd you go in them trucks?" he asked.

The younger boy was standing near Morgan. I had noticed that Morgan had recently taken the kid under his wing. "I need to speak to Daryl and Rain alone. That okay?" he asked the younger boy.

Benjamin, or something like that. I'd heard someone say his name in passing. "Yeah, I'll get you something for that cut," he said before walking off.

And that was when I realized that Morgan had a small cut up by his ear. It looked like he had been hit over the head or something like that. My legs gave a small quiver when I realized that it could have been Lucille that hit Morgan. But it wasn't. They had mentioned that Negan never came to their little deals. It was always the same people. Some of his loyal soldiers. Like how Simon was normally the one that went to Hilltop. We were just lucky enough to get Dwight and Negan making personal visits to Alexandria.

Daryl waited until the others had gotten out of earshot. "You went to see them, right?" Daryl asked.

I knew that he meant the Saviors and so did Morgan. The black man dropped his gaze to the ground before looking back up. "Yeah."

We had to get rid of that whole no-killing thing that Morgan had going on. It was keeping Ezekiel from wanting to go to war with the Saviors. And we needed a war. It was the only way that we were going to get out from under their thumb. "Part of your deal? What the hell's wrong with you? You're bleeding," Daryl snapped at Morgan.

I grabbed the rag out of the back of Daryl's pants and walked over to Morgan. "Come here. I'll take care of it," I told Morgan. He thanked me softly as I began to dab at the bloody cut on his temple.

Daryl hadn't moved and his glare hadn't wavered. "They did that to you. You know what they are," Daryl argued.

I knew that it was mostly because of Abraham and Glenn that Daryl was acting the way that he was. It wasn't even what they had done to him. It was because of them, and Negan's utterly disturbing crush on me. "I do," Morgan said once I backed away.

I tucked the rag back into Daryl's pocket. "You know, if Carol were here, she saw all that if she knew about Abraham and Glenn she'd be leading us right to them, ready to kill them all," Daryl said.

And he was right. But she needed to know the truth. We could figure out something together. The most important part right now is that she knows the truth of what happened that night in the clearing. They were her family too. She had the right to know. "She would. And that's why she left, man," Morgan said.

Daryl stared at Morgan for a moment before scoffing and walking away. He walked a few feet but stopped there, waiting for me to join him. I took a moment to speak to Morgan alone. "Is anyone gonna tell her, or will we have to be the bearer of bad news?" I asked Morgan.

Someone had to tell her the truth. Morgan shook his head desperately at me. "She can't hear about that. She can't," he said.

"She's gonna have to. We can't just leave her out there with no idea about what happened. I wouldn't want that if it were Daryl and Rick. I'd want to know. Wouldn't you?" I asked him. He sighed but didn't answer. "She'll find out anyways. Someone has to tell her," I reasoned.

It would sound better that we were telling her the truth a little late then it would if we didn't tell her at all. "Will you?" Morgan asked me.

After a moment I nodded. It didn't seem like anyone else, except maybe Daryl, was planning on telling her. "Yes. Because if it were me I would want to know too," I said.

"She wants to be left alone."

"I don't care," I snapped. When Daryl had left back at the prison, I'd wanted to be left alone. But she hadn't let me. And I was grateful for that. "Carol wanted to be left alone when her daughter Sophia died too. But we didn't let her. We let her have her time to mourn and then we got her back together with us. She's had time. She needs to come back to us now," I told Morgan.

"You once said that ignorance is bliss. Do you remember that?" he asked me. I nodded. It was a few weeks after we'd met. "It was just after I found you. We were talking about my son and wife. How I should have just taken care of her and let Duane think that she'd just wandered off," he told me.

We had been talking about what might have changed things. What might have made that ending better. But in the end, there would have been no difference. It was all terrible. "That might be the best in some cases. Not in this one," I told him.

Here, knowledge was power. We needed to tell her what had happened. Everyone had the right to know what had happened that night. "You might think differently once you see her," Morgan told me.

"I won't."

Morgan sighed but I turned away before he got another chance to say something to me. I walked up to Daryl and past. He quickly caught up to my side. "What was that about?" Daryl asked me.

Shaking my head, I glanced over at him. "I was just telling Morgan that we were going to have to tell Carol about what happened out in the clearing. She has to know. If it were me, I would want to know," I said.

Daryl nodded at me as we walked over to the archery targets. "So you're going to tell her?" he asked me.

"Yes. Once I see her."

The only thing that I wanted was to take out some anger on the targets. Their bows here sucked, but they were better than nothing. I was headed straight for the spare bows but Daryl grabbed my arm and dragged me over to one of the closer targets. "Come here."

My eyebrows raised at him. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"To talk."

I glanced over to where Daryl was staring. He was looking at Richard, who was practicing with a longbow. He was pretty awful with it. Shooting far too low and high. I cocked my head at Daryl. He seriously wanted to talk to Richard? He tended to hate everyone that he didn't know for a long time. He wouldn't ever start conversations with them unless he'd been asked to.

"To Richard?" I finally asked, stupidly.

Daryl nodded at me. "He's one of the few people that agrees with us that something has to be done about the Saviors," he told me.

I shook my head at Daryl and tried to grab onto his arm. "Exactly. We don't need to work at him anymore. We know that he's with us on this. We should be working at Morgan and Ezekiel. Carol too. The people that still don't want to fight," I tried reasoning.

We already knew that Richard would fight with us. We didn't know whether or not Ezekiel and Morgan would want to fight with us. "Not yet," Daryl said as he dragged me towards the targets.

"You're useless. Rick told us to work at Morgan and Ezekiel," I told Daryl.

He turned to me with something like a little grin. It made my heart soar, his smile wasn't something that I saw too much of these days. "Then you must be just as useless, since you married me," he told me.

I nudged Daryl gently and laid my hand over my stomach. "This poor kid," I mumbled.

Daryl laughed loudly and wrapped an arm around me as we walked up to Richard. He was focused on his target. For a moment I glanced over at him and smiled at the horses that were neighing in the distance. Maybe one day I would ask to take them out for a ride. "Rain. Daryl," Richard greeted as we walked up to him.

His shot went too high and he groaned as he picked up another arrow. I stepped forward and laid my hand gently on his shoulder. "Your arm is too tight. Relax," I told him.

He followed my instruction and I watched as that arrow went straight into the center ring, just a few inches to the right. Richard turned back to me. "Thanks. I'm practicing. Gonna have to start using these more. The Saviors are smart enough to know I shouldn't have a gun around them," he told us.

I nodded and picked up an arrow, twirling it in between my fingers. "If you're actually intending on being able to hit something with that, you're going to need a way better teacher than yourself," I told him.

It wasn't to be rude, it was the truth. He would never know how to do it himself. His technique was all wrong. He looked like a beginner. "You offering?" Richard asked, turning back to me.

I shrugged my shoulders at him. "Sure. Why not?" I asked rhetorically. I'd need something to do while Daryl and I weren't able to go out for risk that we might run into the Saviors. "Number one, that bow is way too small for you. That's a child size," I told him. He blushed softly. "Number two, you need to place your mouth right against the string. That's the only way that you can properly see the target." He followed my order and placed the arrow against his mouth. I groaned and moved forward, re-positioning him slightly. "Number three, your shoulder is down too low. It means you're firing too high. Bring it up. Number four, stop firing when you're taking in breaths. It makes your body shake and knocks the shot off. Take in a breath, let it out, and then fire. Give it a try," I instructed.

He nodded at me and made a few last minute corrections. A moment later he let out a breath, paused, and then fired. This time the arrow went straight towards the center, only an inch off. Aim was something that could be bettered with time. "You're good at this. Where did you learn?" Richard asked me.

"My father signed me up for lessons when I was young. He bought me a bow when we went on a family trip to Africa. I still have it. Had," I corrected myself bitterly. "It's still in the Sanctuary."

"We'll get it back," Richard promised me.

I nodded at him. "I know. And I intend to beat Negan's head in with it," I growled. "Just keep it up and keep practicing. You'll get it. Try to trade with someone that needs a smaller bow," I told Richard.

Richard nodded at me. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Rain. How's that bow working out for you?" he asked, motioning to the bow that was slung over my back.

I gave a careless shrug. I wasn't ungrateful to them for giving it to me, but it was still a piece of shit. "It works. It's nothing spectacular. Trust me, I've had much nicer before. The bow that I had before cost my parents almost five thousand dollars," I answered nonchalantly.

Both Daryl and Richard looked shocked by that. "You must have been from a wealthy family," Richard said.

After a moment I nodded at him. "I was. Trust me, I would have rather lived in a trailer park and never gone anywhere other than my backyard if it meant that I didn't have to grow up with my parents," I told him honestly.

The mansion wasn't worth everything that I had gone through. "That bad?" Richard asked.

"Worse."

Thankfully Richard was smart enough to sense that this was a topic that no longer needed to be pressed. So he turned and grabbed a crossbow off of the pile of weapons. "Morgan said you're a bowman," Richard said before handing the crossbow to Daryl. It was one just like the one that he had had. Nothing special, but it would work. Just like my bow.

Daryl stared at the bow for a minute before taking it. He glanced through the sight and swung it around before dropping it back to his side and turning to Richard. "Why?" Daryl asked.

"'Cause we want the same things." The Saviors, dead. "I need your help," he said.

Both Daryl and I nodded before turning to follow Richard towards the gates. "Alright." We walked for a moment before Daryl and I fell behind slightly. "I didn't know that your family was rich," Daryl said to me.

After a moment I nodded. "Filthy. My father always understated it. He never wanted to make us out to be more than we were. I always thought that it was because he just didn't want to draw attention to us," I told him.

We had always just pretended to be middle-class. I knew that we were far wealthier than anyone else in our neighborhood. Daryl nodded at me as we got to walking. We went out through the gates that stayed open. We stopped right near the one-way sign that was laying on the ground. "We're heading out towards the road. There's something that I need the two of you to see," Richard said.

"And what is that?" I asked.

"You'll see."

I nodded and slung my bow off of my shoulders, immediately nocking an arrow. Just in case. We had barely made it two steps before Daryl pushed a hand in front of me. "You don't have to come. You can stay here and get some sleep. We don't know how long we're going to be out there," Daryl told me.

I shook my head at him with a little smirk. "You think that I'm going to hang back and let you have all of the fun? I don't think so. I'm coming with you," I said, as bull-headed as ever.

Daryl seemed on the nervous side. Not that I blamed him. "Rain, I don't know if that's -"

"No," I immediately spoke over him. He was not getting out of my sight. "I'm coming with you. I'll be fine, alright? It's going to be a long time before anything happens that I have to stop going outside of the walls. I'll be fine, Daryl. I'm coming with you. I can't stand the thought of watching you leave here and never getting you back," I said, a tick lump forming in my throat.

Richard as walking ahead of us and I knew that he was doing anything he could to avoid overhearing the conversation that we were having. "I'll always come back. Always," Daryl said.

I shook my head at him. "You can't promise that. You can't."

Daryl shook his head right back at me. "I can. And I will. You aren't ever going to be alone," he said.

Slowly I turned to him and pressed a small kiss against his lips. "Hang back for a second. I'm gonna talk to Richard," I mumbled. Daryl nodded as I ran forward, catching up with Richard. I knew that Daryl had his hands tight around the crossbow, just in case. "Hey, Richard, can I ask you something?" Richard nodded at me. "What makes you want to fight so hard against the Saviors? None of the rest of your group members do."

"Because the Saviors are terrible people. I've seen them take away family members. I lost my own family at the beginning of this thing. I can't keep watching more people lose theirs," he said sadly.

My heart twisted for him. I knew what it was like now. To have someone that you loved so much, to watch them die right in front of you, knowing that there was something that could have been done to prevent it. I knew what survivor's guilt was. "I'm sorry to hear about your family," I told him honestly.

"Thank you," Richard said. I noticed a dead tone to his voice. For a moment I thought about asking him what had happened to them but I knew that it was an inappropriate question.

So I settled on trying to protect the future. "We aren't going to lose any more people. Maybe in the fight. Definitely in the fight," I said honestly. "But we'll manage. We just can't go rushing into this thing. We need to take time. Sort this thing out. And when the time comes, we'll be ready. We will," I explained.

I got the feeling that Richard didn't want to wait another day. Neither did I. But that got dangerous. We had to take time and do this slowly. Not go rushing into it. That would be a suicide mission. Just like the trip to the outpost had been. "And today is where we begin," Richard said.

No. Bad idea. "Where are we going?" I asked, praying that Richard didn't know where the Sanctuary actually was.

He couldn't bring the fight to them. We would lose. Especially if so few of us were around. We needed more if we were going to take them on. "Not far. We're almost there," Richard said. I let out a little breath and dropped back to Daryl. The Sanctuary was nowhere around here. That wasn't where we were going.

I let off my arrow at a walker that was coming towards us and nodded at Daryl. "Hand me one of those arrows," I said, meaning one of the spares that he had from the crossbow.

"Why?" Daryl asked, handing me the arrow anyways.

"Just in case," I said as I nocked it against the edge of the bow. "I don't know if I trust Richard or not. I'm not going to do anything unless he gives me a reason. But if he does... I just want to be ready," I mumbled to Daryl.

He nodded at me and raised his crossbow. I knew that if something were going to happen to one of us, he would always rather it be him. Especially now. We walked in silence for a while and I found Daryl standing closer to me and more on edge than he normally was. I knew that it was because of everything that had happened. I walked up to him and nudged gently against his shoulder, trying to get him to calm down. He couldn't spend the next nine months that tightly wound.

Finally we came up on the place that Richard clearly wanted us to be in. Daryl pushed me behind him gently as we walked through the grassy area. We walked over towards what appeared to be a rather large train car. Probably for what had once been a carnival ride. It almost reminded me of the Terminus train cars. It had a rather large painting of a man herding horses in a canyon on it and something that appeared to be a carousel. My father had never let me ride carnival rides. It was one of the few things that I was thankful for. They were rather terrifying and completely unsafe.

I'd take Disney any day. Beyond the train car was one of the large highways. "What is this place?" I asked as we walked over to the train car. Something about here seemed very set-up.

"The beginning," Richard said simply.

"Of?" I prompted.

"The war."

Daryl and I both exchanged a look before I walked over to Richard, shaking my head. "We can't start this with just the three of us. We need more people. Richard, even with Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom, we might still not have enough people. We need more. We need more guns. We need time to plan. Doing this will just cause more problems. We need to lay low for a few weeks. Make the Saviors think that we get it," I tried to explain as simply as I could to him.

His plan was going to get us - and a lot of other innocent people - killed. "And what good will that do? Get more people killed," Richard told me.

"That's not true. The Saviors have said it before. They don't want us dead. They won't kill us if we don't give them a reason. They want us to work for them. If we comply and plan right under their noses, no one else will die," I argued.

It was the reason that Rick had even tried to work for Negan. But Spencer and Olivia had pushed him too far. "We tried that once before, it won't work," Richard told me.

"It will. If we can keep everyone on the same side," I said.

Of course it didn't work. Richard merely walked up to the train car and dropped off his weapons. Daryl did the same. I held onto the bow that was in my hands. Daryl and Richard both dropped their packs and as Richard dropped his, he began to rifle through it. My grip on my arrow tightened. As Richard looked he began to speak.

"We need something to move Ezekiel. This is it. Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom hitting first, hitting hard, and then we wipe the Saviors from the Earth. Keeping people - dozens and dozens and dozens of good people - keeping them safe. They ride this road," he said, pointing to the highway behind us. "If we see cars, it's the Saviors. They've been coming in packs of two or three lately. That's why I need you two. I can't take them alone. We're gonna hit them with the guns first and then the Molotovs," he said, bringing out a Molotov cocktail. Daryl pushed me back gently. "Then back to the guns until they're dead."

Hell no. They'd know that it was us. And all we'd do was make them angry for killing their men. I knew first hand that Negan did not appreciate us killing his men. "Why the fire?" Daryl asked.

Before Richard could justify his case, I attempted to talk him down from his foolish plan. "Why start with just a few? We need to take out all of them. At the same time. We already tried doing the little by little thing. And it doesn't work. I promise you that," I told him.

Daryl jolted slightly. I knew that he was thinking about the Sanctuary. "We need to take as many out first as we can. In time we'll stage the final fight. As for the fire, it needs to look bad," Richard said. Both men stood and Daryl walked away from me, drawing Richard's eye in the other direction. "The Saviors who discover what's left - we want them to be angry. I left a trail from here to the weapons cache I planted, to the cabin of that someone Ezekiel cares about," Richard said.

It took me a moment to process his words. He was going to sacrifice someone that meant something to Ezekiel. A loved one. I would not watch someone else lose their loved one. Not again. Not after I had lost so many. This time I had a chance to do something about it. "So you're going to sacrifice some innocent person?" I asked.

Richard nodded at me. "If that's what it takes," he said flatly.

"Hell no," I snapped at him. There was one good reason that I had not to do this. "You do that and it doesn't make you a damn bit better than the Saviors," I told him darkly.

Richard glared at me. "They've made us desperate."

"Desperation breeds stupidity," I growled.

"Who's that?" Daryl asked about the person that Richard was planning on sacrificing. I knew that he was doing it to detract the tense air that had formed between Richard and myself.

Richard shrugged his shoulders and I found my teeth grinding together. He was so careless over someone - someone innocent. "It's just some loner he met. Sometimes he brings food."

"Why don't they live in the Kingdom?" Daryl asked.

Richard shook his head. "I don't know. She lives out there, she'll die out there."

That time my jaw dropped. It was a woman. Richard wasn't even going to do this to someone that might be able to save themselves. He was planning on doing this to a woman. Daryl seemed to be taking the news as well as I was. "It's a woman?" Daryl asked darkly.

Richard grabbed his bag before turning back to Daryl. "What does that matter? She's got more balls than you and me. Maybe not you," he said, motioning to me. I growled darkly. "She's gonna die either way. When the Saviors come and find their buddies dead, if they know their elbow from their asshole and can follow an obvious spoor, they're gonna go to the weapons cache and then to the cabin, and they're gonna attack this woman."

"I always knew that Negan was cruel, I didn't know that you were cruel too," I snapped at him.

There was no way that Daryl or I were going to let Richard kill this poor woman. She had nothing to do with any of this. But looking over at Daryl, it seemed that he didn't share my thoughts. "What's her name?" Daryl asked.

Maybe she does have something to do with this. Morgan seemed to be saying that Carol was close. Was there a chance that it was Carol that Richard was talking about? "Maybe they kill her, maybe they don't, but it's gonna show Ezekiel what he needs to do," Richard said.

"Her name. What is it?" Daryl asked once more.

I knew that if this really was Carol, neither one of us would let anything happen to her. Daryl was extremely protective of Carol. She was one of his best friends. And she was one of mine too. She'd said that she had better be the Godmother when there was a little Daryl or Rain running around. I intended to keep my word on that.

"She's tough. Maybe she'll live," Richard reasoned.

He seemed to have sensed that he had stepped into dangerous territory with the two of us. Not a place that he wanted to be. "Say her damn name!" Daryl shouted, startling me slightly.

Richard let out a little sigh. He knew that we weren't going to drop this one. "Carol," he finally answered. My heart nearly stopped. No way in hell am I letting anything happen to her. I promised Sophia. "I hoped you didn't know her, but I didn't think you'd care, 'cause you know what needs to happen," Richard argued.

Maybe, but we weren't cruel. We weren't going to let anything bad happen to her. "I'll put this arrow through your chest a thousand times before I let you go after Carol," I growled, pointing my arrow towards Richard.

"No," Daryl growled.

Richard took a step towards us and Daryl pushed me backwards, directly behind himself. "Maybe she'll live. Look, this - this is how - this is how this could happen. This is how we can get rid of the Saviors, how we all can have a future. She's living out there on her own, just waiting to die," he said.

"No!" Daryl shouted.

If she was that bad I would go and help her out. She needed to come back to us. She was one of my best friends and I wasn't going to let her go through with the self-destructive behavior. I knew how dangerous that was. Daryl began to pick up his things as Richard continued to speak. "If we don't do anything, a hell of a lot more people are gonna die, people who want to live!" he shouted.

"You do this and you start a war before anyone is ready for it. A hell of a lot more people are going to die than if we wait and go to war when we're ready," I told him.

Daryl grabbed his bag and his gun, slinging them both over his shoulders before grabbing me and walking away. We had barely made it two steps before Richard continued to walk after us. Daryl stopped short and advanced on Richard. Despite the other man being taller, Daryl would always be more intimidating. "You stay the hell away from Carol, you hear me?" Daryl asked.

Richard never got a chance to respond. Engines began to roar and Richard turned back. There was a rather large group of cars coming up the road. Daryl dropped his bag and raised his bow, still keeping me behind himself. "It's them. Look, we can wait for things to go bad, we lose people or we can do the hard thing and choose our fate for ourselves," Richard said.

"No," Daryl said.

Richard sighed. "Sorry," he said before turning back to the road. Before he could get to the edge and use the Molotov cocktails, Daryl grabbed the back of his shirt and wrenched him backwards.

The two men went flying backwards as Daryl tossed Richard to the ground. I gasped and pushed back a scream, not wanting to draw the Saviors over to us. Daryl jumped on top of Richard and pushed his arm against the other man's throat. I held back a scream and debated on what to do. There wasn't much that I could do that wouldn't draw the Saviors over to us. Everything would start to get loud. Daryl was holding Richard down and I pressed myself back against the train car as the Saviors drove past.

They were just passing when Richard managed to wrench his head away from Daryl. It didn't matter though. Daryl reared up and began to punch Richard in the face, as hard as he could. Each time, changing off hands. As Daryl went to punch Richard once more I saw that Richard grabbed a gun that had been knocked free during the fight and grabbed it, smashing Daryl across the face with it. I gasped loudly and jumped up in between the two men, shoving Richard back as I nocked an arrow.

Daryl grabbed his crossbow and Richard grabbed his rifle. I had my arrow out and aimed at Richard as everyone got to their feet. Richard had his gun aimed straight at me and Daryl had his crossbow aimed at Richard. Of course, I was standing right in the way of the two. "Rain, move," Daryl pleaded.

"No," I said.

"Let - let her move," Daryl said. I could hear his voice breaking. It wasn't because of how tired he was from the fight. It was because - as usual - my life was the one in danger. "She's - she's pregnant."

Richard's face fell. "Move," he told me.

"No. You want to shoot him, you have to shoot me."

"Rain," Daryl called out, his voice extraordinarily weak. "Please move."

I still didn't move. "I won't shoot her," Richard said. Daryl moved forward and shoved me out of the way, beside him. I still kept my arrow pointed at a bloodied Richard. "There'll be more. Or those - they're gonna ride back this way later. We'll have another chance. But we're running out of time. If you and your people want to move against the Saviors you need to do it soon, and you need the Kingdom. What we have to do requires sacrifice one way or another. Guys like us, we've already lost so much," Richard said.

He hadn't lost anything. Not Daryl. He'd gained everything. He'd made a real family out of Merle. They were no longer in a power-struggle. He'd gained a wife, and soon, a child. He had gotten everything. "You don't know me," Daryl snapped.

"I know that Carol, living on her own like that she might as well be dead right now," Richard said to Daryl.

"So that means that her life is yours to decide what to do with?" I shouted louder than I meant to. "I've had people tell me that I'm like Negan. But they're wrong. I think that you're more like him than I am," I told him darkly.

I would never sacrifice someone that I cared about. Someone that someone else cared about. Perhaps even Negan wouldn't do something like that. "Like you said, I'm desperate," Richard told me.

Daryl finally dropped his crossbow and walked up to Richard. "She gets hurt, she dies, if she catches a fever, if she's taken out by a walker if she gets hit by lightning - anything - anything happens to her, I'll kill you," Daryl warned Richard.

Richard slowly lowered his gun from Daryl's face. "I would die for the Kingdom," Richard said tearfully.

"Why don't you?" Daryl snapped before turning and grabbing his things. He barely had them together before he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me with him, neither one of us bothering to say anything back to Richard.

We had barely been walking for two minutes before I grabbed Daryl by the hand. I knew that he was steaming over what had just happened. "Come on. Let's go find her. We need to see her," I told him.

"Do you know where she is?" Daryl asked me as we walked through the woods.

I felt my legs shaking as we walked. I was rather shaken up from the encounter earlier. Something terrible could have happened. To me, to Daryl, to Carol, or even to Richard. "They said something about a cabin near the edge of the Kingdom. They mentioned that it wasn't far from the gates. Apparently there are little black wrought-iron gates around it. We can find it. Should be easy," I told him.

I couldn't imagine that there were many places that looked like that anymore. "You really think that we should tell Carol about what happened with Glenn and Abraham?" Daryl asked me.

No. Part of me wanted to let her live in ignorant bliss. But a bigger part of me knew that she deserved to know the truth. "Would you want to know if it were me?" I asked Daryl as we walked back out towards the road.

Daryl hesitated for a moment. I knew that he was trying to prevent ever thinking about me being dead. "Yes. But you're my wife," he tried to reason with me.

"They were her friends," I told him. It was no difference. We're all family. "Her family too. I would want to know if it were Rick and Carl. Carol. Morgan. Rosita or Aaron. Tara or Eugene. Anyone. I'd want to know. No matter who they are," I told Daryl. We walked in silence for a few minutes before I turned to Daryl. Maybe if he was thinking that we shouldn't do this, I should at least hear him out. "Are you thinking that we shouldn't tell her?" I asked.

Daryl sighed. "I'm worried about her."

"I am too. This isn't Carol. And doing things like this isn't really who Carol is. She tried to overcompensate for everything that happened to her with Ed and Sophia. We can fix it though. She just needs help," I argued weakly.

In all honesty I wasn't sure that what was going on with Carol was something that we could fix. But I would damn well try. "Might only make it worse if we tell her about them," Daryl said.

"But we need to tell her. You think that she'll be happy to see us? Morgan said that she wanted to be alone."

Daryl shrugged his shoulders at me. "There's times that I wanted to be alone, you too, but we never did that. I think that it worked out. Someone needs to go and talk to her. Show her that she ain't ashes," he said.

For a moment a small smile fell over my face. It was the same thing that they had told each other when we had been on our way to Grady Memorial. Something that they had said to try and help each other out. It seemed appropriate to bring it back now. "You're a good man, Daryl Dixon. Richard doesn't know shit," I told him, grabbing his hand.

"No. He don't. And you need to stop doing shit like that," he told me angrily.

That wasn't a conversation that I wanted to get into right now. We were happy right now. I couldn't have the I-can't-let-you-die conversation right now. "What if I don't?" I asked him teasingly.

He shook his head at me. I knew that he was trying not to laugh at me. But he was easy. I knew how to get him to break. "You're going to give me a heart attack," Daryl told me.

Gently I pushed against his chest. "That's alright, I like keeping you on your toes."

He rolled his eyes at me but I saw a little grin turn up on the corners of his lips. "You're horrible," Daryl told me. There was a little laugh in his voice that he was trying to hide from me.

"That must mean that you are too. I mean, you married me, right?" I asked, shoving back his words at me from earlier.

Daryl laughed at me and slung a hand over my shoulder. He pulled me into him and pressed a kiss against my hair. "You make for good company at night," he told me nonchalantly.

I laughed loudly and shoved him away from me. "Just at night! I'm insulted. I think that I make good company for any time of the day," I said with a suggestive smile. The comment that would have once made Daryl blush, now only made him smirk. He walked towards me and pushed the both of us back into a tree.

"Yeah?" Daryl asked me, his eyes dark and lidded.

"Yeah," I said. He moved in to kiss me and I was about to let my eyes flutter closed when I spotted him. Right behind us was a rather decrepit house that was surrounded by a black, wrought-iron gate. That was Carol. That's where she was. I put up a hand to stop Daryl. "Hang on," I told him.

He scoffed and moved back from me. "Damn tease," he growled at me.

I laughed and shoved him, motioning behind us. "Shut up you idiot. Right back there," I said, pointing back to the cabin. Daryl looked at it and stared. "I think that's where Carol is. We should go check it out," I told him. Daryl nodded at me and we began to walk forward. Although I did notice that he looked slightly disappointed. I laughed softly and nudged Daryl. "Later, big guy."

Daryl glanced over at me and nodded. "I'll hold you to your word," he told me.

The two of us laughed once more before moving onto the porch of the house. Daryl stared at me and I nodded, watching as he knocked gently on the door. The house was silent for a moment before I heard a small shuffling. I grabbed Daryl's hand as the shuffling came closer to the door. It was a human. Someone that was alive. And it was Carol. I knew it. The figure stopped in front of the door before swinging it open. As expected, it was Carol. She clearly wasn't expecting us.

She was staring at the two of us like she had seen a ghost. It had quickly replaced the rather irritated look that had been on her face before. Her mouth dropped open as we all shifted awkwardly. Carol sighed softly before the tears started to fall. She took a step forward and that was all that it took. Daryl and I met her the other half and together we all wrapped in a tight hug. Her head was buried in between Daryl and I's shoulders as she sobbed softly into our shoulders.

We all stood together for a moment before Daryl spoke. "Okay," he said, gently prying Carol from around us.

She wiped away a tear as she took a step back. "Oh," she mumbled softly and rather awkwardly.

For a moment I searched for something to say to her. Thankfully Daryl saved me from that. He explained simply to her. "Jesus took us to the Kingdom. Morgan said you just left. I was out here. I saw you." Carol began to cry and I could hear the tears in Daryl's voice too. Even I was close to tears. "Why'd you go?" he asked her, his voice breaking at the end.

"I had to," Carol said, glancing down. Her voice was barely loud enough for us to hear her.

The three of us stood outside together as we stared at each other. No one seemed willing to be the first person to speak. Tears were built in my eyes as I decided that if I didn't speak, no one would. "So are you going to invite us in or are we going to stand here and stare at each other for a little while longer?" I asked, wiping away a tear.

Carol laughed softly and moved off to the side so that we could come in. "Of course. Come in," she said softly. We walked inside and I took a look around.

It wasn't much. It was rather small. Just large enough for Carol to live in comfortably. Maybe a few other people if they were quiet. There was a small kitchen that was off to the side, a dining room table right by the entrance to the home, a small living room with a few couches in between the rooms, and a hallway that I assumed contained a bathroom and bedroom in the back of the house. There was a rather nice fireplace on the edge of the living room.

Carol motioned around to the rest of the small house. "Sit wherever. I'll get a fire started," she told us.

Daryl took a seat at the table as I plopped down on the couch. Carol went to lighting candles and starting the fire in the fireplace. I glanced out of the window and saw that the sun was starting to set. I would have to get back to the Kingdom soon if I wanted to be there in time to speak with Ezekiel. It took Carol a few minutes to bring the fire up into a dull roar. I smiled and looked around as warmth filled the room. It was the kind of place that I imagined Carol would live.

As I sat on the couch I began to pick at a blanket that was thrown underneath me. "Nice place you got here," I commented weakly.

Carol glanced over at me and smiled. It was the first time that I'd seen her smile in a long time. I wondered how long it really had been since she'd smiled the way that I knew that she could. "Ezekiel set me up with it," she said.

That time I couldn't help the smile that fell over my face. "That was nice of him. The two of you gotten close recently?" I asked her.

I genuinely was curious. There was Tobin back in Alexandria but I wasn't so sure how serious that had really been. "Not like that. But he's a good man. He was good enough to do all of this for me," Carol told me.

I wasn't sure if I completely believed that. Carol wore her heart on her sleeve. It wasn't hard to tell when she was lying or when she wasn't telling the complete truth. "That was kind of him. Care to tell us what happened?" I asked her softly. I didn't want to push her into telling me something that she wasn't ready to talk about.

But she did. "I couldn't lose anyone. I couldn't lose any of them. I couldn't lose either of you. I couldn't kill them," she said. Carol didn't bother looking at us, she merely stared off into space. She finally looked back at us. "I could. I would. If they hurt any of our people - any more of them - that's what I would do. And there wouldn't be anything let of me after that." My heart gave a painful twist and I glanced back at Daryl. He was wearing the same, pained, face. "The Saviors - did they come?" Carol asked.

And here it was. My chance to tell her the truth. But somehow I couldn't bring myself to say anything. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't force the words out of my mouth. This was what Morgan had told me about. This was why he didn't want to tell her. And now I could see why. She couldn't have this done to her. I couldn't take the hope away from her. What she had just said... That there wouldn't be any of her left. She was already so empty. I couldn't do that to her. I couldn't take away the little bit of her that was left.

So we were left in a tense silence. Daryl seemed to be torn about what to say as well. Carol shifted on her knees so that she was kneeling in front of Daryl and I. "Yeah," Daryl finally said.

Neither one of us could say anything more. "Did anyone get hurt? Is everybody okay?" Carol said so weakly that it broke my heart. Could I really do it? Was it fair of me to tell her?

"They -" I started before cutting myself off. What could I say? Negan beat Glenn and Abraham to death with a baseball bat he named after his late wife, made Daryl his slave, me his wife, gutted Spencer, and killed Olivia for something that Rosita did. No. I couldn't.

Her voice began to break as she stared at me. I knew that she was getting concerned that we weren't saying anything else to her about the Saviors. "Did the Saviors -" Carol said before beginning to cry, covering her mouth with her hand. Tears began to fill my eyes. "Is everybody back home okay?" she asked.

No. Tell her. "Well -" I said before cutting myself off once more.

Maybe it really was kinder to not tell her the truth. "Rain, Daryl -" Carol pleaded with us desperately.

She was now crying heavily. We were silent for a moment before Daryl finally spoke. "They came," he said.

No. We couldn't tell her. "Daryl -" I warned.

I didn't realize that I didn't need to finish my warning. "We got them all. Made a deal with the rest of them, like Ezekiel," Daryl lied. I pressed my hands into my eyes as Carol began to sob. We would tell her the truth one day. But today was not that day. We couldn't. Not yet.

"Don't worry about them, we'll take care of it. We've got a plan," I told her.

Daryl continued to try and reassure her that everything was alright. "Everyone's all right. Everyone's all right," he told her. She began to sniffle and wipe the tears from her eyes with a little sigh. I turned over to Daryl with a guilty sigh. The air was thick, but it was only because we had lied. Not that we were going to tell her that. Finally, Daryl cleared his throat. "We gonna eat or - or we got to be kings or something to get food around here?" he asked.

Carol chuckled softly and so did I. She sniffled as she stood from the ground. "Shut up," she snapped playfully at Daryl before grabbing the pot that was sitting over the fire and walking it over to the table. She sat it on a plate in between Daryl and herself as I took the center seat.

Daryl chuckled as Carol began to feed the two of us. It seemed to be mostly beans but that was better than nothing. The two of us chuckled softly as we dug into our meal. "Ezekiel, is he okay?" Daryl asked Carol after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, I think he is," she said. She didn't even bother taking a moment to think about it.

The three of us ate dinner in silence for a little while before I got antsy. I had to tell her the truth about at least one thing. She needed to know that I was pregnant. After all, Maggie had always been the first person that I'd wanted to know, and Carol after her. "Carol, there's actually some news that I had. We have. Excuse me," I said.

Carol's eyebrows raised and she seemed to be debating on whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. "Oh? What's that?" she asked. I could see the worry hidden in the back of her eyes.

My jaws were grinding together as I attempted to figure out how to tell her the truth. It wasn't exactly the easiest thing to spit out. "Um... We - uh - we just found out. I'm - I'm pregnant," I told her awkwardly.

Carol just stared. For well over a minute she just stared at me. And then for another minute she stared at Daryl. She finally came back to look at me. Her jaw was hanging open and I was having a hard time not laughing at her. "You're serious?" she finally managed to ask me.

"I am," I told her.

She only looked at me for a moment before turning back to Daryl. She was wearing a look that said that she was still convinced that we were joking and she didn't appreciate the joke. "She's joking," Carol said to Daryl.

He shook his head at her with a small smile. "She's not. We're not," he told her.

"Oh. Oh!" she squeaked before jumping over to me and wrapping me in a tight hug. I laughed and hugged her back tightly as she motioned for Daryl to join in on the hug. The three of us all laughed together as Carol began to cry, this time for happiness. "Oh I'm so happy for the two of you. How far along are you?" she asked me.

Perhaps not at all. But I wanted to believe that I really was pregnant. "Not far at all. Two weeks, if maybe that," I said.

Her eyebrows creased. It seemed that no one ever experienced symptoms this early on. Sharon was right, luck was the one reason that we'd caught mine. "How'd you know?" Carol asked.

"I got a little light-headed and queasy when I was out in the sun. I talked to Maggie about it - Jesus too - and they warned me to go and check it out. When we got to the Kingdom we went to the doctor. Took a pregnancy test. Came up positive," I told her, altering the bits of the story about the Sanctuary.

Carol smiled brightly. "God. That's amazing. I'm so happy for you both. You're going to make incredible parents. Both of you. And Judith, she and Maggie and Glenn's baby - they're all going to be able to play together," she told me brightly.

She thought that Maggie, Rick, Carl, Daryl, Glenn, Michonne, and I would all be around the kids together. She didn't realize that we were actually one person short. I didn't dare tell her that. "Yeah. It'll be a real family." Nerves suddenly bundled in my stomach. There was one part that I hadn't thought of yet. "Will you be there? When it's time?" I asked her.

Carol smiled at me and grasped my hands tightly over the table. "Of course. You don't even have to ask," she told me. I figured that I should, considering the state of her being.

"Thank you," I told her honestly.

We all sat together and ate in silence for a little while. There were smiles on everyone's faces. We all knew that this was a happy time. There was far too little happiness in the world. But a new child, a pregnancy, that was something that could be celebrated. "It's going to be a girl," Carol said, breaking the silence.

I glanced over at it curiously. "How do you know?" I asked her.

Carol smiled at me. Was there a way that you really could know? "I just know. You're going to have a girl. Because Daryl needs another little girl in his life," she teased Daryl.

He looked over at her and shook his head. "Don't care what it is, as long as it's healthy. And as long as you're healthy," Daryl said, grabbing my hand.

I smiled and leaned onto him, holding Carol's hand with my spare hand. "That's the right way to be," she said to the two of us.

Once more I smiled as we looked out the window. It was very dark. I knew that we had to be leaving now if I wanted to meet with Ezekiel and speak to him. And there were things that I wanted to say to him. Things that might change the game for us. "We should be heading back. It's getting late," I told Carol sadly.

She let out a little sigh but nodded anyways. "Okay. You let me know, send someone, if anything happens to you. I want to be there for you. If you ever need me, advice, to talk, anything, come get me," she said.

"Of course," I told her as we stood.

The three of us walked over to the door, Daryl and I grabbing the weapons and bags. "Watch out for yourself, all right? Both of you. Especially you. Carrying precious cargo," Carol told me, gently placing her hand on my stomach.

I hadn't asked Daryl if it was alright, but I knew that it would be. He loved Carol just the same way that I did. "Before we go, there's something that I wanted to ask you. We wanted to ask you. We wanted to know if you'd like to be the Godmother?" I asked her.

A bright smile fell over Carol's face. I glanced back at Daryl and saw that he was nodding at me. "What about Maggie?" Carol asked me.

There was going to be room for everyone. "We'd like her to be an honorary aunt. We might as well be sisters. But you - I want you to be the Godmother. There was a day that I promised you that you would be the Godmother," I told her.

Carol smiled and nodded at me. "Of course. That baby is going to need someone sane in its life." The two of us laughed softly. "You come see me whenever you need. Be careful out there," she told us.

"You too. We'll see you soon," I told Carol. Daryl and I hugged her once more before walking out of the door and through the front yard. Carol watched us from the doorway and I waved to her once more as we disappeared over the road. We'd see her again, I knew that much. And one day we'd manage to tell her the truth.

We only walked in silence for a few minutes. Although in those few minutes we'd found ourselves getting close to the edge of the Kingdom. "Do you think that we should have lied to her?" Daryl finally asked me, breaking the tense silence.

We'd both known that the obvious lie that we'd been determined not to tell would have to be discussed. "Yes," I said quickly. And it was the truth. She deserved to be ignorant. If just for a while longer.

"Someone's going to tell her the truth one day and she's not going to be happy with us for lying to her," Daryl tried to argue with me.

I smiled as we walked up to the gates of the Kingdom. Two younger men opened the gates as we walked back inside. "Sucks to be you. I'm pregnant, I get a get out of jail free card. I don't know what you're going to do," I told him with a serious face.

Daryl stared at me with a blank face for a moment and I smiled. "You're gonna be a great mom," he teased. The two of us laughed loudly as Daryl wrapped an arm around my waist. I'd noticed that since we'd found out that I was pregnant, he'd become a little more affectionate. It didn't bother me in the slightest. "I'm not kidding though. You'll be a great mom," he told me.

Smiling slightly, I leaned up on my toes and pressed a small kiss to Daryl lips. He pushed a strand of hair out of my face and I giggled under my breath. He was my happy ending. I just wished that I'd met him so much earlier. "And you'll be a great dad. I know it," I whispered.

We were walking towards the gardens to grab ourselves a small dinner when I walked past Jerry. He was carrying a spear and talking animatedly to a younger woman. "Hey, Jerry!" I called out. He turned back to me and smiled, taking a step towards us. "I'm meeting with King Ezekiel. There a place that I should go?" I asked.

Jerry nodded at me and motioned for Daryl and I to follow him. "Come with me," he said. The two of us walked with Jerry through the auditorium that we had first met him in. We walked up to the stage, onto it, and backstage. Just where the dressing rooms had once been was a rather large cage. And inside, was Shiva. "King Ezekiel will be with you soon. He asks that you await your audience with him in here," Jerry told us.

"Thanks, Jerry," I chirped. He nodded at us and turned to leave. Daryl and I both walked over to Shiva slowly and smiled at her. She walked over to us slowly and growled softly. She seemed to be as curious about us as we were about her. "God, she's beautiful," I muttered as I walked to sit in front of her cage.

The growls became softer as she came to sit at the edge of the bars. Her nose came through the bars and - throwing caution to the wind for a moment - I gently pet her. I could feel her purring underneath my hand. "You already got a kid, you don't need a tiger," Daryl told me.

Shiva looked over at Daryl for a moment before shifting slightly so that she could sit in between the two of us. "Come on, everyone needs a tiger," I teased my husband.

He came to sit on the floor with me and the two of us gently pet Shiva for a few minutes. She would go back and forth between sitting in front of us and pacing back and forth. She didn't seem to enjoy being in the cage much, but like Ezekiel had said, she made the people nervous. Not that I could blame them. I'd just had enough near-death experiences that the thought of dying didn't scare me much anymore. And if a seriously pissed-off tiger was how I went out of this world, well I'd be alright with that.

Shiva went back to standing and she stood directly in front of Daryl and I. I realized why she'd risen as the door creaked behind us. Someone had come in. "Well, you're both good with her," I heard Morgan say to us. For a moment I'd thought that it was Ezekiel. "Ezekiel will be impressed."

Daryl didn't bother looking away from Shiva when he spoke. "Well, figure any guy that has a pet tiger can't be that bad. He's okay by Carol. Yeah, we found her, out in that little house," Daryl said, finally looking over to Morgan. I noticed that Morgan's lips twitched in something akin to a smile. He was probably glad that someone was speaking to her.

"Look, what I said when I said she just went away, it's what she told me to do," Morgan told us. He walked forward a few steps but stayed back from Shiva's cage.

This time I turned back to speak with Morgan. "And you did right by her. There's nothing that you should be sorry for," I told him.

Daryl stared at Shiva for a moment longer before looking over at Morgan once more. "No, she's right, we get it. We need the Kingdom. You got to make that happen," he told the other man.

An uncomfortable look had suddenly taken over Morgan's face. "I'm sorry. I mean, I - I really am, but, uh it can't be me," Morgan said slowly, shaking his head at us.

I stood quickly, knowing that we had a limited time before Ezekiel came to collect me for our chat. "It has to be you. You have his ear," I said desperately. Shiva growled softly and I stuck my hand out to gently pet her ear, knowing that I had put her on the defensive.

Daryl let out a little sigh before standing with me. This time Shiva came to the edge of the cage. She was almost like a pet wanting attention from her owner. Although that was almost what she was. "Look, whatever it is you're holding on to its already gone, man. Wake the hell up," Daryl snapped at Morgan.

Morgan merely smiled. "You're the same as me, Daryl."

Daryl began to gather his pack and new crossbow. I assumed that he wanted to head back to our room in the meantime, while I was speaking to Ezekiel. He wasn't exactly comfortable with being here. "You don't know shit about me," Daryl snapped, once he had all of his things together.

"No, I do. 'Cause you didn't tell Carol what happened." Both Daryl and I raised our eyebrows, unaware of how he'd known that we hadn't told her. "You didn't, 'cause she'd be here otherwise. And I'm glad for that. See, we're all holding on to something," Morgan said.

Daryl didn't immediately answer. He leaned down his hand to where Shiva was standing at the edge of the cage. He stuck his hand in and let her rub against his hand for a moment. She grunted and I smiled as he began to walk past her and Morgan. "I'm going back to Hilltop in the morning and getting ready. You coming?" he asked Morgan.

He never really gave him a chance to answer. He merely continued walking with me right behind him. "Well you know that I am. Just not tonight. We stay here for one more night and head out first thing in the morning," I told Daryl.

"Alright," he conceded.

We stood in silence for a moment before Jerry came back to meet me. He smiled at me and motioned for me to follow him. "King Ezekiel is ready to speak with you, Rain," Jerry said.

I nodded at him and turned back to Daryl. "I need to speak to Ezekiel. I won't be long," I promised him.

After a moment he nodded. "Alright. I'll meet you back at the room," he said. I nodded and pressed a small kiss to his lips before nodding to Jerry that I was ready.

He brought me back through the room that Shiva was in. Or rather the room that she had been in. Her cage was still closed but she was no longer inside of it. She must have been taken by Ezekiel while Jerry was coming to fetch me. We walked out of the other side of the building - towards what looked like a greenhouse that the students had once used. King Ezekiel was standing with Shiva laying at his side. She was on her chain, as usual. She glanced up when I walked in and I noticed that her nose was twitching as she looked over to Ezekiel. Probably because he was carrying a box with what looked like food.

Jerry was dismissed by Ezekiel and I smiled as I walked forward. "A present," Ezekiel said, handing me over the box. I took it and opened the top. The contents made me give a loud and hearty laugh. It was chocolate chip cookies. "One of the women that works in the garden overheard you speaking with Daryl," he told me.

I smiled and closed the lid of the box once more. "Well I thank you both. Shall we?" I offered, motioning over to one of the benches.

"Absolutely," Ezekiel said, leading me over to the bench that was sitting near the fire. Shiva walked over to me and pressed her head under my hand. I smiled and petted over her head. She was sweet, the way that she nuzzled against me. Ezekiel was watching us with a fond smile. "Shiva likes you," he commented.

I glanced up at him and smiled. "I like her too. She's absolutely fascinating. One has to wonder how you came to owning a tiger. Not exactly a common pet these days," I told him with a small smile.

Ezekiel matched my grin and shook his head. "No, they are not. Perhaps I'll tell you one day how she came into my care," he said and I nodded. I couldn't press. Not yet. Not until I knew where I wanted to go with this. We were silent for a moment as I ate a cookie, offering one to Ezekiel. "How did your appointment go this morning?" he finally asked.

My eyebrows rose as I glanced over at him. He was the king, wouldn't they have told him what had happened? "I'm surprised that they didn't already tell you," I said.

Ezekiel shook his head at me. "I mind people's privacy," he said.

Now that was something that wasn't at all common these days. Everyone always knew everything about everyone else. "I appreciate that. I really do. We went to see if I was pregnant," I said. Ezekiel's brows rose. "We decided recently that we were ready for a child. That we might as well try now, since it was never going to be the right time," I told him honestly.

Ezekiel smiled a smile that told me that he really was happy for me. "That's the only way to really be able to think. We have to live in the moment. Otherwise we'll never be able to really live. Only survive," he said.

It sounded like something that my family had once said. We had to be able to live, surviving wasn't enough. "Exactly. That's why we did what we did. Anyways, it came back positive," I said.

This time Ezekiel actually laughed. It seemed almost wrong to see him smiling the way that he was. He clapped his hands together and pulled me into a quick hug. Shiva was watching from her spot on the ground. "Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. The world needs more children in it. Congratulations to you both. I'm sure that you'll make wonderful parents," he told me with a small smile.

I gave him one back, despite wanting to try and keep this somewhat serious. "Thank you. I hope to be better than my own," I told him honestly.

His eyebrows raised as he glanced at me. "What happened with your own family?" he asked me. I almost smiled. This was the way that I had been hoping to steer the conversation, despite not wanting to bring up my past.

"Lots. My parents loved me just the way that any should. But then my sister was born. I was almost a teenager. My parents completely lost interest in me. They stopped talking to me after a few weeks. I came to hate them, resent them for the way that they'd completely given up on me. My father used to hit me." I saw Ezekiel's eyebrow twitched. "A little kick or slap. Nothing too bad. And then the day came that my mother died.

"She was in a car crash on the way to the grocery store. The last thing that I said to her was that I hated her. I used to think that it was only something I'd said in the heat of an argument. But it wasn't. I really hated her. I hated them both. But I wasn't glad that she died. Because my father took it out on me. He beat me so badly to the point that he sent me to the hospital. He became a drunk. My sister - she was like his prize. The only remainder of my mother. He loved her. Not me. I was his punching bag.

"For almost a year, until I finally left. My uncle let me live with him until I was sixteen. Then I left. I was mugged by a man a few weeks later. I stabbed him, killed him, it was an accident." Once more Ezekiel looked pained at my life story. And this was just the short version. "But the police didn't see that. They arrested me. In prison I was brutally raped. Every night. For almost two months until the crime was cleared. No one cared. Only one man. He helped me recover from the drugs that I took to black it all out.

"I got on the straight and narrow, became a perfect student, but it wasn't the same. Not anymore. I had no friends, no family, I was almost an alcoholic myself. It wasn't until the last world ended - as screwed up as it is - that my life came together. I met my husband. I met my friends. My family. But even after that my father found me again. He killed my friends, destroyed my home, and let one of his men rape me. Rick killed him, I wanted it to be me, but it wasn't," I explained.

Ezekiel seemed to finally notice my story had come to an end. He seemed utterly heartbroken to hear my entire story. He moved forward slightly on the bench to look at me. Just where I wanted him. "Rain... I'm so sorry to hear that. Even in the old world I could never understand how someone could treat their own child that -"

"Don't," I snapped, knowing that he was trapped. No more lies. "Please don't patronize me, don't bullshit me, don't feed me the same lines that fool the people in your care. I just want you to know who I am. It should go both ways. It takes a bullshitter to know one. I've lied to lots of people in my life. You aren't a king. You aren't any of these things. Simply a man caught up in something bigger than himself. So, please tell me, who really is Ezekiel? After all, now you know who Rain is," I told him.

A truth for a truth. He knew who I was. Now it was my turn. He looked concerned only for a moment, before a smile finally broke over his face. "Like you said, just another dude that don't understand how he got to be where he is," he told me, adopting what sounded like a New Yorker accent. I smiled.

Gotcha. "Very cool," I said. Even Ezekiel laughed, seeming the least kingly since I had met him. He actually seemed like another human being. "So how did Shiva come into your care? You have to have gained her trust somehow," I asked, genuinely curious.

"I was a zookeeper. Shiva - she fell into one of the concrete moats in her exhibit. It was empty, the vets were on their way, but her leg was ripped open. She was gonna bleed out." I glanced down at her leg and realized that she did have a rather large scar over it. Just like he'd said. She had been injured. "The sound she made -" I grimaced as I realized that he really did love her. She was like family to him. "She was in so much pain. I knew the risk. I had to try. And I got my shirt up around her leg saved her life. After that, she never showed so much as a tooth in my direction.

"Keeping a tiger isn't practical - I know. She eats as much as ten people. She could yank the chain out of my hand - hell, she could yank my arm right off. But she hasn't. She won't. I lost a lot, just like everybody else. When it all started to end, I found myself back at the zoo. Shiva was one of the last animals left. She was trapped - hungry, alone. Like me. She was the last thing left in this world that I loved. She protected me. She got me here, made me larger than life. And I made this place.

"I used to act in Community Theater - played a few kings in my day," he said with a little laugh. "Arthur, Macbeth, Martin Luther." That time I couldn't help but to laugh too. "My name really is Ezekiel, though," he said with a sigh. That was the only truth that he'd actually told everyone. "That's one-hundred percent real. Cards on the table. Nothing up my sleeve. I'd appreciate you keep this between us, though, for them. And, yeah, a little bit for me," he said.

I smiled. It must have been nice to have your people treat you like royalty. I could understand. But people really did need something to hold onto. And for the Kingdom, that was Ezekiel. "Your secret is safe with me. Sweet about what you did for Shiva," I told him.

Ezekiel smiled. "Thank you."

We were silent for a moment before I faced Ezekiel again. "I want you to know something. I'm happy now. Maybe for the first time in my life. I have my friends and family with me that I love, I have my husband, the one man that means everything to me, and one day soon I'm going to have my child. Something that I never thought I would get to have. But I can't have all of this with Negan around," I told him honestly.

Ezekiel nodded at me. I could see the pain in his eyes. I knew that this was hard. "I understand that. The last thing that I want is for you and your friends to have to raise children and have a family with that dick around," he said.

I laughed at the man that no longer sounded like a king. He was just another man. Maybe even a friend. Or at least, maybe one day he would be a friend. "Then help us fight him. Please. You know that it's the right thing to do," I told him desperately.

He looked at me with pain in his eyes. I knew why. He had lost Benjamin's father to an attack that he had planned. He wasn't willing to have something like that happen again. I really did understand. But we needed this. Or something like that would happen again. "We've lost so much already," Ezekiel said.

"And you're going to keep losing more with him. Your peace with the Saviors isn't going to last forever. It won't. We're going to go to war with the Saviors one way or another. Be on our side. Help us. Find a way for Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom to work together," I said.

"We can do that all without a war."

"We can't. And you know it."

"There has to be another way," Ezekiel said with the shake of his head.

I merely mirrored the action. "There isn't. You want to know why I fight so hard against the Saviors?" I asked, not waiting for an answer. "Because Negan reminds me of my father. And someone like that can't live. There's only going to be so long before he shows you another one of his cards. I don't want you to have to see that," I told him honestly.

The last thing that I wanted was for anyone to lose anyone else that wasn't participating in the war. "I don't want to have to go through that. I'm going to avoid that fight for as long as I can. I suggest that you all do the same. There are so many Saviors," Ezekiel argued.

"I know that. But I will not hide from Negan for the rest of my life," I said determinedly. "I won't. I'm going to have my child and raise them in a world where the walkers are the only thing to fear. I've had so many men lay their hands on me that never should have... Negan can't be another. I can't have him near me. Not the way that others were. Not the way that my husband is," I said softly.

The only man that ever got to put his hands on me like that again was my husband. Ezekiel leaned into me as Shiva stood and came to rest her head on my knee. I pet her gently. "We can find another way to solve this," he begged gently.

I shook my head. There were no other ways. "In the back of your mind you know that there is no other way. Daryl and I are going back to the Hilltop in the morning. I do hope that you make the right choice. I hope that you make this a world where not only my child, but Glenn's - the friend that I lost to Negan - can thrive," I said, hoping that I would tug at his heartstrings. "I'll see you again, King Ezekiel," I said as I came to stand.

"Goodbye, Rain. I wish you luck," Ezekiel said. I sighed, thinking that was the end of is. "And... I'll think on what you said," Ezekiel said, before I could actually leave the area.

I couldn't help the small smile the spread over my face. "That's all I ask," I said, turning and walking away. Just before I left, Shiva pressed her nose against my hand and I smiled, leaning over and petting her for a moment. Just in case. As I left I made sure to leave the box of cookies. Perhaps I'd take them again if he actually agreed to go to war with the Saviors.

The walk back to Daryl and I's room was short. When I walked in I saw that Daryl was already in bed, but wide awake. He was poking at the tip of an arrow. He glanced up as I walked in and dropped the arrow. "What happened?" he asked me.

Slowly, I shrugged my shoulders. I laid my weapons down on the ground next to me and laid on Daryl's chest. "I don't know. But he's going to think about it. I think that he might at least be willing to think about going to war with the Saviors," I told him honestly.

I wasn't sure if Ezekiel was going to actually join the war or not, but I knew that I had done my best. Ezekiel needed something to happen to actually join the way. And I couldn't help but to hope that something was coming that would push his hand. As terrible as that thought was. "That's all that we need. Go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow," Daryl said.

I leaned up and kissed Daryl gently on the lips. He pushed my hair back and wrapped me tightly against him. "Goodnight, Daryl," I said softly, tucking myself into him and shutting my eyes.

The morning was only a few hours away, but the sleep was better than the more than ten hours a night I would get at the Saviors compound. They were the worst sleeps that I would ever get. Considering that Daryl and I had gone to bed in our day clothing, there was nothing more to do. So we stood and gathered the blankets in our arms. Together we tossed them onto the couch that was in the corner of our room, gathered our things, and headed to the gates. Staying here longer would only make our departure even harder. We both knew that we were walking away from Carol. As we walked I grabbed Daryl's hand, slightly afraid for what was to come.

The one thing that we had here was safety. The Saviors never came inside of the walls of the Kingdom. They did come into Hilltop. That was the bad part. But we had to go back. We had to go to war. There was no other choice. So we walked out and Daryl pressed a kiss to my temple. As the gates opened and we stepped out I saw Morgan watching us sadly. I sighed and gave him a nod, knowing that his business was still here. Richard was watching us from a balcony and I desperately avoided his gaze. Ezekiel was the only other person that was watching us and I gave him a little wink. He would join us. The question was, what would it take?


	62. Recollections

The two of us had been walking for about two hours. It took nearly three to get to the Hilltop from the Kingdom on foot. We were both exhausted by now. Neither one of us had eaten or drank anything since leaving the Kingdom. Ezekiel had given us some water, but we hadn't bothered to drink any of it yet. The heat from the sun was unbearable. But thankfully the air was turning cooler. We knew that winter would be coming soon. We'd gotten to Alexandria at the end of the last winter so we hadn't dealt with the cruel air. This time might be a little different. We could only hope that the constant movement would counteract the harsh environment.

As we continued to walk, I glanced over at Daryl. He had been awfully quiet for the last hour or so. And I knew exactly why. Because of Maggie. He had done well at avoiding her. But it wouldn't last forever. If we were going back there, the two of them were going to have to sit down and talk about what had happened. But I knew that he wouldn't say anything for now. So we continued walking in silence before making the final approach to the Hilltop. There were some of the downed trees around us that told me that we were getting close.

"Hey. Are you alright?" I asked Daryl.

He glanced over at me and nodded. "I'm better than alright," he told me, wrapping his arms around me. I laughed softly and pressed a kiss against the side of his head. He let his hand rest on my stomach as a soft blush filled my face. I really did love him more than anything else. He was better than anything that I'd ever had. "Should be getting close," Daryl commented after a beat of silence.

"I'd say we're about a mile away. What do we even say when we get there?" I asked him. We had known that we'd wanted to leave and come back to Hilltop but we hadn't even thought about what we were going to say. "We were supposed to get Ezekiel to join. Other than saying that he would think on my words, he made no other note about what he's going to do."

Daryl shrugged his shoulders, letting his crossbow dangle from his hands. "Tell them the truth. Dude will either join us or he won't. Better using our resources on a place that we know wants to fight," he told me.

But we didn't have enough people. Even if all of the Hilltop joined us, there still weren't that many and they weren't trained. Unless Maggie and Sasha had done some serious work on them in the last two or three days. However long it had been since we had been here. Lately the days all seemed to run together. And I had a feeling that it would be a long time before it stopped feeling like that.

I realized after a moment that Daryl was waiting for me to say something. "The last time that we were here, there were only ten or fifteen people that were actually willing to stand up to Gregory and fight. You think that they've gotten more?" I asked him.

"With Maggie, Enid, and Sasha here, I know that they've gotten more," he told me.

I smiled at him and nodded. He was right about that. The three of them were all persuasive in their own ways. And if all three of them managed to work together, there was no doubt that they weren't all going recruit the community. They had learned from our original group that working together was the best way to make something work.

I'd noticed that the last time that we were here, Maggie had become somewhat of a leader in the Hilltop. They would be willing to follow her. Especially after what had happened to Glenn. And Enid, they seemed to look at her like a daughter. They wanted a child to get a place to grow up in. Because that's still what Enid was. Sasha was a good fighter. They would be wise to follow her. And with Jesus on board - who had always seemed like more of a leader than Gregory - I knew that the people, even those hesitant to fight, would be willing to at least listen.

"Are you gonna actually talk to Maggie?" I asked Daryl after a pause.

Daryl's head snapped over to me. I assumed that he had been attempting to forget that for as long as possible. "What?" he asked.

Sighing softly, I reached over to Daryl and grabbed his hand. "Other than a very public - and expected - apology, you haven't said two words to her. She doesn't hate you and she doesn't blame you. She loves you. You're her family, just like Glenn was ours," I told him softly.

Glenn was a soft spot with Daryl. I knew that I had to be careful with what I said to him. The last thing that I wanted to do was hurt him. "Ain't nothing wrong there," Daryl defended weakly.

"Yes there is," I snapped softly at Daryl. He had to do something. It was going to be terrible if the two of them never spoke again. "You could barely look at her when we were here a few days ago. You need to say something to her. She wants you to say something to her," I told him softly.

I knew that the two of them wanted to speak to each other. But neither one had any idea how to start the conversation with the other. Not that I really blamed them. "What is there even to say?" Daryl asked me.

A little sigh escaped my lips as I glanced over at him. "Talk about Glenn, ask her how the baby's doing, ask her how she's doing. Say something to her. Don't make her feel like because of what happened out there, she lost you too. She's lost so much. More than any of the rest of us. Don't make her lose you. I love you two more than anything and I'm not going to watch this happen to you both," I told Daryl, grabbing his hand.

It was slightly clammy and I knew that it was because he was nervous. He didn't want to have to face her again. "You wanna know what I see when I look at her?" Daryl asked me. Not really. But I nodded at him anyways. "I see him. I see him, in his last moments, all because of something that I did."

The only thing that I wanted was for him to stop blaming himself for things that had happened. "I spoke to Negan. More than I'd like to admit that I did. He might as well have told me that he would've done it anyways. See, the Kingdom, and Hilltop - they surrendered without a fight. Negan's no fool. He knew that we wouldn't. He knew that we would fight him unless he completely broke us down. So he did. He took away a fighter, and a father. And then he took us away. He broke Rick," I said softly.

"And it all worked," Daryl said.

But that wasn't the truth. We weren't broken. None of us were. It was why we were standing up and fighting back against Negan. "No it didn't. Don't let him win. He wanted this to break us. He wanted us to admit that we hated each other for what had happened. He wanted us to blame each other. We can't let that happen," I said softly.

The look on Daryl's face told me that something that I had said had struck a chord with him. "I'm not turning on anyone. Not Maggie. And most certainly not you," he said softly.

I knew that he would never turn on any of us. Daryl loved us. We were the family that he had always wanted. And there was nothing that could happen that would tear him away. "I love you, Daryl Dixon. Never forget that," I said as the gates of the Hilltop rose in the distance.

"I love you too."

The two of us exchanged a soft kiss before I glanced up and saw that Kal was standing on one of the observation posts. As he normally was. "We're back," I commented softly as we walked up towards the gates. The guards didn't seem nervous. They all knew who we were. "Hey Kal! Open the gates, will you?" I asked as we walked over.

Kal glanced over at us, seemingly slightly concerned. I could only imagine what they thought had happened at the Kingdom. "What's going on? Everything alright back at the Kingdom? Alexandria?" he called out to us as the gates began to open.

"Everything is fine. Come on down," I told Kal. He turned away from me and began to walk down the wooden steps. "We'll talk about it with Jesus. Maggie too. And Sasha. And Enid!" I called out, remembering all of the people that were really here.

From beyond the gate, I could hear Kal laughing. Once the doors were fully open, Kal motioned for Daryl and I to walk inside. We came in and I watched as the gates closed behind us. "Anyone else?" he asked as the two of us walked in.

"That's it," I chuckled.

Kal nodded at me and motioned for us to walk over towards the trailer. We barely made it two steps before I heard another voice call out to me. "And me?" I heard Gregory ask from a small distance.

I turned back to him, trying desperately hard to smile. Gregory was one of my least favorite people in the world. Of course, Negan still held the number one spot there. "Oh, there you are. It's been so long that I almost completely forgot about you. Sorry about that," I said, not really meaning it. "How have you been, Gregory? Still trying to run the show here?" I asked nastily.

Daryl was standing directly behind me. He was probably doing so to intimidate Gregory out of doing anything to me. Not that he needed to, Gregory was already afraid of me. "This is my community," Gregory argued with me.

A bitter smile crossed my face. "Sure. Your name is on the front lines. You're the one that the Saviors talk to. The people all know who to bring their complaints to. But you don't run this place. Not anymore. Maggie and Sasha - Enid and Jesus too - they're the ones that run this place. They're the ones that people come to talk to. They're the ones that are going to help this community towards winning the war," I told him.

The truth was always a bitter pill to swallow. But it was a pill that he would have to learn to swallow, regardless. Gregory smiled at me and turned to leave. "And, as always, Sunny, it is a pleasure to see you."

"And you as well, dickhead," I snapped before turning away.

No use in making me angry. There were plenty of other people that I could talk to here. Hopefully someone could point Daryl and I towards wherever Maggie and Jesus were. "Rain? Daryl?" I heard a female voice call out.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. She, I guess. I turned back and smiled when I saw that Maggie was standing just a few feet behind us. Daryl immediately looked at the ground. Sasha and Enid were with her, standing just off to the side. "Mags!" I yelped before jumping forward, colliding into Maggie, not so hard that it would cause either one of us any real damage. The two of us stayed wrapped in a tight hug for a while before I finally let her go. "Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?" I asked her once we both stepped back.

Maggie was smiling brightly. The pregnancy glow looked good on her. Of course, you could still barely tell that she was pregnant. Even after almost five months. "Good, actually. And it's good to see you both," she said, looking over at Daryl.

Of course, he ignored her. This was probably the wrong time for them to talk anyways. Maggie looked slightly dejected, so I brought her attention back to myself. "Good to see you too. Trust me, it's nice to be back somewhere that I actually know," I told her. The three girls laughed softly. I walked over to Sasha and Enid, pulling them both into hugs as well. "Hey Sasha, Enid, you girls doing alright?"

"We're good," Sasha said, hugging me tightly.

As I grabbed Enid into a hug, I realized how fast the little girl had become a family to me. Just a few months ago, I hadn't even known her name. But now, she - like everyone else - was family. "How are you?" Enid asked Daryl and I.

Knowing that Daryl wanted to say as little as possible, I answered for the both of us. "We're both okay. We just knew that it was time to come back. Nothing is wrong in the Kingdom," I said quickly.

The last thing that I wanted to do was make them think that things had gone wrong in the Kingdom. They had actually gone somewhat right. Other than the confrontation with Richard. "What are you both doing back here already?" Maggie asked me.

I let out a soft sigh. Despite the fact that we had done everything that we possibly could, it still felt like we hadn't done enough. The Kingdom still wasn't on our side. "We've done as much as we can in the Kingdom. It's going to take something big to move Ezekiel. It will happen. It's just a matter of time. I've made friends with him. He will join. In time," I told them.

And I was sure of it. With the next big loss - someone that was close to Ezekiel - he would decide to join the fight. I just wished that he would do it without losing someone else. "You're sure?" Maggie asked me.

I nodded at her. "I'm sure. Something is going to happen to him - and it won't be good - but that's what it will take to fight. He's going to join us."

"They seem like we can really trust them?" Sasha asked me.

Immediately I nodded at her. Ezekiel was a good man. I knew that he was someone that was trustworthy, no matter what. "Yeah. I'm sure that they'll be able to fight with us. They seemed like good people. Ezekiel... It's like he said. He's got a pretty good set-up between himself and the Saviors. But it's bound to happen. Something will break the treaty that they have," I said.

Maggie sighed and grabbed my shoulder, pulling me with her. Daryl followed at somewhat of a distance. "No use dwelling on it. Come on. We can get the two of you settled in somewhere for the night," she said.

"Thanks."

We walked for only a moment before coming up on Jesus. I smiled and pulled the man in for a tight hug. The two of us remained locked together before Jesus moved over to pat Daryl on the shoulder. We walked over to one of the far trailers and walked inside. It was almost packed to the brim. "There's not much room anywhere else. We were working to expand but with everything going on between ourselves and the Saviors, it's been the wrong time. We've been putting people in my trailer," Jesus told us.

"Everyone?" I asked.

There was no way that there was room for more than six people in here. "Maggie, Sasha, Enid, and myself. There's room for you and Daryl too," Jesus told me. I guess that makes six.

But there had to be another place for us to go. Six people in one little trailer wasn't exactly going to be a comfortable place for any of us to be living. Maybe there was room in the Barrington House. "That's way too many people under one roof. We can find somewhere else for the two of us to go," I offered, not wanting to intrude.

Everyone shook their heads, but Jesus was the one to speak. "Rain, it's not a problem. Come on. I'll show you two where you can go," Jesus said, walking up the stairs and heading into the trailer.

"Thanks," I called out before turning back to Daryl. He was still standing out in the yard, not looking like he was planning on moving any time soon. "You coming?" I asked him, knowing that he didn't want to be trapped in tight confines with Maggie near him.

Daryl shook his head and glanced out at the fields. I had a feeling that he was going to try and get lost in the rows. "I'm gonna take a look around. Get some food. I'll be over in an hour or so," Daryl told me.

"Okay," I said softly, watching him disappear into the distance. He would avoid the conversation for as long as he could.

Once he disappeared through the sinking sun, I turned back and walked into the trailer. It was filled with crap. Most of it looked like plans for going to war. But there were plenty of clothes and extra living areas too. I saw that Maggie was sitting at a table near the door with her head balanced in her hands. "He won't even look at me," she said softly.

Moving past Jesus, I took a seat next to Maggie. "He feels guilty. About everything that happened. I've tried to get him to understand that you don't hate him and that you still love him. That Glenn would still love him, but he won't listen to me. It's not something that he needs to hear from me," I told her.

For once, this wasn't something that a wife could say to her husband. It was something that he needed to hear from a friend. From family. "I know," Maggie said softly. After a beat she turned back to me. "Did you ever go to a doctor in the Kingdom?" she asked.

A small smile crossed over my face. I had a feeling that at some point she would bring up the fact that the last time I had seen her, we had been wondering whether or not her child would have another playmate. "We did," I said softly.

Maggie's eyebrows rose. "We?" she asked.

The last time that we had been together I still hadn't told Daryl that I thought that I might have been pregnant. "Yeah. I told him," I told Maggie.

At this point, Jesus, Sasha, and Enid all looked curious. I had made it a point that only a few people knew about my potential condition. I still wanted everyone focused on Maggie and the war. At least I still had my husband. Even if something happened, we could always try again. This was Maggie's one shot. Her last bit of Glenn that she had to hang onto.

"Told him what?" Jesus asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I guessed that now was as good a time as any to admit to them what was going on with me. "I suppose that I should tell the four of you while we're here. Make it easier than having to track you all down later. Maggie already knows what was going on. When Jesus got me out of the Sanctuary, I felt sick. He wanted me to go to the doctor. Maggie did too. They wanted to do a test," I said.

"What kind of test?" Enid asked me.

I smiled at her. She was still a child. She didn't quite understand what I meant. But it was clear by the looks in Sasha and Jesus's eyes that they understood what I meant. "A pregnancy test," Sasha said softly.

Enid's jaw nearly dropped but she was smiling brightly. "Yeah. It came back positive. Your baby's gonna have someone to play with," I told Maggie, a soft blush coloring my face.

She had been so good when she'd admitted to everyone that she was pregnant. I was embarrassed beyond belief to have to tell everyone. "Oh my God! Oh that's incredible!" Maggie shouted, launching herself into my arms with a tight hug. I laughed softly in her ear.

"Really?" Enid asked, coming to hug me.

"Yeah."

Once she let go of me, Sasha took her place. I smiled at her and wrapped my arms around her tightly. "I'm so happy for you. For you both. You're going to make great parents," she said.

That was the one thing that I hoped that they were all right about. I wanted to be better than my parents. And I knew that Daryl felt the same way. "Thank you. I'm really hoping that we can do something right in the world. It's going to be a good thing. I know it. And now, our kids will have someone to play with. Other than Judith, of course," I said softly.

Judith was getting older now. She was almost a year old. Actually, she was probably a little past a year. We could never be quite sure. "Congratulations to both of you," Jesus said, coming over to give me a hug.

"Thank you."

Maggie grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the back of the trailer. We were going towards a bedroom that reminded me of the one that had been in Dale's RV. But this one was a fair bit larger and open to the rest of the trailer. The door that had been there to once separate it was now torn off of the hinges and open. "Here, I'll get you both set up for the bed in the back," Maggie said.

Almost immediately I shook my head at her. The last thing that I wanted was to take her bed after everything that had happened. It would always be hers. I was almost used to sleeping on the floor. "It's yours. You were already here first," I told her.

She shook her head at me. "Why don't the two of you take the bed?" Jesus offered the two of us. We turned back and nodded at her. "I can talk to Daryl and see if he minds finding a spot somewhere on the floor. Enid and Sasha already have the chairs," Jesus said.

No part of me thought that Daryl would mind sleeping on the floor. I was actually more inclined to think that he was going to stay away from the trailer and Maggie as much as possible. "This is your trailer, Jesus. It would feel wrong. I'm barely two weeks along. I can tolerate sleeping on the floor for a few nights," I told him.

Jesus shook his head at me once more and motioned us back to the bedroom. "No. The bed is yours. We can make up a place for Daryl to stay. Somewhere close to you," Jesus offered.

I knew that he wouldn't take no for an answer. "Thank you," I said softly.

Enid walked over to the corner of the room and I watched as she began to knit something. I smiled at her. She - just like Carl - deserved to be a child from time to time. Jesus took a seat at the table as Sasha stood and headed out of the trailer. "We'll get the two of you something to eat," Sasha called back to us.

"Thanks," Maggie and I called out together.

We took a seat at the table as Sasha and Jesus went over to the barbecue that was outside and cooked. "Do you want to meet everyone?" Maggie asked me. I raised my brows at her. I already knew everyone? What had she managed to do in the few days that we had been gone? "See what's been going on since you left?"

"What could you have possibly managed to do in two days?" I asked her.

Maggie let a rather large smile cross her face. "You'd be surprised."

So I nodded at her and stood to leave the trailer. But before we could actually get away, I grabbed Maggie's arm and stopped her. There was one last thing that I needed to tell her. "Hey, there's something that I wanted to talk to you about. Before dinner. Without anyone else around," I said.

Maggie's eyes widened and I knew that I had said something wrong to her. I probably should have said that nothing was wrong first. "You alright? Everything going okay?" she asked.

I smiled at her and nodded, grabbing her hand. "Oh, yeah, everything is fine. I mean, you know, things will be fine once everything is over. You know, once the war ends. Once it starts, I guess," I said awkwardly. No one really knew how to describe everything that was happening. We both laughed softly before sobering once more. I wanted to ask you if you would be the aunt to my - our - child. We met up with Carol and I wanted her to be the godmother. But you're my sister. This is your niece or nephew," I told her.

Maggie smiled brightly and pulled me into her, a small laugh escaping her throat. "Oh... Of course. Of course! Why would you even ask that? Of course I will. I actually wanted to ask you the same thing. You and Daryl, of course," she said softly.

For most of Maggie's pregnancy I had almost figured that I would be the honorary aunt to her child. But the closer that we got to her due date, the more real it became. "Well you know that I say yes. It'll be nice to have a little extended family. Not that we all aren't family anyways. I know that Daryl will say yes too. But I think that I'll have to leave that one to him," I told her.

Her eyes darkened and I sighed. Things were going to be tense between all of us until they began to speak to each other again. "If he ever speaks to me again," Maggie said softly.

Grabbing her hands tightly, I pulled her into me. "He will, Maggie. He will. He just needs time. I think that he needs to take a break and realize for himself that it wasn't his fault. He'll get there. He just needs time," I tried to explain.

Daryl would eventually come to the realization that what had happened to Glenn wasn't his fault. It was just going to take him time. Like it had taken me time to realize that Glenn hadn't been my fault either. "I know he does. In the meantime, let's get you both some food. I bet you're hungry," Jesus said as he popped his head back into the trailer.

Maggie and I both turned our heads towards him and smiled. I really hadn't eaten anything today and my stomach was about to eat itself. I could eat an entire cow. "Starved. Please tell me that the next nine months aren't going to be like that," I pleaded with Maggie.

She laughed at me and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "Oh they'll get even worse. And then you'll start wanting things like banana peels," she teased.

I was sure that my face had turned slightly green. The thought of eating a banana peel made me want to throw up the nothing that was in my stomach. "I'd rather drink bleach," I told her disgustedly.

"That could happen too," she told me. We both laughed softly and grabbed two plates for ourselves, loading on the food that Jesus and Sasha had cooked up. As we ate, Maggie walked around and explained to me everything that had happened. Daryl was up in one of the watchtowers, carving into a chunk of wood. Kal was standing guard next to him.

The sun was already setting considering that we had spent most of the day on the walk over here. Maggie walked me back and forth around the community and I smiled, glad that I was actually getting to know someone here. The only people that I had bothered to bond with here were Jesus and one some level, Kal. So as Maggie walked me around, I would explain to them who I was and tell them a little bit about myself. Most of them seemed happy to get a chance to speak to me. Or maybe they were excited to hear about what was going on in the Sanctuary. They all seemed ready to fight. Nervous, but ready.

There were well over thirty or so fighters that Maggie, Sasha, and Enid had gathered to fight. Most of them were too busy to actually stop and speak to me, but Maggie did introduce me to a few of them that had been at the Barrington House the other day. Andy was the first person that I'd met. Of course I'd almost immediately remembered that he was the one that had come to the outpost of the Sanctuary with us the other day. He seemed more than willing to go to war with the Saviors, probably because of what they had done to his brother.

Crystal was another one of the people that had gone along on the doomed food exchange with Craig, Andy, Ethan, Tim, and Marsha. She was a food exchanger for the Hilltop. Although it seemed that she had stopped going on the food exchange runs once everything had happened with the Saviors. I assumed that she had been with Ethan - who we had killed - but she seemed to have gotten over it. Although I was still a little bitter from her hitting Rick. Not that Michonne hadn't paid her back for that.

One of the other men that Maggie had introduced me to was someone that I hadn't actually met before, but I'd seen each time that we were here. He was one of the guards - along with Kal, who would also be fighting. He seemed to be just a little bit older than me. He had been at the Barrington House a few days ago to pledge allegiance to Rick and Alexandria. Not that I was surprised. He didn't look like the type of guy that wanted to be under anyone's reign that he didn't approve of.

Maggie had ensured that she'd reintroduced me to Bertie, the woman that had decided that she wanted us to fight in the first place. She was a rather nice woman, reminding me very much of Jacqui. She was one of the people that we had rescued after first meeting Jesus, not that I really remembered her that well. We had met so many people around that time, everyone started to run together.

Wesley was another one of the men that we had rescued back after their car crash. He looked somewhat like Martinez. He was in his early thirties. He wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world but he was better than nothing. It wasn't that he was rude, he just didn't seem overly fond of the whole situation. Not that I could really blame him. He seemed to be training in the yard for most of the day. He was one of the men that actually seemed to be doing a pretty good job with the hand-to-hand.

Freddie was the last of the men that Maggie had introduced to me before we'd gone back to the trailer. I vaguely remembered Freddie. He was the one that - during the rescue of his men that had been in the car crash - could have sworn that he'd seen his dead wife. At the time I'd thought that he was completely insane. Of course, now I kind of understood what he'd been talking about. He still seemed to be working as a supply runner.

Once we had said goodbye to Freddie and the others, Maggie led me back towards Jesus's trailer. "It's not a lot, but they'll work for now. Seven is seven more than we had before," I said.

"We're still working on getting more," Maggie told me.

And we would manage to get more. But for now, it was all that we needed. I was still hoping that the war was a while off. We weren't ready for it yet. "You head to bed. I'm gonna go see Daryl," I told her.

She nodded at me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Good luck. He's been over at the tables for most of the day," Maggie told me, motioning over to the wooden tables that were just outside of the trailers.

"I'll be in the trailer in a few minutes," I told her, grabbing her shoulder before turning and walking off. As she had said, Daryl was sitting on top of the table and sharpening a knife that he was holding. I walked up to him and plopped down on the table beside him. He scooted over slightly to let me sit. "Hey," I chirped at him.

"Hey."

I didn't get anything more than that. I sighed and grabbed the knife, moving it to the table. "You planning on sleeping out here? Jesus made you a place to sleep in the trailer. You might want to actually take him up on it," I told him. Jesus had set him up a place to sleep on the couch. Daryl said nothing in response. "Or you could just ignore me," I teased.

"I'm not ignoring you," he finally said.

Letting out a deep breath, I shook my head at him. "You're not talking to me either. I know that it's bothering you - being here and not being able to say anything to Maggie. But you need to. Not even for her sake, but for your own. You aren't going to be able to move past what happened unless you can manage to build back the bond between the two of you. You're like her brother. She loves you. I know that you love her too," I argued with him.

They're strange avoidance of each other was driving me insane. They had to say something. The tension was driving me through the roof. "If it was the other way around, what would you do?" Daryl snapped at me. I stared at him sideways. "If Glenn had made the move, and Negan had killed me. Do you think that Glenn would have been able to look at you?" he asked.

My heart nearly stopped. What did I think about that? I knew that it would have taken him a long time to say something, but I had faith that he would have eventually said something. "I don't think that it would have been easy. But I know that Maggie would be doing the same thing. Trying to get him to talk to me. Because the four of us, we've always been one big family," I told him.

Hell, the two of us lived together back in Alexandria. "Not always," Daryl said.

My eyebrows rose and I smiled at him. "That's right. I head-butted you, Glenn hit me over the head with a bat, and we screamed at each other a good few times. But look at how far we've come. Look at everything that we've managed to forgive," I told him softly, grabbing his hand.

He glanced over at me and shook his head. "This is different," he told me softly.

After a moment, I nodded at him. "Yes. It is. Someone died this time," I told him softly. He flinched slightly. I understood. The loss of Glenn would always be a sore spot. "But that doesn't mean that she hates you. I promise that she still loves you. Maybe even more now. Because we knew Glenn longer than she did. We're her last links to him. For a few months, that is. Don't let her lose that," I told him softly.

We were both silent for a few minutes before Daryl glanced over at me and sighed. "Glenn was the first person that I told," he muttered under his breath.

"What?" I asked dumbly.

Daryl let out a small smile, the first one that I had seen since being here. "When I found the ring. He was the first person that I told. We were in a big market. I was passing by the jewelry section, trying to scavenge some clothes. Saw the ring, and I just stopped. Stared at it for a while. He saw me," Daryl told me.

My heart lifted slightly as I smiled at him. Of the many stories that Daryl had told me, he had never told me how he had gotten me my wedding ring. "What happened? You never told me this story," I said, softly goading him.

Daryl's P.O.V.

8 Months Ago...

We'd been walking through the store for just over an hour. There wasn't much here. There was no medicine, and that was the one thing that was more important than anything else. It was the one thing that I cared about. The only thing that I wanted was to ensure that all of the sick were healthy once more. The only thing that I cared about was that she would be alright. Rain meant the world to me. The only thing that I wanted was to get her back. But as Hershel had said, we had to wait and see if she would wake up.

We were walking through the store, trying to find anything that we could use. More medicine was the first thing on our list. But it didn't seem that any of the medicine that we needed more of was anywhere around here. So we turned to walking through the clothing section of the store. We really needed to find new clothing for everyone back at the prison. All of the sick back in the prison had to have their clothes burned. There was no way that we could risk having them wear them again. We'd lost so many supplies.

In the meantime, Rain was still lying in bed, sick and dying. She hadn't really improved in the fire or six days that had passed since she'd passed out in the Zach's old car. I was still holding up faith that she would live, but I was terrified that she would never wake up again. This seemed so much different from the other times that I had lost her. This time seemed like it might be the last time.

Over in the corner of the store, Glenn seemed to be doing alright. We was still pretty sick, but he was no longer contagious and he was one of the only other mildly healthy people that was able to make the run. So he'd managed to push through and come with me. Most of the people that hadn't gotten sick couldn't leave the prison as they were too busy and the ones that were still sick seemed like they were going to die at any second.

As we walked through the store, Glenn popped out from behind me and laid a hand on my shoulder. I sighed softly and stopped walking. "She's going to be fine, Daryl. I made it. So will she," Glenn told me.

"I've seen her hurt so many times before. After the farm, when she could barely walk for months. At the prison, when her father attacked. And now this. But this one seems different. It's been almost a week," I said softly.

Glenn might have been the only person that would understand. If this had happened to Maggie, I knew that he would be reacting the same way. "Hershel said that it would take time. We got the medicine in her in time. I know how you feel. If it was Maggie, I'd be tearing my hair out. I know that she felt the same way with me in jeopardy before," Glenn said.

"She must be glad you're better," I said, wanting to stop thinking about what was happening with Rain.

Glenn simply smiled at me, clearly knowing that I was trying not to think about her. "Just the same way that you'll feel better once Rain wakes up. Daryl, she won't die. I'm pretty sure that she's determined to make it longer than you," Glenn told me.

Despite myself, I laughed. And so did Glenn. It felt like it was the first time I had laughed since everything happened with Rain. "I hope she will," I said softly.

We had stopped in the jewelry section of the store and I was staring at one of the rings in the center case. A wedding ring. A small pain shot through my stomach, glancing at it. She'd never knew how I felt. "You know, one of the best things that I ever did for Maggie was finding her a ring and asking her to marry me. It might not be official, but she's my wife. I wanted her to know what she meant to me. And now she does," Glenn told me.

There was no way that even if I ever gave her the ring, she would care. She didn't want things like that. She didn't need things like that. Or maybe I was just too afraid to risk speaking to her about it. "Don't need a ring. Rain's not that type of girl," I argued weakly.

"You're sure about that? That's a nice ring. She might like it," Glenn told me with a teasing tone.

"She wouldn't say yes."

Glenn sighed and grabbed the rifle that was hanging off of his back. He pushed the butt of the gun down into the glass case. I watched as the glass went shattering everywhere. Glenn brushed some of the glass out of the way and grabbed the box, handing it over to me. The box was open and he closed it, handing me it. I stared at it for a moment before smiling softly and taking it. Maybe I'd never get the chance to give it to her. Maybe I'd never get up the courage to give it to her. But at least I had the option.

"Just in case," Glenn told me.

"Thanks, man."

We turned and walked out of the building, back towards the car with the few things that we had managed to find. It wasn't much, but it seemed like the wrong time to go looking for things. "Ask her when she wakes up. You might like her answer," Glenn told me. I smiled at him and nodded. One day, I would. And no matter her answer, at least I'd know.

Present Day...

Daryl had never told me that story. I had always assumed that he had gotten the ring from a walker or by himself on a run one day. I hadn't known that anyone had actually known. "I didn't know," I said softly.

"I know," Daryl responded.

I reached over to Daryl and grabbed his hand, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. "He was right, you know. I would've said yes. If you'd asked me back at the prison," I told Daryl, hoping that somewhere out there, Glenn could see us. "Daryl, I loved you from the minute that I laid eyes on you. Okay, maybe not that minute. But, say, around the time we left the CDC," I told him.

The two of us laughed as I leaned into Daryl's shoulder. We really had come a long way in a short amount of time. And some of that was thanks to Glenn. "I'll talk to her," Daryl said after a beat.

I smiled at him and stood from the table. I knew that he didn't mean right now. But he did mean eventually. And that was all that mattered. "You gonna come to bed?" I asked him, still holding his hand.

Daryl nodded but didn't bother to stand from the table. "In a bit. I love you. Both of you," he told me, letting his hand graze softly against my stomach.

"We love you too," I said, pressing a small kiss against his mouth.

The two of us stood with our foreheads together before pressing one more kiss against his mouth. I laughed softly and turned from him, walking back into the trailer. Everyone was already asleep. I figured that with all of the training and preparation, people were exhausted. Jesus was asleep at the table, Sasha and Enid were sleeping in the chairs, and Daryl's bed was made up on the couch. If he chose to sleep in it. I walked into the back of the trailer and dropped softly into the bed with Maggie, not wanting to wake her up. As I laid there, I realized that it was the first time in a long time that things seemed right between the two of us. It was also the first night in a long time that I didn't dream about what happened to Glenn.

It seemed like barely ten minutes had passed before a hand placed itself on my shoulder. I shot upright in the bed, prepared for a fight. Maggie was standing back slightly, staring at me with wide eyes. Oops. Sometimes I forgot that I was such a light sleeper. "Sorry. Sorry. Forgot you were a sensitive sleeper," Maggie said, laughing and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Sorry for startling you," Maggie told me, sitting on the edge of the bed with me.

She merely shook her head at me. "We're doing knife-throwing practice this morning. I'm going to be teaching it, but there's one person that I know that's better than anyone else with knives," she told me, giving me a little wink. "Mind helping?" she asked.

She was right. The best person that we had at knife throwing here was myself. "Sure. Mind if I carve Negan's head into one of the targets?" I asked her as we stood and walked out into the yard.

Maggie laughed at me and grabbed my hand. "I'll do it for you."

Together the two of us took a few laps around the Hilltop to check out what was going on. We both wanted to know what was happening before beginning the knife throwing lessons. The Hilltop had made a few targets out of tree trunks. They had large X's carved into the center of them. In the meantime we walked over through the gardens and past the blacksmith area. Some of the metal workers seemed to be making more weapons for the upcoming fight. It was the first time that I'd seen the Hilltop as anything more than gardeners.

Unsurprisingly I took the chance to throw knives as something to show off. We were giving the majority of the community the lessons. It was a good idea. Even the ones that weren't going to fight with us against the Saviors it was imperative that they knew how to fight against the walkers or other threats. They needed the means to do it. While we were throwing the knives I smiled and waited for Maggie and Enid to go first. Sasha was nowhere to be found. Maggie's went slightly below the X. Probably because she was throwing by the blade. Enid's went into the center of the X. She, too, was throwing by the blade.

Once they had both thrown the knives into the center of the X, I took to it. But I used one of my throwing knives. It went into the center of the X, in the handle of Enid's. Everyone looked shocked at the throw. But it was only because I was using a real throwing knife and had been doing it for a long time. I enjoyed having them. Maybe one day soon we would be able to go back to Alexandria and I could get the other throwing knives that I had left there. I waited with the knife-throwers for most of the day. It was pretty obvious that Enid and I were the best. I gave her my spare throwing knife, knowing that she would be better off with that then a poorly weighted pocket knife.

It was well after three in the afternoon when I went with Maggie and Enid to get an ultrasound to see her baby. Dr. Carson had offered to get one for me in a few weeks. He agreed with Sharon that it was still far too early to see anything. Although he did give me another pregnancy test that, once more, came up positive. While we were laughing that Maggie and I really would have children that were basically the same age, we looked at her ultrasound. The baby had a heartbeat that was echoing throughout the room. Even though we still didn't know what the gender was, we knew that it was there. I smiled and held Maggie's hand, knowing that one day soon, I would see it too.

Later that evening Maggie and I sat inside of Jesus's trailer, planning the things that the community would need to help everyone else finish up gearing for war. And to continue surviving. Enid ate dinner with Maggie and I as we continued writing out lists. Everything from food, to clothes, to weapons, to batteries, and everything in between. Daryl had been absent for most of the day, although the few times that I had spotted him he had been bouncing back and forth between helping the residents and speaking with Jesus. He had managed to completely avoid Maggie.

Once we had finished our plans, Maggie and I had essentially passed out and gone straight to bed. The two of us were exhausted. We had spent all day doing things that I wasn't really used to. Lately I was used to sitting around and grumbling to myself all day. The next morning, Sasha and I found ourselves training the new fighters. We were carefully teaching them how to win in a knife fight. I had to be careful with how much I was doing. Jesus and the others wouldn't let me do anything that was overly exhaustive.

More than once I had cursed them in every language that I knew for not letting me do what I really wanted to do. I knew that I was pregnant, but I was barely two weeks pregnant. I was still able to do pretty much everything that I had done before. We were still able to teach them to fight, but I knew that I would have been more useful had I not said anything yesterday. In the meantime Maggie and Jesus sat off to the side on tree stumps. They were planning future supply runs and planning out new jobs for everyone else. As I glanced around at the fighters, taking a step back once completing the demonstration of a move, I realized that the Hilltop forces were nearing thirty.

It was a little past midday when I made the move to ask Maggie about where Abraham and Glenn's graves were. Sasha told me that she was going to bring me over to their graves. Maggie seemed a little hesitant to make a trip to Glenn's. I assumed that she was trying to move on. So I went with Sasha and seated myself in front of the small graves. It was the first time that I had gotten to see the grave since everything that had happened at the clearing. I spent the majority of the day there. Even Sasha decided to leave before I did. The entire time I never cried and never said a word, I merely sat and remembered everything that I could about the two men.

It felt like there was nothing that could pull me from the graves. But all things had to come to an end. So, finally, well after the sun had sank, I stood and went into Jesus's trailer. Sasha and Jesus were sitting in the corner and working on a layout to the Sanctuary. I growled under my breath as they attempted to hide it from me. The two of them weren't working on anything good. Enid - who was on the couch - was watching the two of them as well. Maggie was fast asleep at the table. She seemed to have fallen asleep while working on something. Sasha had been knitting something up until she'd seen Jesus's drawing.

After a little while, I walked out of the trailer and over to where Daryl was sitting. He was at one of the picnic tables and I smiled, hopping up on it on his other side. I perched myself next to him and began to draw my own little detailed map of the Sanctuary. If Sasha was going to do something stupid, I wanted her to at least know as much as possible. Not long after, Maggie came over to us with food for the two of us. I pushed the paper underneath my leg so that she couldn't see. I thanked her for the food but Daryl said nothing. Maggie merely stood there for a moment before patting Daryl's hand and turning to leave. I grabbed her hand and told her that I would be back in the trailer soon.

Once she had gone, I leaned over to Daryl, picking at our dinner. "There's not a time limit on when it says that you have to speak with her. But if you're asking me, I say that you should do it sooner rather than later. She's making an effort. Your turn," I told Daryl.

Daryl completely ignored my comment about what had happened with Maggie and instead glanced over at the paper that I was still doodling on. "What are you doing?" he asked me.

I supposed that I should have seen that one coming. He always was pretty observant. "Uh - just drawing a map. I don't know," I said softly, pushing the paper into my pocket. "At night here, it seems like there's nothing to do. I just want to try and keep myself busy, you know? Not all of us can sit out here and brood while we sharpen our knives," I teased, poking at Daryl.

He glanced over at me and smirked. It was the first emotion that I had seen on his face since arriving at the Hilltop. "Well we could always go find a place in the cornrows," Daryl teased.

And that was the first time that I had heard him joke with me in a long time. It was nice to hear. It felt like we were slowly getting back to ourselves. I laughed loudly and leaned against his shoulder. "It's good to hear you joke again," I told Daryl, once I'd calmed down.

Daryl glanced over at me and smiled, hiding his face behind his hair. "It's good to hear you laugh," he told me softly.

Knowing that this was one of the few opportunities that I would have to make this light and funny, I poked Daryl gently on the shoulder. "Just let me look at your face, that's always something good to laugh at," I told him. The two of us both laughed loudly, shoving at each other. I almost tipped off of the table, but Daryl caught me at the last second.

Once more the two of us had to wait to stop laughing and calm down. The moment that we had, Daryl reached over to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "I hope the kid has your personality," he told me.

I snorted softly and shook my head. I wanted the kid to be like Daryl, nothing like me. "God, I don't," I told him. The two of us laughed loudly once more before I leaned over and gave Daryl a soft kiss on the lips. We were slowly starting to feel like a married couple again. Like there was no Negan between us. "I know that you won't listen to me, but as is my duty as your wife, try and get some sleep," I said softly.

Of course he wasn't going to take a break from brooding. He was going to sit here until the thing between him and Maggie ended. "Goodnight, Rain," Daryl told me, shoving me gently off of the table.

I smiled and gave him a little wink, walking away from the table. As I walked back over to Jesus's trailer, I saw that Maggie was leaning against the doorway. She had clearly been watching us before. She grabbed my arm and led me back to the bedroom. Everyone else was already asleep, scattered around the trailer. "It always was nice watching the two of you talk," Maggie said as we laid down.

Glancing over at Maggie, I smiled at her. I wanted to tell her that I had always enjoyed her and Glenn talking too, but she knew that. I didn't need to tell her. So I laid down next to her and blew out the candle. "Goodnight, Maggie."

The next morning I sat upright and glanced around, immediately pulling my hair back into a tight hold. Maggie was nowhere to be found. At least, she wasn't in bed anymore. But she was a rather early riser. And I imagined that she didn't like what she saw when she closed her eyes. So I rose and grabbed a spare shirt from Maggie's pile. She was letting me take her clothes until we could go back to Alexandria and I could get my clothing. Her gray tank top went over my head before I turned and walked out of the trailer. It turned out that Maggie hadn't gone far. She was merely sitting on the steps outside of the trailer door. I walked over to her and took a seat.

People were milling around, many of them saying hello to Maggie and I before stalking off. Many even referred to Maggie as the boss. I smiled as I glanced over at her. "It seems like you've taken over the leader role here," I said softly.

She glanced over at me and shrugged her shoulders. She really was the leader here. It was just a matter of time before she realized that the people here looked to her. "Well, Gregory's still here," she told me.

I shook my head at her. Gregory meant nothing to the people here. He was just the person that pretended to be in charge. He was nothing more than someone for the Saviors to torture. "Maybe. But you're the one that the people are listening to. They're going to start turning to you. Just the way that our people once turned from Rick to Shane," I told her.

"There were some bad consequences when that happened," she said softly.

Bad things always seemed to happen. The realization was that there were always going to be bad times. But the good ones would always break them up. "There were. So I wouldn't be too shocked if something like that happens here. Just make sure that you have people on your side. People that will protect you," I told her, placing my hand on her.

She nodded at me with a small smile. A moment later another figure passed by us. I glanced up and smiled as Jesus came to take a stand next to us. "Don't worry. We'll always have people watching over her," he said.

"I believe you," I told him.

Jesus took a seat next to Maggie and I on the stairs and I scooted over to make some more room for him. There was no room in the trailer, and now there was no room outside. It seemed like we were constantly running out of room. There were far too many people around here. But that was a good thing. "Sorry for taking over your trailer," Maggie told Jesus after a beat of silence.

Jesus glanced over at us and shook his head. I assumed that he probably didn't mind the company. "Oh. I grew up with a lot of people around. I'm used to it," he told us.

"Big family?" Maggie asked.

Jesus looked back up at us and shook his head. "Uh, group home," he admitted. Both Maggie and I shook our heads. The last thing that I had thought was that Jesus had had a rough childhood. But I knew what it was like. It made you stronger. It prepared you for this world. "This isn't like that, though. Not the bad parts, at least. For the first time, I feel like I belong." We both smiled when he said that. "Trying to make sure you and Sasha become a part of this made me a part of this. When I was first here I was never here. I, um I always found it hard getting close to anyone - neighbors, friends, boyfriends," he said sheepishly.

A rather large smile fell over my face. I'd had my suspicions that Jesus might have been gay, but I had never been sure. It was nice to know for sure though. And one day it would be nice to see him with a boyfriend. We could use some new couples. It had been a long time. "You should try it sometime. Even if it doesn't last," Maggie told him.

She was completely right. I turned over to Jesus and smiled at him. I knew where he was coming from. "I understand what it's like to live somewhere and not really be there. That's pretty much the way that it's been for me all through my life. I hated being at home. My parents didn't love me. I went to prison for two months and I hated myself in there. And then I lived on my own, and didn't make any friends, for six years," I explained.

Both Jesus and Maggie looked shocked. I had never mentioned my stint in prison to anyone else. Daryl and Hershel were the only ones that knew about it. "But things changed when the world changed?" Jesus asked me.

I nodded at him with a little laugh. "Yeah. They did. Takes a pretty screwed up person to get their life together after the world ends." The others chuckled at me. "Isn't that pathetic?" I asked after a beat of silence.

Jesus shook his head at me. "Not at all. Because I did the exact same thing."

Giving Jesus a quick hug, I watched as Maggie stood from the step. "It's a good thing that you both got yourself together. Because we need you," she said. We both smiled softly. "I'm gonna talk to our blacksmith about making more spears. Maybe we can trade with the Kingdom for some body armor. Thing is, what we really need is riot gear," Maggie said. We all nodded before standing and walking away.

There were things that everyone had to get done. As I stood I walked in the same direction as Maggie. Jesus walked the other way. I assumed that there were people that he wanted to go speak to. As we walked around the edge of the trailer, I spotted Sasha, who had clearly been listening to our conversation. Maggie and I both placed our hands on her shoulders before brushing by.

As we walked, I turned over to Maggie. "Too bad that we don't still have the stuff from the prison," I told her.

We had gotten a few suits of riot gear from the prison but they were all gone. We had lost some on my father's second attack. We had lost the rest since being here in Virginia. "We lost is all during the attack from the walkers on Alexandria a few months ago," Maggie said, defeated.

It was too bad that we had lost everything. It would have really come in handy now. As we walked, I smiled at Maggie and gave her a quick hug. Jesus had come back over to stand with her as we walked towards the blacksmiths. There was someone else that I needed to speak to. "Hey, I'll see you both in a little bit." They both nodded at me as I walked over to Sasha once more. "You doing okay?" I asked her.

She glanced up at me and nodded. She didn't look wonderful, but she looked good enough. Just like she was ready for things to end. Not that I blamed her. "Just keeping on. That's the way that it works," Sasha said.

"For now. Not forever," I told Sasha as we walked towards the fields. Sasha looked exhausted. I could tell that she hadn't been sleeping much over the past few days. She was probably thinking back and forth about how to get revenge for Abraham. "This is going to end soon, Sasha, you know that it is," I told her before walking off to the side, sensing that she wanted to be alone.

I was barely walking for two minutes before I spotted another figure that I knew. But it wasn't someone that I thought that I would see here today. Or at all. "Hey, Rain," Rosita chirped as I walked over to her.

The other girl opened her arms and I smiled at her, walking straight into a hug. It seemed like it had been a long time since I had actually sat down and talked to Rosita. We had both been on such warpaths since everything had happened. "Rosita. What are you doing over here?" I asked her once I let go of her.

Some part of me had a feeling that it was for the same reason that Sasha was drawing a plan of the Sanctuary. Although she seemed to have just gotten here. She was wearing a heavy pack. "I've got some plans. Are you and Daryl back here?" she asked me.

I nodded at her slowly. "For the time being. We've done as much as we can over in the Kingdom. Anything else is going to be up to Ezekiel. They'll join us, it's just going to take some time," I told Rosita.

She nodded at me with a little sigh. Not that I blamed her. The last few weeks had been long and hard. We were all exhausted. We just wanted this to be over. "For our sake, let's hope that they join," she said softly.

"They will," I told her confidently.

She nodded at me once more and I leaned in for a tight hug. She smiled at me before I released her and walked away. We went our separate ways and I headed straight back for Daryl. He was still sitting on the bench, still carving into the wood and sharpening his knife, just as he had been for the last two days. The two of us sat together and enjoyed ourselves for most of the day. It was one of the few times that we had nothing to do, other than to laugh and enjoy the company of the other. We chatted back and forth about what was happening and about absolutely nothing. The good thing was that I heard Daryl laugh more than I had in a long time. I knew that he was slowly healing over what had happened in the Sanctuary.

It was the middle of the afternoon when I stood from the table, leaving my things with Daryl. "I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back," I told him. He nodded at me as I turned and strode into Jesus's trailer. I was slightly surprised to see that Enid and Jesus were already in there. Sasha had yet to leave. "Oh, sorry, I just had to use the bathroom," I told them.

It was pretty obvious from the tense air in the room that I had walked into something that wasn't meant to be overheard. Enid stood when no one else spoke. "You should tell her. About all of it," she said.

Tell me about what? That definitely didn't sound good. "Enid, not right now," Sasha said.

Ah, so we're trying to hide something about me. Definitely not. There was no way that they were going to keep me out of this. This was my problem as much as it was theirs. "Tell who about what?" I asked the small group.

"Nothing," Sasha snapped at me.

Alright, enough of the nice guy. "Your plan to go and attack the Saviors?" I asked them. Their eyes widened. Clearly they hadn't thought that I'd overheard them. "I saw you drawing the map yesterday. Listen, Sasha, I've known you long enough to know that you'll do whatever you want, but you need to think this one through. It's dangerous. Something terrible will happen," I told her.

She was upset. I understood that. Losing Abraham was terrible for her. But we had to take care of this together. Moving forward by ourselves wasn't good. "No. I'm not going right now. Not yet. Sh- I'm still - I'm still getting ready. And the thing is, Rosita is going, with or without me." So that's why Rosita was here. "So it should be with me," Sasha said.

"Then I'll go, too," Jesus said, stepping forward.

"Me, too," Enid added.

Well if we were going to start moving forward with the war, we might as well start with the strongest fighters. "I'll go. I know the place better than any of the rest of you," I offered.

All three of them immediately took a step forward. I hadn't thought that my comment would go over well. "No. Especially not you, Rain. They're all looking for you. We can't risk anyone seeing you," she told me. I rolled my eyes but nodded anyways. Until we were ready to start the war, I had to stay away from them. "The Hilltop has to be ready for what happens after. Maggie needs you," Sasha told Jesus.

"She needs you, too," he argued with her.

She needed all of us, and she needed to be making the decisions herself, not letting other people make them for her. "Not anymore. She has everyone else, and they have her," Sasha said.

Everyone let out a soft sigh. There was no good answer. "You can stay. I know you can. But I know you won't and she won't, but I wish you would. 'Cause it's a long life, and then it isn't. You can take anything else you need. But you and Rosita need to talk to Maggie. You owe her that much," Jesus told Sasha. The trailer was silent as he turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Despite the thought behind his word, Sasha didn't seem to care. She turned towards Enid. "Listen Enid, Maggie trusts you. You have to protect her, no matter what. She's the future of this place. I know it. So are you. Hold on to this for me. It's for the baby," she said, handing Enid a half-done, blue, knitted bracelet. "Maybe you can work on it while I'm gone. Maybe you can start another one for Rain," Sasha said.

She shot a smile in my direction and I grinned back at her, before turning over to Enid. I didn't want to impose on her. "I'd like that, if you don't feel like that's too much," I said.

Once more she smiled at me and shook her head. "Of course not. I'll get them both done," Enid said. She turned away from us and walked over to the door of the trailer. "Sasha," Enid called back, before leaving.

"Yeah," Sasha called back.

"In ten minutes, I'm gonna tell Maggie what's going on. It's up to you what you want to do with that," she told Sasha. I let out a soft sigh. We all knew that no matter what, Sasha was going to do whatever she thought was right. There would be no stopping her. I just hoped that she knew what she was doing. "I'm doing what you asked," Enid said softly before leaving.

The door closed once more and I sighed, turning to Sasha. She seemed to be waiting for me to say something. "Sasha. If you go there, if you go after Negan, he'll capture at least one of you. You or Rosita. Trust me, I know this one. He's impossible to get away from. And you'll hate him. For every second of every day until the day comes that you can't take it anymore," I warned her.

"You think he's going to get one of us?" Sasha asked me.

I nodded at her. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that someone would catch them. "I do. Whether you walk in there willingly or are taken by him. Trust me, this isn't going to work well for you. Either of you. Maybe you won't die, but you'll wish that you were dead," I told her honestly.

My words didn't seem to affect her. Not that I thought that they were. Because I knew exactly how she felt. Because I could imagine how she felt. "If he dies, it's worth it," Sasha told me.

"That's the same attitude that I had before. The same attitude that I had when I got there. You're strong. You'll make it," I said.

The two of us both smiled at each other. It seemed like our own way of saying goodbye, without actually saying it. "You're a good girl, Rain. Stay here, please. Protect Maggie. Just - You have something worth fighting for now. Don't lose it because you want to come out there," she said.

If it meant that we could win... Daryl and I could always try again. But we only got one chance to fix this. "That's the thing. We've all always had something worth fighting for. It might be a little something different now, but it doesn't matter. I'm ready to fight, and I'm going to go out there with them. There's nothing that's going to stop me. I owe it to myself, Abraham, Glenn, Olivia, and Spencer to go out there and fight him," I told her.

She nodded at me. I had given her the exact reason that it wasn't going to be me to try and stop her. "And that's exactly why you won't stop me," Sasha pieced together.

"Because if it were Daryl that it had happened to, I'd be doing exactly the same thing," I told her. Which was the truth. I wouldn't stop until the end, not if anything ever happened to him. "Be careful out there. I hope that I do see you again," I said honestly.

The last thing I wanted was for her to be lost. Especially after everything that had happened with Tyreese, Bob, and Abraham. Sasha moved forward and hugged me and I smiled into her shoulder. "I know. Goodbye, Rain."

Slowly, I pulled away from her. "Not goodbye. I'll see you again. One way or another. Take this," I told Sasha, digging into my back pocket. "It's a much better map than the one that you had drawn up by Jesus. The good thing about being there so long and Negan constantly taking me on walks, I learned the place pretty well," I told her.

"Thank you. And thank you for keeping this from Maggie," she said.

As much as I loved Maggie, she was too close to this and everyone else. For just a while longer, she needed to be kept in the dark. "She doesn't need to know. She's been under enough stress for the past few months," I said. I walked over to the door, but just before leaving, I turned back to her. I wanted to never speak to Negan again, but there was something that I wanted him to know. "Hey, Sasha, before I go, there's one last thing that I want to tell you." She nodded at me. "On the off chance that you do meet Negan, I want you to deliver a message for me."

Once more, Sasha nodded at me. She didn't seem convinced that it was the best idea in the world. "You're sure about that?" she asked me.

Without hesitation, I nodded at her. "Yes. Can you do this for me?" I asked.

Sasha nodded back at me. "Of course."

"Tell him that I'm still alive and well. Tell him that Daryl and I are gone, and never coming back to him. Tell him that I'm gonna kill every last one of his wives, and then him. And tell him that I am like him. I'm not going to hide it anymore. Because when the day comes, I'm going to take Lucille, and beat his skull in with her," I told her.

It was everything that I wanted to say to him. I was done hiding from him. He was going to pay for everything that he had done to me and my family. "You're not like him," Sasha said.

Maybe not. But most of the time it felt like I was. "Just - if you see him - tell him that. Please," I told her softly.

"I will," Sasha said. The two of us exchanged one last hug before turning and leaving. Sasha went out towards the walls as I turned to go find Daryl.

Just as expected, he was out on the wooden tables. I could have sworn that he hadn't moved from that spot since we had gotten here. I hadn't even seen him get up to go to the bathroom. "Hi," I chirped as I jumped back up onto the table.

Daryl raised his brows as I walked over to him. He was no fool. He knew that I had been in the trailer far too long to have just gone to the bathroom. "Where were you?" Daryl asked me, not even giving me a minute to collect my thoughts.

"Talking to Sasha," I said honestly, not really wanting to reveal everything that had been said. I knew that he would try and stop her. "Just wanted to tell her a few things. You know, we're going to go and fight soon. I guess this seems like the right time to say things to people that you might have been keeping down until now," I rambled.

Daryl opened his mouth to say something, but he never got the chance. Kal began clanging a metal bar against the stand that he was up on. I turned over to them and my jaw dropped. What the hell was happening? "The Saviors are coming! The Saviors are coming!" Kal shouted back to us at the top of his lungs.

My heart felt like it had stopped. "Oh God. It's not their delivery day, is it?" I asked Daryl. We had it planned out. We knew that it wasn't their day to come for another three or four days. We had already planned it all out.

"No. Come on, come on! We gotta go!" Daryl shouted at me.

As the men up on watch stalled opening the gates, Daryl grabbed my hand and began dragging me out of the main sitting area. We rounded the trailers over towards where the escape hatch was. The others had built it for emergencies like if the Saviors came unannounced. It looked like it would be doing its job. I was pretty sure that Sasha had built it for Maggie to escape from in the off chance that she had to get out. After all, the Saviors thought that she was dead.

Daryl and I were sprinting towards the hatch when Enid caught up to us. Maggie, Sasha, and Rosita were nowhere to be found. "We have to get Maggie. Come on!" she shouted as us.

"The escape hatch! We have to get there!" I yelled back.

"We don't have time," Enid argued.

And she was right. The escape hatch was on the other side of the camp. It would take us a few minutes to get there and the Saviors were already coming through the gates. As the three of us bounded the corner, we caught up with Maggie. Sasha and Rosita were nowhere in sight. They must have already gone through the hatch, I grabbed Maggie's hand and pulled her with us around Barrington House. We got out of sight just in time for the trucks to pull into the Hilltop. Enid stopped us in front of something that looked to be one of the pantries that the Hilltop used. It had probably once been a service entrance to the basement.

Enid opened the hatch and shoved Maggie, Daryl, and I into it. "Just stay down there. I'll keep them away. They aren't the same ones who came to Alexandria," she told us before slamming the door, leaving us in pitch black nothingness.

The three of us stood in the center of the room, listening as the doors of the trucks slammed above ground. My heart was pounding in my chest as Maggie went to the back of the storage area, searching back and forth for somewhere to hide. There really wasn't anywhere. We just had the benefit that it was dark in here and the doors were locked. Daryl was standing up by the doors and peeking through the little slivers of light. Outside I could hear Simon speaking and calling out to Gregory. Their conversation was short before the doors to the Barrington House closed. The other Saviors began to chat back and forth, many scavenging off to the sides of the community.

It meant that it was time for them to come looking. I sucked in a breath and moved back to where Maggie was standing. She had managed to push a shelf out of the way that the three of us would just barely be able to hide in. "Daryl," Maggie hissed when my husband didn't make a move to come towards us. The door above us began to creak as Saviors walked back and forth. "Daryl. Daryl," Maggie continued to call.

He finally glanced away from the door but didn't make a move. "Daryl, get back here. Just in case they come in," I barked softly at him. He finally nodded and came back, slinking into the little area. "Maggie, stand behind me," I warned her.

I pushed her behind myself, leaving her effectively out of view of whatever would happen in front of us. Daryl and I were standing, just barely looking through the rows of food. "Get behind me," Daryl told me.

I nodded and took a step back. It was the most that I could move considering what a tiny space this was. My back was pressed up against Maggie's front and my front was pressed up against Daryl's back. I could feel Maggie's hands on my back, bunching up my shirt. They were shaking. I couldn't tell if it was from fear or anger. My hands were on Daryl's back. He was holding a knife in one hand - just in case - and grabbing my spare hand with the other. I held my bow in one hand. I could fire it and keep us hidden.

We stood in silence for well over twenty minutes before I saw someone come running over. By the movement and size of the figure, I easily figured who it was. "Hey, look, Enid's up there," I whispered.

"Stay back here," Daryl warned as he moved up slightly. The shelf was still in front of us, but Daryl was standing in the light so that he could see what was happening. I was relying solely on the voices.

"Hi!" I heard Enid chirp to one of the Saviors. Someone must have been coming up to the pantry and she was trying to stall them. Good girl. But I had no clue whether or not it would actually work. "Uh, I've got fresh veggies -"

She was interrupted almost immediately. "Stop," a purring male voice called back to her. I knew immediately who it was. One of the guys that was in the Sanctuary. He was one of the more irritating ones that I had met during my brief stay there. "They're vegetables. Use the whole word. We have time," he told her.

"Roy," I growled under my breath.

The only thing that I wanted to do was go up there and rip his throat out. Knowing Roy, I knew that he would be getting far closer to Enid than any of us were comfortable with. "You know who that guy is?" Maggie whispered to me.

Daryl was standing still up by the doors, probably trying to ignore our conversation. "Yeah. He made a few passes at me when I was in the Sanctuary. I thought that Negan was going to kill him when he actually found him trying to get me to play poker with him one night. Seems to have a thing for little girls," I snarled.

Maggie's face went pale. "Oh, Enid," she whispered.

Knowing that I had upset her, I grabbed her hands and sighed. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything to her. "Don't worry about her. She'll be okay. Negan will kill him if he dares to lay a hand on her. He doesn't like men touching women without their approval," I told her.

For the many faults that Negan had, rape was not one of them. Although he did have a misguided sense of consent. "Uh - Okay. I have these vegetables they told me to bring over, uh, and the basket's pretty heavy," she said with a little laugh. I rolled my eyes. Even in the old world, she would have had no chance as an actress. Good thing there really wasn't TV anymore. "For me, I mean. Probably not you. Uh, here. Load them in the truck, and, uh, if you meet me by the garden, I can get you the rest -"

"Stop," Roy purred at her once more. My hands tightened around the railing that I was holding onto. "I don't know who you think I am or who we are. Load them yourself. I'm busy," he told her.

Through the crack, I could see him shove the basket back into her arms. She clearly wasn't expecting it as she caught the basket but it immediately tipped over. All of the vegetables that had been in there before went spilling out all over the ground. Enid dropped to her knees to pick them up. "Oh. Sorry. I'm sorry," she said quickly.

Roy seemed completely frustrated with her. "Girl, pick that shit up right now and scram. And I'll take that," he said, motioning down to the knife that was hanging off of her waist. "Now. Don't make me cut it off you, girl," he snarled at her.

She sighed but eventually handed him the knife. He grabbed it from her and turned to the basement. Daryl came darting back to us and pulled the cabinet back in front of us. "Get down," I hissed at the two of them. Roy's footsteps came over to us and I sucked in a breath as the door creaked open. Roy walked in and began to pace around the basement.

The sun was streaming in through a few cracks and Daryl pushed Maggie and I away to make sure that we weren't in line with it. My heart was thumping so loudly that I thought that Roy was going to hear me. We had gotten away for this long. We couldn't afford to get caught. I could hear the Saviors walking around back and forth outside. They seemed to be getting ready to go already. They must have come here for something specific.

My hand tightened around my arrow as I debated on whether or not I could kill Roy. I wanted to know if someone was going to realize that Roy was dead. Would they? There were so many of them. Would they even care? I didn't. The only thing that I wanted was to shoot him through the eye. But before I could, Maggie grabbed my hand and gently forced me to place the arrow back in the sheath. She was right. The last thing that I should be doing right now was killing him. No matter how much I wanted to. Daryl also tried to move out of his spot with his knife in hand, but just like Maggie had done with me, she stopped him.

Finally, after nearly twenty minutes of walking around and coming close to discovering our hiding spot, Roy left. "I'll check," Daryl said once we heard the engines revving once more. They were leaving. He popped out from behind the cabinet and walked back over to the door.

Once Daryl had walked away from us, Maggie turned back to me. For a minute I thought that she was going to punch me. "Are you insane? He would have screamed and they would have heard out there," she snapped at me.

No way. I was fast enough. He wouldn't have seen me coming and it would be one more of the Saviors down. "They wouldn't have heard him. I'd have him dead before he could even realize what had happened," I told her.

She didn't seem to believe me. "You can't do that," Maggie said. She relaxed slightly as she grabbed my hand and pulled me into her. I could see the tears building in her eyes. She was getting to her wits end. "Something is going to happen to you one of these days and I can't deal with that. I've lost so much, I can't lose you too," she weakly argued.

"You won't," I promised her. I grabbed her and pulled her gently into me. Fr a moment she sobbed into my shoulder. But I finally pushed her away and brushed the tears out of her eyes. She couldn't lose someone else. "Maggie, I swear to you, you won't."

"Then please, be careful," Maggie pleaded with me softly.

Maybe I was a little too reckless. Maybe I needed to start thinking more before actually acting on it. "I'm sorry, Maggie. I really am. You're my sister. I'm going to be careful," I told her.

She opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could, Daryl turned back to us and spoke. "He's gone," he told us, letting out of a soft sigh. Both Maggie and I pushed back the shelf and stepped out into the center of the basement.

Maggie stepped out and walked right up to Daryl. I stayed a few paces back, knowing what was going to come. This was not my place to say anything. "You were gonna kill that guy," Maggie said softly to Daryl.

He didn't bother looking up at her. He was staring at the door. "He was gonna find us," he argued.

No he wasn't. I was only going to kill him because I wanted to kill him. Because I wanted repentance for everything that had happened to us. "He wasn't, and he didn't," Maggie argued back to him.

"He deserved to die," Daryl snapped.

We had been here for going on three days and it was the first time that I had seen him say something to her. She seemed to be thinking the same thing. At least they were finally going to say something to each other. "Ever since you got here, you haven't said a word to me. Would you look at me? Please?" she begged him. Daryl turned to her but kept silent. "Daryl," she called out once more, her voice breaking.

Daryl finally looked up at her but it was through a veil of his hair. He was crying. I wanted to make a move between both of them but I knew that this had to be solved between them, not me. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he told her, sniffling softly.

Maggie was silent for a minute as she looked at him. "It wasn't your fault," Maggie said softly, tears threatening to fall.

Daryl sniffled once more as he nodded at her. "It was," he argued back.

Maggie looked extraordinarily pained. "No. It wasn't. You're one of the good things in this world. That's what Glenn thought. And he would know, 'cause he was one of the good things, too," she said, a shuddered breath rattling through her throat. She smiled at Daryl and I blinked back a few tears. I hadn't known that Glenn was getting to Daryl this much. "And, uh I wanted to kill that guy, too. I wanted to string them all up and watch them die. But we have to win," she told him, moving in for a hug. "Help me win," she whispered.

The two of them stayed locked in a hug for a few more moments before releasing each other. I took it as my cue to step forward. "We're both here for you. I promise you that, Maggie. No one is letting this go unnoticed. For everyone that Negan had a hand in killing, we're going to kill them. I'm going to watch them all die. For Glenn. And it starts right now. Keep this place under lock and key. Get them geared up for war," I told her.

Daryl nodded at me as I grabbed his hand and gently nudged him to leave. We had spent enough time here. We had spent enough time in stalling. We were going to go and kill all of the Saviors. All of them. And it started with us going back home. "Where are the two of you going?" Maggie asked.

The three of us jumped out of the basement and back onto solid ground. Everyone seemed to be trying to clean up the mess that the Saviors had left. "To Alexandria. We've been stalling on this war for far too long. It's time to get this done, once and for all. Come on," I said, grabbing Daryl. "Be safe out here, alright?" I told Maggie before leaving.

"Of course. Don't worry, Rain. Either of you. We'll handle things here. Make sure that Rick and the rest of them are ready for the fight," Maggie reassured me.

And I knew that she would. Things had been just fine here before we had gotten here. They would be going just fine once the two of us left. "Come on," I told Daryl, grabbing him and pulling him from the basement.

Maggie stalked off in the other direction. I could tell that she was going to try and see why the Saviors had come here unannounced. We, on the other hand, went off looking for Sasha and Rosita. We were going to make sure that they came back to Alexandria with us. It was the one thing that we needed. As many people as we possibly could. We wanted to make sure that every fighter we had was with us. It took us a long time before realizing that Sasha and Rosita were nowhere to be found. And after spending a few minutes looking for Jesus, we realized that he was gone too. There was no one of importance around that we could find.

So as the sun sank below the horizon the two of us turned to each other. "Where should we go?" Daryl asked me.

Where the hell had everyone gone? "Shit," I snarled under my breath. They had gone. They were heading to the Sanctuary. "They must have left during the visit. Come on. We need to find them. Let's try the Barrington House. Or maybe Gregory's office. He's gotta know where Jesus is, at least," I told him.

We headed straight for the Barrington House and into the back, where Gregory's office was. The door was cracked open and I could hear voices inside. "Show him out, will you, Kal?" I could hear Gregory asking.

No one responded but a moment later, Jesus came stomping out of the room. He looked pissed. But his anger quickly turned to worry when he saw that Daryl and I were packed up and ready to go. "Everything okay?" Jesus asked the two of us.

"Where's Sasha and Rosita?" Daryl asked in response.

Jesus looked shocked by the news. Maybe no one had known that the two of them had left. I assumed that no one had known. They wanted to leave and they didn't want anyone to know. "They're gone?" Jesus asked.

They were gone and at this point they weren't coming back. Not unless we could stop them, or at the very least, help them. "They left already. Come on. I think that it's time to move this war up a little faster. We need to help them. It's time to go back to Alexandria. We need to get back to them and let them know what's going on," I told the two men, dragging them towards the gate.

"As for Maggie and Enid?" Jesus asked.

Gregory was useless. We would be able to rely on the two of them to keep everything alright back here. "They can hold things down here. It's time to end this thing," I told them. And with that the three of us turned in the other direction and made way for Alexandria. One way or another, we were going put a stop to the Saviors. Once and for all.


End file.
